The Sun.
London, England, 1860-06-19 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

Six Months in Reunion. By the Rev. P. Beaton,
M.A. 2 vols. Hurst and Blackett.
A lengthened visit to one of the islands of the
Indian Ocean, possesses some claims to originality
even in these days of travel and adventure. Re-
union, better known by its former name of Bour-
bon, is a French colony in close proximity to the
Mauritius. Its appellation was changed at the
eventful epoch of 1848, and a less courtly cognomen
substituted for the old monarchical name. The
reverend author having a six months' holiday, em-
ployed it in visiting this island, after a brief so-
journ at the neighbouring Isle of France. He
gi,-cs us many curious details of the manners and
customs of the mixed races who inhabit it, and his
sty le is fresh and unaffected. Although there is a
good deal of interesting matter concerning the
Huguenots and the various creeds of the island,
there is nothing like sermonising in the book. It
opens with an amusing account of his voyage out.
The horrors of a lengthened passage are patheti-
cally bewailed. Fortunately, the skipper had an
inexhaustible store of " yarns," and would enliven
his disconsolate passengers in the evenings with
passages drawn from his own varied experience in
many parts of the world. He had a personal
grievance, which was somewhat curious. After 40
years of a seafaring life, he was obliged, according
to recent regulations, to pass an examination as
master before getting command of his ship on his
last voyage. He declared that he felt himself de-
graded, and could not get over the indignity. Not-
withstanding all the skipper's tales, however, the
montony of a lengthened calm was found weari-
some. Here is our author's humorous description
of his sensations :
" Tossing for weeks at sea in a calm is like tossing for
weeks en a sick-bed. In the morning you long for the
evening, and in the evening you say, would it were morn-
ing. Yesterday, to-day, and to •morrow are as like one
another as the three furies. There is the same regular
routine of sleeping, waking, eating, drinking, and sleeping
again, and the same broad, blue, meaningless ocean to gaze
upon. The head of a living lion may excite interest and
terror, but you have no such feeling on looking at his head
when lifeless. You feel that "better is a living ass than a
dead lion." And so when the ocean is full of life and
emotion, you gaze upon, it with the same feeling as Byron
when ho penned his celebrated address;. but when it bears
for weeks the same dead, motionless, meaningless expres-
sion, the dullest landscape on shore would be far more
attractive. "A life on the ocean wave" sounds amazingly
well in song, but when the roaring deep is turned into the
dull monotony of a three weeks' calm, there are certain
verses of the Ancient Mariner about slimy creeping things
that will present themselves to the mind, though suggestive
of anything but pleasing associations. There are anxious
inquiries made about the supply of provisions and water.
You have horrible dreams at night about—
" Water, water everywhere,
And not a drop to drink ;"
and during the day you look at the fat cook with a half
cannibal sort of feeling, and a mental calculation of how
long he would serve for stores. So hazy and indistinct and
dreamlike does life become, that you feel disposed, with
Berkeley, to deny the existence of matter. You begin to
suspect that the ship must be the "Flying Dutchman,"
the sailors phantoms, and your venerable friend the skipper
a spectre. At times you feel tempted at table, like the
fat boy in Pickwick, to run a fork into the tender calf of
his leg, so as to find out whether he is substance or shadow.
Having doubts, however, whether he might approve of this
experimentum incorpore will, you resist this inclination or
defer yielding to it till some future occasion."
A fresh breeze fortunately soon enlivened their
prospects, and they were further cheered by the
excitement of shark fishing. After a short visit
to the Mauritius the travellers proceeded to the
place of their destination. Among the most in-
teresting passages in the book is the adventures
and misfortunes of a little band of Huguenots. A
gentleman named Francis Legual was one among
the many Frenchmen whom the Revocation of the
Edict of Nantes drove from their country. He
took refuge in Holland, where after some time he
learned that the Marquis du Quesne was about to
form a settlement in the island of Bourbon, which,
the French were said to have abandoned. It was
proposed to place the new colony under the pro-
tection of the States General and East India Com-
pany. Many of the French refugees, headed by
Legnat, joined in the project and set sail in a small
frigate. But when they reached their destination,
instead of landing them on the beautiful and fertile
land they came to seek, the captain took them on
to the island of Rodriquez, about 300 miles distant
from Mauritius, and there abandoned his hapless
passengers to their lonely abode. After lingering
two years in this solitude the poor exiles resolved
to endeavour to escape. From the fragments of
wrecks which strewed the coasts they constructed
a frail bark, and after many risks and dangers and
some loss of life, they reached Mauritius, the
nearest land inhabited by Europeans. But
their troubles were not over. An unfortunate
dispute about a piece of amber excited the cupidity
and cruelty of the governor, who condemned them,
chained, to be transported to a rocky island only
600 feet in length, where they were left to drag
out a miserable existence under the burning sun.
After many months, some of them contrived to
escape to the mainland, and appealed to the crew of
a Dutch vessel, who, returning to Holland, gave an
account of their unjust sufferings, which resulted
in an imperative command for their release, after
three years of persecution and captivity. The rock
on which they were imprisoned at Mauritius still
bears the name of Amber Island. A great propor-
tion of the second volume is occupied by a discus-
sion of the vexed question of Coolie emigration.
The writer, like other travellers, looks with consi-
derable suspicion upon the system. One curious
fact he discovered in his intercourse with them—
namely, that the Coolies in Mauritius never assert
that they have not left India of their own free will,
while the Coolies at Bourbon invariably affirm that
they have been trepanned in some way. He cannot
vouch for the truth of their statements, but attri-
butes some of the difference of feeling to the fact
that the Mauritius Coolie receives nearly double
the wages of the Coolie in the neighbouring island.
As matters now stand, a planter may buy a Coolie
at the auction-mart for a certain sum, may retain
him till there is a rise in the price, and then dispose
of him for five years at the market value. By this
means he has the benefit of his labour for a time,
and gains a profit as well. It is true that this
transaction must have the nominal consent of the
Coolie, but under the circumstances he would find
opposition difficult. Many similar devices contra-
dict the apparent plausibility of the five years
system. The happy idea of civilising Africa by
importing negroes and instructing them in the
arts of civilised life for the benefit
ft f the importers, is shown in its true
colours. The rapid development of the
sugar-growing resources of Bourbon is greatly due
to the aid of the coolie labourers. Great improve-
ments have been made in the manufacture, and
new machinery has been introduced. From 1815
to 1819 the average annual production of raw sugar
did not amount to more than 696,623 kilogrommes,
there being 1,000 kilogrammes to a ton. From
1820 to 1829 it rose to 6,901,026 kilogrammes,
nearly ten times the former amount. The scale
went on increasing rapidly especially after the im-
provements in the machinery until from 1851 to
1853 the annual production was 31,647,961 kilo-
grammes, and at present it exceeds 55 millions.
The planter has, however, to contend against many
dangers, foremost amongst them being the destruc-
tion occasioned by hurricanes and by by fire. The
latter casualty, often the result of incendiarism, is
carefully watched against. But the worst foe of
the sugar cane is the rat ; " a more dangerous
enemy," says Mr. Beaton, "than hurricane or
flames. It has chased the Dutch from Mauritius,
and has stood its ground in these islands against
phosphorus, arsenic, and all the other destructivei
agencies which have been employed against t."
t orlinteresting
which
details s
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awrinl
sbhe found
agreeablein th es
pMleaansya not
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tertainment to a large class of readers.

tEhne BLthAitP
instant,E NT —a t
Surrey,. at the age of 77,
whoE H oaCi
end ELI
of the late Sir
was the elder brother _ T George Gerard Lar-
pent, Bart., sometime M.P. for 1\ ottingham, being the son
ThTisleisEtiLmAabTlhe gßenAtilleOmNanj!
Esq. secretary to the Duke of Bedford
of John Larpent,
Holmwood House, near Dorking,
in France, and to the Marquis
of Hertford in Ireland, a
gentleman subsequently employed
in a variety of official
situation. The deceased, John James Larpent, was born ip
1783, and had the foreign barony of De Hochepied con-
firmed to him by royal licence in 1819. He married Georgi-
ana, daughter of Frederick Reeves, Esq., of East Sheen,
Surrey, by whom he had a family of five sons and three
daughters. He is succeeded in his title and estates by his
eldest son, Arthur John Larpent, Esq.—Court News.
DEFECTS IN THE NEW REFRESHMENT AND WINE
LicEXCES ACT.—Two material defects in this act have beet
discovered, and an act will be required to amend them. The
houses are not to be opened before b or after 12 in the sec-
tion, but i i the licence in the schedule of the act " four"
has been placed for " five." In the 27th section, where the
hours are mentioned, the borough of " Finsbury" has been
omitted from the other metropolitan boroughs and cities.
The new duties are payable from the Ist July, and a short
act will probably be forthwith introduced.
EAST INDIA (ARMY).—A return just issued gives
the strength, regimentally, in officers, men, and horses, of
the regular local army, of the several arms in India, Euro-
pean,. and native, at the different presidencies from the latest
nturns. It appears from this document that in Bengal
there were in the artillery 312 officers and of men 2,036 Eu-
ropmns and 2,309 natives; of cavalry there were 459
officers, and of men 1,261 Europeans and 22,522 natives; of
infantry the officers numbered 1,147, and the men 2,775
Europeans and 68,823 natives. In Madras the officers of
artillery were 199, and the men 1,878 Europeans and 2,174
natives; in the cavalry there were 178 officers, and of men
not any mention is made of Europeans, but the natives are
set down at 2,988 ; the infantry had 1,522 officers and of
men 2,342 Europeans and 64,878 natives. The artillery of
_Bombay had 152 officers and of men 1,426 Europeans and
1,883 natives ; the cavalry numbered 72 officers, and of men
no number of Europeans is given, but 7,672 natives are set
down ; in infantry the total number of officers was 939, and
of men, Europeans 2,166 and natives 37,215. Giving a total
of officers in the presidencies of 4,90, and of men 18,884
Europeans and 210,469 native*,