THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS , AND THE ISLE OP PRANCE* 9

count of a fhoal which runs out nearly two leagues to fea from the north nortpart of the ifland, on which there is but little water. • , „ n a : n a t-

The 21 ft we entered the Strait of Banca, the currents then running

We reached the Strait of Sunda on the ift of April, and left.it on thewind from the north-weft, which afterwards veered to the nort , me S ^

till on the 14th it fwelled to a tempeft. For twelve hours we were driven ^ng,^egunnel conftantly under water, and were obliged to throw our cont i nue d

lighten the vefiel. The wind at length abating, we again limitedif ,our courfe towards the ifland Rodrigues, which we defcried on t e 2 • ,

to leeward of this ifland to avoid the Englifh cruizers; and, a ter coa 1 g ,fouth fide of the Ifle of France , during the whole of the ift of May, we call anchor

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longitude fifty-five degrees eight minutes eaft of Paris . From nor g

is about fourteen leagues, its breadth ten, and its circumference ort y* , , t L e

The Ifle of France has two ports; but though in my two voyages hither ^

circuit of the ifland, at only a Ihort diftance from the coaft, 1 1 noPort, or that on the eaftern fide of the ifland. 1 he air is temperate, an ethe pens* ; the heat of the climate is powerfully felt only in the town, w' rounding mountains prevent the cooling influence of the fouth-we win ‘

The fouth-weft generally prevails at the Ifle of France , except from . .

April, in which interval the winds are variable; this period alfo is the rainy lea o .At times violent hurricanes occur: the rivers are forced from their beds, phf 11 ^ antrees are torn up by the roots, and houfes are levelled with the ground; veiled arenot always in fafety even in the port, I myfelf having fern fome on thefe occafionsdriven on Ihore. The months in which hurricanes are common are thofe betwemthe end of September and March; they owe then- origintending with the monfoons; and to a fimilar caufe muft e u gin the China feas. , , ,1 „„ „ 1

The ifland is furrounded with reefs, which in fome places exten ino 1 " 6 . . rf*from fliore; the fouth fide is more fteep, and the fea breaks agamft it, excep 1few fpots. . ,. .a. ,.

Every thing denotes the exiftence, in fome former time, of a volcano m this Hlano;the ground is alinoft in every part overfpread with volcanic ftones, round, oi variousfize, generally compact, but occafionally porous, and of a greyilh colour, inclining oblack. The mountains are numerous, and feem to have been . convulfed, Iplit, anbroken by earthquakes, but they are not of volcanic origin; their ftrata are more .orlefs inclined towards the horizon; according to the general difpofition or t e peciesof ftone of which they are compofed. # __

The foil is tolerably good, but dry *, in many cantons it is of a reddiih co our.earth is not worked deep, and is broken up with a pick-axe: the roots 01 p ants ribeneath the ftones, and thus are kept cool and beyond the parching influence o efun. Wheat is here cultivated, barley, oats, rice, maize, .manioc (marnot lndorumj,cotton of excellent quality, the fugar-cane, indigo, and coftee, the lalt interior to matof Bourbon. Here alfo plantations of cloves are feen, furrounded by hedges of jam-rofa to defend them from the wind, by which they would otherwne be readily broken.

* A Creole term for ho-ufes and plantations in the country.

N 2

Nutmeg