CHAPTER XVI 
MAURITIUS 
At a distance of 120 nautical miles to the north-east 
of Reunion lies the sister island of Mauritius, which since 
the beginning of this century has been an English colony. 
Less grand, but with a loveliness of landscape which 
vies with that of the sister isle just described, Mauritius 
is likewise of volcanic origin •, its geologic age indeed 
is distinctly greater, for the coast is in many places 
strongly indented, and the interior is a mountain land 
of no great height, the elevation of its plateau scarcely 
exceedinor 1600 feet. 
o 
The surface of the whole island embraces an area of 
74,789 miles, and it thus takes the second place in this 
respect among the Mascarenes. 
The northern extremity lies almost exactly on the 
20th parallel of latitude, the southern is in 20° 50' S. 
lat. and 57° 20' E. long. 
The mountains rise somewhat precipitously from the 
coast and pass into a central plateau, which is dominated 
by the Piton du Milieu, 1945 ft. Its summit is formed 
by basaltic masses of horizontal structure. The highest 
elevation is in the south-west, where the mountains of 
Riviere Noire rise to 2710 ft. Pinnacles of unusual 
shapes rise on the west side, where there are the Pouce 
(2480 ft.) near the capital. Port St. Louis, and Pieter Both 
(2674 ft.) which has the form of an obelisk. This latter is 
well-known to sailors, as it serves as a landmark for ships ; 
it bears on its summit a spherical rounded block 100 ft. high. 
Besides the basaltic masses we must mention the recent 
