Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/510

Rh 492 REUNION crops, and houses practically intact, along with the pro- prietor, who was seated at his own door, was carried a distance of nearly 1 miles. Along the whole eastern side of the cirque between the village of Salazie and Hellbourg is a series of waterfalls issuing at a great height from above a vast bank of lava. They are probably the overflow of a subterranean basin connected, it may be, with the sources, on the other side of the wall, of the Riviere du Bras de Caverne. At the source of the Riviere du Mat, which escapes from the cirque by a narrow and precipitous gorge, is a magnificent sheaf of basaltic columns boldly curving out over the bed of the torrent. Having climbed up the eastern side of the cirque, the traveller reaches the well-wooded plain of the Sakzes ; farther east, and separated from it by ridges of rock is the Plaine des Caff res at a height of 5250 feet above the sea, and by a descent of 1500 feet this dips north-eastward into the Plaine des Palmistes. The eastern summit or Piton de Fournaise is cut off from the rest of the island by two curious enclosures, each about 500 or 600 feet deep. The traveller approaching the present craters from the west has consequently to descend upwards of 1000 feet by two abrupt stages before he begins the ascent of the cones. The outer " enclosure " runs across the island in a- north and south direction ; but the inner forms a rude kind of parabola with its arms (Rempart du Tremblet on the south and Rempart du Bois Blanc on the north) stretching eastwards to the sea and embracing not only the volcano proper but also the great eastward slope known as the Grand Brule. There are two principal craters, each on an elevated cone, the more westerly, now extinct, known as the Bory Crater after Bory de St Vincent, the eminent geologist, and the more easterly, simply called the Burning Crater or Fournaise. The latter is partially surrounded by an " enclosure " on a small scale with precipices 200 feet high. Eruptions, though not in- frequent (thirty were registered between 1735 and 1860) are seldom serious; the more noteworthy are those of 1745, 1778, 1791, 1812, 1860, 1870, 1881. Basaltic or vitreous lavas rich in chrysolite are the usual products, and it is hardly possible to conceive of a discharge sufficient in volume to overflow the " ramparts " and carry destruction to the rest of the island. 1 Besides the Piton des Neiges (10,069 feet high), the Bory Peak (8612 feet), and the Burn- ing Peak (8294), the principal summits in Reunion are the Grand Benard (9490), Morne L' Angevin (7845), and Cim- andef (7300). The streams which radiate out in all direc- tions from the central highlands are for the most part com- paratively small except during the rainy season, when they become impetuous and destructive torrents. Hot mineral springs are found in various parts of the island : the Source de Salazie (discovered in 1831) lies 2860 feet above sea- level, has a temperature of 90, and discharges 200 to 220 gallons per hour of water impregnated with bicarbonate of soda, and carbonates of magnesium and lime, iron, <fcc. ; that of Cilaos (discovered in 1826) is 3650 feet above the sea with a temperature of 100 ; and that of Mafate 2238 feet and 87. At the first there are a military hospital and a group of dwelling houses and villas. Vertically Reunion may be divided into five zones. The first or maritime zone contains all the towns and most of the villages, built on the limited areas of level alluvium occurring at intervals round the coast (128 miles). In the second, which lies between 2600 and 4000 feet, the sugar planta- 1 The geology and volcanoes of Reunion were the object of elaborate study by Bory de St Vincent in 1801 and 1802 (Voyages dans Us quatre principals iles des Alers d'Afrique, Paris, 1804), and have recently been examined by Drasche (see Bericht K. -K. Geol. Reich- sanstalt, Vienna, 1875-76) and Velain (thesis presented to the Faculto des Sciences, Paris, 1878). tions make a green belt round the island and country houi abound. The third zone is that of the forests ; the fourth that of the plateaus, where European vegetables can be cultivated; and above this extends the region of the mountains, which occupies more space than any of the others. The following statements in regard to climate refer more particu- larly to the lower zones. The year divides into two seasons that of heat and rain from November to April, that of dry and more bracing weather from May to October. According to observations taken at St Denis between 1863 nnd 1870, and reduced to sea-level, the mean monthly temperature varies as follows : January, 80'36 ; February, 80'36 ; March 80'12; April, 78'62 ; May, 75'30 ; June, 72'53; July, 7l'22 ; August, 70'59 ; September, 71'6; October, 73'43 ; November, 76'62 ; December, 78'92 ; and the rainfall was distributed thus : January, 8'2 inches; February, 10 '9 ; March, 517; April, 478; May 2'9 ; June, 6'1 ; July, 0'27 ; August, 17 ; September, 0'80 ; October, 1'67; November, 3'09 ; December, 5'25 ; making an annual average of 45 '57 inches, falling in 797 days. The prevailing winds are from the south-east, sometimes veering round to the south, and more frequently to the north-cast ; the west winds are not so steady (three hundred and seven days of east to fifty-eight of west in the course of the year). It is seldom calm 'during the day, but there is usually a period of complete repose before the land wind begins in the evening. Several years sometimes pass without a cyclone visiting the island ; at other times they occur more than once in a single "winter." From April till October there is little fear of them. That of March 1879 was particularly destructive. The raz de inaree occasionally does great damage. On the leeward side of the island the temperature is higher than at St Denis. The winds are generally from the west and south-west, and bring little rain. Mist hangs almost all day on the tops of the mountains, but usually clears off at night. The mean annual temperature at Salazie is 66 and at the Plaine des Palmistes 617. The fauna of Reunion is not very rich in variety of species ; it Anima lies midway between the Indian and the African type. The mam- mals are a brown maki (Lemur mongoz, Linn.) from Madagascar, Pteropus cdicardsii now nearly extinct, several bats, a wild cat, the tang or tamec (Centctcs setosus, Demi.), several rats, the hare, and the goat. Among the more familiar birds are the " oiseau de la vierge " (Muscipeta borboitica), the tee-tec (Pratincola sybilla), Certhia borbonica, the cardinal (Foudia madagascariensis), various swallows, ducks, &c. The visitants from Madagascar, Mauritius, and even India, are very numerous. Lizards and frogs of more than one species are common, but there is only one snake known in the island. Various species of Gobius, a native species of mullet, Ncstis cyprinoides, Osplironamus olfax, and Doules rupestris are among the freshwater fishes. In the forest region of the island there is a belt, 4500-5000 feet Veget above the sea, characterized by the prevalence of Bambusa alpina ; tion. and above that is a similar belt of Accwia hcterophylla. Besides this last the best timber-trees are Casuarina lalerifolia, Fcetida mauritiana, Imbricaria pctiolaris, Elseodendron orientalc, Calo- phyllum spurium (red tacamahac), Terminalia borbonica, Parkin spcciosa. The gardens of the coast districts display a marvellous wealth of flowers and shrubs, partly indigenous and largely gathered from all parts of the world. Fruits grown in the island arc tho banana, the cocoa-nut, bread-fruit, and jack-fruit, the bilimbi, the carambola, the guava, the litchi, the Japanese medlar, the mango- steen, the tamarind, the Abdmoschus csculentus, the chirimoya, the papaya, &c. Sugar, introduced in 1711 by Pierre Parat, is now the staple crop In- in Reunion, a greater proportion of the soil being devoted to it tlustr than to all other objects of cultivation. The methods employed in growing and manufacturing are not up to the Mauritius standard, and since 1878 the ravages of the phylloxera have ruined many of the plantations. In the 18th century the first place belonged to coffee (introduced from Arabia in 1715) and to the clove tree, brought from the Dutch Indies by Poivrc at the risk of his life. Both are now cultivated on a very limited scale. Vanilla, intro- duced in 1818, though it occupies only about 1500 acres, some- times produces a crop worth from 40,000 to 65,000. The average produce of the sugar crop in the five years 1873-77 was 35,493 tons of sugar with 777,710 gallons of syrup and treacle; from 1878 to 1883 the averages were 35,580 tons (40,176 in 1883) and 816,455 gallons. Rum is largely distilled, and is the favourite drink of all classes. While potatoes, beans, manioc, sweet potatoes, and yams of Imp' local growth furnish a considerable amount of food, the far more important article rice has to be imported from India and Madagascar. India also sends castor-oil, wheat, and lard ; Australia, flour and wheat ; England, coals ; the Cape and Muscat, salt fish ; Buenos Ayres and Montevideo, mules and horses ; the United States petroleum (largely used throughout the island), lard, pork, and pitch-pine. i