urrounded
with many hundred acres of swampy land, through which run four or five
little streams from the back hills; in some places it is from 20 to 25
fathoms deep, as reported, and is well stocked with eels, prawns and a
small red fish called _dame-cere_, originally brought from China. The
eels and prawns are indigenous, and reach to a large size; the latter are
sometimes found of six inches long without the beard, and the eels
commonly offered for sale ran from six to twenty, and some were said to
attain the enormous weight of eighty pounds. This fish is delicate
eating, and the largest are accounted the best; its form has more
affinity to the conger than to our fresh-water eel, and much resembles,
if it be not exactly the same species caught in the small streams of
Norfolk Island in the Pacific Ocean. Whence it is that fresh-water fish
should be found on small islands, frequently at several hundred leagues
from other land, will probably long remain one of the secrets of nature;
if it were granted that they might come by sea, the difficulty would
scarcely be less to know how they should have mounted precipices of many
hundred feet, to reach lakes at the tops of mountains where they are not
uncommonly seen.

Five or six miles to the south of the Refuge lies another lake of fresh
water, called the _Grand Bassin_; its situation is more elevated than
Vacouas, and except the ridges and tops of mountains, it seemed to be in
the highest part of the island. This basin is nearly half a mile in
diameter, of a form not far from circular, and is certainly deep; but
that it should be 84 fathoms as was said, is scarcely credible. The banks
are rocky, and appear like a mound thrown up to keep the water from
overflowing; and the surrounding land, particularly to the south, being
lower than the surface of the water, gives the Grand Bassin an appearance
of a cauldron three-quarters full. No perceptible stream runs into it,
but several go out, draining through hollow parts of the rocky bank, and
forming the commencement of so many rivers; the Rivieres des Anguilles,
Dragon, and du Poste fall into the sea on the south or south-east parts
of the island; the R. des Aigrettes before mentioned, and the R. Noire
which runs westward, rise not far off, but their asserted subterraneous
communication with the basin is doubtful. No great difference takes place
in the level of the water except after heavy rains; when the supply,
which must princip