RgUNION, Isle de la, 01 do la ra-0-ne-66, or ISLE OF BOURBON, in the Indian Ocean, about 400 miles east of Madagascar, a French insular colony, with an area of 970 square miles, its length being 45 miles and breadth 33 miles. It was discovered by Mas carenhas, a Portuguese, in 1545, who called it by his own name. The French took possession in 1649 and gave it the name of Bourbon. It was captured by the British in 1810 and re stored to France in 1815. The island is of vol canic origin, composed of two enormous vol canic mountains, in one of which the fire is extinct; the other is still in activity. The loftiest summit, Le Piton de Neige or the Snowy Pike, is about 10,000 feet above the level of the sea. The climate is excessively hot from November to April; the evenings, ever, are refreshed by the sea breezes, and the mornings by the land breezes. The capital is Saint Denis, a pretty town; pop. 23,972. Other urban centres are Saint Pierre (29,481), Saint Paul (18,646) and Saint Louis (13,346). The towns are under French municipal law. The island has a lye& with 25 teachers and 350 pupils. There are 163 elementary schools with
373 teachers and 15,837 pupils. The chief port, Pointe-des-Galets, is connected by a coast rail way of 80 miles with Saint Benoit on the one hand and Saint Pierre on the other. In this railway- was taken over by the state. The total value of imports in 1916 was $4,679,413, and of exports, $6,634,901. In the same year 91 vessels of 216,638 tons entered and 92 vessels of 220,054 tons cleared at the ports of the island. The public debt is about $900,000. The principal articles of export are coffee, sugar, vanilla, gums, lichens for dyeing, cotton, hides, etc. Sugar is by far the most valuable export; vanilla comes next. Commerce is impeded by the want of good harbors. The population con sists of 173,8a, comprising 159,218 8,341 British Indians, 1,868 natives of Ma car, 2,927 Africans, 884 Chinese and 584 Ara bians. Here, as elsewhere, the French have not shown themselves successful colonizers. It would appear that only the British, Americans and Russians possess this faculty to any high degree.