_I.--Miseries of Slavery_

In 1768 Bernardin de Saint Pierre (see FICTION) was sent
out to Mauritius, which was then a French colony called
the Isle of France, to fortify it against the English. He
found it was not worth fortifying, and, after an absence
of three years, he returned to France, and in 1773
published his famous "Voyage to the Isle of France," and
thereby made his name. It gave him a position similar to
that which Defoe occupies in England, for by means of it
he introduced into French literature the exotic element
which he afterwards expanded in "Paul and Virginia." He
was the first French writer of genius to apply the art of
description in depicting the life and scenery of
far-distant lands. Finally, it is interesting to remark on
the general change which has taken place in the treatment
of subject native races since the time when Saint Pierre
wrote, even though such atrocities as came to light in the
recent Congo scandal may be still burning themselves out
in isolated instances.

PORT LOUIS, _August 6, 1768_. The Isle of France was discovered by a
Portuguese, and taken over by the Dutch; but they abandoned it in 1712,
and settled at the Cape of Good Hope, and the French then took
possession of it.

The island was a desert when we took it over, and the first settlers
were a few honest, simple farmers from our colony of Bourbon, who lived
together very happily until 1760, when the English drove us out of
India. Then, like a flood, all the scoundrels, rogues and broken men
hunted from our Indian possessions, invaded the island and threw
everything into disorder and ruin. Everybody is envious and
discontented; everybody wishes to make a fortune at once and depart. And
this is an island with no commerce and scarcely any agriculture, where
the only money found is paper money! Yet they all say they will be rich
enough to return to France in a year's time. They have been saying this
for many years. Everything is in a state of squalid neglect. The streets
are neither paved nor planted with trees; the houses are merely tents of
wood, moved from place to place on rollers; the windows have no glass
and no curtains, and it is rare that one finds within even a few poor
pieces of furniture.

There are only four hundred farmers. The rest of the white population
are mainly idlers, who gather together in the square from noon till
evening and pass away the time in gambling and