Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1896-09-02
A Day on Shore. No. 9.

|
| known as the Mascarepe Isles OF the
three, Mauritius, situated in latitude
twenty degrees thirty-two minutes
| south and east longitude fifty-seyen de-
| grees forty-six minutes, with more
than seven hundred square miles area
and 10000 inhabitants, is vastly the
most important. Surrounded by coral
reefs, with one of the finest harbors in
the world, it's waters deep enough TO
accommodate the largest ships, with
Brabant mountain, it's highest volcan-
ic peak only three thousand feet above
the level of the sea, with its rich val
leys and fertile up-lands, with two
frowning forts of impregnable masonry
grinning down on the we'll filled harbor
which they are amply able to protect,
with a climate where the heat seldom
exceeds eighty degrees in the shade at
high noon, with its trade winds that
make the days charming and the nights
GeliciouSly inVigOrating, with its great
city Of Port Louis and her seventy
thousand people, her barracks. library,
theatre and botanic gardens. with the
best water works in the world, with its
sugar plantations employing thousands
and thousands of men, women
and children, with almost everything
that would seem to make life worth the
living. the Isle Of France or Nautilus
is certainly Queen of the Isles of that
Indian Sea.
Mauriiius was first coonizcd by the
Dutch in 1898 but abandoned by them
a few years later. In 1921 it was again
colOnized by the French who kept il
until 1910 when it was taken from them
by the English in one nights battle,
The troops We've landed on the back
of the island with great difficulty,
marched by a circutous route UP the
mountain, ridge or horseback that
could not be surmounted was actually
digged through and when the sun rose
they swarmed down upon the unpre-
pared "Johnnies, masters of the
situation.
Sugar is the principal product Of
this island although coffee and rice are
cultivated to some extent. The labor
Is performed by coolies-people of the
East Indies-who are induced TO leave
their native land by methods not
always free from cenSure-finding a
bill for passage money Of about thirty
dollars hanging over them and which
they must pay in certain installments
from wages not exceeding twenty cents
a day and often times but little more
than half that. At first thought this
seems an imp3ssibility. but with rice It
one or two cents pound and an appe-
tite that asks nothing more. both ends |
may lie made to meet and | have known |
cases where a thrifty. sharp LaScar has
in time paid his passage. got a few |
rupees ahead, opened up a little cigar
and tobacco trade. in the end saving !
enough to so back home and supply his |
needs for the Test of his life.
The natural richness of the soil is
assisted by liberal use Of guano pro- /
cured from islands in the Indian ocean |
The soil is a reddish clay which is /
so mixed with small stones that plough |
ing is a difficult matter. in fact 50 /
difficult that nine-tenths Of the cult /
waiting is done with hoe. Sugar cane |
groWs to its greatest perfection. SOM
plantations employ from fifteen hun
cred to two thousand hands. ana it is
an interesting sight to watch them
cutting the great stocks of cane.
carrying it in bundles to the immense
crushers or rollers where the sweetness
is pressed out and runs in miniature
rivers to the great boiling watts. where
the heat produced by burning the dry
stocks soon converts the juice of the
cane" into molasses or sugar. | have
kuowna ship to be loaded With molasses,
delivered along side for seven cents a
gallon. Sugar al two cents a pound
is not an extravagant luxury.
Arabs that aremillionaires are promi-
nent in The business affairs of Mauritius
owning large ships and store houses.
the latter piled full of rice and sugar
and the ships distributing these com
modities to all parts of the world.
Almost every nation of the globe is
represented here and may be seen in
half an hours walk but of the people ,
and their habits l will tell you in my
next
This island has its unpleasant feat
ures, as has every spot on the face of
the earth. During the months of
February and March it is each year
visited by hurricanes of greater or less
violence AT the time of my visit there
a cripple who went about in wheel
chair was paid by the government to
foretell the coming of these sometimes
disastrous cyclones. This he claimed he
was enabled to do by watching the ac-
tlonS of the worms upon the trees and
it seems to have been a fact that he was
always correct in his predictions. A
code Of signals is arranged and at one
gun from the fort vessels lying in the
innel harbor got bow and stern moor
inSs in shape and tenders over the
side to protect themselves from their
ncighbors Two guns meant send down
top gallant masts and house top masts.
while tie ships at anchor in the outer
harbor were TO ''heave short" AT three
guns. all vessels in the outer harbor
must get under way and put to sea-
taking their chances, while inside every
captain must be on board his ship, to
see after the property for which he is
There are some plants growing wild
here that some fanciers of exotics NAV
possibly wish to obtain Slip of and
one | will mention. You that have a
cactus whose leaves may be three or
even five inches long by half that in
width and one fourth of an inch in
thickness, growing to two or three feet
in height imagine that plant to grow
until the leaves were ten feet long. five