The Isle of France is about fifty miles in circumference. The soil is argillaceous, of a reddish colour, here and there volcanic, and full of stones except in the low valleys. It produces corn, millet, rice, pulse, tamarinds, lemons, sugar canes, coffee, mustard, honey, manioc, salt, and palm-oil; the last of which, however, is only fit for burning in lamps. According to the estimation of M. Charpentier de Cossigny, an officer of engineers in the French service, who resided in this island, it delivered in the year 1782, into the king’s storehouses, 811,288 pounds of rye, 662,942 pounds of maize, 85,668 pounds of rice, and 210,096 pounds of dried pease and beans. These articles are entirely consumed in the country; and it thence appears that the Isle of France is exceedingly well cultivated, and supplied in abundance with every thing necessary for the inhabitants. The timber which grows on this island is excellent, and consists of the following kinds: _Sanayu_, iron-wood, black ebony, stink-wood, _Oata_, the olive-tree, apple-tree, colophonium-wood (_Legno colofane_), _Takamuka_, dark-grey cinnamon tree, white cinnamon-tree, pine-tree, and European oak. All these kinds of wood are here indigenous; but there are a great many others which have been transplanted from India, such as the _Mava_ or _Mangueira_ tree, the tamarind-tree, the _Agati_, and a sort of Acacia without prickles, which came originally from Malabar. All these trees, and a variety of others the names of which I do not remember, thrive exceedingly well in the Isle of France. The case is the same with the cinnamon-tree from Ceylon, the nutmeg and the clove trees from the Moluccas, and the _Raven-Sára_ from Madagascar[250]. All these productions are found here in the king’s garden, where they thrive remarkably well; but it cannot be denied that they have lost somewhat of their original vigour, which may perhaps be owing to the volcanic nature of the soil in which they are planted. The French, however, procure such a quantity of these spices, that they have no occasion to purchase any of them from the Dutch. The inspector of the king’s garden, and the before-mentioned M. Charpentier de Cossigny, have, by their botanical knowledge and unwearied industry, been the chief cause of these foreign productions being cultivated in the island. In a certain district of it called _Pampelmousse_, I observed that private individuals cultivated these spices in their gardens, from which they already derive some profit. When I paid a visit to Messrs. Boucher and Istace, who were established as clergymen in the district of _Pampelmousse_, I saw with real pleasure that they were both, busily employed in the cultivation of these exotics; and that they were well rewarded, by their thriving condition, for the trouble they had taken to rear them.