Beside a gigantic stone-cross which we encountered while in quest of Mrs. Newell’s grave, there were two or three similar ones in other parts of the cemetery, all of which were well proportioned and handsomely finished shafts, round in form, and made of the native granite, about twenty feet in height, with cross-pieces six or seven feet long. The effect of this symbol of our Christian faith, as it was seen at different points above the graves and monuments, was religiously sublime, and seemed to us to be not only a token of Christ’s love for us, but also an earnest of the Christian’s final rest in heaven. A Mahommedan funeral, which we met in the avenue of filao-trees on our return, was a wild, strange, and mournful scene. The coffin, which was placed on a sort of bier, and carried on the shoulders of men, who were walking at a brisk pace, was shaped like the roof of a house, with a ridge-pole-like top. It was draped with calico of a pale ochreous yellow, and wreaths of pink roses were hanging down on either side. A turbaned priest walked at the head of the bier, but the motley throng of men accompanying the remains, paid little heed either to order or propriety. They looked far more like the ordinary street crowds in the East than a funeral procession, and were talking with great volubility. Occasionally the voice of the priest was heard above the din, gravely chanting in a half monotonous tone; but the main feature of the scene, and that which the most painfully impressed us, was the thoroughly indifferent air of all composing the procession, their conversation evidently being upon business and other worldly matters. This was the first heathen funeral we had ever witnessed; but we can conceive of no circumstance that could have led us to more sincere and hearty self-gratulation that we had been born and educated in a land of Bible religion and Christian influences. FOOTNOTE: [3] Madagascar was formerly thus called by the natives. CHAPTER IV. There is no lovelier spot in the world than Mauritius, nor can any other land boast of mountain scenery more sublime or picturesque; but it seemed to us while we remained there that the heat vied in fierceness with that which we had experienced at Loando, although it was by no means as balefully withering in its influence. We were told, however, that the summer heat would not attain its full force until the months of January and February; and this, together with the burning atmosphere, and the alarming nearness of the hurricane season,--to say nothing of the prevalence of the cholera at Port Louis,--inclined us to bid a cheerful farewell to the island.