CHAPTER XVII 
RODRIGUEZ 
Rodriguez is the smallest of the Mascarene Isles, hav¬ 
ing a length of only 21 miles and a breadth of 8 miles 
with 42 square miles of surface. It lies in 19° S. lat. and 
63° 20' E. long, at a distance of 400 miles from 
Mauritius. The surface is a chaos of irregular masses 
of lava. At several places these are cleft into mighty 
basaltic columns, as, for instance, behind Oyster Bay in 
tilS'Hs Ostl.v Greenwich 
I Sahl Crad/. §jr ^ 
■ JforaneriMirfe 4 
Map of Rodriguez. 
the north. A broad encircling reef surrounds the island; 
stretching in the south as far as 5 nautical miles into 
the sea. Only a few narrow^ channels permit of access 
to the island, and it is thus only with difficulty that it 
is reached by vessels of any size. Of greater elevations 
