St Pierre is a considerable village, but widely scat tered by reason of the gardens, with which every par ticular property is surrounded. Some of the houses are neatly built of stone, and have double stories. Cotton, of an excellent quality, was formerly the principal commodity of this parish ; but since colonial produce has become of so little value in the Euro pean markets, their attention is now chiefly confined to the cultivation of corn, two-thirds of which are annually exported to the Isle of France. Here the climate is warmer than in any other part of the island ; and from the nakedness of the country, the form of the habitations, the greatness of the tempera ture, and the clearness of the sky—rarely oversha dowed by a cloud—one might imagine himself in Ara bia, or in the centre of Africa.
St Paul is the most considerable village next to St Denis, and the best peopled parish of the island. It is surrounded on the land side by a semicircular rampart, extending nearly six miles from the Pointe du quaie Houssaie to the Riviere des Galets, and varying in height from 100 to 250 feet. The town is built at the bottom of a steep mountain, on both sides of a fresh water lake. This lake might easily be con verted into a safe and commodious harbour ; and for this reason it ought to have decided the French go vernment, when they tcok possession of Bourbon, to fix the capital of the island at St Paul. The road stead has goud anchorage ground of a hard sand, reaching two miles from the shore. Its figure is se micircular, a little open, and it is well protected on the north by a cape, which forms the mouth of the Riviere des Galets, and on the south-west by rocks and the Pointe du quaie Houssaie. The other pa rishes have a fruitful soil, and are in general well cul tivated, but possess nothing deserving of not•ce, ex cept St Leu, which is famous for its coffee, its wealth, and the inhospitable disposition of its inhabitants.
The climate of Bourbon varies greatly in different situations. While the inhabitants on some parts of the coast are exposed to all the inconveniences of the tropical heats, those on the more elevated regions enjoy all the richness and coolness of the temperate zones ; and in the Plaine des Cafres the cold is so in tense, that it is very dangerous to enter upon it when in the least degree overheated. An icy and sudden wind from the neighbouring mountains may in a mo ment prove fatal to the constitution ; and the bones of men and of animals, which are to be found in the cavities by the way side, attest its pernicious influ ence. No where, however, is the climate so hot, as might be expected from the latitude of the island. The air is pleasant and wholesome, and the inhabi tants, in general, live to a very great age. They are refreshed by continual breezes from the mountains, and the snows, which accumulate during the winter upon these heights, furnish, during the summer, a plentiful supply of water to the parched herbage of the plains. But Bourbon owes its salubrity, in a great measure, to the hurricanes, which purify and cleanse the atmosphere of every deleterious and noxi ous ingredient. They have, in general, one or two of these every year, which seldom exceed two days in continuance. They happen between the months of December and March ; and it has been observed by the inhabitants, that the want of these periodical storms is invariably succeeded by unwholesome sea sons. Their approach is prognosticated by a fright
ful and hollow noise in the mountains, accompanied by a dead calm, both at sea and on shore ; and the night preceding the storm the moon appears of a crimson colour. By these prognostics the Bour bonese are enabled to make a timely provision against their consequences. Though it is an opinion that earthquakes are the attendants of volcanoes, and are most frequent and violent about the commencement and extinction of their combustion, yet this island has been seldom visited by any of these terrible con cussions ; hut has enjoyed, in this respect, more t•an quillity than many countries less exposed to volcanic eruptions.
In Bourbon, the soil is no where of any great depth, there being immediately underneath a black burnt rock, resembling the Pays Bride : but though not deep, it is wonderfully fruitful, producing corn, coffee, sugar, cotton, and cloves, in great abundance ; and, in 1763, upon an extent of 125,909 acres of cul tivated land, there was gathered as much cassava as would feed their slaves, 1,155,000 pound weight of corn, 844,100 pounds of rice, 2,879.000 pounds of maize, and 2,535,100 pounds of coffee, which last was bought up by the French East India Company, at about Sd. per pound. But this abundance is ow ing more to the fertility of the soil, than the industry of the colonists. Their system of agriculture, though superior to that of the Mauritius, and thc neigh bouring islands, would still admit of great improve ments. The plantations of cotton of a superior qua lity may be greatly extended ; and, indeed, the quan tity of produce of every description might be consi derably increased. The coffee plant, now cultivated in Bourbon, was originally brought from Yemen in Arabia, in 1718. It is the principal production of the island, and was formerly a great source of wealth to the inhabitants, and of revenue to the government. Before the French revolution, it was reckoned little inferior in quality to that of Mocha; but since that time it has been rapidly degenerating ; and from the interruptions of commerce, and the difficulty and risk of exportation arising from the continued warfare be tween Great Britain and the mother country, coffee has almost ceased to be an object of attention. Its cultivation has been much neglected, and it is now inferior to the coffee of the Antilles, or even to that of St Domingo, which has, in general, been held in very little estimation. The clove tree was first in troduced into this island by Al. Poivre in 1772 ; but it has never been brought to equal that of the Mo luccas or Amboyna. It is, however, a considerable article of commerce, and, in some years, will produce 150,000 lb. weight ; but, at other times, it will scarcely exceed a third of that quantity. Bourbon produces also white pepper, gum-benjamin, aloes, and tobacco ; and the honey of St Pierre, which they call oriel vert, passes for the best in the world. It abounds with palm and other kinds of wood, many of which yield odoriferous gums and resins ; and its fruits are guavas, bananas, oranges, citrons, and ta marinds. The total value of the agricultural pro duce of the island has been estimated at 1,430,800 dollars.