174 
THE MASCARENES 
beauties; their external appearance has received something 
of the distinguished grace of the women of Paris. They 
are said to be peaceable wives and careful mothers, but 
as the intellectual stir in the colony is small, they fall 
back to a great extent on external trifles, so that to 
many husbands luxury becomes burdensome. In domestic 
service there is no stint; an Indian cook, a lady’s-maid 
for the lady of the house, and a valet for the master, a 
black for running errands, a Hindoo to look after the 
washing, nursemaids for the children, gardeners etc.— 
all these are necessary to the household of an ordinary 
citizen. 
The daily table is nevertheless very simple, and consists 
for the most part of curry and rice, followed by fruit, 
of which there is no scarcity, as mangoes, bananas, oranges 
and guavas are superabundant. 
The standard of education amono^ the Creoles was 
formerly not very high, they even looked down with a 
sort of contempt upon higher intellectual culture, as in their 
opinion people were only spoiled by it. Recently it has 
become much better, as the activity of the half-castes was 
becoming dangerous, and there is no want of educational 
institutions. 
One weak side of the Creoles is their thriftlessness, 
which is sometimes extreme. It originated in the time 
when money flowed plentifully towards the Mascarenes 
and the sugar plantations especially brought in large 
profits. Many families at that time obtained money with 
ease. When a planter came to France he had many 
friends, for he was open-handed, and if he brought a 
young “sucriere” with him she became the ideal of the 
marriageable young men, and was not in want of adorers. 
Not all families were at that time given to saving. 
There came bad times, as the German beet-sugar 
offered a ruinous competition. Many Creoles grew poor, 
so that the trade with them was no longer so safe as 
