The Sugar-cane Plantations.--Indian Laborers.--A Lawsuit.--The
Botanic Garden.--Plants and Animals.--Singular Monument.--The
Waterfall.--Mont Orgeuil.--Trou du Cerf.--The Creoles and the
French.--Farewell to the Mauritius.
The greatest sugar-cane plantations are in the district of Pamplemousse,
in which also the Botanical Gardens are situated. I visited the
Monchoisy plantation, the property of Mr. Lambert. The manager, Mr.
Gilat, was kind enough to escort me through the fields and buildings,
and to give me such a lucid explanation of the method of growing and
preparing the sugar-cane, that I can not do better than give his own
words, as nearly as I can remember them.
“The sugar-cane is not raised from seed, but pieces of cane are planted.
The first cane requires eighteen months to ripen; but as, during this
time, the chief stem puts out shoots, each of the following harvests can
be gathered in at intervals of twelve months, so that three crops are
obtained in four years and a half. After the fourth harvest the field
must be thoroughly cleared of the cane. If the land is virgin soil on
which no former crop has been raised, fresh slips of cane can at once be
planted, and thus eight crops may be obtained in nine years. If this is
not the case, ambrezades must be planted--a leafy plant, which grows to
the height of eight or nine feet, and whose leaves, continually falling,
decay on the ground and fertilize it. After two years the plants are
rooted out, and the land becomes a sugar plantation again.”
For about the last ten years the custom has prevailed of dressing the
land with guano, and very good results have been obtained. On good
ground 8000 lbs. per acre have been raised, and on bad soil, that
formerly yielded 2000 lbs. at the most, the produce has been doubled.
I was much astonished to see the beautiful widespread plains of
Pamplemousse covered with great pieces of lava. It would appear as if
nothing could grow under such circumstances; but I heard that this
peculiarity of the soil is favorable to the sugar-cane, which will not
bear a long drought. It is planted between these fragments of rock, and
the rain-water, collecting in pools in the clefts and holes, keeps the
ground moist for a long time.
When the canes are ripe and the harvest begins, no more is cut down each
day than can be pressed and boiled at once, for the great heat soon
spoils the sap in the canes. The cane is pressed between two rollers,
turned by steam, with such force that it is crushed quite flat and dry;
it is then used as fuel for boiling the kettles.
The juice runs successively into six kettles or pans, of which the first
is most fiercely heated; the force of the fire is made to diminish under
each of the others. In the last kettle the sugar is found almost half
produced. It is then placed on great wooden tables where it is left to
cool, and here the mass granulates into crystals of the size of a pin’s
head. As a final operation, it is poured into wooden vessels perforated
with small holes, through which the molasses still contained in the
sugar may filter. The whole process requires eight or ten days for its
completion. Before the sugar is packed, it is spread out on great
terraces to dry for some hours in the sun. It is shipped in bags
containing 150 lbs. each.
Mr. Lambert’s sugar plantation contains 2000 acres of land, but of
course only a part of this is planted each year. He has 600 laborers,
who are engaged for seven months in the year in the field, and during
the other five in getting in the crop and boiling it. In a good
year--that is, when the rainy season sets in early and lasts long--Mr.
Lambert gets three million pounds of sugar from his plantation; but he
is well content with two millions and a half. A hundred pounds of sugar
are worth from nine to twelve shillings.
The largest planter in the Mauritius is a Mr. Rocheconte, who is said to
produce nearly seven million pounds of sugar annually.
Sugar, and nothing but sugar, is to be seen in this island. Every
undertaking has reference to sugar, and all the conversation is about
sugar. Mauritius might be called the sugar island, and its coat of arms
should be a bundle of sugar-canes and three sugar-bags rampant.
During a residence of some weeks I had opportunities of observing the
condition and circumstances of the laborers. They are called “coolies,”
and come, as I have mentioned, from all parts of India. They hire
themselves for five years, and the planter who hires them has to give
each laborer 8s. or 10s. a month, 50 lbs. of rice, 4 lbs. of dried fish,
4 lbs. of beans, 4 lbs. of fat or oil, a sufficiency of salt, and a
little hut to live in, besides the sum he has to pay to the government
for their passage.
The laborer’s condition is not nearly so good as that of a servant. He
has to work heavily in the cane-field and the boiling-house, and is much
more exposed than the domestic servant to the arbitrary power of his
master; for he may not leave until his five years’ contract has expired.
He may certainly go and complain if he is hardly used, for there are
judges to hear, and laws to redress his woes; but as the judges are
frequently planters themselves, the poor laborer seldom finds the
verdict given in his favor. The laborer has also frequently to walk
eight or ten miles before he gets to the court. In the week he has no
time to go, and on Sundays he finds it closed. If, after much trouble,
he at length succeeds in reaching the abode of justice, he finds,
perhaps, that the court is engaged in a multiplicity of affairs, and is
told to go and come again some other day. To make the thing more
difficult for him, he is not admitted at all unless he brings witnesses.
How is he to get these? None of his companions in misfortune will dare
to render him such a service, for fear of punishment, or even corporal
ill usage at the hands of his master.
I will relate an incident which happened during my residence in the
Mauritius.
On one of the plantations ten laborers wished, upon the expiration of
their contract, to quit their employer and take service with another.
The planter heard of this, and three weeks before the articles of these
ten men expired, he persuaded ten others to give in the papers of the
malcontents as their own, and to have the contract renewed for a year.
Then he called the discontented laborers separately before him, showed
each one the contract, and told him he had another year to serve. Of
course the people persisted that this was impossible, as they had not
been at the court at all, and had never had the writing in their hands.
The planter replied that the contract was perfectly valid, and declared
that if they complained before the court they would not be heard, and
that corporal chastisement would most likely be their reward. Moreover,
if they went, he would not pay the wages he owed them for five months’
work, unless under compulsion.
The poor fellows were at a loss what to do. Fortunately, an official of
high position lived close by, and one who was known as an honest,
philanthropic man. To him they went, told their story, and begged his
protection, which he at once promised. The affair came before the court,
but the trial went on very slowly, as none of the planter’s people dared
to give evidence. Even if they had the will, it would have been
difficult for them to do so, as the planter forbade his people to go
out, and had them carefully watched and prevented from communicating
with any one all the time the action was proceeding.
In the course of some ten weeks, five sittings or hearings took place.
The first three were held before a single judge, who was a planter into
the bargain. The protector of the poor plaintiffs insisted that three
judges should be appointed, as the law demands, and protested against
the one judge, who could not but appear as influenced by his position as
a planter. As this demand proceeded from a man in a high position, and
was, moreover, strictly legal, it was complied with, and the first judge
only attended the two subsequent sittings to give explanations
respecting the former three.
At the fifth sitting the action was certainly decided in favor of the
coolies, but the verdict was given in a manner I should never have
thought possible in a land under English rule.
The judge, or planter, who had heard the plaintiffs in the first three
sittings declared that when the ten people first came to him, he could
not know whether they were the real proprietors of the papers, for that
hundreds of laborers came to him with similar complaints every day.
He had written out the new contract on unstamped paper, as he happened
to have none with a stamp by him, and the people, not one of whom could
write, had attached their crosses as signatures. Afterward he had the
contract rewritten on stamped paper, as it would otherwise have been
invalid, and in order not to call up the people again, his clerk had
affixed the crosses. As the people had, therefore, not signed with their
own hands, the contract was void, and the coolies were free; and thus
the action was decided.
The real circumstances of the case were entirely different. If the poor
coolies had not found an influential protector, the planter-judge would
have decided the affair in favor of the employer. The appearance of the
official personage upon the stage compelled the judges to show at least
an appearance of justice; and so they saved themselves by finding out a
FORGERY, for which, in any other country, the judge and his clerk would
not only have lost their places to a certainty, but have been provided
with board and lodging, and a restricted number of companions, in a
certain great public establishment.
The planter got off unpunished, though, even according to the Mauritian
laws, framed with great regard for the planter’s convenience, he should
have been subjected to a fine and a year’s imprisonment.
To crown his worthy action, he cheated the poor coolies, and mulcted
them of a month’s pay, under the pretext that they had done little work,
broken some of their implements, and stolen others.
This paltry person is very much looked up to in the Mauritius, and is
received with pleasure in society. He is rich certainly, and is a
regular attendant at church, and here, as elsewhere, people have
peculiar ideas as to wealth and religion--ideas which plain honest folks
are too dull to appreciate.
I would not quit the district of Pamplemousse without visiting the
Botanical Garden, which is under the superintendence of the accomplished
botanist and director, Mr. Duncan.
Scarcely had I spent a quarter of an hour with this amiable man, a
Scotchman by birth, before he invited me, in the most friendly manner,
to spend a few days in his house, that I might be able to examine the
treasures of the garden at my leisure. Though I had become somewhat
careful in the matter of Mauritian invitations, I could not resist the
real good-nature of Mr. Duncan. I staid with him, and had no cause to
repent it. Mr. Duncan was a man of a few words, but he _did_ what he
could to make my residence in his house agreeable. When he saw that I
was collecting insects, he himself helped me in my search, and often
brought me some new specimens for my collection.
I walked several times with him through the Botanical Garden, which is
very rich in plants and trees from all parts of the world. Here I saw
for the first time trees and shrubs from Madagascar, indigenous to that
island. I particularly admired a water-plant, the _Hydrogiton
fenestralis_, whose leaves, three inches in length and one in breadth,
are quite pierced through, as if by artificial means pieces had been
broken out. A tree, the _Adansonia digitata_, is remarkable, not for its
beauty, but for its ugliness. The stem is of uniform clumsy thickness to
a height of eight or ten feet; then it becomes suddenly thin: the bark
is of a light, unsightly color, quite smooth and almost shining.
There were many spice-trees, and a few specimens of the beautiful
water-palm, which I have already seen and described in my “Second Voyage
round the World.”
I am no botanist, and therefore can give no detailed description of the
garden; but competent persons have assured me that it is very
judiciously and scientifically laid out. To look at the varied and
numerous plants, and the extensive plantations, sometimes requiring
great labor to cultivate, no one would believe that Mr. Duncan has very
restricted resources at his command. The government only allows him
twenty-five laborers, Malabars and Bengalees, who certainly do not get
through as much work as eight or ten strong Europeans would accomplish.
As I am on the subject of plants and trees, I will mention the fruits
produced in the Mauritius. Among the most common are many kinds of
bananas and mangoes, citchy, butter-fruit, splendid pine-apples, sweet
melons and watermelons. The watermelons here attain an enormous size,
some weighing more than thirty pounds, but they have little flavor.
Peaches are abundant, but require much care to bring them to perfection.
Pomegranates are also found of great size, besides papayas and other
similar fruits. I have described all these in my former works, to which
I accordingly refer my readers.
As regards the animal world, the Mauritius is fortunate in possessing
neither beasts of prey nor poisonous reptiles. The centipedes and
scorpions found here are small; their sting is painful, but not
dangerous. Ants are also not so numerous here as in India and South
America. I could sometimes leave the insects I had collected for half a
day together on the table, and the ants did not get at them, while in
other hot countries these depredators would be devouring their prey
within a few minutes. The musquitoes are troublesome enough, and
sometimes drive strangers to desperation. Those who have been resident
here for some years are said, like the natives, to enjoy a comparative
immunity from their attacks.
The disagreeable kakerlak sometimes plays his pranks here, but is far
less obnoxious than in other countries. They say that very exciting
combats sometimes takes place between the kakerlak and the beautiful
green fly called _Sphex viridi-cyanea_. I was not fortunate enough to
witness such a fight, but only read the account of one in the “Voyages
of Monsieur Bory de St. Vincent.” The fly flutters round the kakerlak
until the latter becomes motionless, as if magnetized; then she seizes
him, drags him to a hole already selected for the purpose, lays eggs in
his body, stops up the hole with a kind of cement, and leaves her victim
to his enforced companions, by whom he is quickly devoured.
I had almost forgotten to mention an object of interest in the district
of Pamplemousse--a tomb, in remembrance of the pretty story of “Paul and
Virginia,” the scene of which Bernardin de St. Pierre has laid in this
island.
The month of April was already coming round, and, excepting in my
excursions in the district of Pamplemousse and a few drives in and
about Mocca, I had seen nothing of the Mauritius. I was loth to quit the
island without at least visiting the most interesting points, but how to
manage this was the question. The friendly judge, Mr. Satis, invited me
to an excursion to the Tamarin waterfall. On the way we passed the
country house of Mr. Moon, who had been invited by Mr. Satis to join our
party.
We soon came to the waterfall, distant scarcely an English mile from Mr.
Moon’s country house; and just opposite to the cascade, under some shady
trees, Mr. Satis had taken care to have a good luncheon ready for us.
A more beautiful spot could scarcely have been chosen. We encamped on an
elevated plateau, 1160 feet above the level of the sea; on one side was
a gorge 800 feet deep, and at least 500 broad at its top, but narrowing
toward the sea. Into this gorge the stream leaps headlong, forming seven
beautiful waterfalls, two of them more than 100 feet in depth. It
rushes, foaming in headlong haste, through a region clothed with the
richest verdure, and closes in the neighboring sea its short but
troubled course. The appearance of the fall is said to be much more
majestic after long rains, when the smaller cascades become absorbed
into one great fall, and the whole mass of water rushes down into its
deep bed in only two leaps.
This delightful day will be always a bright spot in my memory, not only
for the beautiful spectacle I saw, but for the pleasure I derived from
my acquaintance with the amiable Moon family. I became as friendly with
Mrs. Moon as if I had known her a long time, and very glad was I when
she heartily invited me to stay some time in her house. Unhappily, the
time fixed for my departure for Madagascar was at hand, and I could only
spend three days with the family--three happy days, which made amends
for many previous disappointments.
In Mrs. Moon I not only made the acquaintance of a very amiable but of
a very accomplished lady; her talent for painting is quite remarkable.
At the request of the directors of the British Museum she has made
colored drawings of all the 120 different kinds of mangoes, and also of
the medicinal plants found in the Mauritius.
Mr. and Mrs. Moon, and their equally obliging relative, Mr. Caldwell,
were at once eager to show me the “lions” of their island, and the next
day they took me to “Mont Orgueil,” from which the best view of the
country and of the mountains can be had. On one side appears the “Morne
Brabant,” a mountain extending far out into the sea, and connected with
the main land only by a narrow tongue of earth; not far from this rises
the “Piton de la Rivière Noire,” the highest mountain in the island,
2564 feet. In another direction the “Tamarin” and “Rempart” rear their
heads; and in a fourth is to be seen a mountain with three tops, called
“Les Trois Mammelles.” Very near these summits there opens a deep
caldron, two of whose sides have almost completely fallen in, while the
remaining two rise high and steep. Besides these mountains there are the
“Corps de Garde du Port Louis de Mocca;” “Le Pouce,” with its narrow top
rising suddenly up out of a little mountain plateau, like a thumb or
finger; and the marvelous “Peter Booth.” This mountain takes its name
from the first man who ascended to its summit, which was long regarded
as inaccessible. Peter Booth managed to do this by shooting an arrow,
with a strong twine thereto attached, over the summit. Luckily, the
arrow fell upon an accessible spot on the other side of the mountain. To
this twine a strong rope was fastened, which was thus drawn over the
mountain-top and secured on both sides; and Peter Booth hauled himself
up by it, and attained at once the summit and the honor of immortalizing
his name. The last of the mountains seen from this point is the
“Nouvelle Découverte.”
The mountains of this island are remarkable for their manifold and
beautiful shapes. Some are in the form of broad perpendicular walls;
others rise like pyramids; some are covered to their summits with rich
forests, while others are only covered to half their height, and their
high rocky points rise abruptly, smooth and bald, from amid the green
sea of leaves. Beautiful valleys and deep gorges lie between, and above
appears a cloudless sky. I could scarcely tear myself away from the
charming picture, and the longer I gazed upon it, the greater the
beauties I discovered.
Our next, and, unfortunately, our last excursion was to the “Trou du
Cerf,” or “Stag’s Hole,” a crater of perfectly regular form, filled with
rich vegetation. This crater produces a very startling effect, for
nothing betrays its existence till the visitor stands upon its very
brink. Though the sides are steep enough, a path leads down to the
centre, which is filled with water during the rainy season.
From the edge of the crater the visitor has a striking view over three
fourths of the island. Before him rise majestic mountains with their
luxuriant virgin forests, from which the steep, smooth mountain-tops
come peering forth; wide-spreading plains, rich with sugar-cane
plantations, bright with green foliage all the year round; and the azure
sea, whose foaming waves fringe the coast with a margin of white foam--a
wondrous landscape, wanting only a few rivers to make its beauty
perfect.
The island does not suffer from want of water, but is too small to
possess a real river; this, however, has not prevented the inhabitants
from dignifying some of the larger streamlets with that title.
I left the Moon family with the greatest regret. It was through their
friendship that I was enabled to visit any points of interest in the
Mauritius: in the last few days of my stay I saw more than in the four
long months I had previously spent in the island.
In most houses, especially in those of the Creoles, people made all
kinds of protestations, and promised all manner of things; but the
promises remained unperformed. Not the smallest service was rendered,
not one of those attentions offered which are much more gratifying to a
stranger than the board and lodging which every one can procure by
paying for them. Still less did any among them think of making
excursions to the more beautiful points. The people themselves have no
idea that the beauties of Nature are pleasant things to see, and wonder
that strangers should expose themselves to the slightest fatigue merely
to see a waterfall, a mountain, or a fine view.
The men are solely and exclusively engaged in the business of acquiring
wealth as quickly as possible: sugar is a sort of golden calf to them,
and whatever has no reference to sugar is to them worthless. The women
are not much better. They have too little education, and too much of the
indolence so frequently found in hot countries to take an interest in
any serious subject. With the exception of the care of their own
valuable selves, the only thing that can rouse them into life is the
agreeable occupation of inventing or disseminating slanderous gossip;
and I have even found gentlemen who, in this charitable and exciting
amusement, would for a few moments forget the claims of sugar. I did not
escape the common fate. The amiable inhabitants, male and female, of
Port Louis, have absolutely done me the honor to represent me as a
_poisoner_; they absolutely asserted that I had been hired by the
English government to poison Mr. Lambert!
That gentleman had brought from Paris some very valuable presents for
the Queen of Madagascar, and had been so wanting in proper consideration
for the feelings of people generally as to neglect to tell every one
what the object of these presents really was. Of course, said Mauritian
good-nature, it must be some secret political movement of the French
cabinet, which the English government had found out, and had
commissioned me accordingly to put this dangerous man out of the way.
Stupid as this fiction was, it obtained credence among the Creoles, and
even among the French, and prevented me from undertaking an interesting
little journey. Before setting out on his journey to Madagascar, Mr.
Lambert went to Zanzibar and Mozambique, commissioned by the French
government to hire negroes and bring them to the Ile de Bourbon. This is
a new kind of mitigated slave-trade, discovered by France and
countenanced by England. The negro is only in servitude for five years,
and receives two dollars per month from his master, besides board and
lodging. After five years he has leave to continue toiling, or he may
die of hunger if he does not choose to work. He may buy himself this
privilege earlier for fifty dollars (between seven and eight pounds),
and may even return to his own country if he has money enough to take
him home.
Mr. Lambert, knowing my fondness for traveling, and my eagerness to
avail myself of every opportunity of seeing new lands, offered to take
me with him. The French agent heard of this, and immediately went to Mr.
Lambert to request him not to take me, alleging that I was employed as a
spy by the English government. Whence this hatred of Creoles and French
toward me, poor insignificant being that I was? The only reason I can
suggest is that I associated almost exclusively with English families.
But it was surely not my fault that English families sought me out, and
always treated me with great kindness when I accepted their invitations?
Why did not the French do likewise? All the favors and all the kindness
I received came from English people: among the French residents, only
Mr. Lambert and Mr. Genève showed me hearty friendship. The rest, like
the Creoles, contented themselves with empty promises. I must confess
that I contracted such a dislike to the French population of this part
of the world, that I could not make up my mind to visit the neighboring
island of Bourbon, gladly as I would, under other circumstances, have
done so.
I am glad indeed that, when the desire to travel awoke so strongly in me
fourteen years ago, I did not begin with the Mauritius. My zeal would
soon have grown cold. Well--perhaps my readers would have been saved
many a wearisome hour.
But then, on the other hand, I should not have visited Russia, and
learned the notable fact that, in this much-abused despotic empire,
there are many institutions more liberal in character than those of a
colony of England, the country especially proud of its progress.
And yet it is so--notably as regards the passport system. If a traveler
wishes to leave St. Petersburg, or any of the great towns in Russia, to
start on a journey, he has to give notice of his intention a week before
he departs. The traveler’s name is published three times in the
newspaper, so that, if he has debts, his creditors may take the
requisite steps. Here, on this vast and extensive island, a week is
considered far too short a notice. Three weeks are required, or, as in
Russia, a surety must be provided.
I was so little prepared to find such an old-world regulation in force
in an English colony, that I did not take any trouble about my passport.
A few days before my departure, however, I asked the French consul for
his _visa_, more, as I thought, as an attention than from necessity.
By chance, I heard at dinner the same day that this was not enough, and
that the permission of the police to depart was also necessary. I was
dining at Mr. O----’s, a partner of Mr. Lambert; and as several
gentlemen were present, I asked if any of them would have the kindness
to go through what appeared to me a mere formality on my behalf, and be
bail for me. To my great astonishment, the gallant, refined Frenchmen
exhausted themselves in empty excuses; not one would do me the service I
required. Next morning I went to Mr. Kerr, an Englishman, and in a few
hours I had my passport.
To my sorrow, I must confess that at last I was treated with lack of
courtesy by an Englishman, and that Englishman was the governor.
When I first arrived in the Mauritius, this gentleman had received me
very courteously; he even asked me to his country house, and had,
unasked, offered me a letter to the Queen of Madagascar. On my going to
him, a short time before my departure, for the promised letter, he
likewise put me off with an excuse. I was going to visit the Queen of
Madagascar in company with Mr. Lambert, and he pronounced my companion
to be politically a dangerous man. Verily great honor was mine in the
Mauritius; the French took me for an English spy, and the English
governor for a spy of the French government!
After all these pleasant experiences, no one will wonder when I say that
I looked forward with longing expectation to the moment when I might
leave this little island, with its still more little-minded inhabitants.
I will try to keep no other remembrance of it than the memory of its
natural beauty, and of the friendship and kindness I received from the
good people whose names I have mentioned, and from some others. I have
not had an opportunity of naming them all; for others, Messrs.
Fernyhough, Beke, Gonnet, etc., rendered me many a good service. To one
and all I return my heartiest thanks.