HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
495 
Description of a Tour round the Island * 
" Standing along the coast, from Fort Blanc towards the left of the port, the sea 
opens upon a sandy low shore to the point of the battery aux Sables. The battery 
of Paulmi is also built there; it would be impossible to land upon this shore, be¬ 
cause, at the distance of two musket-shots, nature has defended it by a ridge of rocks. 
From the battery of Paulmi, the coast is steep and perpendicular; the sea breaks 
upon it in such a manner, that it is impossible to land there. As to the plain, it is 
impracticable to cavalry and artillery, on account of the great number of stones with 
which it is covered. There are no trees here, but some mapus and velvet trees: 
the ruggedness finishes at the bay of the Little river, where there is a small battery. 
“ Near this spot is a cotton mill, invented by M. de Seligny,+ it is turned by 
water, and composed of a number of small metal cylinders placed parallel to one 
another: some children are employed to put the cotton between two of these cylin¬ 
ders, which passes and leaves the berry behind. This same mill likewise supplies 
a forge with wind, threshes the corn, and makes oil. Here M. de Seligny discovered 
a vein of pit-coal, the traces of an iron mine, and an earth proper for making 
crucibles; at the same time he perceived that the ashes of certain aquatic plants, 
where arc a species of the nymphea, burned with coal, produce glass of different 
colours. 
“ By a pathway, which is only a gun-shot from the bank, you come to the 
river Belleisle, which is passed by a ford. At a quarter of a league from thence, the 
path leads through a wood to the plantation of M. de Chasal. This district, which 
is called the Plains of St. Pierre, is still more rocky than the rest of the journey. 
“ The whole coast is very steep, from the Little river to the Plains of St. Pierre: 
the soil is stony, but very well calculated for the culture of cotton: the coffee that 
grows there is of a good quality, because the ground is dry: it is more abundant in 
moist situations, but diminishes in flavour. The river Dragon, which succeeds, is 
fordable, as well as that of Gallet, which comes next. The coast now ceases to be 
steep, and it is commodious walking along the sea-side, in a large plain which leads 
* The voyage of M. de St. Pierre in 1769. 
+ It was M. de Seligny who traced out a channel to the ship Neptune, which run aground in 
the hurricane of 1760 ; there were two iron rakes worked by two large wheels carried in boats, the 
effect of these wheels was increased by acting upon two levers supported by rafts. 
