I immediately sent my baggage to the steamer, and hastened ashore to see my friends. An adjutant of the governor, Sir George Grey, came with an invitation from his excellency to visit him at his country house. I could not resist so flattering a summons, and spent the whole evening at his excellency’s. Sir George made me the tempting offer of a journey through the greater part of the Cape territory in his company; but nothing in the world would have induced me to give up Madagascar. I therefore gratefully declined his liberal offer, the value of which, however, I fully appreciated, and that, under different circumstances, I should have joyfully accepted. This kind gentleman seemed to take a real interest in my doings, and to be sorry that he could not in any way be of service to me. He made me promise to let him know by letter if I should require his recommendation or any other assistance on my journey.
On the morning of the 18th of November I was escorted back to the town to Mr. Lambert, and a few hours later we were again at sea.
CHAPTER VI.
Voyage to the Island of Bourbon.—The Mauritius.—Wealth of the Island.—The City of Port Louis.—Manner of Life among the Inhabitants.—Indian Servants.—Grand Dinners.—Country Houses.—Creole Hospitality.
I made the voyage from the Cape to the Mauritius in the handsome and entirely new steamer “Governor Higginson,” Captain French, of 150-horse power. The vessel had been built in shares, Mr. Lambert being the chief shareholder. He refused to let me pay for my passage, and would not have allowed me to do so even had he not possessed a single share. He declared that I was now his guest, and must remain so till I finally left the Mauritius.
Our voyage of 2400 sea-miles to the Mauritius was very prosperous. The sea was certainly stormy when we set sail, and we had to struggle much against contrary winds; still, it was said that no other steamer had ever made so quick a passage.
Except some small water-spouts, we saw nothing remarkable till we reached the island of Bourbon.
On this steamer I learned the amount of the current expenses of navigation. Without reckoning coals, it exceeds £500 per month. The crew consisted of forty-seven persons. The consumption of coal was about twenty-five tons in twenty-four hours. These coals are in some places exceedingly dear; at the Cape, for instance, where they cost £2 10s. per ton.
On the morning of the 1st of December we discovered land, and in the afternoon cast anchor in the little-known harbor of St. Denis, the capital of the island of Bourbon.
This pretty little island, also called Ile de la Réunion, lies between the Mauritius and Madagascar, in latitude 20° 21° south, and longitude 52° 53° east. It is forty English miles in length by thirty in breadth, and has about 200,000 inhabitants. Discovered in 1545 by Mascarenhas, a Portuguese, it was occupied by the French in 1642; from 1810 to 1814 it was under English dominion, and since that time it has been a French possession.