The real circumstances of the case were entirely different. If the poor coolies had not found an influential protector, the planter-judge would have decided the affair in favor of the employer. The appearance of the official personage upon the stage compelled the judges to show at least an appearance of justice; and so they saved themselves by finding out a FORGERY, for which, in any other country, the judge and his clerk would not only have lost their places to a certainty, but have been provided with board and lodging, and a restricted number of companions, in a certain great public establishment.
The planter got off unpunished, though, even according to the Mauritian laws, framed with great regard for the planter’s convenience, he should have been subjected to a fine and a year’s imprisonment.
To crown his worthy action, he cheated the poor coolies, and mulcted them of a month’s pay, under the pretext that they had done little work, broken some of their implements, and stolen others.
This paltry person is very much looked up to in the Mauritius, and is received with pleasure in society. He is rich certainly, and is a regular attendant at church, and here, as elsewhere, people have peculiar ideas as to wealth and religion—ideas which plain honest folks are too dull to appreciate.
I would not quit the district of Pamplemousse without visiting the Botanical Garden, which is under the superintendence of the accomplished botanist and director, Mr. Duncan.
Scarcely had I spent a quarter of an hour with this amiable man, a Scotchman by birth, before he invited me, in the most friendly manner, to spend a few days in his house, that I might be able to examine the treasures of the garden at my leisure. Though I had become somewhat careful in the matter of Mauritian invitations, I could not resist the real good-nature of Mr. Duncan. I staid with him, and had no cause to repent it. Mr. Duncan was a man of a few words, but he did what he could to make my residence in his house agreeable. When he saw that I was collecting insects, he himself helped me in my search, and often brought me some new specimens for my collection.
I walked several times with him through the Botanical Garden, which is very rich in plants and trees from all parts of the world. Here I saw for the first time trees and shrubs from Madagascar, indigenous to that island. I particularly admired a water-plant, the Hydrogiton fenestralis, whose leaves, three inches in length and one in breadth, are quite pierced through, as if by artificial means pieces had been broken out. A tree, the Adansonia digitata, is remarkable, not for its beauty, but for its ugliness. The stem is of uniform clumsy thickness to a height of eight or ten feet; then it becomes suddenly thin: the bark is of a light, unsightly color, quite smooth and almost shining.
There were many spice-trees, and a few specimens of the beautiful water-palm, which I have already seen and described in my “Second Voyage round the World.”
I am no botanist, and therefore can give no detailed description of the garden; but competent persons have assured me that it is very judiciously and scientifically laid out. To look at the varied and numerous plants, and the extensive plantations, sometimes requiring great labor to cultivate, no one would believe that Mr. Duncan has very restricted resources at his command. The government only allows him twenty-five laborers, Malabars and Bengalees, who certainly do not get through as much work as eight or ten strong Europeans would accomplish.
As I am on the subject of plants and trees, I will mention the fruits produced in the Mauritius. Among the most common are many kinds of bananas and mangoes, citchy, butter-fruit, splendid pine-apples, sweet melons and watermelons. The watermelons here attain an enormous size, some weighing more than thirty pounds, but they have little flavor. Peaches are abundant, but require much care to bring them to perfection. Pomegranates are also found of great size, besides papayas and other similar fruits. I have described all these in my former works, to which I accordingly refer my readers.