Page:Narrative of a survey of the intertropical and western coasts of Australia, Volume 2.djvu/134

 COASTS OF AUSTRALIA. 113 ing. The principal attention of the/u/ ap- 11. peared to be given to the cultivation of the mugs, s'. /.' cane and maize, both of which had begun to produce an abundant return to the planters; the mnnihot is also generally cultivated: but the dreadftd effects of the hurricanes,. to whi& this island is exposed render property of so preca- rious and doubtful a tenure, that nothing is se- cure until the season for these destructive visi- tations is over; they last [from the beg/nn/ng of December to the end of April, and generally occur about the full of the moon, being. inva- riably preceded by an unsteady motion of the mercury in the barometer. They are not always so violent as to be termed hurricanes: the last experienced before our visit, was merely a "coup & vent," by which very little damage was sus- ta/ned *. The town of Port Louis, which is at the north. west, or leeward, side of the island, is built at the extremity of an amphitheatre of low land,. backed in by a high and precipitous range, upon �In the month of January, 18, this unfortunate idnd aaln visited and laid watz by �tremendous hurtlease tht did very eondderable damage, and hm in a great measure destroyed the prosperous state which the idand wa beginning to"arrive t from the previous 1on'absence of this dreadful visitation. VOL. II. I

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