Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan, Volume 1.djvu/102

94 about ten miles from east to west, and in some places five miles in-land from the northern coast. All the rest of the island is full of high and steep mountains, laying so near to one another that the intervals between them, instead of vallies, form only beds of torrents; and these are choaked with vast fragments of stone torn from the rock above. The summits of these mountains are covered with forests of ebony and other large trees, and the ground under the shade of the trees produces herbage, shrubs, and plants of various sorts, from the common grass to the strongest thorn, in such profusion that they form a thicket so closely interwoven, that a step cannot be made, but with the hatchet in hand. Many plantations have been raised with success on these mountains, and some improvements made on the plain to the north-east; but the productions, altho' mostly of the same kind, are in less quantity, and in less perfection than at Bourbon: it produces no coffee; but, by the industry of M. De la Bourdonnais, sugar, indigo, and cotton, which are not at Bourbon, were cultivated here with success; and although these plantations have been much neglected since his departure, they may at any time be recovered. They are at this time endeavouring to cultivate the genuine cinnamon, from plants procured at Ceylon; but these, if they do not perish, will in all probability, from the difference of soil and climate, greatly degenerate. Iron mines have been discovered in the mountains, near the plain to the north-east; and, the mountains supplying great quantities of fuel, forges have been erected; but the iron produced is brittle, and is made into cannon-balls and shells for mortars. Beeves, sheep, and goats, are preserved with great difficulty: the beeves generally die before they have been a year in the island, and are therefore frequently imported from Madagascar and other parts. Common domestic fowls breed in great plenty; which, with fish and turtle, furnish a great part of the food of the European inhabitants; who have multiplied very little by marriage, most of them being natives of France. Their Caffre slaves are subject to great mortalities from the small-pox and other epidemical distempers.

Mauritius has two ports, one on the south-east coast, and the other on the north-west. The trade-wind from the south-east blows in these