rctic wear! Of course they are quite right to be careful,
and it is a comfort to know that with proper care and the precautions
taught by experience there is no reason why, under the blessing of God, a
European should not enjoy as good health in Mauritius as in other places
with a better reputation. There are nearly always cases of fever in Port
Louis, and three or four deaths a day from it; but then the native white
and creole population is very large, and the proportion is not so
alarming.

One of the things which I think are not generally understood is, how
completely the whole place is French. It is not in the least like any
colony which I have ever seen. It is a comfortable settlement, where
families have intermarried and taken root in the soil, regarding it with
quite as fond and fervent an affection as we bear to our own country.
Instead of the apologies for, and abuse of, a colony (woe to you if _you_
find fault, however!) with which your old colonist greets a new arrival, I
find here a strong patriotic sentiment of pride and love, which is
certainly well merited. When you take into consideration the tiny
dimensions of the island, its distance from all the centres of
civilization, its isolation, the great calamities which have befallen it
from hurricane, drought and pestilence, and the way it has overlived them
all, there is every justification for the pride and glory of its
inhabitants in their fair and fertile islet. Never were such good roads: I
don't know how they are managed or who keeps them in order, except that I
believe everything in the whole place is done by government. Certainly,
government ought to be patted on the back if those neat, wide, well-kept
roads are its handiwork. But, as I was saying, it is a surprise to most
English comers to find how thoroughly French the whole place is, and you
perceive the change first and chiefly in the graceful and courteous
manners of the people of all grades and classes. Instead of the delightful
British stare and avoidance of strangers, every one, from the highest
official to the poorest peasant, has a word or bow of greeting for the
passer-by; and especially is this genial civility to be admired and
noticed at the railway-stations and in the carriages. You never hear
English spoken except among a few officials, and a knowledge of French is
the first necessity of life here. Unhappily, there is a patois in use
among the creoles and other natives which is very conf