THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND 
 
 MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID 
 
I 
 
 b 
 
THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
Digitized by tine Internet Archive 
 
 in 2008 with funding from 
 
 IVIicrosoft Corporation 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/epidemicsofmauriOOanderich 
 
THE EPIDEMICS 
 
 OF 
 
 MAUEITIUS 
 
 WITH A 
 
 DESCRIPTIVE AND HISTORICAL ACCOUxNT 
 OF THE ISLAND 
 
 BY 
 
 DANIEL E. A.NDEKSON 
 
 M.D.LOND. AND PARIS, B.A., B.8C. LOND., F.R S.K., F.R.G.S. ; 
 EX-LAUREATE OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE, MAURITIUS ; 
 THE HONYMAN-JILLESPIE LECTURER AND RESEARCH SCHOLAR IN MEDICINE ; 
 LECTURER AT MANSFIELD COLLEGE, OXFORD, AND TO THE BOARD OF STUDY FOR THE 
 PREPARATION OF MISSIONARIES, KINO's COLLKGE, LONDON ; 
 SENT BY THE HONYMAN-GILLESPIE TRUST ON SCIENTIFIC MISSION TO S. AMERICA, PANAMA 
 CANAL, AND THE VEST IVDIES, 1912; 
 HON. SECRETARY OF THE INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CONGRESS (TROP. DISEASES) 1913; 
 A VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE BRIT, MED. ASSOC. CONGRESS (TROP. DISEASES) 1914; 
 , LATE PHYSICIAN TO TWO HOSPITALS ; 
 
 LATE SUPERINTENDENT OF THE M^CALL MEDICAL MISSION, PARIS ; 
 
 LATE EXAMINER AND LECTURER TO ST. JOHN AMBULANCE ASSOCIATION, 
 
 LOND. AND PARIS. 
 
 WITH MAPS AND OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 H. K. LEWIS & CO. LTD., 
 
 136, GOWEK STEEET, LONDON, W.C. 1. 
 1918. 
 
 IVI360381 
 
l\r\<c:>^ u 
 
 .8 
 
 P\^ 
 
 A Review of Docto?^ D. E. Ajidersons book on ' The 
 Epidemics of Mauritius,' by L4on Lauret, m 
 ' The Mauricien; April Ithfl^f. '^ 
 
 ONE of our fellow -conntrymen, Doctor D. E. Anderson, a 
 resident for many years past in London, has recently 
 published a book on 'The Epidemics of Mauritius.' It in- 
 cludes moie than what the title denotes, for it contains two pre- 
 liminary chapters on the Geography and History of the Island, 
 and is written in a popular style so that the common reader can 
 understand it. 
 
 ' Doctor Anderson is one of those Mauritians who far from 
 hiding the place of their birth take every opportunity to let it be 
 known that they were born in the Southern latitudes, in that little 
 colony which has unfottunately lost so much of its pristine 
 splendour. The Doctor's fidelity to his native Island is most touch- 
 ing; it is that of a good son who cherishes his mother through 
 fortune and misfortune. That is a virtue not to be found in every- 
 body, but he inherits it from his exemplary parents. His father, 
 born in Glasgovr, founded in Mauritius a delightful home, where he 
 and his w4fe (of French origin) brought up their family in a lovely 
 spot in Moka, by the side of the Grand River Glen. Our author 
 refers to that Christian home, Glenside, in simple and loving 
 language which makes one all the more regret the fact that that 
 "home" no longer exists, for the old parents are dead, and the 
 children are married and are scattered over the four corners of the 
 Universe, but all have done honour to their name by their merits 
 and their virtues. 
 
 ' In the nineties, Doctor Anderson, who many years before had 
 been a Laureate of the Royal ('ollege, returned to Mauritius for 
 a couple of months, and devoted a large portion of his time in 
 studying the endemic and epidemic diseases of the Island. He 
 also took useful notes concerning everything which affected our 
 interests, and he added to his own experience that of his fellow- 
 physicians. Extracts from the publications and conclusions of Sir 
 Ronald Ross and Doctor Meldrum. on the MalariaL Epidemic, of 
 Doctor Bolton on the Sanitation of the Island, of the late Doctor 
 Poupinel on Leprosy, and of many others on Cholera, Beri-beri, 
 Plague, Diphtheria, and Mosquitoes, are copiously and precisely 
 stated, and are illustrated by means of charts, statistical tables, and 
 engravings. 
 
 'Our author renders full homage to the original researches of 
 Doctors Rouget, Keisler, Clarenc, Lafont, and de Chazal. 
 
 'Professor W. J. Simpson, of King's College, London, in a 
 preface to our countryman's book, states that no monograph on the 
 Epidemics of Mauritius had been written before, and though he does 
 not forget to mention the official reports and works of the ' Soci^tt? 
 M^dicale," from which our author gathered much useful informa- 
 tion, yet he praises him for having traced in chronological order the 
 epidemics which ravaged our Island, and for having followed their 
 march and progress from district to district, and sought out the 
 
 f^3^C3g/ 
 
etiology of these diseases, and compared the treatment then 
 adopted for their cure with the findings of the present-day science. 
 Professor Simpson also tells us that Doctor Anderson was amongst 
 the first doctors to discover Laveran's parasite, the Plasmodium 
 Malarice, in 1890, in the blood of patients at the Civil Hospital in 
 Port Louis. On his return to London he published his researches in 
 the Lancet (August, 1890) and expressed his views on the origin of 
 Malarial Fever in Mauritius, and drew the attention of the 
 Mauritian Government to the pollution of our rivers, to which he 
 attributed the frequency of Typhoid Fever, and also the dissemina- 
 tion of Cholera germs in 1851:-1862. 
 
 ' It would be difficult for a Mauritian not to interest himself in 
 the Sugar Cane, and Dr. Anderson, knowing that that is the source, 
 of our riches, and that we live by the sugar industry, paid special 
 attention, during a recent visit to the West Indies, to the diseases 
 of the sugar cane in those regions, and with the help of expert 
 opinion he has given us a very useful chapter on that subject. 
 
 ' Here also was his opportunity for a description of the animated 
 scene around a sugar-mill during the "Coupe" or harvest. Dr. 
 Anderson delights in the picturesque, which detracts naught from 
 an interesting book, but on the contrary lends charm to a scientific 
 work. 
 
 ' In the chapter on Reminiscences, our author has not forgotten 
 his Alma Mater, the Royal College, which has educated so many 
 Mauritians of talent. He was a student under the rectorships of 
 Redl, Bruce (afterwards Sir Charles), and Besant (afterwards Sir 
 Walter, the celebrated novelist), and was with Isaac Paddle, 
 Papillon, and Joachim, the first pupil in Maui'itius to take the B.A. 
 of the London University. He recalls to memory a singular speech 
 which Sir Charles Bruce made when he became Governor of the 
 Island ; the ideas therein expressed were in such marked contrast 
 with his former teaching when Rector, and with those of his pre- 
 decessor, Professor Besant, who by pen and mouth aimed at raising 
 the masses to a higher level, that it showed how a well-balanced 
 mind may be influenced by the Caste system which prevails in 
 India, where Sir Charles had spent several years in the interval 
 between his rectorship and governorship. He said in that speech, 
 delivered in Port Louis : " No lad nor girl whose parents were 
 artisans or servants, should aspire to rise to a higher status in society 
 than the one in which he or she was born ! " What would have 
 become of so many of our great nien who have risen from the ranks ! 
 
 ' Dr. Anderson, like most of us, had no admiration for Rector 
 Redl, Besant's predecessor, but he admits that it was under the 
 former's administration that those great Professors Besant, Guthrie, 
 Pinn, and MacMahon, from the principal Universities in Great 
 Britain, were professors at the Royal College. 
 
 Our author dwells with fond respect on the attractive pecu- 
 liarities of the two French Professors, Doyen and Cahagnet, and on 
 the amiable personality of the second usher, Mr. Standley, but he 
 calls the senior usher " Cerberus." "Requiescant omnes in pace ! " 
 
 ' I lay down with regret Doctor Anderson's book. Read it for 
 yourself, it will certainly instruct you and retain your interest to 
 the very end. It is, I like to repeat it, the work of one who 
 passionately loves his country; it is refreshing to come across such 
 an Author ; it is more than a book, it is a good action. 
 
 '{Signed) Leon Laubet.' 
 
FROM SIR RONALD ROSS, K.C.B., F.R.S. 
 
 36 Harley House, London, N. WA, 
 
 'ilst December, 1918. 
 Dr. D. E. Anderson, 
 
 Greenhank, Merton Lane, Highgate, N. 6. 
 
 Dear Dr. Anderson, 
 
 Many thanks for sending me youi* book on Mauritius, which 
 will be a valuable addition to my small Mauritius library, especially 
 as it mentions a lot of my friends there. 
 
 With compliments, yours sincerely, 
 
 RONALD ROSS. 
 
 FROM PROFESSOR CASTELLANI. 
 
 Hotel Somerset, Orchard Street, W. 
 25/1/19. 
 Dear Dr. Anderson, 
 
 I have just come back to London, and found the copy of 
 The Epidemics of Mauritius you have so kindly sent me. It is an 
 extremely interesting book : allow me to congratulate you most 
 sincerely on it. 
 
 With kind regards and many thanks. 
 
 Yours sincerely, A. CASTELLANI. 
 
 FROM SIR HENRY HESKETH BELL, 
 
 Governor of Mauritius. 
 
 Conservative Club, St. James's, S. W, 
 10th June, 1919. 
 Dear Dr. Anderson, 
 
 Many thanks for letting me see the excellent review of your 
 book, by M. Lauret. Its praise is fully justified. 
 
 With kind regards, sincerely yours, 
 
 H. HESKETH BELL. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 By Professor W. J, Simpson, c.m.g., m.d., f.r.c.p., d.p.h. 
 
 THIS book was originally written in 1911 as a Thesis for 
 the decree of Doctor of Medicine in the London Uni- 
 versity. Yielding to repeated requests that the work should 
 be published, and having obtained permission from the 
 University to do so, Dr. Anderson has prefixed two interest- 
 ing chapters on the Geography, Industries, and History of 
 Mauritius. 
 
 A knowledge of the topography, climatology, geology, 
 politics, mode of government, industry, and commerce of a 
 country is important in the study of epidemics. 
 
 It makes a great difference to an island situated in the 
 Tropics whether it is in the path of cyclones and trade 
 winds or not ; whether the prevailing winds are cool, or come 
 from the Equator, and whether they pass over flat and 
 marshy lands before they reach populous towns and 
 villages ; whether there are ranges of high mountains on 
 the plateaus or watersheds to arrest the clouds and attract 
 the rain ; whether this watershed is covered with trees ; 
 whether the rivers are always more or less full, and dash 
 down deep chasms and glens in their impetuous course 
 towards the ocean, or flow sluggishly in the dry season, 
 leaving pools and puddles along their beds where mosquitoes 
 may breed ; whether the streams are bordered by rank grass 
 and thick undergrowth ; whether the soil is clayey or rocky, 
 
Ti THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 retaining stagnant water in marshes and on subsoil strata ; 
 whether the climate is hot and damp during many months 
 of the year ; whether Anophelines besides Culicines abound 
 in the country ; whether rats and other vermin are plentiful ; 
 whether whites, blacks, and Asiatics live in close proximity 
 to one another ; whether there is a great gulf between 
 capitalists and labourers ; whether the former get laws passed 
 to their own profit and leave the poor to eke out a hand-to- 
 mouth existence ; whether the staple food of the country 
 is dear ; whether the industries necessitate the immigration 
 of coolies from other countries ; whether the commerce 
 of the place exposes the people to infectious diseases im- 
 ported from endemic centres ; whether the cities, towns, 
 villages, and camps are well drained, and their sanitation 
 kept under constant control by an organized and trained 
 sanitary service ; whether extensive deforestation is allowed ; 
 and, finally, whether the rivers supplying drinking water 
 are kept free from pollution. 
 
 On reading the account of the diiFerent epidemics that 
 have devastated Mauritius, it will be noted how each of the 
 above-mentioned points played an important part, singly or 
 collectively, in one or in all of these diseases. 
 
 This work will be useful in more ways than one : 
 First, because no account of the difi'erent epidemics of 
 Mauritius has been written before. True, much information 
 on the subject lies scattered in Government Reports, Blue- 
 books, the journals of the 'Societe Medicale de Maurice,' 
 Davidson's book, and Sir Ronald Ross's Report on Malarial 
 Fever ; but no one before Dr. Anderson has patiently waded 
 through all this literature, and chronologically recorded the 
 epidemics, traced their march over the Island, and examined 
 their causes and treatment in the light of up-to-date know- 
 ledge. Dr. Anderson was singularly adapted for such an 
 
PREFACE. vii 
 
 undertaking, for he was born and was educated in Mauritius, 
 and knows every nook and corner of the Island, and, after 
 having qualified in medicine in London and Paris, he 
 returned to his native Island for a short time, and sur- 
 veyed from a scientific point of view the areas where Cholera 
 had slain its thousands, and Malaria its tens of thousands. 
 He was amongst the first to detect, in 1889, in the patients of 
 the Civil Hospital in Port Louis, Laveran's malarial parasite 
 (vide Laveran's Traite du Palludisme, p. 22), and on his 
 return to Europe he published in the Lancet (August, 1890) 
 his views on the origin of that fever in Mauritius, and drew 
 public attention to the pollution of the rivers of the Island, 
 accounting thereby for the constant occurrence of Typhoid 
 and the previous spread of Cholera. 
 
 Secondly, Dr. Anderson has adduced facts to establish 
 that it is well-nigh impossible to stamp Plague out of 
 Mauritius as long as thatched houses harbour rats, and the 
 infected huts of the coolies and Chinese and of the poorer 
 Creoles are not burnt down, and reconstructed with cemented 
 floors, walls, and ceilings. 
 
 Thirdly, he has given, with the valuable assistance of 
 the Societe Medicale's Reports, evidence of the tenacity of 
 Bacillus Diphtherias in the dust of crevices of rooms once 
 infected, and of the difficulty of disinfecting thatched houses. 
 
 Fourthly, he has drawn attention to the necessity of 
 carrying out very strict and continuous sanitary inspection 
 of sugar estate- camps, villages, and other localities where 
 Asiatics congregate. 
 
 Finally, his criticisms of the mistakes made by the 
 responsible authorities in their abortive attempts to check the 
 march of epidemics will no doubt prevent those errors from 
 being repeated. 
 
 Travellers who have visited Mauritius — the * Stella et 
 
viii THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 Clavis Indian! Oceani' — will be grateful to Dr. Anderson 
 for liaving in the first two chapters brought back to their 
 memory the happy days they spent in the congenial society 
 of the Mauritians, amidst the picturesque scenery of that 
 lovely Island. His Chapter of Reminiscences is particularly 
 interesting as it gives the public a few glimpses into the 
 life and aims of some of the eminent men who have helped 
 to raise Mauritius into influence and affluence. 
 
 Yery few of us knew that Sir Walter Besant the novelist 
 had spent some years in that Colony, and that the late. 
 Brown-Sequard, the Professor of Physiology of world-wide 
 renown, was a Mauritian. 
 
 But it is to the student in Epidemiology that w^ specially 
 recommend this valuable work. 
 
 {Signed) W. J. Simpson, 
 
 Professor at King's College^ London, 
 
AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 "TN presenting this work to those readers interested in 
 -^ Mauritius, I beg to publicly record my indebtedness to 
 my esteemed friend, Professor W. J. Simpson, C.M.G., M.D., 
 F.R.C.P., D.P.H., for writing a Preface to it; to Viscount 
 Harcourt, late Secretary of State for the Colonies, for grant- 
 ing me permission to consult the Government Records, 
 Blue-books, and Health Reports on Mauritius at the Library 
 of the Colonial Office ; to Sir Charles Bruce, G.C.M.G., late 
 Governor of Mauritius, for allowing me to republish his 
 lecture on the 'Evolution of the Crown Colony of 
 Mauritius,' as it is a concise and short history of the 
 Colony ; to the other authors whom I quote in my chapter 
 on the Description of the Island, especially to Mr. Alister 
 McMillan, whose Mauritius Illustrated is a standard work, 
 and to Mr. Walter, the Astronomer at the Mauritius 
 Observatory, for his notes on the Climate, Commerce, and 
 Industries of the Colony, published in the Mauritius Almanac 
 and in McMillan's book ; to Sir Ronald Ross, whose valuable 
 Government Report on the Malarial Fever in Mauritius is 
 the fullest and most recent work on that subject, and to Drs. 
 Davidson and Antelm, who, more than thirty years ago, 
 adduced ample proofs that Malaria was introduced into the 
 Island by coolie immigrants infected with Malaria ; to Dr. 
 Bolton, the late Sanitary Warden of Mauritius, for writing 
 for me the chapter on * Sanitation in Mauritius,* and for his 
 
X THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 interesting notes on the Beri-beri Epidemic, and on the 
 Pollution of the Rivers of Mauritius ; to Dr. Rouget, of the 
 Civil Hospital of Port Louis, whose Thesis on the short 
 Phagedaenic Epidemic in Mauritius is the only work extant 
 on the subject ; and, finally, to the learned ' Societe Medicale 
 de Maurice ' for the valuable information obtained from their 
 journals on the Diphtheric and Small-pox epidemics. 
 
 As the physical geography of the Island — especially its 
 mountain ranges, forests, rivers and marshes, towns, villages, 
 and camps on sugar estates — must be known, I have devoted 
 a chapter to that subject and drawn a special map to show 
 the formation of the central plateau (1900 ft.) superimposed 
 on a series of lower ones, each one of less altitude than 
 the one above it, until the plains along the coast are reached, 
 extending some ten to twelve miles in some places from the 
 foot of the plateau, and being only ten to fifteen feet, or even 
 a foot above sea-level, whereas in other places, as in Savanne 
 and Black River, the plateau comes right to the shore, its 
 cliffs being forty to fifty feet high. 
 
 I have also clearly marked those rivers which flow in 
 deep glens and are not likely to retain stagnant pools on 
 either side of their beds ; the marshes likewise which have 
 not yet been drained, and which are the nests of mosquitoes : 
 and only those townp, villages, and estates mentioned in the 
 book have been noted. 
 
 The Plan of Port Louis gives a fair idea of the parts of 
 the town that so far have been properly drained, and also 
 those suburbs which were most severely visited by the 
 different epidemics. 
 
 I have said nothing about Dysentery, Bronchial, Pul- 
 monary, and Gastric Catarrh. These diseases have existed 
 from the very first in the Island, and never took on an 
 epidemic character ; for the last reason I have also omitted 
 
PREFACE. xi 
 
 Typhoid Fever, Ankylostomiasis, Blackwater Fever, and 
 the so-called Bombay Fever. The first two never took on 
 an epidemic form, the third is rare and has only come on 
 since Malaria invaded the Island, and the fourth only 
 attacked immigrants from Bombay and very rarely other 
 people, showing that it cannot be Yellow Fever nor be 
 carried by the Stegomyia fasciatay which abounds in the 
 Island. Tuberculosis is endemic just like Influenza. 
 
 I have mentioned the principal genera of the Flora of 
 Mauritius, and particularly noted those species of its Fauna 
 which are either venomous or are carriers of diseases. I have 
 not described the Surra epidemic or Trypanosomiasis in cattle 
 and other ruminants, as it is outside the scope of this work, 
 which treats only of those epidemics which affected the health 
 of the inhabitants of the Island. 
 
 I have purposely written in a popular style in order that 
 the book may be interesting even to readers who do not 
 belong to the medical profession. 
 
 I have added a chapter on the industries of the Island, 
 and one on the diseases that affect the sugar-cane in the 
 West Indies, and the remedies adopted in those islands, 
 hoping the information may be of use to the planters in 
 Mauritius. Mr. H. A. Ballou, M.Sc, the Government 
 entomologist of Barbadoes, whom I had the pleasure of 
 meeting in that island, has published a most useful little 
 book, issued by the Barbadian Commissioners of Agriculture 
 (1912), on the Insect Pests of the Lesser Antilles. With his 
 permission I have copied from this work some of the en- 
 gravings representing these pests. 
 
 The publications of the Tropical Exploration Syndicate, 
 Ltd., will also be found of the greatest value to the agri- 
 culturists in Tropical countries. 
 
 I am greatly indebted to Mons. Deschiens (Ingenieur 
 
xii THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 des Hopitaux de Paris and fabricant of the HaBmoglobin 
 Deschiens) for permission to use two of his diagrams on 
 mosquitoes and malarial parasites from his Parasitological 
 Atlas. 
 
 I am also indebted to the London University for per- 
 mission to incorporate my * Thesis on the Epidemics of 
 Mauritius ^ in this book. It appears within single inverted 
 commas. 
 
 The catalogue of books written on Mauritius at the end 
 of the book will be found useful. 
 
 Finally, I apologise to those distinguished Mauritians (or 
 to their relatives) whose names or biographical sketches are 
 not mentioned in my chapter of E,eminiscences. Want of 
 space is my only excuse. 
 
 Daniel E. Anderson. 
 
 26, Ilarley Street, London. 
 
CONTENTS, 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. General Description of the Island of 
 Mauritius, and of its Commerce and 
 
 Industries .... 1 
 
 II. Sugar Cane in the West Indies: its 
 
 Cultivation, Diseases, and Remedies . 21 
 
 III. "^HE Evolution of the Crown Colony of 
 Mauritius. By Sir Charles Bruce, 
 
 G.C.M.G 37 
 
 lY. Reminiscences .... 68 
 
 V. Sanitation in Mauritius . . .84 
 
 VI. Leprosy ..... 95 
 
 YII. Cholera 108 
 
 VIII. Small-pox, 1856 AND 1891. . . 154 
 
 IX. Malarial Fever . . . .160 
 
 X. Malarial Fever, continued. . . 185 
 
 XL Dengue Fever . . . . 217 
 
 XII. Beri-beri 222 
 
 XIII. Diphtheria, 1878 and 1907-9 . . 238 
 
 XIV. Plague 246 
 
 XV. Phagedenic Epidemic . . . 259 
 
xiT CONTENTS. 
 
 
 APPENDIX : 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Fauna of Mauritius 
 
 269 
 
 Flora 
 
 274 
 
 CONCHOLOGY .... 
 
 275 
 
 Bibliography 
 
 277 
 
 Addendum to Eeminiscences 
 
 282 
 
 Cyclone of April 29, 1892 
 
 285 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Author's Portrait . . . Frontispiece 
 
 Map of Mauritius . . . facing page 1 
 
 View of Port Louis . . . „ „ 20 
 
 Insect Pests affecting the Sugar Cane „ 24-28 
 
 Plan of Port Louis . . . „ „ 84 
 
 Leprosy Bacillus . . . . „ „ 96 
 
 Leper's Face and Hands . . . „ „ 96 
 
 Anaesthetic Leprosy . . . „ ,, 97 
 
 Cholera Bacillus .... „ 110 
 
 Small-pox Charts, showing Relation be- 
 tween Temperature, Rainfall, and 
 Mortality, &c. .... pages 158, 159 
 
 Mosquitoes : Stegomyia, Anophelina, 
 
 CuLiciNA . . . facing page 160 
 
 Malaria: Charts of Temperature . „ 161 
 
 Evolution of Mosquitoes . . ,, 163 
 
 Evolution of Malaria Parasites . ,,169 
 
 Map of Elevations of Mauritius . „ 177 
 
 Chart illustrating the Relation of the Mean 
 Monthly Fever Admissions and Death Rates 
 TO THE Average Monthly Rainfall ,, 179 
 
xvi ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Diphtheria Bacillus • . ... page 245 
 
 Plague Bacillus .... „ 249 
 
 Phagedjenic Ulcer : Leishman Parasites „ 261 
 
 The Laff . . . . . „ 273 
 
THE 
 EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 General Description of the Island of Mauritius, 
 AND OF ITS Commerce and Industries. 
 
 MAURITIUS, an island of volcanic origin, is situated in 
 the Indian Ocean, about half way between the Cape 
 of Good Hope and Ceylon, between latitudes 19° 58' and 
 20° 32' south, and longitudes 57° 17' and 57° 46' east. The 
 great island of Madagascar is 500 miles to the west, and 
 Bourbon or Reunion 100 miles to the south-west. 
 
 It is 36 miles long and 28 broad, covering an area of 
 705 sq. miles (about that of Surrey), with a coast-line of 
 154 miles. It is divided into nine districts, viz.. Port Louis, 
 Pamplemousses, Riviere du Rempart, Flacq, Grand Port,. 
 Savanne, Black River, Plaines Wilhems, and Moka. 
 
 It resembles more than one of the West Indian islands 
 not only in shape, but also in climate, vegetation, physical 
 geography, and befauty ; the map, which is somewhat trian- 
 gular, looks like a big periwinkle with its head protruding ; 
 its mountain ranges are, however, differently arranged. 
 There are three groups, one at each corner of the triangle, 
 except the one at the northern angle, which is some distance 
 from the apex, leaving a flat plain — the districts of Pample- 
 mousses and Riviere du Rempart — between it and the sea. 
 
 These three groups enclose between them an elevated 
 tableland or plateau, which in some parts rises over 1200 feet 
 above sea-level. The south-western range has a peak, the 
 Black River, 2711 feet high; the north-western, thePieter 
 
 B 
 
2 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 Both peak, 2686 feet high ; and the south-easterrx, the 
 Bambou peak, 2059 feet high. 
 
 Each of these ranges sends spurs or buttresses seaward, as 
 if to consolidate their foundations. * Colonel Pike says there 
 is no doubt that these basaltic mountains are the remnants 
 of a huge crater's rim, the crater filled in with the debris of 
 this broken-up rim has, after thousands of years formed the 
 above-mentioned central plateau, the districts of Plain es 
 Wilhems and Moka. There is also another theory, that in 
 addition to the central crater there were auxiliary large and 
 small ones, that the district of Port Louis is one of those, 
 Black River and Grand Port two others ; and that the Piton 
 du Milieu, the Piton des Pamplemousses, and the Trou aux 
 Cerfs are the small subsidiary volcanic outlets which are 
 usually found inside or outside the main craters ; the Trou 
 aux Cerfs with its deep central excavation being indisput- 
 ably an extinct crater ; whilst the Grand Bassin, the Bassin 
 Blanc, the Mare aux Lutins, the Mare de Cheval, Trou 
 Bourguignon, Trou Figuier, Trou Glacis, Trou d'Eau Douce, 
 and the Puits des Hollandais, all of which are filled with water, 
 show by their circular banks and depth that they too were 
 formed by volcanic eruptions. 
 
 Moreover, all over the island, the stratified rocky beds, 
 as in the Plaine des Roches in the Riviere du Rempart 
 district, the lava, tufa, scoriae, basaltic and prismatic 
 columns, as in the Camisard Mountain, and in the districts 
 of Flacq, Savanne, and Black River, are further evidence 
 that in the pristine ages Mauritius was thrown up by a 
 Yolcano or a series of volcanoes, and afterwards rent by 
 earthquakes which caused the fissures, now widened and 
 deepened by rivers into the beautiful glens of Grand River, 
 Tamarind, and Chamarel. In the Mahebourg harbour, and 
 at the south-western extremity of the island, the rim of 
 craters is visible in calm weather, under the sea. The 
 islands to the north of Mauritius are all of volcanic origin ; 
 the Gunner's Quoin is composed of volcanic sandstone, basalt, 
 and lava ; Flat Island, though partly of coral formation, has 
 * Pike : Sub-tKopical Rambles. 
 
GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND. 3 
 
 :also strata of fossilised endogenous trees, between whicli are 
 layers of stones and pebbles. Round Island, near by, was 
 probably a crater filled up, and on the Pigeon Rock masses 
 of basalt lie at its foot. 
 
 Though within historical times no volcanoes nor earth- 
 -quakes have terrified the inhabitants of Mauritius, yet a vol- 
 canic mountain, the Piton des Neiges, in the sister island of 
 La Reunion, still occasionally smokes, and then the rumbling 
 -of a * tremblement de terre ' is felt in both islands. 
 
 Port Louis. — The northern or Port Louis range of moun- 
 iiains, which sends branches north, east, and west, encloses 
 between two of the westward spurs a large basin, in which 
 lies Port Louis, the capital of the island. This amphitheatre, 
 which is widely open to the sea, is about two miles long from 
 north to south, by three miles broad from east to west, and 
 has in its crater a low hill, the Citadel, connected with the 
 range behind, dividing the city into the commercial town 
 proper in front of it, and the eastern and western suburbs, 
 more correctly the northern and southern. The city contains 
 a 3afe and vast harbour capable of anchoring scores of ships, 
 the Government and municipal buildings, the banks, mer- 
 •cantile firms, hospitals, schools, churches, mosques, Hindu 
 temples, theatres, and public gardens. At the back of the 
 city are the Champ de Mars, a vast plain whereon races are 
 run and troops are reviewed, and there too are the houses of 
 the well-to-do citizens, situated in the midst of orchards and 
 gardens; but since 1870 most of these houses have either 
 been turned into offices or are only tenanted during the 
 cool season. 
 
 The eastern suburb, or Camp Malabar, is the residential 
 quarter of the Indians and Lascars ; and the western, or 
 Camp Yoloff, that of the descendants of the former African 
 slaves. 
 
 Between the spurs of the south-eastern and of the north- 
 western ranges, i.e., from the elevated tableland, numerous 
 rivers rush down in beautiful cascades over precipices thirty 
 to four hundred feet high, and "v^end their way through 
 
4 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAUEITIUS. 
 
 lovely glens lined with tall trees and flowery creepers and' 
 aloes to the sea, two or twent)^ miles away. Here, in some- 
 places, they have dug in their impetuous course, during the 
 rainy season, wide and deep pools, in which the * gouramis,* 
 * the dames-ceres ' (gold-fish), the chits, and the carp abound ;: 
 there, leaping noisily over huge boulders which block their 
 way, and under which the ' camarons ' (big prawns), shrimp, 
 and ' cabots' (small inedible black mud-fish) hide themselves,, 
 they spend their fury in foam long before they commingle 
 their fresh water with the waves of the sea. Yachts and 
 coasters of no great depth can sail a short distance up some 
 of these rivers. Graceful and solid railway and carriage- 
 bridges span the glens, the longest of which is the Grand 
 River N.W. ravine, running due north from the central 
 plateau. 
 
 Most of the mountain ranges are clad almost to their 
 summits with trees, shrubs, aloes, and grass, but Pieter Both,- 
 looked at from the west, rises from the plains below., a sheer 
 adamantine wall of blue" basalt, nearly 2000 feet high, with 
 scarcely a blade of grass on its face. On its eastern side, how- 
 ever, it slopes gracefully down to the 'plateau, two or three 
 hundred feet below. Not very far from it, and united to it 
 by a long arm with a precipitous ridge naturally carved into 
 fantastic shape of crouching lions and other figures, is the 
 Pouce or Thumb, 2650 feet high, the summit of which is 
 flat like a table, about ten feet square, and from which one 
 gets a most magnificent view of a large portion of the Island" 
 and of its coast wreathed with coral reefs. 
 
 The south-eastern and south-western ranges are not as 
 attractive as their fellow in the north except for their forest- 
 clad slopes, the lovely rivers and waterfalls between their 
 spurs, and the beautiful peep which one gets here and there 
 of distant landscapes far below. On the southern side of the 
 Black E-iver range a stream, the Riviere du Cap, swollen 
 into a mighty torrent after the rain, leaps over the ledge of 
 a yawning abyss, an unbroken foaming sheet of snow, to a 
 depth of more than 300 feet. The magnificence of this fall 
 (the Chamarel), with the dark red cliffs behind it and the- 
 
GENERAL DE8CRIPTI0X OF THE ISLAND. 5 
 
 ■green foliage on each side, baffles description. On the 
 nbrthern side of the same range are the seven falls of the 
 Tamarind River, tumbling down 400 feet over six ledges of 
 rock through a lovely gorge to the sugar-cane fields below. 
 That glen like all the others, is the haunt of monkeys, 
 •quails, partridges, and Phaeton candidus, or paille- en- queue 
 '(the sea-gulls with only a couple of feathers in their tails). 
 Here, too, screech the martins, the mynas, and the chicken- 
 eater ; and here the Creole canaries or ' seurins ' sing, and 
 
 * pingoes,' ' bengalis-mouchetes,' woodcock, cardinals, merles, 
 and the ' oiseaux-maniocs,' chirp and build their nests. Most 
 of these birds are insectivorous, and are consequently the 
 benefactors of the sugar-cane fields ; but the deforestation on 
 the one hand and the mongoose on the other are gradually 
 causing their extermination. 
 
 The Mo me Brabant is the end of a branch of the south- 
 western range, projecting into the sea like a snaiFs head. 
 Amidst its barren slopes the turtle-dove, the cuckoo, the 
 •curlew, the turnstone, the plover, and the ' corbigeaux ' at 
 sunset, call back home from the brooding tempest the fisher- 
 men catching for next morning's market the ' capitaines,' the 
 ^cordonniers,' the ' tons,' the 'Dames Berris,' the 'rougets,' the 
 
 * gueules pavees,' the mullet, the carp, the ' cateaus,' and the 
 ' vieilles,' most of which are multi-coloured fishes, with red, 
 yellow, blue, and green scales on their back. To the south 
 .and east of the Morne, and, in fact, almost all round 
 the Island, lie the coral fields, where grow in variegated 
 beauty immense coral-flowers, between which crawl huge 
 molluscs : the mura, with its numerous spines, the cj'^praea, 
 whose shell provides the jeweller with cameos ; the gigantic 
 
 * cornes d'abondance' {Scalaria) , the precious olives or cones, 
 .the beautiful harp, and the mitras, pleurotinas, tritons, 
 pectens, and other bivalves, and 340 other species of shells. 
 A little further away from the shore, among the coral, swim 
 the Octopus vulgaris^ with its hideous tentacles, the spotted 
 sea-eel the Muriena te)dacuJata, with bright yellow dorsal 
 .and blue anal fins, in company with its more beautiful 
 .cousin, the crimson-eyed green ribbon-eel, spotted all over 
 
6 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 with, yellow ; and, near by, the contractile ' cent- bras '' 
 (Erraritia) awaits the unwary fisherman to hug his leg with 
 its tuberous tentacles. 
 
 All around the Island are to be found the spiny 
 holothuria or ' boultang ' ; the medusa) {Cassioj)ea Andromeda)^ 
 of all sizes and colour, whose tentacles sting fearfully ; and 
 edible oysters, lobsters, crabs, and shrimps. 
 
 Closer to the shore, in shallow water, hidden in the mud 
 or under the fine sand, the terrible * laff ' or wocA^er (the 
 Scorpcena synanceiciy or Pterdis) of different varieties, is ready 
 to inject through the hollow spines of its dorsal fins a 
 painful and almost fatal venom into the feet of fishermen and 
 bathers. 
 
 Some distance beyond the coral belt, in the deep sea, fisher- 
 men catch hammer-headed sharks, dog-fish, skate, ray, and 
 tiger-sharks. The latter here grows to a length of twenty- 
 five feet, and is eaten by the coolies. 
 
 Lastly, the * million,' that diminutive fish so invaluable to 
 man because it prej^s upon the mosquito larvae, is plentiful 
 at the mouths of the rivers, but has not yet been reared in 
 the fresh-water marshes and streams of the Island, although 
 in the West Indies and in British Guiana, where I first saw 
 them, they thrive luxuriantly in any water, fresh or salt, 
 clear or foul. 
 
 As will be seen from the map, the plateau between the 
 three ranges of mountains slopes gradually towards the sea 
 on the north-east, east, and west, but ends abruptly in a pre- 
 cipice of thirty or forty feet high, in some places, along the 
 southern coast. To the north, north-east, and north-west the 
 plains extending from the northern range of mountains have 
 but little elevation ; so flat, in fact, are Pamplemousses and 
 Hiviere du Rempart, that in the dry season the rivers flow 
 sluggishly along, and leave many a shallow puddle on either 
 side of the main bed, which becomes the breeding- ground of 
 the mosquitoes, especially of the Anophelinac, and of small 
 shell-fish which harbour the embryos of dangerous fluke- 
 worms, the Bilhartzia hcematobia, e.g., which I more than once 
 detected in some coolies' bloody urine. 
 
GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND. 7 
 
 These northern districts, swept by the warm trade winds 
 during certain months, have, on account of their flatness and 
 stagnant streams, paid heavy tribute to several of the 
 epidemics which devastated the Island. Cholera and malarial 
 fever were more prevalent here than elsewhere, except 
 Port Louis, which as before said lies in a basin and is open 
 only along the west to the benign influence of the sea. 
 
 Nevertheless, these two northern districts have attrac- 
 tions of their own. In Pamplemousses are the world- 
 famed Botanical Gardens, a charming spot containing 
 specimens of every useful tree that grows in the tropics. 
 Here lie buried * Paul and Virginia ' — (Hush ! dispel not by 
 sceptic doubts the fascination of that love-idyll) — whose 
 common tomb is kept perpetually green by the veneration of 
 their fellow-islanders. Not far from the Gardens is 
 Tombeau Bay, where Virginia's body was discovered after 
 the shipwreck of the Gerant^ which was bringing her back to 
 Paul.* The adjoining district of Piviere du Pempart is 
 remarkable for its Plaine des Poches, or fields of rocky lava, 
 and its beautiful sandy beach, inlets and islets, and for its 
 subterranean rivers and caverns. 
 
 Flacq. — To the south of Piviere du Pempart is Flacq, 
 the eastern district of the Island, with undulating sugar- 
 cane fields, and numerous sugar mills, and neat abodes 
 of the planters. As will be seen on the map, Flacq and 
 Grand Port have a larger low - level area than Piviere 
 du Pempart and Pamplemousses, and are fertilised by more 
 and larger rivers than the last two. Flacq, as before 
 mentioned, must have been the site of several volcanoes ; 
 its numerous marshes and basins are all extinct craters 
 filled with water to-day from internal springs, but the 
 marshes of St. Amand and of * Trou d'Eau Douce ' are fed 
 by springs close by. All these marshes, ponds, and pools, 
 if reclaimed from the Pyretophorus costalis, the Stegomyia, 
 
 * Paul and Virginia, a pathetic love romance, one of the chefs-d'oeuvre 
 in purest French of the eighteenth century, by Bernardin de St. Pierre,, 
 author of Etudes de la Nature and the Cabane Indienne. 
 
8 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 and other mosquitoes, can be turned to useful account for 
 irrigation purposes, and as reservoirs of drinking water, and 
 for fish-rearing, for here no dashing currents after heavy 
 rains can disturb the spawn. 
 
 The largest river in Mauritius is the Grand River S.E. 
 which flows at the foot of the Bambou or Camisard Range, 
 and is distinguished by the picturesque and wild beauty of 
 its channel, chequered by numerous cascades, the principal 
 one being the l)ia Mamouve Falls. The Grand River S.E. 
 Ealls, about a mile from the river's mouth, remind one 
 of Niagara in miniature. 
 
 Flacq, like Pamplemousses, was severely tried during 
 the cholera epidemics of 1854 and 1856, and like that 
 district and Riviere du Rempart, its coast villages suffered 
 greatly during the malaria epidemic of 1866, but malaria 
 has now become endemic all along the coast of Mauritius. 
 
 Grand Port. — To the south of Flacq, Moka, and Plaines 
 Wilhems is the district of Grand Port, which was the first to 
 be inhabited by the Dutch and the French, and around 
 its beautiful harbour rose the former capital of 3Iauritius, 
 called Port Bourbon, afterwards Mahebourg, after Mahe de 
 Labourdonnais, who however transferred the capital to the 
 more capacious north-western harbour on the lea side of the 
 Island. At the entrance into Mahebourg or Grand Port 
 Bay are several small islets and rocks, which together with 
 €oral reefs make it not only dangerous, but even almost 
 impossible for big ships to pass through into the harbour. 
 I: was between He de la Passe and the coral reef, that 
 the famous naval battle of Grand Port was fought in 
 August 1810, between the French squadron under Captain 
 Duperre, and the British attacking fleet under Captain 
 Willoughby. 3Iost of the opposing frigates became jammed 
 inside the narrow channels, or got stranded on the shoals of 
 coral, and English and French fired, ' a bout portant,' broad- 
 sides into each other's flanks. Though the French after 
 two days won the victory, their elation was to be of only 
 a short duration, for the English though beaten returned 
 
GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE INLAND. 9 
 
 again to the fight three months after, but this time with a 
 fleet of 193 vessels from India and the Cape, and with an 
 army of 1600 men whom they wisely landed on the north- 
 east of the Island, on a more propitious part of the coast than 
 that of Mahebourg ; and in three days the Island capitu- 
 lated and became English. After the capital had been 
 transferred to Port Louis, Grand Port lost prestige, and it is 
 now a poor village with but few remnants of its ancient 
 affluence. Like Port Louis, it is not considered salubrious, 
 as malarial fever is endemic here. The north-west portion 
 of Grand Port lies on a high level, and is still covered 
 by forest trees, some of which are hoary with age and send 
 their roots deep into the soil, which is very damp here, and 
 which allows the formation of several marshes : the ' Mare la 
 Violette,' the * Mare d' Albert,' the * Sabloniere,' the 'Mare aux 
 Singes,' where the bones of that extinct bird, the Dodo, were 
 found ; and nearer Mahebourg, the ' Mare aux Jones.' 
 
 As before said, the Island is surrounded by a belt of reefs 
 except along the southern coast, where the surf beats with 
 fury against the shore, and has excavated a natural bridge 
 and a blow-hole or * souffleur ' in the rocky cliffs. 
 
 Savanne. — To the west of Grand Port is Savanne, the 
 'best-watered district of the Island, there being no less than 
 twelve rivers emptying themselves along its shore, four of 
 which, viz., * Riviere du Poste," ' Riviere des Anguilles, 
 ' Riviere de la Savanne,' and * Riviere des Galets,' are fair- 
 sized rivers. No wonder then that some of the most 
 flourishing sugar estates are situated in this district. As 
 will be seen further on, the average yield of sugar cane per 
 1*04 acre (arpeiit) is about twenty- three tons. 
 
 Savanne has many attractions to the visitor ; first, among 
 the spurs of the Savanne Mountain, on the south-western 
 range, at an altitude of 2000 feet, is a small lake, the 
 ■' Grand Bassin,' with an islet in the centre ; it is surrounded 
 by forest-clad hills, some of which come close to the water's 
 •edge. * * This " Bassin " is about three-quarters of a mile in 
 
 * MacMillan's Mauritius Illustrated. 
 
10 • THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 circumference, and fifty to sixty feet deep, and is no doubt 
 the crater of a secondary extinct volcano ; lava and basalts 
 strew its banks, and not far off on the north-eastern side can 
 be seen a high cliff covered to-day with shrubs and creepers,, 
 but which must have once formed part of the crater's rim.' 
 
 The Bassin Blanc, south of Grand Bassin, ten acres 
 in extent, is no doubt also another extinct crater, so are 
 Kanaka and Grand Trou. All these, together with the Grand 
 Bassin, lie in a virgin forest, where live the deer and wild 
 boar. During certain months of the year the " Ohasse aux 
 Cerfs " in these woods is looked forward to with great 
 sporting anticipation, and venison can be purchased from the 
 butcher. 
 
 * To the geologist the multi-coloured madrepores at the 
 mouth of the River des Galets will prove of interest, so also 
 the lofty basaltic columns at the mouth of the River du Cap, 
 which form the bluif end of the Grand Cap on the eastern 
 bank of the river.' 
 
 'Savanne shows in certain places evidence of its having 
 been once under water, for even at an altitude of 2000 feet 
 plastic clay, many feet deep, has been found underlying beds 
 of gravel and corals mixed with debris of cretaceous forma- 
 tion, and calcareous rocks are still to be seen near Chamarel 
 over fifty feet above sea level.' 
 
 This district, together with Grand Port, was not affected 
 by the first epidemic of malarial fever of 1866, but became 
 so in 1867, and, alas ! its lower portion, like the rest of the 
 coast, is now the region where malaria is endemic. As will 
 be seen in the map, this is no doubt due to the low level of 
 the land, and to the numerous marshes along the coast. 
 
 Blacli River. — On the other side of the river called 
 Black River, and of the Bale du Cap, and also to the west 
 and north of the south-western range of mountains, is the 
 Black River district which has the longest sea-coast of 
 all the districts. Except along the sea-board, it is on high 
 level ground, and from its range rises the Black River peak, 
 ■ the highest in the Island ; and from the same range alsa- 
 
GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND. 11 
 
 springs the River du Cap, winding along a beautiful glen, 
 witli its two cascades, black boulders, and precipices covered 
 with creepers and thick bushes. As previously described, 
 the Morne Brabant, a mountain 1809 feet high, slips 
 out into the sea, as if loth to lose the last glimpse of 
 the setting sun's rays reflected from the ' Piton des Neiges ' 
 in the neighbouring island of Reunion. There are several 
 caverns in this district, one of which communicates by a 
 long subterranean passage with the shore at Petite Riviere. 
 
 Black River has the evil reputation of being the first 
 district (at Petite Riviere) to start in 1866 the malarial 
 fever, and of having been affected ever since by this disease ; 
 but of this anon. In spite of the malaria, its high 
 and lovely mountains, rivers, cascades, and scenery, will 
 make this district one of the most attractive to the visitor. 
 
 Plaines Wilhcms and MoJia. — For cool and invigorating 
 breezes and healthiness one must ascend to the plateau of 
 Plaines Wilhems and Moka. Plaines Wilhems is the most 
 popular of all the districts. All along the- railway, or main 
 road, from Beau Bassin to Forestside beyond Curepipe, the 
 richer class of the Mauritian community have established 
 their abodes since they were driven from Port Louis by the 
 epidemic of malarial fever in 1866, each one vying with his 
 neighbour in making his house or villa and surrounding 
 gardens and orchards the prettiest in the locality. Hamlets 
 and villages have sprung up like mushrooms within easy 
 distance of the railway stations. Though the continual rains 
 and consequent dampness of Moka have made it less hospit- 
 able than its fellow, yet its climate is very cool and pleasant, 
 and here are situated the houses of many of the elite of 
 Mauritian society. On the frontier between these two 
 districts is the beautiful and unique glen through which 
 the Grand River flows. It is not an exaggeration to say 
 that few places in the world can equal in picturesqueness- 
 the scenery that unfolds itself at each turn along the 
 course of the river from its mouth right to the '"Digue," 
 some six miles up, where the tributary from Moka joins- 
 
12 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 it, and where splitting along two glens one ascends towards 
 the south-east to Mount Ory, and the other to the south-west 
 to Beau Bassin, both ending in high waterfalls. To see the 
 ibeauty of this Grand River ravine, with its red precipices, 
 here rising sheer up like a wall, with only aloes and maiden- 
 Jiair ferns clinging to its ledges, there sloping upwards over 
 massive boulders, between which the ^jamalaque' and the 
 '* jambrosa' have found root-hold, the visitor must start early 
 in the morning and ascend the glen on foot from the Grand 
 River railway bridge, or drive to Failles and descend the 
 steep bank of the glen in front of la Tour Mil ward to the 
 Digue. He will not have gone far before he comes to the 
 ford, or chaussee, where texts of Scripture have been chiselled 
 into the rock by pious hands. Here, on each side of the 
 chaussee, the precipices tower over him, not dark and frown- 
 ing, but lit up in resplendent grandeur by the slanting rays 
 •of the sun, and resonant with the echoes of the roaring 
 •torrents dashing over innumerable boulders, which the force 
 of the swollen river has scattered all over the place. Many 
 a time have I contemplated with delight the reflection of the 
 gorgeous sunset against the summit of those red precipices, 
 the tone being relieved by patches of green, or by the white 
 jiests of the paille-en-queue. 
 
 As you ascend the river along the footpath, the cliffs 
 ■come nearer each other, and the blue sky seems to be far 
 above you. You have now to be on your guard, for the 
 monkeys, in search of food, are throwing stones to frighten 
 the birds that have built their nests in the crevices of the 
 rocks, and these rogues are watching to detect where the 
 birds fly out and whence they may steal the eggs. 
 
 The ' Digue ' is the j)rincipal reservoir supplying drink- 
 ing-water to Port Louis ; but alas ! the rivers and rivulets 
 from Moka that flow into it are not guarded against pollution 
 by the thousands of Indians who live on their banks; and 
 enteric-fever bacilli lurk in that reservoir. As before said, 
 the main glen now splits into two, and each branch becomes 
 -contracted, the banks are less precipitous, but are still high, 
 ^nd are covered with trees. After a difiicult climb over huge 
 
GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND. la 
 
 rocks, and after wading throuo^li tlie river more than once,, 
 you come to the cascades: the one dashing down the left arm- 
 of the Moka glen is much higher and prettier than its fellow 
 in the right or Plaines Wilhems glen. The river formin g 
 the Moka waterfall gradually deepens its bed as you ascend 
 to its origin a few miles up, and where another short 
 beautiful glen opens before you at Heduit ; here it suddenly 
 comes to an end with another cascade tumbling down ai 
 great height into a pool below. 
 
 Reduit, the residence of the Governor of the Island, is in 
 the Moka district, and is most picturesquely situated between 
 two deep and woody ravines uniting at the * Fin du Monde,'' 
 in front of the mansion, whence the view is most mag- 
 nificent. 
 
 The freshness of the atmosphere, the foaming cataract,.. 
 the variegated foliage of every shrub, the clear streams, the 
 deep ravine, the barren cliff, the dark pool reflecting trees 
 and flowers of every kind, with a thousand shadows from 
 projecting rocks ; and overhead the bright azure of a fre- 
 quently unclouded sky; all these form a combination of 
 what is attractive in nature, that must be felt and seen to be 
 appreciated. 
 
 In Moka district, at the foot of Pieter Both, is the 
 Malagasy village, founded by the London Missionary Society 
 for the Christian refugees from the Madagascar persecution 
 in the forties of last century. Their descendants still' 
 worship in the little chapel built for them by Lady Elizabeth. 
 Gomm, wife of Governor Gomm. 
 
 As will be seen on the malarial map of Mauritius, Moka,. 
 Plaines Wilhems, and the northern part of Grand Port 
 escaped the epidemics of malarial fever (1866-8), which,, 
 even until now, scarcely ever begins de novo on that elevated 
 plateau. But rumour has it that the Anophelinae are be- 
 ginning to make their habitats among the marshes and in the- 
 glens, in spite of the altitude of these districts, for even 
 Eeduit which had so far not seen a mosquito has recently 
 paid tribute to malaria. 
 
 Moka, with Savanne, was the district that had the lowest 
 
14 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 mortality during the epidemic of cholera (1854-6). Not so 
 with the sister-district of Plaines Wilhems, which fared very 
 badly, owing to the number of cholera- stricken patients who 
 sought refuge thither from Port Louis and Pamplemousses ; 
 Moka was sparsely inhabited in those days. 
 
 Though called Plaines Wilhems, it is less a plain than 
 Moka. From the Kanaka Forest, at the foot of the south- 
 eastern range of mountains, from a height of over 2000 feet 
 it gradually slopes in every direction, especially northwards 
 and westwards, giving a strong inclination to the rivers 
 which take their origin from its marshes. 
 
 * Curepipe ' is the principal town of Plaines Wilhems. 
 It is so called because it was here the French soldiers, 
 during the French occupation, on their march from Port 
 Louis to Mahebourg, rested, and smoked their pipes — after 
 having cleaned or ' cure ' them first. In those days it was 
 but a small hamlet situated 1800 feet above sea-level, in 
 a dense forest of old and venerable trees. 
 
 It has a climate resembling that of England in the spring, 
 and when the malarial fever broke out in 1866 all the richer 
 families fled to this part of the Island ; and to-day, in spite 
 of its heavy rainfall and consequent humidity, it is a pros- 
 perous and healthy town, the most populous after Port Louis. 
 
 The hamlets of Quatre Bornes and Yacoas, a little lower 
 down the plateau northwards, are drier and contain many 
 coquettish villas, as do Rose Hill and Beau Bassin further 
 down still. Not far from Yacoas is the Mare aux Yacoas, 
 which has been deepened, cleaned, and turned into a reservoir 
 of pure water. 
 
 The Mare aux Yacoas Waterworks.* 
 
 'The reservoir afc Mare aux Yacoas, where the avera.o-e annual 
 rainfall is 137 inches, has a catch raeufc area of about five square 
 miles. The top water-level is 1840 feet above the mean sea-level, 
 and the reservoir has a maximum capacity of 570,000,000 gallons. 
 The water flows from the reservoir for 4000 ftet in a concrete 
 conduit with a ferro-concrete covering, and for a further distance 
 
 * With permission, from MacMillan's Mauritius Illustrated. 
 
GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND. 15 
 
 •of 7700 feet is taken in a sixteen-inch cast-iron pipe to the 
 filterinin: establishment at la Marie, \Yhich is 1645 feet above 
 sea-level. 
 
 'At the filtering establishment there is a depositing reservoir 
 with a capacity of 500,000 gallons. Owing to the water being at 
 times heavily charged with organic matter, the Anderson Process 
 for the purification of water was installed, and concrete partitions 
 were erected in the depositing reservoir to improve the settlement 
 of solids. Originally there were only four filter-beds, with a super- 
 ficial area of 0720 square feet, but five additional filter-beds have 
 since been constructed with a superficial area of 18,000 square feet, 
 and extra aerating trays have been added. These additional works 
 and the increased filtrations area enable two filters to be always 
 left exposed to sun and air ; and with a slower process of filtration 
 there are few complaints about the quality of the water. 
 
 ' The daily consumption of water exceeds 1,000,000 gallons, and 
 with the exception of the supply to the town of Curepipe, the 
 water flows by gravitation to the loAver districts. The supply for 
 Curepipe is pumped by means of hydraulic rams to two reservoirs 
 standing 368 feet above the filtering establishment, the motor 
 being driven by water-power from the sixteen-inch supply main. 
 
 * The increase in the population of Curepipe has necessitated 
 additions to the pumping plant and the reconstruction of the 
 reservoirs. A masonry building was erected at the filter-beds for 
 the pumping machinery, and a second sixteen-inch cAst-iron pipe 
 has been laid to supply the motive power.' 
 
 It is a pity the government does not make similar use of 
 all the marshes in this district. 
 
 Quite close to Curepipe is the famous ' Trou aux Cerfs,' 
 an extinct crater already referred to, which rises like a 
 conical hill on the western suburb of Curepipe. 
 
 From the * Trou aux Cerfs ' one gets an extensive view of 
 the central plateau with the three mountain ranges in the 
 distant corners, north, south-east, and south-west. Nearer 
 to the left are the peaks of the * Trois Mamelles,' and to 
 the south-west the summit of * Corps de Garde ' Mountain, 
 and of the Grand and Petit Malabar Hills. To the right 
 are Mont Auvillard, the Butte de Chaumond, and Piton du 
 Milieu. Farther afield are small towns and villages scattered 
 all over the landscape, and also the sugar mills in the middle of 
 their sugar-cane plantations. It is a pleasant sight to see these 
 sugar-cane fields as you go to town by train from Curepipe ; 
 
16 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 they change colour at the different seasons of the year. In the- 
 early months, the Island seems to have a tender green table- 
 cloth spread all over it ; then a couple of months later the 
 colour has changed to a dark green, and a little later still 
 when the blossom is out, to a delicate mauve, and finally to- 
 yellow when the leaves have become seared and the canes 
 are ready to be cut. 
 
 According to John Anderson's Descriptive Account of 
 Mauritius, dense forests used to cover the Island in Mahe 
 de Labourdonnais' time, and it was he who first began to 
 make good roads through those forests to the distant villages, 
 and to connect Mahebourg with the Pample mousses and 
 Riviere du Rempart districts, and planted sugar cane, which 
 became so productive that an attempt was made to cultivate 
 it in the other districts also ; but the higher altitude, and the 
 dampness of the soil in Plaines Wilhems, Moka, and Black 
 River, proved a barrier until 1854, when guano was im- 
 ported and used as a warm fertiliser, and now the forests 
 have to a great extent made way for the sugar cane, which 
 covers 144,296 ' arpents ' ; and with the exception of the 
 heights beyond Curepipe, Grand Bassin, the Kanaka forest, 
 and the mountain slopes covering 60,000 ' arpents,' and a 
 comparatively small acreage for aloes, the whole island is 
 under cane cultivation, which has made it comparatively one 
 of the richest colonies of the British Empire. In 1889 the 
 total revenue was as great as that of England under Queen 
 Elizabeth. 
 
 In 1859 the export of sugar was 229,321,468 lbs. 
 
 In 1867 „ „ „ 260,000,000 lbs. 
 
 Then, through competition with beetroot*-sugar in 
 Europe, it remained at that level until 1893, when with 
 improvement in the millage, and through the lioble efforts oJf 
 the capitalists, it ascended to 560,000,000 lbs. in 1912, pro- 
 ducing a revenue of R. 32,000,000 (about £2,500,000), and 
 it will rise higher still if the cyclones, heavy rains, or the 
 
 * Sugar from sugar cane is sweeter, more nourishing and wholesome 
 than that derived from other sources. It is a food necessary for the- 
 welfare of the human economy. 
 
GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND. 17 
 
 * borer ' and severe drougiht do not destroy or hinder the 
 crops. 
 
 ' It is well known that winds over forty miles an hour damage 
 the cane, either by uprooting or breaking it, or tearing or stripping 
 off the leaves, or bending tlie tender stems. At less than forty 
 miles, tlie wind will break the late season's cane. Though these 
 cyclones are very rare, yet in January and February, 1803, the 
 damage to the crop was estimated at 13*8 per cent. ; in March, 
 18C8, 32-5 per cent. ; March, 1874, 19 per cent. ; February and 
 March, 1879, 29 per cent. ; February and April, 1892, 48 per 
 cent. ; February, 1902, 18 per cent. ; and March, 1911, 10 per 
 •cent. Apart from the severe cyclone of 1892, it has been calcu- 
 lated that in fifty-six years only two have caused damage of about 
 30 per cent., and three of 20 per cent. Mr. Walter, the Observer- 
 Royal of Mauritius, says that the loss beais a very close relation 
 to the wind-velocity, and a simple formula has been derived for 
 ■the conversion of wind velocity into loss of cane. 
 
 * Severe droughts occasionally occur and also cause great loss to 
 the planters : the severest loss was 75 per cent, on the crops of 
 Pamplemousses and Riviere du Rerapart in 1897, and yet there is 
 more than enough water in the Island in its rivers and marshes.' * 
 
 o 
 
 Mr. Walter's article in MacMillan's book on the Sugar 
 Estates and the River Systems of Mauritius is so valuable, 
 that with Mr. MacMillan's permission I give a rhume of it 
 here : 
 
 He divides the Island into thirteen sections of river systems. 
 The first area (vida Crook's map) includes Pamplemousses and 
 Riviere du Rempart, with an area of 5G,000 arpents (excluding 
 mountain and river reserves). 30,000 arpents are under cane 
 cultivation, giving an average yield of twelve to twenty-four tons 
 of cane per arpent. The other 26,000 arpents are unsuitable for 
 cane cultivation on account of their gravelly nature, but are good 
 for aloes {Fourcroya gigantea), fuel and fodder. 
 
 The second area includes a large portion of Flacq, about 
 46,000 arpents, of which 17,000 arpents are under cane, giving 
 an average yield of eleven to twenty-four and a half tons per 
 arpent ; 7500 arpents along the coast consist of sand and rock ; 
 5000 are kept for fodder and fuel. 
 
 The third area, still in Flacq, between Montagues Fayence and 
 Blanche, includes only 9000 arpents, of which 3500 are under 
 cane cultivation ; but the yield is rich, giving twenty to twenty- 
 four tons of cane per arpent ; 1500 arpents are still capable of 
 cultivation, but the rest is shallow and rocky. 
 
 * 3£acMillan's Maurttms Illustrated. 
 
 c 
 
18 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 The fourth area inchides nearly the half of Moka and the- 
 lowest portion of Flacq lying between Montagfne Blanche and 
 the Bainbon Eange. It inckides 40,000 arpents with 15,000' 
 under cane, giving the high average of twenty-three tons of cane 
 per arpent; 8000 more arpents still uncultivated are good for 
 cane ; but the rest, about a quarter of the whole area, belonging 
 to the crown is damp and cold, or consists of ' black soil ' and lies 
 uncultivated. 
 
 The fifth and sixth areas comprise the whole of Grand Port 
 and a large portion of Savanne. They include 106,000 arpents. 
 with 45,000 under cane, producing twenty-three tons per arpent, 
 and 10,000 capable of cane cultivation. That portion to the north 
 of Grand Port Bay known as Vieux Grand Port is useless for cane, 
 as it also consists of ' black soil,' whilst the upper portion of both- 
 sections has a very heavy rainfall. 
 
 The seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth areas, enclosed within 
 the arms of the Black River Range, are for the most part moun- 
 tainous and rugged ; the ninth is either covered by a forest or has 
 a black clayey soil : the tenth is reserved as a grazing ground with; 
 a ' shifting crop' of maize ; and the rest of those areas are portioned 
 out to peasant proprietors for cane cultivation. 
 
 The eleventh area comprises 32,000 arpents, with only 3000 
 under cane cultivation, yielding twenty-two tons per arpent ; but 
 10,000 more could, under irrigation, be brought under cane ; 7000 
 arpents lying in the district of Plaines Wilhems are permanent 
 forest land, and the rest consists of soil unsuitable for cane. 
 
 The twelfth area has 50,000 arpents, and includes portions of 
 Moka and Plaines Wilhems ; 17,000 arpents in the highlands are 
 highly cultivated, but the rest requires copious irrigation. 
 
 The thirteenth area mclndes the district of Port Louis and the- 
 lower portion of Pamplemonsses. The latter is cultivated by 
 peasant proprietors, and suffers from a state of chronic drought. 
 
 There are to-day sixty-two sugar factories. In 1854 there 
 were 227 ; but the lesser number means co-operation among the 
 planters, and the ownership of land by Indian peasants, who most 
 of them possess no factories but send their canes to the nearest 
 mill. The total area under cane at the end of 1911, according to* 
 a return by the Agricultural Statistics Bureau, is 144,479 arpents, 
 whilst the total area of the nine districts is 439,451 arpents. The 
 percentage of plantations owned by Indians is 00'90. The 
 Indians own 40,000 arpents of land bought under the ' Metayer ' 
 system, which has developed into the ' Morcellement,' according 
 to which the land is purchased on a deferied payment scheme, 
 with the produce as a guarantee. Under the Metayer system the 
 proprietor advanced the necessary material and bought the produce- 
 at V. reduced rate. Under the Morcellement, the freehold is pur- 
 
GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND. la 
 
 (?h,ased.', the capital being paid. in annual insta,lrxients together with 
 interest, usually at 9 per cent, per annum, extending over a number 
 of years. . , 
 
 .,. Cultivating without capital, without foresight, without in- 
 siruction, the yields are not infrequently excessively low both in 
 cane and sugar ; yet even this low yield appears to bring a return 
 adequate to the simple requirements of the Indian planter, to- 
 whom the cost of production is almost neghgible, and who, it, 
 should be stated, has usually many other resources : hawking,, 
 niilk-selling, cattle and poultry rearing, &c., all on a small scale — 
 with which to supplement the revenue derived from the land. 
 
 In a normal year, with the methods of cultivation which the 
 Indian owner generally adopts, the virgin crop will leave a profit, 
 of about Rs. 100 to 150 per arpent, and subsequent ratoon crops,, 
 from Rs. 50 to 75, according to the age of ratoon, the nature o^ 
 the season, and the care devoted to the plantations. . 
 
 The system outlined in the previous paragraph, advantageous' 
 as it is for the individual, both buyer and seller, is becoming a. 
 serious menace to the industry as a whole. The methods of the 
 Indian planter are deplorable. Not only is the lan^l cultivated to 
 exhaustion without the addition of any fertiliser, natural or 
 chemical, but the cane-trash, either from ignorance or laziness, or 
 both combined, is systematically burnt, and the yield both of cane 
 and sugar is often ridiculously low. But as a competition exists 
 among the mill-owners for the Indian planter's canes, even if the 
 latter could be brought to see the necessity for improved culture 
 for the sake of the land, he is not likely to be seriously concerned 
 while he can find a ready sale for his goods as they are.. 
 The mill-owner buys the cane at an average of Rs. 98 1 per ton, 
 or gives 70 to 75 lbs. of sngarto the planter for eveiy 1000 lbs. of 
 cane, without respect to their richness in saccharine matter. 
 
 The average yield of cane per arpent on the large estates for 
 all ages of cane is 21 '6 tons; that of the Indian planters is eight 
 to nine tons ! * 
 
 The yield both for the large estates and for the Indian planter 
 depends on irrigation ; the golden rule is to irrigate copiously and 
 often during the three months after planting — i.e., May, June, and 
 July in the lowlands — and immediately after cutting. 
 
 The critical temperature for the cane appears to be 70*^ F.,. 
 below which there is a distinct retardation of growth. The virgin 
 canes in the lowlands come to maturity in about thn-teen to fifteen 
 months, while in the highlands nineteen to twenty-four months are 
 required. When to these favourable conditions is added a copious 
 and regular rainfall, the growth of the cane is phenomenal. 
 
 * The Government should put a stop to this suicidal 'nonchalance.'" 
 — D. E. A. 
 
20 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 The rainfall in the centre of the island is frequently too 
 heavy to permit the cane to develop normally, the higher portions 
 of the south-eastern districts receiving an average yearly rainfall 
 of 175 inches. If this amount were evenly distributed at the rate 
 •of about half an inch per day, this effect would be most beneficial, 
 but a large proportion is derived from cyclonic rains, which at 
 times. yield twenty or thirty inches, and have been known to 
 exceed fifty inches in one day. The cane suffers to a considerable 
 extent on account of these heavy rains. On the other hand, 
 shortasre of water for weeks at a time, as sometimes occurs in the 
 lowlands, also causes much damage, when the crop might fall as 
 low as 75 per cent, below the normal. But these conditions 
 of excess or want of water are unusual, and on the whole the 
 climate of Mauritius is highly favourable for the cultivation 
 of sugar cane. True, a vigilant watch must constantly be kept 
 against the cane pests, certain caterpillars, borers, bugs, beetles, 
 and scale insects, which will destroy whole fields of sugar cane if not 
 killed in time.' 
 
 It .will be seen how important it is for Mauritius 
 that droughts should be prevented or remedied if possible. 
 The excessive deforestation of forty years ago has been 
 wisely stopped ; and, as said before, reforestation of the 
 mountain sides, of the ' pas geometrique,' the river reserves 
 along the river banks, is a saving measure ; but, alas ! it will 
 be another half-century before the new forests can take the 
 place of those venerable giant trees, hoary with age, which 
 have been cut down. The widespread destruction of forests 
 has caused an increase of 1*26 F., during the summer 
 months, in the mean daily temperature of the air. 
 
CHAPTER ir. 
 
 Sugar Cane in the West Indies : its Cultivation, 
 Diseases, and Remedies. 
 
 Whilst in the West Indies in 1913, I visited several 
 sugar estates and their mills, and for the Mauritian 
 planters' benefit I publish by permission the following 
 notes on the above subjects, from the Reports of the Tropical 
 Exploitation Syndicate, and Ballou's Insect Pests of the Antilles : 
 
 The Sugar Cane {Saccharunfi officinarum) is a gigantic species 
 of grass similar, in some respects in formation, to the common 
 bamboo. The sweetening principle is contained in the pith, with 
 Avhich the sections of the stem are nearly filled. The height is 
 from eight to twelve feet. The plant is perennial, and grows in a 
 cluster, throwing up additional stems from the buds, or from 
 its lower nodes below the surface of the ground. The plant 
 is propagated from the eyes or buds, which grow on the stems. 
 The 'stoles,' or portions in the ground, continue to throw up fresh 
 canes or 'ratoons' for a succession of seasons. It is usual to 
 replant fresh canes after two to four years in rows three feet apart, 
 with intervals of two to six feet between each plant. 
 
 Soil and Fertilisers. — Clays, loams, marls, and calcareous soils 
 are all suitable for cane cultivation, and it thrives best in a warm, 
 moist climate with prevalent sea breezes and moderate intervals 
 of hot, dry weather. It will grow well on sandy soil if the moisture 
 conditions are satisfactory ; but such soils soon become exhausted, 
 and require heavy applications of fertilisers. The presence of 
 much saline ingredient is undesirable. It will also not succeed 
 on the hills. (The cultivated soil in Mauritius is either alluvial or 
 laterite (red soil), and the uncultivated gravelly, good for aloe 
 plantation.) 
 
 W. C. Stubbs, an expert, says, ' The best soil for sugar cane 
 should be capable of holding 25 per cent, of its weight in 
 moisture . . . and soils for sugar cane should be fertile and well 
 supplied with vegetable matter.' 
 
22 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 Commercial fertilisers should contain 340 pounds of soda 
 nitrate, or large amounts of cotton-seed meal, dried blood or 
 tankage, in order to produce 48 pounds of nitrogen per acre, and 
 3G pounds of phosphoric acid contained in 250 pounds of acid 
 phosphate, and a little potash. 
 
 Part of this fertiliser is applied before the planting of the 
 cane, and part soon after the growth begins. If nitrogenous 
 fertiliser is applied too late, it delays the ripening of the cane, and 
 hence reduces the yield of sugar, or injures the f[uality of the 
 syrup. Phosphates tend to hasten the ripening of the cane, 
 as also other plants. The demands for a large amount of 
 nitrogen are met on some estates by ploughing under (every 
 third or fourth year) a luxuriant growth of cow peas (Am- 
 brevade). 
 
 Specimen formula : 
 Where land is preceded by a Where velvet beans had 
 
 soil-improving crop. been ploughed under. 
 
 600 lbs. high-grade acid phosphate . . 1100 lbs. 
 
 100 ,, cotton-seed meal ... „ 
 
 300 „ nitrate of soda . . . . 100 „ 
 
 100 „ sulphate of potash . . . 100 „ 
 
 1100 lbs. per acre. 1300 lbs. 
 
 Half to be applied before planting, half later on. 
 
 The use of much stable manure, while not unsound, is apt to 
 give the syrup a dark and inferior flavour. On soil not previously 
 enriched, sugar cane requires a fertiliser rich in nitrogen. Potash 
 is needed in sandy lands, but apparently not on rich alluvial 
 jsoils. Burning the dried tops and leaves destioys cane-borers,, 
 causes the land to dry up more rapidly than if litter is left on it, 
 and disposes of the useless vegetable matter. 
 
 One ton of cane leaves and tops will take out of the soil 
 2*81 lbs. nitrogen, 10*53 lbs. phosphoric acid, 2'43 lbs. potash. 
 
 Tw^enty-five tons per acre of stripped cane will take 01 lbs. 
 nitrogen, '2Q lbs. phosphoric acid, 30 lbs. potash. 
 
 In from eight to fourteen, and even eighteen months after 
 planting, in April or May in the lowlands, and in November or 
 December in the higher and cooler districts (according to climate, 
 soil, manures, rain, cane. &c.), the shoot becomes heavy and is ripe 
 for harvesting, the skin has become dry, smooth, and brittle, the 
 pith approaching to brown, and the juice sweet and glutinous. 
 The canes are cut to the ground with cutlasses or bill-hooks, and 
 brought into the factory to be crushed between rollers. (In 
 Mauritius the average virgin yield is 28 tons per arpent ; the 
 average ratoon about 20.) In British Guiana 30 tons per acre 
 are regarded as a good crop, and yield 25 tons of juice, which 
 
SUGAR CANE IN THE WEST INDIES. 23 
 
 •evaporates to about 36 cwt. of sugar. But the amount of juice 
 Taries, the large and powerful mills will exti-act from 75 to 80 
 per cent, of the weight of the cane as juice, and a ton of stripped 
 'Canc! will yield between 150 and 180 lbs. of sugar — or 22 gallons 
 of syrup. 
 
 The crushing of the cane is sometimes preceded by immersion 
 in water. The diffusion, method is sometimes adopted, and that 
 consists in cutting the canes into short lengths and soaking them 
 in an equal weight of water, passing the resultant liqoor from one 
 vessel to another, in the course of which it becomes more and 
 more concentrated. 
 
 The sugar juice is treated wil.h sulphur dioxide, and neutralised 
 with milk of lime to prevent fermentation. It is then heated to 
 80" C. (170° F.), skimmed and evaporated in vacuum pans or by 
 steam pipes, which alternately dip into the juice and out again. 
 The uncrystallisable syrup which may remain is removed by 
 draining or by centrifugal machines, or it may be sold for export 
 just as it is. 
 
 After evaporation the juice is run through cotton bags, charcoal, 
 or capillary filters, the ' clean ' having the effect of decolourising 
 it. The purified resultant is then boiled down in steam-heated 
 vacaum pans at a temperature of 82° C. (179° F.), more syrup 
 being added as crystallisation sets in. When sufficient crystals 
 have been formed, the crystals and syrup, or ' masse cuite,' is 
 carried off into a centrifugal machine which separates the syrup 
 from the crystals, which are washed by a water spray, spread out 
 to dry, and packed. The process is repeated with the drained-off 
 syrup, and the final residue converted into Golden Syru^j. 
 
 If the ' inasse cuite ' is run into moulds and the syrup be 
 washed out with pure sugaj-liqnor and dried. Cube Sugar is 
 formed. 
 
 Molasses or treacle is obtained in the refining of sugar, and 
 consists usually of 20 per cent, of water, 36 per cent, of crystallisable 
 sugar, 36 per cent, inverted sugar, 5 per cent, organic acids and 
 extractive, and 3 per cent, mineral matter. 
 
 Cane sugar (C^o ^\i O^i) dissolves in one-third part of cold 
 water. Its crystals have a specific gravity of 1"6. It melts at 
 160° C, then solidifying into Barley Sugar, and at a higher 
 temperature is converted into a dark brown substance known as 
 €aramel. 
 
24 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 Diseases of the Sugar Cane* 
 
 The sugar-cane industry has constantly been threatened by 
 the attacks of reiiain fungi and of insects which eat up eitlier 
 the leaves or shoots of the sugar cane. Amongst these insects 
 are the moth l)orer, the weevil horer, the root lorer, the shot borer, 
 the cane Jig, the pinic mealy hug, the sugar-cane Aspidiotus, the 
 grey sugar-cane mealy-hug, the grasshopper, and the white ants. 
 
 The fungi can be destroyed by certain mixtures like the 
 Bordeaux Mixture (copper sulphate, quicklime, and water), and 
 the insects by other parasitic and predaceous insects and by 
 lizards, toads, and birds. These are called the natural enemies 
 of the insects. The parasite insects belong principally to the 
 Diptera and the Hymenoptera, and they either lay their eggs inside 
 the body of their host, when they are said to be parasitic proper, 
 or they devour it bodily, and are said to be 'predaceous'; these 
 latter belong to nearly all orders. But besides these animal 
 enemies of the sugar-cane depredators, there are vegetable ones 
 also, viz., the ' parasitic fungi,' many species of which live on scale 
 insects, and white fly, plant lice, mealy-bug, and borers, which at 
 some period of their life-cycle have but little freedom of move- 
 ment, and also on flies, cotton stainers, moths, and grasshoppers. 
 As before said, several soecies of birds, the black bird [Quiscalus 
 fortirostris), the tick bird or old witch (Crotophaga ani), the 
 loggerhead, hawk, and many other smaller bii-ds and domestic fowls, 
 are insect-feeders. Toads or crapauds {Bufo agua), colloquially 
 called ' the mountain pigeon ' by the West Indian, feed on live 
 insects, especially at night. Lizards (the brown and the green) 
 are also very useful in the sugar-cane held. But since the intro- 
 duction of the mongoose in the West Indies for the destruction of 
 rats, the toads and lizards are being eaten up, and the insects are 
 increasing in number. We have already seen that flshes, especially 
 the small fish ' Million,' attack water-insects and mosquito larvae,, 
 but none of the insects that attack the sugar cane pass any period, 
 of their life-cycle in water. 
 
 * 2''he Moth Borm' (Diatrcea saccharalis, Fabr.), a Lepidopteron,. 
 is perhaps the worst enemy of the sugar cane. It is a whitish 
 straw-coloured moth with dark spots on the wings, which when 
 spread measure about Ij inches. Its larva, a whitish caterpillar 
 measuring IJ inches long, with scattered dark spots in each of 
 which there is a black hair or bristle, tunnels into the stem and 
 pupates there into a dark brown pupa two-thirds of an inch long. 
 
 * Ballou's Insect Pests of the Lesser Antilles. 
 
SUGAR CANE IN THE WEST INDIES. 25 
 
 with short stiff bristles on the abdominal segments. The eggs are 
 flat and scale-like, and are deposited on the leaves of the sngar 
 cane in clusters of twenty or thirty, and after hatching, the larva 
 travels down the leaf to its base, which in young canes is near the 
 growing point, where it bores its way into the stem. The whole 
 life-cycle is about fifty days. The parts around the tunnel 
 become nard and red, and have a fermentive taste. 
 
 Control. — If not too far gone, the shoots before planting are 
 treated with Bordeaux Mixture ; the dead ones are cut out and 
 burnt before the base of the shoot has begun to decay and the 
 borer has escaped and tunnelled into another stem. The eggs on 
 the leaves can easily be detected and collected. Fortunately these 
 eggs are attacked by small parasitic insects, which destroy them. 
 One of these (the Trirhogramma preUosa) inserts her eggs into the 
 moth's Q^g, and when her minute grubs are hatched, they destroy 
 the developing larva inside each borer egg. The attacked eggs 
 are a little darker than the others and should therefore not be 
 destroyed but left in the field, to enable the hatched and winged 
 parasite to fly and attack other borer eggs. 
 
 The caterpillar, plant lice, and meal v -bug are also attacked by 
 the parasitic fungus Cordyreps Barheri, which grows into their 
 bodies and thus kills them. 'J'hese fungi thrive best in damp 
 localities and in moist seasons.' 
 
 ^The larger Moth Borer {Gastnia Ucus, Drury), a Lepidopteron. 
 The eggs of the larger moth borer are elongate and pointed 
 at both ends. The surface is marked with five or six longitudinal 
 ridges. They are laid inside the leaf-base near the ground, or 
 on the ground among the canes. The larvae, on hatching, tunnel 
 into the stems and work upwards for a distance of some 2 feet, 
 when they turn and go down through the same tunnel into 
 the underground portion of the same stool. The larva reaches 
 a size of 2j inches in length and J inch in diameter. The 
 tunnel is consequently large, and the injury to the cane very 
 severe. The pupal stage is passed in the cane or in the soil near 
 the underground i:)ortions. The time occupied in the life-cycle 
 ranges from twelve to fifteen weeks. The adult insect is a large 
 day-flying moth, which in general appearance is similar to the 
 larger butterflies. 
 
 Control. — This larger moth-borer, being a day moth, is largely 
 kept under control by the birds, lizards, toads, and other natural 
 enemies, but it is also easily caught by means of butterfly-nets.. 
 Only well-examined cane tops should be exported from cane fields 
 where the moth exists, and all trash should be burnt.' 
 
 * The Weevil Borer {Sphenophorus sericeiiSy Oliv.), a Coleopteron, 
 although vulgarly called in the West Indies ladybird, is not a 
 
26 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 ladybird, which is generally beneficial in her habit, whereas the 
 weevil is not. It commits great depredations in the sugar-cane 
 fields, as it eats up the wliole of the inside of the cane as well as 
 the ratoons or stumps. It has a slender curved proboscis or beak, 
 and is about f inch in length, dark brown in colour, and has 
 black markings on its wing-shields and thorax. 
 
 For some time afcer the mating season it continues to deposit 
 its eggs — which are clear, single, and oval, about yV inch long — 
 •either in broken or cut canes, or ^ inch under the rind, in the soft 
 part above the hard joints, one in each segment of the stem. The 
 i^larva — J to h inch long — is a footless small white grub, and is 
 hatched in four days ; it progresses by means of a hump on 
 its abdomen. It is voracious, and tunnels extensively, and forms 
 rafter fifty days a cocoon out of the fibre of the cane, and pupates 
 during ten days, the whole life-cycle being sixty days or more. The 
 Sphenophoriis sordidus, which attacks the coffee plant, is very 
 similar to this species. 
 
 Control— No parasites of this borer are known in the West 
 Indies, but the birds, toads, and lizards capture the moth and also 
 the caterpillar when the infected stumps are dug out and broken 
 up. All rotten and infected canes should be burnt as soon as 
 possible, and stumps intended for latooning should be covered 
 with mould so as to prevent the access of the weevils for the 
 purpose of egg-laying.' 
 
 ' The Root Bore?' (Diaprepes abbreviatus, L.), a Coleopteron, 
 also wrongly called a ladybird, has found its way into the sugar- 
 <3ane fields and is becoming a serious pest. It is a large weevil, 
 about f inch long, pale green, with dark bronze stripes running 
 longitudinally on the wing covers. It lays its eggs en masse on 
 the leaves of a variety of plants, and after ten days, hatching takes 
 place, and the young larvae fall to the ground and immediately 
 feed on roots, especially on cane roots ; finally they tunnel into 
 the underground portion of the stems, passing f]*om one stool of 
 ■€anes to another, travelling sometimes several inches below the 
 .ground. The larval life lasts 300 days, and the pupal fifteen, and 
 the adult about twenty, thus filling a life-C}cle, from the laying of 
 the G^g to death, of nearly a year. 
 
 Control has hitherto not been satisfactory, although birds, 
 lizards, and toads prey on the adult, and these natural enemies and 
 the ants on the grub whenever it is exposed by digging out and 
 breaking up the stumps. But it has been found possible to 
 -exterminate great masses of the adults by planting Indian corn, 
 pigeon pea, sweet potato, and haricot bean immediately after the 
 harvesting of the cane. The weevils were found hiding among 
 the leaves (though rarely among the canes) and could be easily 
 •collected and destroyed.' 
 
-^ "S 
 
SUGAR CANE IX THE WEST IXDIES. 27 
 
 ' The Shot Borer {Xf/leborus per/orafis.WoW.). — A Coleopteron, 
 a small brownish beetle about yV '"^li Ions:, whose larva tunnels 
 the cane like the weevil borer does, and causes o:reat destruction, 
 not only m this way, but probably also by affording access to 
 •disease-producing fungi. 
 
 CoiiiroJ. — Prompt destruction of all infected and rotten canes 
 immediately after the crop is reaped.' 
 
 'The Cane Fly (Delphax Safrharivora,'WesteY.). — A Hemipteron 
 — not a veiy great pest. In this case it is the fly itself, or the 
 adult, that does the harm, by sucking through its proboscis the 
 juices of the leaves and of the cane at a tender part near the 
 growing part of the stem. She deposits her eggs in slots made 
 by a saw-like ovipositor within the tissue of the leaf. A black 
 fungus usually grows on canes attacked* by this fly, which is still 
 called by some the bknk hlight. It may cause the loss of half the 
 year's crop. 
 
 Control. — The cane fly has for natural enemies the ladybird 
 and the green lace-wing fly.' 
 
 ' The Pink Mealy-lug (Fseuilorocrus ralceolarim, Mask.), cannot 
 be classed among the serious pests of the sugar cane. But in 
 Louisiana, where it is fostered and protected by the Argentine ant 
 ■{2'rpiomyrmexhumilis)y it does great havoc. It occurs under the 
 leaf sheath, where it sucks the sap from the cane by means of its 
 slender mouth parts. 
 
 Control. — Xo cuttings infected by this mealy-bug should be 
 used for planting ; and sugar-cane ratoons suffering from root 
 •diseases, being also badly attacked by this bug, should be dug out 
 and burnt. Its natural enemies are probably parasitic 
 Hymenoptera.' 
 
 ' Ths Sugar- cane Aspidlotus {Asjndwtus sacrhari, CklL), a 
 Hemipteron, is a rounded scale-insect of light-straw colour which 
 occurs on sugar cane under the sheathing bases of the old leaves, 
 and sometimes underground. It is rarely abundant and probably 
 •does little harm. 
 
 Control. — Infested canes should be destroyed.' 
 
 * The Grey Sugar-cane Mealy-lug {Pseudococcus saccJuiri, Ckll.). 
 — A Hemipteron, moderately large, covered with mealy wax and 
 not easily distinguished from the pink mealy-bug, but it has 
 longer legs and a less rounded body. 
 
 Control is the same as for the other. It is not a very serious 
 pest.' 
 
 * The Grasshopper (Schistorarea pollens, Thunb.). — An Orthop- 
 teron, will sometimes, especially in St. Kitts, eat the sugar-cane 
 leaves. 
 
28 THE EPIDEMICS OP MAURITIUS. 
 
 Control. — Either by hand or by poison — \ barrel of fresh horse- 
 droppings, 1 lb. salt, and 1 lb. Paris green, thoroughly mixed 
 together ; the Criddle mixture, or 1 lb. bran (pollard) mixed to a 
 stiff mash with water and molasses and Paris green, 25 lbs.. 
 Domestic fowls and birds also like them.' 
 
 ' Termites or White Ants (Platyptera) have been known tO' 
 eat out the interior of the ripe cane. The control was to plant 
 the field with cotton for two years, and the cane fields were never 
 again attacked. 
 
 * Finally, the Gummimj disease, " Maladie de Gomme," causes- 
 a diminution of nearly 30 per cent, on the crop.' 
 
 Varieties of Sugar Cane. 
 
 There are a great many varieties of sugar cane. Some 
 thrive for several years in the same soil, and tben for some 
 reason or other they lose their richness in saccharine matter, 
 or tbey are destroyed by borers or other insects, and it is 
 found necessary after clearing the soil — burning the leaves 
 and tops and old ratoons, and remanuring — to plant other 
 varieties. In Mauritius some sixty- one varieties have been 
 tried, and whilst the Bellouquet Setters, Tamarin, Penang 
 Blanche, Home, Bambou Rose de Batavia, Diard, d'Otaiti, 
 and Mignonne were at one time extensively cultivated, they 
 have been given up on account of cane diseases and the 
 following have taken their place : Big Tanna, Fotiogo, Port 
 MacKay, Locambines, Lousiers, Petite Senneville. 
 
 The Sugar Factory. — A sugar mill at work is a busy 
 sight. Very early in the morning, before sunrise, the 
 camp bell has woke up the coolies, who congregate in 
 front of the mill. The roll is called; the sirdars, with, 
 their companies of men, are detailed off to their respective 
 allotments, where they work until midday; they then have 
 an hour's leisure for their midday meal and rest. Again 
 the bell sends them back to the fields or the mill until 
 six, when for a third time the bell dismisses them, and 
 finally a *couvre-feu' bell at eight has caused every cocoa- 
 nut-oil lamp throughout the camp to be extinguished,. 
 
SUGAR CANE IN THE WEST INDIES. 29 
 
 and the labourer, having ceased beating his tomtom with 
 his hand and singing a weird song to its accompaniment, 
 falls asleep on his mat or on his string-bed. If it be the 
 mosquito season, he puts a bunch of green leaves on the 
 embers of his mud-stove to benumb these insects with smoke, 
 and he sleeps till five the next morning, his dreams being 
 occasionally disturbed by the hollowing of the watchmen, 
 who with their dogs patrol the camp, the mill, and the 
 fields against possible marauders. 
 
 It is during the * Coupe,' or harvest, in August or Sep- 
 tember (in Mauritius), that a sugar estate should be visited. 
 Hundreds of coolies are cutting down the canes, whilst 
 hundreds of others pile it on carts or Decauville-rail trucks, 
 or in mid-air wire baskets, to be taken to the mill. As a 
 rule, the canes are thrown into a clear-water pond first, and 
 thence made to flow down-stream to the mill, where men and 
 women push them up a moving plane which abuts against 
 the rollers, where they are caught and crushed; the * bagasse,' 
 or nearly dry pith, once more falls into clean water, to be 
 pushed back upon the moving table ; finally the pith is 
 either used for fodder or as combustible material for the mill. 
 
 Inside the mill is a world of noise and motion. The 
 engineers and their assistants are all at their posts, boiling, 
 cooking, medicating, filtering the syrup, and reboiling, dry- 
 ing and packing the sugar. The tall chimneys all the while 
 are emitting a quantity of smoke, whilst the machinery is 
 creaking, hissing, or hooting. A peculiar sweetish, agree- 
 able smell pervades the atmosphere and stirs up a wholesome 
 appetite, which is amply satisfied at the manager's hospitable 
 dejeuner, to which he and his good wife always generously 
 invite the visitors. These managers' families form a peculiarly 
 attractive feature of Colonial life. Wherever I have been, 
 Mauritius, Natal, the West Indian Islands, British Guiana, 
 South and Central America, I have always been right 
 royally entertained by them. The manager himself, as a 
 rule, is either a good Scotsman from Glasgow, or a polite 
 Frenchman, a descendant of the old colonists of Louis the 
 XIYth's or XYth's time, or a Franco-Spaniard. They 
 
30 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 are always glad to have the routine of the daily work 
 broken into by the arrival of some one from the old countrj^. 
 Their charming wives, rendered all the more charming by 
 their stay or their birth under the tropical sun ; their pretty 
 daughters with hair adorned with flowers from their 
 aromatic gardens, their fine boys all attentive to hear the 
 latest news from the Colleges in Europe ; they all are unique 
 in their setting, in their sweet-scented country homes, and 
 the picture evoked in my memory will ever be a grateful 
 one. 
 
 The Bum Industry. — Rum being derived from molasses^ 
 is an industry existing wherever sugar is made. In Mauritius 
 prior to 1895 a distillery was attached to almost every sugar 
 estate, and over 100,000 litres were produced per month,, 
 bringing into the Government Revenue, in 1883, over 
 Rs. 1,772,355 ; but after the conquest of Madagascar by 
 the French in 1895, who all but stopped the import of the 
 fiery liquid into the country, and after prohibition of the 
 exportation to the East Coast of Africa, where, as in every 
 heathen land, it does great and rapid harm, and the diminu- 
 tion of the demand from London, the revenue from the 
 sale of rum has fallen to less than Rs. 1,330,000, and most 
 of the distilleries have closed their doors. Sobriety has in 
 consequence made great strides, not only in Mauritius, but 
 also in Madagascar and East Africa. 
 
 The rum distillers, however, are doing their best to have^ 
 the heavy excise dues reduced, and with improvement in the 
 machinery, fermentation and distillation, and better means 
 of exportation, they hope to revive their trade. 
 
 * * Rum is produced from sugar by rapid fermentation^ 
 extending from thirty-six to forty-eight hours, by setting 
 up a mash of scummings from the sugar- pans, 'scummings 
 and molasses mixed, or of molasses diluted with water, till the 
 " sett " or mash is of the strength of about 12 % of sugar. 
 The quality of the rum produced is in the order of materials 
 named, scummings producing the finest. The mash set up is> 
 
 ■^ By permission this paragraph is extracted from the publications- 
 issued by the Tropical Exploitations' Syndicate, Ltd. 
 
SLTGAR CANE IN THE WEST INDIES. 3t' 
 
 slightly acid, and sometimes sulphate of ammonia in small 
 quantities is added to provide readily- available nitrogenous 
 food for the yeast. Every ten gallons yield one (or rather 
 more) gallon of rum. The flavour of rum depends mostly 
 on soil and climate, and is not good when the canes grow 
 rankly. Its strength, as imported, is usually about 20/^, 
 which is reduced before passing into the hands of the con- 
 sumer. Artificial flavours, pineapple or guava, are some- 
 times added to give it a flavour.* 
 
 The Aloe Imhistri/. — The aloe {Fourcroya (jigantea) growS' 
 luxuriantly in Mauritius, and needs but very little attention 
 as it sprouts amongst the rocks in every glen, wherever it can 
 find a patch of soil for its rootlets. Strange that until forty- 
 four years ago, no one attempted to cultivate it or to derive- 
 profit from it. But since 1873 or 1874 it has developed into 
 a paying industry, for after five years' growth the leaves can- 
 be cut and the fibres turned into cordage, matting, &c. ; the 
 same roots produce several harvests in the year, 100 acres 
 giving an annual income of E-s. 5000. 
 
 The Vanilla Industry. — The vanilla also grows well in 
 Mauritius, but so far, apart from local sale, it has but a 
 limited trade with the exterior. 
 
 The Cotton Industry. — During the French occupation of 
 the Island, the sea-island cotton was cultivated on a pretty 
 large scale, but the sugar cane' supplanted it, and the 
 moUuscal pests (the Aehatina panthera and the Pupex]^ the 
 cotton-stainer-bug (Dysderius), and the caterpillar (Elarias 
 Insukma) discouraged its cultivation ; but now that a large 
 extent of the northern districts has become very dry, and 
 sugar cane is becoming less luxuriant there, the cotton plant 
 might come back into its own, and might succeed if sown in 
 December or January, and care be taken to protect it against 
 the above-named pests. 
 
 The Tobacco Industry. — Under the intelligent and pro- 
 gressive government of Sir Henry Esketh Bell, the much- 
 esteemed Administrator of the Island, this industry is being 
 encouraged, and a great future seems to lie before it, as botL 
 the climate and the soil are favourable to the tobacco plant. 
 
82 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 Tea and Coffee. — Tea will grow in the cooler parts of the 
 Island, but whether it will ever become an industry is 
 ■doubtful. So also with regard to coffee, which grows 
 luxuriantly in certain dry soil, and produces enough to 
 supply the stimulating beverage all the year round to those 
 families in whose gardens it grows. 
 
 Fruit. — Bananas, pine-apples, mangoes, guavas, papaws, 
 letchis, and cocoanuts could be cultivated to a large extent 
 and exported if a market lay near, say at a week or two's 
 steam distance. Reunion, Madagascar, Ceylon, and Natal, 
 are the nearest ports where they could be sold, but they 
 grow in those countries. Nevertheless, ' confitures,' or pre- 
 serves, would find a ready market in Europe. The generality 
 of Englishmen have not yet learnt to appreciate the delicious 
 taste of the ' Banane and Papaye tappees,' the guava jelly, 
 and the mango chutnee, as prepared by the Creole women of 
 Mauritius. 
 
 Manioc (Manihot ntilissima), sweet potatoes {Ipomea batatas)^ 
 tapioca or arrowroot [Maranta arundinacea), and earth-nuts, 
 grow well in Mauritius, and could find a market in India, 
 Australia, and New Zealand, if not in Europe, where the 
 trade is already in the hands of the West Indians. 
 
 As for Fish, there is an abundance of eatable fish all 
 along the coast, but, as with the fruit, there are no markets 
 near that want them. 
 
 There are many medicinal plants in the Island : the 
 8oIanacece, Euphorhiacece, Ricinus communis, and Croton 
 tiglium preponderate. The Cinchonce have been planted in 
 the cooler altitude of Curepipe, the Strychnos mix vomica in 
 the dryer soil of Pamplemousses' gardens, whilst the 
 Simaruha grows wild in the forests ; but no chemist with 
 sufficient enterprise has yet tapped these medicinal sources 
 of wealth. 
 
 Cattle and goats imported from Madagascar are nulnerous 
 enough ; but pasture land is too limited to make the rearing 
 of these animals a paying concern. Deer are plentiful in 
 the Kanaka Forest, but they are protected by law for the 
 pleasures of the * Chasse.' 
 
, 77-3^ 
 
 . 67-5°. 
 
 . 12-3°. 
 
 . 12-7°. 
 
 . 32 ins. 
 
 . 124-4 „ 
 
 . ^1%. 
 
 • 87%. 
 
 SUGAR CANE IN THE WEST mCIES. 33 
 
 The Clitnate is cool at Curepipe and its neighbourhood, 
 nearly 2000 feet above the sea, but warm, along the coast, 
 •especially from December to April. 
 
 The mean temperature in Port Louis is 
 „ ,, Curepipe 
 
 ,, daily range in Port Louis . 
 Curepipe 
 Rainfall in Port Louis .... 
 „ Curepipe .... 
 
 Degree of humidity (sat. 100) in Port Louis 
 
 Curepipe 
 
 During the hot months, hurricanes and cyclones, which 
 sometimes are very violent, visit the Island. The most 
 disastrous one came on April 29th, 1892, and caused an 
 •enormous destruction of buildings and crops, and the loss of 
 many lives. In a few hours 1200 people were killed, 4000 
 wounded, 150,000 rendered homeless. This catastrophe was 
 followed the next year by a great fire on July 23rd, which 
 burnt the commercial part- of the town and the *Chausee,' 
 the street containing the principal shops.* 
 
 One has to live through a cyclone to understand what it 
 really is. I was in Mauritius during that of 1868, which, 
 though not as furious as that of 1892, nevertheless moved at 
 eighty-three miles an hour, and lifted half of the heavy 
 Grand River railway bridge off its pillars, and cast it down 
 into the river below. The storm lasted thirty-six hours, 
 beginning at 4 p.m., blowing violently, and raining con- 
 tinually until the early hours of the second day. The 
 wind, which at the early part of the year is from the north- 
 east, began to increase in velocity, and to veer to the south- 
 east; the barometer fell several degrees, and the clouds 
 travelled at a rapid rate across the skies ; the birds, seagulls 
 and martins, which at the first indication of the storm, had 
 sought the protection of the mountains, could now scarcely 
 fly against the gusts of wind, and had to drop into the 
 
 * By strange coincidence a severe cyclone in 1818 was preceded by a 
 • disastrous fire in 1816, when one-fourth of Port Louis was destroyed. 
 
34 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 shelter of the glens, and, alas ! of the forests too. These 
 last were their death-trap, for the slashing of twigs and 
 branches and the torrential rains whipped them to death. 
 Before midnight the wind dropped, the barometer rose, 
 and the people hoped the worst was over ; but the lull was 
 only temporary, . for at two or three in the morning the 
 storm began anew, and the wind veered to the south, and 
 threatened to blow our house down. In fact, all those who 
 were with me at ' Glenside ' expected to be crushed to death 
 at any moment, (^r to be blown down the Glen. We spent 
 the day in great anxiety, but at midnight the wind 
 changed to the south-west, soon its fury began to abate, 
 and the tempest to soften down. The next morning the 
 sun shone in a clear sky, and the cyclone was rushing 
 north-eastward back to the Equatorial regions, whence it 
 had started ; but woe to the ships that would be caught 
 in her path I What a sight met our eyes, huge tamarinds, 
 flamboyants, and fruit trees lying on the ground, the tall 
 eucalyptus and graceful palms snapped in half, and every 
 tree stripped, scores of birds dead and stiff; rivers in the 
 o^lens swollen to treble their width and ten times their heij^ht, 
 dashing with fury down to the sea ; sugar canes leafless and 
 bare, broken and scattered all over the fields ; the Indian 
 camps unroofed and flattened to the ground, houses de- 
 molished, and the tin roofs of verandas rolled like a sheet of 
 paper and carried a mile awaj. Fortunately, the Indians 
 at the camps had sought refuge inside the sugar mills ; but 
 even there they had run the risk of being crushed by the 
 fall of the tall chimneys. 
 
 From Port Louis and towns and villages all over the 
 island came similar news of devastation and ruin. But on 
 the whole there were few casualties ; many persons had been 
 bruised and cut, but few were killed. The damage done to 
 the crop that year was until then, the highest on record, the 
 loss being 32 per cent. ; but this was surpassed in 1902, when 
 the total loss by the two cyclones of February 12th and 
 April 29th amounted to 48"3 per cent. This last one, though 
 of shorter duration, was more violent, moving at the rate of 
 
SUGAR CANE IN THE WEST INDIES. 3& 
 
 103 miles an hour ; it did great harm to shipping, as it was 
 accompanied by a roz-de-niaree or tidal wave. Some ships 
 broke from their anchors, and were lifted right over the 
 chaussee or causeway uniting Fort George to the main- 
 land, and thrown on their beam ends into the shallow 
 muddy marsh called the * Mer Rouge/ and boats and 
 lighters were landed dry in the ' Place d'Armes ' in front of 
 Grovernment House. 
 
 Thus the approach of every Eastertide brings with it the 
 dieaded anticipation of a cyclone ; but when once April is 
 over the inhabitants breathe freely until the next February. 
 
 In fact, apart from the cyclone which may or may not 
 come, and droughts which are rare, also the unfortunate 
 malaria, and occasional plague scare, life in Mauritius 
 glides softly and quietly along far from the din of 
 European or Asiatic commotions, the echoes of which only 
 reach the island twenty-four hours after. But its distance 
 from the rest of the world, and its diminutive size, do 
 not prevent it from pulsating in harmony with the 
 other dominions of the British Empire. The love for 
 King and mother-country lies deep in the heart of every 
 Mauritian. 
 
 There are very few places in the world where Europeans,. 
 Creoles of half-European ancestry, Asiatics, and descend- 
 ants of Africans, live so peaceably together as in Mauritius. 
 They have all been forced by their isolation in mid-Indian 
 Ocean to depend upon one another. The catastrophes that 
 have overtaken them, the hurricanes, the financial crises and 
 the epidemics, have knit them together in a common bond of 
 sympathy ; the Government schools and the E-oyal College, 
 where Europeans, Creoles, Asiatics and blacks, all work and 
 play together, and vie with one another in ' getting on,' and 
 finally in winning, after a serious examination, the valuable 
 scholarships of £1000 awarded every year by the Colony to the 
 two best students or ' Laureates ' ; last, but not least, religion 
 — Protestant and Catholic ; all these factors have moulded 
 into a separate and distinctly lovable, polite, and amiable- 
 race those born and brought up in Mauritius. 
 
36 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 True, tlie traveller finds admirable characteristics in the 
 inhabitants of every colony he visits ; but in warmth of 
 hospitality, in charm and grace of the ladies, the Mauritians 
 cannot be surpassed. 
 
 In writing thus I do not mean to make invidious dis- 
 tinctions, or to place in second rank the families who so 
 hospitably entertained me wherever I have been. They 
 were all most charming. I only wish to add my meed of 
 praise to that given by Sir Charles Bruce in the next 
 chapter to the * grandes dames ' of Mauritius — English, 
 French, and Creole. The atavism produced by mixture of 
 races is beautifully exemplified in the inhabitants of that 
 Island. Most of what was best in the ancestors has reverted 
 to the children. Jacques Nordeau would find there ample 
 material for another edition of his work on heredity and 
 reversion. 
 
 ' Floreat Mauritia ! * 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Evolution of the Crown Colony of Mauritius.* 
 By Sir Charles Bruce, G.C.M.G. 
 
 Some years ago Sir Hubert Jerningham, my predecessor in 
 the Government of Mauritius, wrote of the colony in these 
 words : — ' Among the dependencies of the British Crown 
 there is one which, inconsiderable in extent and almost 
 shut out of notice by its distance from great commercial 
 centres, and the absence Avithin its territory of those 
 mineral attractions which at once give prominence to a 
 country, yet asserts its claim to attention in a manner 
 peculiarly its own, and defies the history of the world to 
 forget its existence in the development of race, in the 
 stubbornness of man struggling against adverse odds, and 
 in the remarkably recuperative powers with which it is 
 endowed.' 
 
 I propose to show how centuries of struggle have de- 
 veloped in Mauritius a population appropriate to its environ- 
 ment, as evidenced by the recuperative powers it has dis- 
 played, and have given such considerable importance to an 
 area of territory rather smaller than the county of Surrey. 
 
 The Portuguese in Cerne. — The island now called 
 Mauritius was discovered and named Cerne by the Portuguese 
 pilot, Diego Fernandez Pereira, on February 7th, 1507, 
 so that the task I have undertaken may be considered appro- 
 priate to the close of the fourth centenary year of the 
 discovery. There is no record of any Portuguese settlement 
 
 * An Address delivered before the Scottish Geographical Society ia 
 Edinburgh on January 16th, 1908. 
 
38 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 in the island. It served as a refuge in stress of weatlier> 
 and as a point of call for fresh water and such original 
 supplies as it afforded, supplemented by the natural but 
 untended increase of introduced plants and animals, such as 
 deer, goats, and pigs. From the first ships landed no 
 doubt the first rats. These rodents have proved to be the 
 only really formidable enemies of the human race in the fauna 
 of the Island. They have devoured every green herb intro- 
 duced for the service of man ; the attempt to displace them 
 has cost sum3 that must have aggregated hundreds of thou- 
 sands of pounds ; and they have been the chief carrying 
 agents in the propagation of bubonic plague. 
 
 Beyond serving as a point of call, Cerne played no part 
 in the enterprises which for a period raised Portugal to the 
 first rank among maritime powers, and gave her a practical 
 monopoly of sea-borne Indian commerce. It was the struggle 
 of the nations of Europe for the key of the Indian Ocean 
 when the power of Portugal had failed, that was to determine 
 its strategic and economic value. 
 
 The Dutch in Mauritius. — When on the 18th of Sep- 
 tember, 1598, the Dutch Admiral Wy brand van Warwyck 
 found a convenient harbour on the south-east coast of the 
 Island known to him as Cerne, he entered it with caution, 
 believing the Portuguese to be in possession. But landing 
 and boating parties discovered no trace of human habitation, 
 and after a few days he annexed the Island to Holland, 
 giving it the name of Mauritius, after the then Stadtholder, 
 €ount Maurice of Nassau. To the harbour he gave his own 
 name. 
 
 In Fort Hendrik. — For forty years the Dutch continued 
 to make use of Mauritius only, as Cerne had been used by the 
 Portuguese, as a point of call for repair and supply, adding 
 to its economic lesources by the introduction of useful plants 
 and fruit-trees and live stock. It was not till the year 
 1638 that they decided to support the validity of their 
 title by settlement. On May 7th they again took formal 
 possession, 'by planting an car in the ground/ and com- 
 
EVOLUTION OF THE CROWN COLONY HO 
 
 Tiiencecl the construction of a fort, subsequently called Fort 
 Hendrik. It was equipped with an armament of four 
 3-pounder guns, and the little community of twenty-five 
 persons left within it contained the rudiments of a political 
 system, under the central administration of the Dutch East 
 India Company ; military and civil Government were repre^ 
 sented by the commander, three officers, and nine soldiers ; 
 religion by the pastor ; in the general population of eleven 
 working-men, science was represented by the barber, * pro- 
 vided with everything in the way of medicines and instru- 
 ments.' Later in the year the communit}^ was strengthened 
 bj^ a reinforcement of thirty men landed from a man-of-war, 
 but the Governor decided that it was never to exceed 
 ■eighty residents. The duties assigned to it were to prevent 
 any concurrent settlement b}^ a foreign power, and to develop 
 the resources of the Island with a view, in the first place, to 
 making it self-supporting, and then to enlarge the area of 
 commerce, at the time limited to the export of ebony and a 
 little ambergris. The difficulty of maintaining a monopoly 
 of occupation soon made itself felt. The Dutch settlement 
 had anticipated by only a few months English and French 
 expeditions sent out with the same object, and these, while 
 admitting the priority of the Dutch, easily accommodated 
 themselves to it by the discovery of other landing-places, and 
 in particular of a harbour much sujjerior for their purposes 
 on the north-west coast. 
 
 Struggle for Existence, — The correspondence published in 
 Prince Roland Bonaparte's interesting monograph proves 
 how scon the Dutch realised the inadequacy of their 
 resources to defend the monopoly they claimed, and learned 
 that the tenure of Mauritius is inseparable from the tenure 
 of maritime supremacy in the Indian Ocean. "Within six 
 years they abandoned the enterprise, but resumed possession 
 in 1650, only again to abandon it in four years. In 
 1659, convinced that Mauritius commanded the sea route of 
 commerce between Europe and Asia, they once more under- 
 took the work of colonisation, with a tenacity characteristic 
 of their race and a scientific knowledge of agricultural 
 
40 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 metliods at least equal to that of any other European power 
 of the day. 
 
 The Labour Question. — But a new factor — the Labour 
 Question — had now to be taken into account in their enter- 
 prise. At the outset of their occupation the}^ had undertaken 
 to provide a labouring population by the importation of 
 natives of Madagascar under the system of slavery, then, 
 universally recognised as the only appropriate agency of 
 tropical labour. This agency was now supplemented by the 
 introduction of convicts from Batavia, and thus an un- 
 inhabited island was artificially provided with a population 
 perhaps more hostile to the colonising power than any. 
 native population that has resisted European colonisation 
 in any area of America or Asia. It was not long before 
 the facility of escape, from the isolated stations where the 
 Dutch had commenced a system of cultivation, into im- 
 penetrable forests, rendered even this labour supply 
 precarious. In time the rapid multiplication of progenjr 
 and the licence of a community unfettered even by the 
 restraint of tribal customs, made the population of so-called 
 Maroons not only useless for the purpose of agricultural en- 
 terprise, but a source of danger and terror. In these circum- 
 stances, it was impossible to realise from the development of 
 the resources of the colony a revenue sufficient to yield a 
 return on the capital of a trading company, and to provide 
 for the exigencies of a naval station menaced by the struggle 
 of European powers for the control of the sea-route to India. 
 In 1710 the Dutch once mor6, and this time finally^ 
 abandoned Mauritius, transferring troops and colonists to the 
 Cape of Good Hope. It has been constantly averred that 
 the Dutch were driven out of Mauritius by the rats. It was 
 not the rats, but the labour question that proved too much 
 for them. 
 
 Two Centuries of Occupation. — Thus closed the record of 
 two centuries of European occupation with results that may 
 briefly be summed up. In an island found uninhabited,, 
 there had been established a race of mixed, but mainly 
 African origin, uncontrolled by any kind of political 
 
EVOLUTION OF THE CROWN COLONY. 41 
 
 system, but united in violence of hostility to European 
 civilisation. Economically the resources of the Island had 
 been developed by the addition of useful trees and plants ta 
 its flora, and of live stock, especially cattle, to its fauna. On 
 the other hand, the rats were left to increase and multiply 
 exceedingly on the introduced flora. 
 
 The French in Isle of France. — In 1715 the white 
 flag of Louis XY., King of France and Navarre, was hoisted 
 in Mauritius, and the Island annexed to his dominions under 
 the name of Isle of France. In 1719 it was granted 
 by charter to the French East India Company, and in 1723 
 it was provided with a political system. A Provincial 
 Council, composed of six of the principal inhabitants, was 
 created, and invested with legislative, judicial, and executive 
 powers. The records of this period are meagre and conflict- 
 ing, but what has been said of the period of Dutch occupa- 
 tion and the causes which terminated it may suffice to 
 indicate generally the difficulties which before long 
 threatened the settlement. From a commercial point of 
 view, the Company found the enterprise a heavy burden on 
 their hands. The new colonists recruited from France and 
 other areas of French activity had to be financed by the 
 Company. They had no capital, and neither scientific 
 knowledge nor experience of the requirements of tropical 
 agriculture. To the difficulties that had discouraged the 
 Dutch, there was thus added the experience of a financial 
 crisis, an economic disturbance that has proved of frequent 
 recurrence, and as formidable as the recurrent atmospheric 
 disturbance known as a hurricane. It would certainly have 
 wrecked the French occupation within twenty years but 
 for the extraordinary genius of the man who was sent out to 
 deal with it. 
 
 Mahe de La Bourdon}} ais. — It is difficult, within the 
 compass of my address, to do justice to the administration of 
 Mahe de La Bourdonnais. I must confine myself to a 
 summary of his labours in developing the resources of the 
 colony, and in securing it against internal disorder and 
 
42 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 external aggression. To make the colony self-supporting, 
 lie appreciated the necessity of a cheap and abundant food- 
 supply, secure alike from destruction by hurricane, and 
 from the risk of capture in transit inseparable from im- 
 ported food-stuffs. Such a staple he found in manioc or 
 cassava, which he introduced from Brazil. The expansion 
 of agriculture he promoted by the introduction of products 
 from every known region of the tropical world, and especially 
 encouraged the cultivation of sugar. To facilitate transport, 
 he taught the inhabitants to break in the wild cattle and 
 substitute animal draught for carriage by slaves ; he pro- 
 vided adequate roads to connect the harbours and districts 
 of the Island. 
 
 Turning his attention to the question of an adequate 
 suppl}^ of labour — then, as now, the question of questions in 
 climates where the manual labours of agriculture cannot be 
 undertaken by European colonists — he engaged, at his own 
 cost, in the introduction of natives from Africa under condi- 
 tions repugnant to our modern sense, but at the time 
 universally accepted by the civilised world. Against the 
 internal danger of the Maroon population he was thus able 
 to organize a force of kindred origin, illustrating the 
 principle that the disorders of a turbulent community are 
 best remedied by the educated and disciplined intelligence of 
 its own race. 
 
 In undertaking the defence of the colony. La Bourdonnais, 
 •convinced of the supeiior advantages of the North- West 
 Harbour, transferred to that quarter, to which he gave the 
 name of Port Louis, the seat of civil and military govern- 
 ment. With an enterprise and energy which admitted 
 nothing to be impossible, he converted an encampment con- 
 sisting mainly of straw huts, into a town equipped with 
 23ublic buildings and private residences, stores and shops, 
 with barracks, fortifications, and arsenals. The exigencies 
 of health were not overlooked. He constructed an aqueduct 
 to supply fresh water, and a hospital for the service of the 
 town and shipping. But it was to the harbour he devoted 
 his chief efforts. His imperial mind had already appreciated 
 
EVOLUTION OF THE CROWX COLONY. 43 
 
 the momentous bearing" of sea power on the history of the 
 world, and he was perhaps the first to realise that, however 
 formidable may be the strength of a nation in battleships, 
 its commerce may be annihilated by the speedy cruisers and 
 privateers of a rival power without a single battleship. He 
 therefore determined to make Port Louis a station from 
 which foreign trade could be crippled, as well as a strategic 
 base for the operations of France in India. He equipped it 
 for the reception of a fleet, and provided it with wet and dry 
 docks. He not only undertook the work of shipbuilding 
 with success, but in 1746 he made Port Louis the base of an 
 operation seldom, if ever, paralleled in colonial history. 
 
 ' Without ships,' says Colonel Malleson, ' without sailors, 
 without an army, the Indian Ocean covered by hostile 
 cruisers, with no resources but those he had made in the 
 colony, he was asked to embark an army, to traverse the 
 Indian Ocean, to avoid or encounter the trained fleet of the 
 enemy, and to relieve the beleaguered capital of French India.' 
 The result of this expedition and the tragic fate of the heroic 
 adventurer belong to another chapter of history. 
 
 His memory is held in equal honour by the representa- 
 tives of England and of France in the colony, where in 1899 
 the bi- centenary of his birth was celebrated with appropriate 
 ceremonies. Arrangements had been made for the fleets of 
 England and France to take part in the celebration, but they 
 were unfortunately prevented by a visitation of plague. 
 
 The Chartered Compaiif/ and the French JVation. — La 
 Bourdonnais finally left the Isle of France in 1746, and 
 there followed a period of conflict between the comm-ercial 
 interests of a trading company and the imperial interests of 
 France in the only harbour of the Indian Ocean in which 
 ■ships could ride with safety. It had been the aim of La 
 Bourdonnais to reconcile these interests, but his schemes had 
 involved a formidable expenditure, and the Company found 
 itself in a position analogous to that of the Dutch East India 
 when it abandoned the colony. The conflict was terminated 
 in 1764 by the bankruptcy of the Company and the transfer 
 of the administration to the Crown. It has been estimated 
 
44 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 that the transfer cost France 375 millions of livres, but 
 whatever may have been the cost, we must accept the 
 transfer as a declaration of the national faith that if the Isle 
 of France were abandoned, the English would drive all other 
 nations out of the Indian Ocean, and possess themselves of 
 the wealth of Asia. 
 
 Isle of France a Crown Colony. — In 1766 the Isle of France 
 received its first charter as a Crown Colony. The charter 
 sought to reconcile the conflict of military and civil interests 
 by the appointment of two administrators jointly responsible 
 to the Crown. To the Governor was assigned the naval and 
 military command, to the Intendant were assigned the 
 judicial administration, finance, and the control of agricul- 
 ture and commerce. The difficulties of this system of 
 divided responsibility were not long in making themselves 
 felt, but the selection of the first Intendant was almost as 
 fortunate as had been the appointment of Lci Bourdonnais,. 
 and under M. Poivre the development of agriculture Avas 
 pursued with energy and method. He reported at once to- 
 the Government of France that ' coffee, cotton, indigo, sugar, 
 pepper, cinnamon, tea, mulberries, cocoa and annatto had 
 each had their turn, but that the knowledge and attention 
 necessary to establish an experiment had always been want- 
 ing.' To remedy this want of knowledge and method, he 
 established in 1769 the Botanic Gardens attached to the 
 Governor's country residence at Pamplemousses. They soon 
 gained a world-wide fame, and have been, as they still are, a 
 stay of the colony's fortunes and an ornament of which all 
 Mauritians are justly proud. 
 
 Seat of Govemmcnt-in- Chief. — In the meantime, the 
 Crown Colony of the Isle of France rapidly grew in import- 
 ance as a base of naval and commercial operations,* until in 
 1789 the seat of the government-in- chief of all the French 
 establishments east of the Cape was transferred from Pon- 
 
 * In 1785 the French East India Company was reconstructed as a 
 trading concern under a Charter which gave the Isle of France con- 
 current privileges in a monopoly of trade between France, India and 
 China, and exclusive privileges as an entrepot for goods from Eastern 
 ports carried b}^ all French vessels. 
 
EVOLUTION OF THE CROWN COLONY. 45 
 
 dichery to Port Louis. But the time was now approaching 
 when the Crown Colony, under the influence of the French 
 Revolution, was to be raised to the status of a self-governing 
 colony in the fullest acceptation of the modern term. 
 
 Characteristics of Old France. — When the Prince of Wales 
 {now King Greorge Y.) returned from his Colonial tour, he 
 -declared with perfect felicity of phrase that Mauritius had 
 preserved many charming characteristics of Old France. It 
 was the period of the Revolution that fixed them, and at the 
 same time dissociated them from* other less charming charac- 
 teristics of the old regime. The following figures may 
 serve as a guide to the population of the Isle of France 
 during this period : 
 
 YEAR. WHITES. FREE COLOURED. SLAVES. 
 
 1787 4372 2235 40,439 
 
 1797 6237 3703 59,020 
 
 Elements of Order. — The white population contained three 
 powerful elements of order in the landed interest, in com- 
 merce, and in the Church. The land was mainly in the 
 hands of retired servants of the Crown, of military and 
 maritime experience, drawn largely from the old nohhsse^ but 
 enjoying no feudal privileges. Commerce was dominated by 
 a body of merchant venturers, who, to the profits of a great 
 centre of trade in peace, added in war-time the recognised 
 and lucrative enterprise of privateering. The Church, 
 unembarrassed by temporal privileges, exercised its spiritual 
 influence in alliance with these forces. 
 
 Elements of Disorder. — At the same time there were three 
 elements of disorder in the civil community, in the military, 
 and in the Government of France. In the civil community 
 elements of unrest were found in the generous enthusiasm of 
 youth for liberty, equalit}^, and fraternity; in a spirit of 
 independence and intolerance of restraint inseparable from 
 colonial enterprise ; and in the meaner motives which in 
 periods of national agitation prompt the idle, the dissipated, 
 and the vicious, to turbulence. Among these elements of 
 unrest the substitution of the tricolor for the white flag was 
 
46 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 followed by imitation of tlie revolutionary mettods of France^ 
 in the formation of Jacobin Clubs : La Chaumiere, Rafrai- 
 cbisseurs, Chevaliers d'Industrie, Sans-culottes — and even in 
 the erection of a guillotine, fortunately satisfied by the 
 vicarious sacrifice of a sheep. To these elements of disorder 
 was added a spirit of mutiny amon^ the garrison, which, not 
 unnaturally, associated itself with the revolutionary spirit of 
 the army in France; and the garrison was responsible for 
 the only act of bloodshed committed, the murder of Count 
 Macnamara, commandant of the French Marine in the 
 Indian Ocean. But these elements of unrest proved less 
 formidable than the action of the National Convention in 
 France, which en February 4th, 1794, decreed the immediate 
 abolition of slavery without indemnity, and declared every 
 man domiciled in the colonies without distinction of colour 
 to be a citizen of France, with equal civil and political rights. 
 Such were the influences that determined the evolution of the 
 Isle of France into a self-governing colony. 
 
 Self-fjoveriimeuf. — By a decree of Louis XYI. of April 9th, 
 1790, the colony was empowered to frame a Constitution for 
 itself, and on April 21st, 1791, a Constitution drafted, dis- 
 cussed, and adopted by the Colonial Assembly and ratified 
 by the Government of France, came into force. By a 
 resolution of the Assembly, it was subsequently decreed that 
 no laws emanating from France should have force in the 
 colony ; and in 1798 the Assembly decreed a revision of its 
 Constitution. By the Constitution of 1791 the supreme 
 executive power was placed provisionally in the hands of the 
 Governor. The exercise of this power presented grave 
 difficulties, but thc}^ were overcome by the genius of the 
 Governor, Count Malartic, who with admirable foresight 
 placed himself in the position which the experience of 
 subsequent generations has assigned to the Governor of a 
 self-governing British colony. 
 
 The Colonial Assernhlij and Slarer//. — As it was the policy 
 of the colony in respect of slavery that determined the issue 
 of the conflict between the forces of order and disorder, it is 
 important to understand it. It was clearly defined in its. 
 
EVOLUTION OF THE CROWN COLONY. 47 
 
 aims and metliods. Its end was the abolition of slavery,, 
 and its methods were the immediate abolition of the slave 
 trade ; * the amendment of the Code Noir, the organic slave 
 law of France, by the abolition of all punishments of ex- 
 ceptional severity ; f and the admission of free people of 
 colour to equal rights with the white population. J But to 
 the immediate abolition of slavery as decreed by the National 
 Convention the colony resolutely refused its assent. 
 
 Isle of France and Hayti. — The American philosopher 
 Emerson declared that history reveals nothing more re- 
 markable than the ease with which a benefactor may become 
 a malefactor only by the continuation of his activity into an 
 area where it is not due. And the truth of the aphorism 
 has never been asserted with more tremendous energy than 
 in the history of the abolition of slavery. It has afforded 
 a lesson to all time in the contrast between the influence of 
 the principles of the French Revolution in Hayti and in the 
 Isle of France. In Hayti the racial antipathies of colour, 
 generated by slavery, broke out into the most vindictive 
 conflict on record — a conflict which exterminated the 
 European community, destroyed capital in every shape,, 
 paralysed labour, and arrested the evolution of the forces 
 which in the Isle of France, struggling now slowly, now 
 rapidh^ but on the whole continuously, have worked out the- 
 conditions necessary to political sobriety, equality of civil 
 rights, and economic prosperity. 
 
 The interval of two years between the passing of ^ the 
 decree of February 4th, 1794, and the attempt to enforce it, 
 gave the cohesion of an united purpose to the forces of order 
 in the colony and allied with them the sacred cause of wives,, 
 mothers and daughters, to whom the fate of their sisters in 
 Hayti had revealed terrors worse than death. 
 
 The Crown of Self-government. — On June 18th, 1796,. 
 a naval detachment brought to the colony the Commissaries 
 
 * Laws of the Colonial AsseraWv, February 26tli, March 5th, Sep- 
 tember 20th, 1794. 
 
 t Laws of December 4th, 1790, February 6th, 1794. 
 
 I Laws of August 22nd, 1792, January 18th, 1793, March 18th, 1794.. 
 
48 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 of the French Republic, sent to proclaim the immediate 
 •emancipation of the slaves, and to terminate the political 
 independence of the Isle of France as a self-governing 
 colony. But the popular will had determined that the 
 colony had no use for the agents of the Directory, and 
 on June 22nd, after four days of a determined but bloodless 
 conflict, they were forced tore-embark. In 1798 the colony 
 rid itself of the turbulent element in the garrison, and 
 before long the last elements of disorder were expelled. 
 
 1^0 1 withstanding the desperate struggle for existence in 
 which the self-governing colony was engaged, it found time 
 to develop its internal resources, while its maritime activity 
 was such that the prizes taken into Port Louis were num- 
 bered by thousands, and their value estimated at millions of 
 pounds sterling. 
 
 ' The defence of the Island and the proceedings adopted 
 in the teeth of the revolutionary events that* threatened 
 its destruction at this time belong,' says the historian 
 Pridham, * rather to the age of romance, were not romance 
 set aside by realitj^. Seldom, perhap?, has history furnished 
 an example on a parallel with this instance, an instance in 
 which a single and inconsiderable island, denuded of nearly 
 the whole of its military force, by the natural strength of 
 its position and the braver)^ and patriotism of its in- 
 habitants, singly and for a long time, resisted the hostilities 
 of the mightiest of nations. . . .' 
 
 End of Self-fjovernment. — In May 1802 the political in- 
 dependence of the Isle of France was terminated by its 
 submission to a decree of Bonaparte as First Consul of the 
 Pepublic, suspending the Constitution, re-establishing the 
 slave trade, and restoring the legal status of slavery under 
 the Code Noir. A provisional government was nOw set up 
 with absolute power vested in a Captain- General, a Colonial 
 Prefect, and a Commissary of Justice. 
 
 General Decaen. — It is only just to recognise the eminent 
 services in the civil administration of the colony of the 
 illustrious ofiicer, General Decaen, appointed Captain- 
 General. The Code Decaen may be said to have been to 
 
EVOLUTION OF THE CROWN COLONY. 49 
 
 the Isle of France what the Code Napoleon was to France, 
 rand in the Lijcee Colonial he laid the foundation of an insti- 
 tution which, m the Royal College, has done more to remove 
 prejudice ariaing from the accident of origin and convictions of 
 consciences than all other influences put together. 
 
 A Unit of Empire. — But the Isle of France had now 
 l3ecome a unit in a vast military sj'stem organized to estab- 
 lish, under the dictatorship of Napoleon, a universal Empire 
 of which Europe was to be the head, America and Asia the 
 arms, Africa the shoulders and trunk, the Atlantic and 
 Indian Oceans the legs and feet. And it was the im- 
 portance of the unit in this imperial enterprise that deter- 
 mined its destiny. 
 
 The Sea-route to Asia. — We have seen in the transfer of 
 the Isle of France to the Crown an expression of the 
 national belief that if the colony were abandoned, England 
 would make herself mistress of the wealth of Asia. In 
 England, statesmen, generals, and admirals — in India', 
 governors and councils — had been unanimous in declaring 
 that possession of the Isle of France was essential to our 
 commerce, to our reputation and national character, and to 
 the maintenance of our province, India. It fell to Lord 
 Minto, Governor- General of India, great-grandfather of the 
 late Viceroy, to determine the question of possession by 
 the ultima ratio of a force, the most powerful in strength 
 and equipment that had ever been afloat in the Indian 
 Ocean. 
 
 Naval Achievements. — The operations of war which trans- 
 ferred the Isle of France to British rule are outside the 
 scope of my address. The Prince of Wales on his visit 
 referred in generous terms to the just pride of the colony in 
 its great traditions and ' in its association with naval 
 achievements that shed equal glory on England and France.' 
 Among the most famous of these achievements was the 
 action of the He de la Passe on August 23rd, 1810. The 
 -French under Commodore Duperre were victorious, but 
 ^ liaval historian has declared that the noble behaviour 
 •of Captain Willoughby and the officers and crew of the 
 
50 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 Nerekle * threw such a halo of glory round the defeat, that the 
 loss of four frigates was considered scarcely a misfortune/ 
 An obelisk has been erected in honour of all who fell on 
 that memorable day ; and the He de la Passe occupies in the- 
 annals of Mauritius much the same place as the Plains of 
 Abraham in the annals of Canada. 
 
 Capitulation and Treatij. — On December 10th the Isle 
 of France surrendered to the overwhelming force sent 
 against it, the terms of capitulation securing to the in- 
 habitants their religion, laws and customs, and property. 
 By the Peace of Paris, 1814, the Isle of France was ceded 
 to Great Britain in full sovereignty, and under the restored 
 name of Mauritius remains the star and key of the Indian 
 Ocean. 
 
 The Record of Fieneh Occupation. — Lest it be thought 
 that I am exalting above measure the place of Mauritius- 
 in history, I will close this brief record of French occupa- 
 tion in Colonel Malleson's eloquent words : 
 
 ' Thus did the French lose, after an occupation of nearly 
 a hundred years, the beautiful island upon which had been 
 bestowed the name of their own bright land, and which 
 in climate, in refinement of luxury, in the love of adventure 
 of its children, had been, in very deed, the France of the 
 East. In the long struggle with England which had fol- 
 lowed the Revolution, the Isle of France had inflicted upon 
 the English trade a ''damage which might be computed 
 by millions," whilst she herself had remained uninjured, — 
 for eighteen years indeed unthreatened. She had proved 
 herself to be that which the Emperor had declared that 
 Cherbourg should become, — " an eye to see and an arm 
 to strike." Protected for long, partly by the storms of 
 the ocean, partly by the daring S23irit of her children, partly 
 by the timid counsels of the British Government, she had 
 been, for the privateers who preyed upon the commercial 
 marine of the East India Company, at once a harbour 
 of refuge and a secure base of operation. She had been the 
 terror of British merchants, the spectre which haunted the 
 counting-house, the one black spot in the clear blue of the 
 
EVOLUTION OF THE CROWN COLONY. 51 
 
 Indian Ocean. The relief which was felt by the merchants 
 of Calcutta was expressed in an address presented by them 
 to Lord Minto, in which they offered their " sincere con- 
 gratulations on the capture of the only remaining French 
 colony in the East, which has for so many years past been 
 the source of devastation to the commerce of India, to a 
 magnitude almost exceeding belief." ' 
 
 The British in Mauritius. — Although Mauritius^ 
 under British rule, has ceased to be associated with the 
 romance of great naval achievements, the policy of govern- 
 ment has of necessity continued to exercise itself in two 
 areas of activity : the administration of a base of maritime 
 operations, and the development of the resources of a 
 tropical territory. In the term ' maritime operations ' I 
 include the functions of the Royal Navy and the Merchant 
 Service. The importance of Mauritius as a unit in any 
 system in imperial defence constituted on the principle that 
 the maintenance of peace depends on an adequate prepara- 
 tion for war, has never failed to be recognised. And the 
 colony, dependent for its existence on its sea-borne commerce, 
 has even in the darkest days of its fortunes cheerfully borne 
 its share of the burden of defence at home and protection in 
 transit, as a premium of insurance. This practical wisdom^ 
 associated with the sentiment of old traditiqns, has always 
 secured for the British Navy as cordial and enthusiastic 
 a welcome a>< it receives in any seaport or city of Scotland. 
 Nor has the period of . British dominion been without 
 services rendered to the Empire in war-time, of which the 
 colony is proud: by the prompt dispatch of troops to India 
 in 1857 during the Mutiny ; to South Africa in 1879 during 
 the Zulu War; and to South Africa again in 1900, at 
 a critical stage of the last war. In 1857 grave anxiety was. 
 entertained as to the internal security of ihe colony while 
 denuded of a portion of its large garrison. It was the 
 period of an entente eordiale following the Crimean War, and 
 it is of interest to recall that the French .Governor o£ 
 
52 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS, 
 
 Reunion wrote to tlie Governor of Mauritius offeriog him in 
 case of need the support of the French troops in his 
 command. In 1879 a detachment was sent with very little 
 fear of internal difficulties. In 1899 the services of every 
 white poldier in the garrison were placed at the disposal 
 of the War Office without any apprehension at all. And it 
 may be added that on this occasion the troops arrived at 
 Durban within six days of the hour of their receiving 
 notice to hold themselves in readiness. 
 
 Great Trade- roide to Asia. — We have seen that the pro- 
 tection of the British merchant service on the trade-route 
 from Europe to Asia was a main determining cause of the 
 transfer of Mauritius to British dominion. With the growth 
 of eastern commerce and the introduction of steamers, 
 Mauritius rapidly became a victualling, docking, and coaling 
 station of unrivalled value in the Indian Ocean. 
 
 T/ie OhHerratory. — At the same' time, the constantly re- 
 current cyclones on the track of navigation between the 
 •Cape and Asia enforced the importance of the colony as a 
 station for the study of the law of storms. In 1851 a 
 Meteorological Society was formed, and in 1870 the founda- 
 tion-stone of the Royal Alfred Observatory was laid by the 
 Duke of Edinburgh. Since 1893 the telegraph has made it 
 one of the most important units of the imperial system of 
 meteorological, magnetic, and seismometric observations. 
 Eor nearly half a century our countryman, Dr. Charles 
 Meldrum, was the inspiring genius of the work. On his 
 storm atlas, his synoptic charts, his theory of the law of 
 storms, and his rules for avoiding the track of cyclones are 
 based the sailing instructions issued to mariners for the 
 navigation of the Indian Ocean. The observations he con- 
 ducted have now determined all the factors, of the climate, 
 and are available for international use. From May to Sep- 
 tember the weather conditions at Mauritius are cabled every 
 week to India for use in connection with the monsoon fore- 
 casts. Similar cablegrams go to Egypt in connection with 
 the Nile flood forecasts. It only remains for an international 
 
EVOLUTION OF THE CROWN COLONY. 5S 
 
 system of wireless telegraphy to be established, to complete 
 the value of the Mauritius Observatory for the uses o*P navi^ 
 gation. In its latest service to commerce, the observatory 
 has entered on an unexpected area of activity in furnishing 
 the means by which insurance on sugar crops and mills can 
 be effected on a satisfactory basis. The observatory records 
 have determined the relative effects of cyclones, rainfall, and 
 temperature on the sugar crop, and have given a numerical 
 value to each. It appears that popular opinion has consider- 
 ably over-rated the first and under-rated the last factor. 
 The figures now established furnish the only proper basis of 
 calculation on which insurance companies can determine 
 their premiums within very narrow limits. 
 
 The Suez Canal and Dependence on internal Resourcea. — The 
 opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, which beggared the 
 colony of St. Helena, dealt a serious blow to the local interests 
 connected with shipping in Mauritius, but it has placed in 
 striking relief the wisdom of the policy which has made it 
 a chief aim of the administration to find an adequate and 
 permanent source of prosperity in the development of the 
 resources of the colony. In this area of activity the Botanfc 
 Gardens at Pamplemousses continued to be the centre of 
 enterprise, and such was the success of the sugar industry 
 that the export of sugar rose from 467 tons in 1812 to 
 131,000 tons in 1860. It was calculated that the small 
 Island was at. that time producing about a tenth of the 
 exported sugar of the whole world. I must not discuss the 
 struggle for existence of the cane-sugar industry against its 
 rival, the beetroot, but I may say that to meet this formid- 
 able competition in Mauritius all the secrets that science has 
 wrested from Nature have been applied to practical uses, 
 alike in the field and in the factory.* Nor has the en~ 
 
 * My experience leads me to believe that the consumer of cane sugar 
 in this country has a very inadequate conception of the capital required 
 to provide and keep up to date the equipment of a modern factory. I 
 regret that the exigencies of time and space preclude me from giving a 
 description of such a factory. ( Vide former chapter and MacMillan's. 
 Mauritius Illustrated.) 
 
54 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 <?ouragemeiit of subsidiary industries been neglected. As 
 cultivtPtion has gradually been extended from the seaboard 
 to tbe highest cultivated areas, agronomic and botanic 
 stations have been established at altitudes of 1000 feet and 
 1800 feet for scientific experiment in products appropriate 
 to the conditions of the higher ranges, such as tea. And in 
 this enterprise the colony has been materially assisted by the 
 Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, At Kew has been carried on 
 the work of collecting, identifying, and classifying the 
 species of economic plants best adapted to the climatic and 
 other conditions of all parts of the Empire, and the results 
 of the vast mass of information thus acquired has been 
 placed at the disposal of the colony. In this way the crowd 
 of introduced products from all quarters of the globe has 
 been such that they have replaced the original flora of 
 Mauritius to an extent probably greater than in any part of 
 the Empire. 
 
 Tramport, — Meanwhile the work of providing facilities 
 of transport, started by La Bourdonnais in the substitution 
 of animal draught for slave carriage, has been steadily de*- 
 veloped. Cattle were imported from ^ladagascar and India, 
 horses from the Cape and Australia, ponies from Pegu and 
 Timor, mules from France and South America, Eailroads 
 were introduced, and have of late been widely extended, 
 while from reasons which will be presently explained the 
 Island has been covered with a network of surface and 
 •overhead tramways. 
 
 Malaria. — In 1866 the government was forced to extend 
 its activity in a new area by an epidemic of malarial fever, 
 which caused an enormous mortality, and a vast depreciation 
 of property in Port Louis and the seaboard area first 
 invaded. The epidemic subsequently ;resulted in the dis- 
 placement of the homes of a large section of the community, 
 and a redistribution of the population in the more elevated 
 districts. From that time the department of health and 
 sanitation has been one of the first concerns of government, 
 and in this department the colony has been able to avail 
 itself of the world-wide experience collected in the British 
 
EVOLUTIOX OF THE CROWX COLONY. 55 
 
 sehools of tropical medicine and in France. Major Eonald 
 Ross is at this moment (1908) in the colony, on a mission of 
 inquiry into the best means of combating malaria. 
 
 Abolition of Slaver// and the Labour Quediou. — But after 
 all, the application of science to practical uses in the processes 
 of production, of transport and of sanitation, is in the de- 
 velopment of territorial resources subsidiary to the essential, 
 condition of an appropriate population. In tropical and 
 sub- tropical countries the first essential condition of an 
 appropriate population is a sufficient labour supply for the 
 elementary operations of industry which cannot be under- 
 taken by the white man. In Mauritius, as elsewhere prior 
 to the abolition of slavery, which took place on April 1st, 
 18-55, these operations were performed by African negroes. 
 It is certain that if the emancipated slaves could have been 
 persuaded to carry on the elementry operations of agriculture, 
 they would have learned in time that the cultivation of land 
 leads to its acquisition, and they would have kept in their 
 hands the natural wealth of the soil, which has in a large 
 measure passed to a race which has supplanted them. The 
 policy by which the British Government, and in particular 
 Lord Grre}^ endeavoured to secure the adhesion of the eman- 
 cipated slaves to the soil failed, but in other respects the 
 British Government has successfully discharged the trust 
 and function assigned to it as guardian of the African 
 descendants in the colony. Loid Grey's policy was based 
 on a theory, still advocated, that the pressure of a small tax 
 would compel the negro to work in order to obtain the means 
 of meeting it, and that the process would encourage a general 
 •disposition towards frugal industry. 
 
 Asiatic Labour. — Ever since the abolition of slavery, the 
 substitution of Asiatic for African labour, with its conse- 
 quences, has dominated the political history of Mauritius. 
 Between 1835 and 1839 there were introduced about 24,000 
 Indian coolies under a free system of engagement for five 
 years. In 1839, when this system was first legalised by 
 ordinance, it was immediately suspended in consequence of 
 
5G THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 an agitation in Parliament ; but in 1842, after an inquiry 
 undertaken by the Government of India, immigration under 
 contract was resumed. In 1874 the system was again the 
 subject of inquiry by a Royal Commission, and their report 
 was the basis of the organic labour law of the colony. In 
 1894 a friendly inquiry into the working of the law was 
 conducted by a commissioner appointed by the Government 
 of India, with the result that some important modifications 
 in the law and in the administration of the system have been 
 effected. The law of Indian immigration under contract as 
 it now stands may be said to embody legislation based on 
 loDg experience, sanctioned by both political parties in Par- 
 liament and by the Government of India, and approved by 
 both of his Majesty's present Ministers who have held the 
 offices of Governor- General of India and Colonial Minister, 
 the Marquess of Ripon and the Earl of Elgin. 
 
 Indian Emigration louler Contract. — In appreciating the 
 policy of protected Asiatic immigration, it must constantly 
 be borne in mind that in view of the refusal of the African 
 population to carry on the elementary labours of agriculture 
 on the estates, there was practically no alternative but the 
 abandonment of the Island, which would certainly have 
 reverted to France. It is possible that, at a time when the 
 British Government was seriously contemplating the seces- 
 sion by consent of her colonies, such an alternative might 
 have been admitted, but it is certain that, in the revival of 
 colonial enterprise and the struggle for the control of the 
 Tropics, ?i"e shoald, notwithstanding the rnodcrn trade route of 
 the Suez Canal, have found our imperial interests hurdly less 
 seriously compromised by such action at the close of the nineteenth 
 century than they were at the close of the eighteenth. Coincidently 
 the same policy^ controlled by the same methods^ meed our West 
 Indian Islands, which but for the migration from India must 
 have gone aut of cultivation. They u-ould, beyond all doubt,, 
 have passed into the hands of the United States, and carried with 
 them undisputed supremacy in the Carrihean Sea. 
 
EVOLUTION OF THE CROWX COLONY. 57 
 
 The Indians in Agriculture a)id Conunerce. — While the 
 direct object of immigration from India was the supply of 
 unskilled manual labour, it has had far-reaching conse- 
 quences. The frugal industry of the Indian labourers, when 
 they have ceased to enter into engagements by written con- 
 tract under the labour law, has gradually enabled them to 
 acquire a vast number of small holdings, to th^ great 
 advantage of the colony. They have thus given a value to, 
 and kept in cultivation an extensive area of land which must 
 otherwise have been abandoned ; their canes have been a 
 profitable source of supply to the sugar-mills of the large 
 estates ; and the cultivation of their small holdings has left 
 them ample time to work as gardeners, carters, carriers, 
 hawkers, and pedlars. In this way they have acquired 
 almost a monopoly of the carrying business, and this has 
 served as a link connecting them with agriculture on one 
 side and trade on another. For in the meantime a conse- 
 quence of the Asiatic immigration was the introduction of 
 rice as the staple diet of the whole colony, while coincidently 
 the competition of beetroot sugar in Europe and other causes 
 made India the chief market for Mauritius sugar. Thus the 
 bulk of the export and import trade, including nearly all the 
 commodities that enter into the constant consumption and 
 use oi the population, has been transferred from Europe to 
 Asia, and has fallen into the hands of the Indian traders, 
 mostly representatives of wealthy Bombay firms. They 
 have naturally helped to find employment for their country- 
 men, in the carrying and hawking trade as distributors of 
 their commerce. * 
 
 Fopuhdion^ 1901. — This explanation seems necessary to an 
 understanding of racial development in Mauritius, as indi- 
 cated by a comparison of the population in 1830, before the 
 abolition of slavery, with the results of the last census : — 
 
 * The imports in 1916 were valued at lis. 48,063,625. 
 The exports „ „ „ lis. 56,220,024. 
 
.58 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 Population of Mauritius exclusive of Military and 
 Shipping. 
 
 Census 1830 Appro. rimafe. 
 
 Whites 8,592 
 
 African Descendants: 
 
 Slaves (;9,47G 
 
 Free Coloured . . . 18,019 
 
 Indians and Cliiiiese 858 
 
 Total 90,945 
 
 Census 1901. 
 
 Europeans, white, mixed, Male. Female. Total. 1911. 
 
 and coloured . . 53,038 55,377 108,415 107,432 
 
 Africans . . . 332 100 432 I — 
 
 Indians . . 144,957 110.023 200,980 257,097 
 
 •Chinese . . . 3,451 58 3,5o9 3,002 
 
 Total . 20l,778 171,558 373,330 | 308,791 
 
 Census 1915 = 375,420. 
 
 Birth Rate per 1000, January 1st, 1915 . . , . 34*8 
 
 Death Rate per 1000, 1915 " 34*8 
 
 Birth Rate and Death Rate per 1000 on January 1st, 1915: 
 
 Port Pample- Black Riviere du Plaines 
 Louis. mousses. River. Rempart. Wilhems. 
 
 Birth Rate . 3«-3 , 3l-i) 33*0 38*9 34*9 
 Death Rate . 41*0 4u-9 40-1 29*2 27*0 
 
 A comparison of these returns shows a most remarkable 
 racial development. Food is good, and . comparatively 
 cheap. 
 
 The General Community. — The population in 1901 of 
 108,415 includes all persons with European blood in their 
 veins, and together with the 432 persons returned as Africans, 
 is known locally as the general community. The members of 
 this community of pure European descent cannot exceed 
 
EVOLUTION OF THE CROWN COLONY. 59 
 
 5000. The Englisli element is very small, and may be said to 
 stand in mucli the same social relation to the French element 
 as the corresponding elements of Canadian society. The pre- 
 dominant influence is that of the families who brought in and' 
 have maintained ' the charming characteristics of old France.' 
 They enjoy the respect still entertained in England and 
 •even in republican France for a small circle of society where 
 the traditions of birth are associated with personal virtues, 
 finding expression in the sentiment itohlesne oblige. They 
 cling to each other ' in either fortune ' with a brave tenacity 
 of attachrdent. Their ladies represent the grcoidc-s clauies of 
 European society. But their influence is purely personal, 
 as is the influence, of a different order, of the English repre- 
 sentatives of English capital and enterprise. Otherwise 
 there is no distinction of origin. There are, of course, 
 social gradations as there are in Europe, and in the colonies 
 that claim to be exclusively reserved for the use of the white 
 man. But the State recognises no aristocracy but that of 
 ofiice ; society none but that of merit and success. High 
 office in the administration, the dignity of the Bench, the 
 honours and emoluments of the learned professions, the 
 influence of landed property, the profits of commerce are 
 open to all. The general community supplies the staff of 
 the government offices, including the Public Works, Railway 
 and Harbour Departments, as well as the staff" of all private 
 enterprises except those undertaken by the Indian com- 
 munity. They also do practically all the skilled artisan and 
 mechanical work of the colony. The small number of 
 persons returned as Africans, which the Registrar thinks 
 may be somewhat under-rated, includes an intrepid and 
 skilful body of men engaged in the fishing and coasting 
 trade. . In the evolution of the general community the prin- 
 cipal forces at work have been education and the Christian 
 religion. Education has been a chief concern d^ the State, 
 but its success has depended on the support and aid of the 
 Churches; and if it is impossible for me to give an account 
 of their methods of influence, I may at least do homage 
 to their loyal co-operation with the civil government. 
 
60 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 Indian Commi(mtf/. — On the subject of the Indian com- 
 munity I need only add to what has been said that, between 
 the traders who have acquired estates and the proprietors of 
 small holdings, it owns more than one- third of the whole 
 cultivated area of the colony, nearly all of which would 
 have been abandoned but for the enterprise and industry of 
 these men. The Indian community includes over 200,000 
 Hindus, about 40,000 Mahomedans, and 3000 Buddhists. 
 It also includes many Christians, who form a close bond of 
 union with the general community. 
 
 The Chinese. — The Chinese are a peculiar people, and 
 occupy a peculiar position in Mauritius, as elsewhere. They 
 have served a useful purpose and have always loyally sub- 
 mitted themselves to the regulations and wishes of the 
 government. But they have acquired a monopoly of the 
 retail provision trade by methods which I have always 
 regretted. They have made this branch of trade subsidiary 
 to the retail liquor trade,* of which they have also acquired 
 a monopoly, ^nd the profits of that trade enable them to 
 undercut competition in the provision trade. //' the profits 
 of the retail tiquor trade ivere transferred from the Chinese- 
 to the government fur jyublie purposes, it is probable that 
 the Chinese immigration would cease, and the legitimate 
 profits of the retail provision trade would be restored to the 
 general community. I made a proposal in this sense before 
 I left Mauritius, but I fear it has not met with encourage- 
 ment. The Chinese perfectly understand that Mauritius 
 affords a very limited area for their transactions, and that if 
 they increased and multiplied, competition among themselves 
 would reduce the small margin of profit with which they are 
 satisfied, below a living wage. With rare exceptions, there- 
 fore, they never bring their womankind with them, and have 
 no intention whatever of becoming permanent residents. 
 They work 'for all they are worth,' to enable them to return 
 home as soon as possible with what is to them a sufficient 
 fortune. By arrangement among themselves — an arrange- 
 
 * Besant, in 7'ke Isle of Palmist, has a sarcastic remark anent these 
 Chinamen's shops. 
 
EVOLUTION OF THE CROWN COLONY. 61 
 
 ment with which the government has nothing to do — about 
 10 per cent, repatriate themselves ever)^ y^ar, and make 
 room for others. This will explain the small percentage of 
 females in the census return. 
 
 The Constitution. — The political constitution of Mauritius 
 has been frequently modified under British rule, but it was 
 only in 1884 that the principle of election to the legislative 
 body by popular suffrage was admitted. The head of the 
 administration in the present system is the Governor, who is 
 assisted by an Executive Council and a Council of Govern- 
 ment. The Executive Council consists of five official heads 
 of departments and two unofficial members appointed from 
 among the members of the Council of Government by the 
 Secretary of State. The Council of Government includes 
 the Governor and eight official heads of departments, nine 
 nominated members, and ten elected by popular suffrage on 
 a moderate property qualification. The elected and nomi- 
 nated members together represent the popular will. The 
 elected members represent, of course, majorities, and generally 
 speaking a democratic spirit. The nominated members have 
 a more conservative tendency, and exercise an important 
 function in the representation of minorities and groups of 
 interests not directly represented in the elected body, such 
 as external capital and commerce. They include and will 
 always include, I hope, a member of the Indian community, 
 until that community secures direct representation by elec- 
 tion. The Indian community are not keen politicians, and 
 have been satisfied to leave themselves in the hands of the 
 government rather than seek election to the Council of 
 Government, from which there is nothing in the constitution 
 to exclude them. The function of the Governor and heads 
 of departments in the Council is to balance the elements of 
 the popular will and to represent Imperial interests in 
 matters of defence and foreign relations ; to maintain the 
 civil and political rights of all his Majesty's subjects in the 
 colony ; and to control the finances for which the Imperial 
 Treasury is in the last resort responsible. It will be seen 
 that it is a form of constitutional government which includes 
 
r,2 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 the democratic spirit and its check in a single chamber. 
 Long experience in nearly every colony which has been 
 admitted to self-goTernment since the secession of the 
 American colonies has proved that it is a form of govern- 
 ment that can only exist by virtue of a spirit of mutual 
 forbearance and goodwill; because, when the two elements 
 of the popular will form a bloc, the government responsible 
 for the administration must always be in a minority. Never- 
 theless, the experience of Mauritius has proved that with 
 such a spirit it maj^ serve as a 77wdf(.s nrendi appropriate to a 
 community of European, African, and Asiatic descent that 
 has learnt to realise the letter and spirit of Queen Victoria's^ 
 proclamation to the people of India in 1858, declaring that 
 ' no native, nor any resident natural-born subject of Her 
 Majesty, should by reason only of his religion, place of birth, 
 descent, colour, or any of them, be disabled from holding 
 any place, office, or employment under the Government.' 
 
 Local QoreDwient. — It should be added that in Mauritius 
 the administrative system includes a scheme of Local 
 Government. In Port Louis, the capital, a Municipal Cor- 
 poration is elected by suffrage ; in the districts there are 
 Town Boards, members of which are nominated by the 
 governor, whose duty it is to secure a fair representation of 
 interests. These agencies exercise a material influence on 
 the inockiH rirendi. It rem.ains for me to illustrate the 
 resistant and recuperative efficiency of the luodus rireiuHhj a 
 record of what was actually accomplished in Mauritius 
 during a period of misfortune hardly paralleled in the 
 history of our colonial Empire. 
 
 Hurricane and Fire. — Early in 1892 Mauritius was visited 
 by a hurricane which in a few hours killed 1260 people, 
 wounded 4000, rendered 50,000 homeless, knocked down 
 twenty-four churches and chapels, and many public build- 
 ings. On the sugar estates it destroyed many mills, with 
 their costly machinery, and reduced a promising crop by 
 one-half. In order to appreciate the effects of this hurricane^ 
 it must be borne in mind that there are in Mauritius few 
 accumulated fortunes ; capital is almost exclusively domiciled 
 
EVOLUTION OF THE CROWN COLONY. G'^- 
 
 in Europe, and, as regards the Indian traders, in India. The 
 bulk of the community lives on the annual proceeds of the 
 sugar crop. From this source are derived public and private 
 salaries, professional emoluments, and the wages of the: 
 working community. 
 
 In 1893 a great fire lapped up what the hurricane had left 
 in the principal business area of Port Louis. 
 
 Against these appalling disasters, the general community 
 struggled with a courage worthy of the great traditions of 
 Mauritian history. In the Indian community the merchants 
 exercised a generosity which earned the grateful acknow- 
 ledgment of the colony and the thanks of the Imperial and 
 Indian Governments. At the other end of the social scale,, 
 the indentured labourers on the estates volunteered to accept 
 a reduction of their statutory wages. 
 
 Financial Crkk. — Misfortunes never come single-handed. 
 There followed a short crop, an enhanced cost of supplies 
 from India due to famine and plague, and allied compli- 
 cations leading to a financial crisis. It had to be met by 
 government assistance to the banks, a loan to planters 
 (punctually repaid with a margin of profit), and the sus- 
 pension of specie payments^ — measures of grave anxiety only 
 justified by the peril they successfully averted. 
 
 Plague and Surra. — It was hardl}^ averted when an 
 epidemic of plague broke out. Apart from the fatality of 
 the disease, which, so far at least as the Asiatic community 
 is concerned, is perhaps the smallest of its terrors, it is 
 attended by subsidiary difficulties and dangers arising 
 largely out of the measures adopted to arrest its progress. 
 These are now getting to be understood in this country by 
 the records of experience in India. They affect smaller 
 communities with even more acute severity, and they strained 
 the courage and the resources of the colony in a way that can 
 hardly be realised by those who have had no similar experience. 
 
 In 1901 the Prince and Princess of Wales visited 
 Mauritius, and replied to the addresses of welcome presented 
 to them in these gracious terms : — 
 
 * We deeply sympathise with you in that combination o£ 
 
64 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 adversities altogether beyond your control, under whicli you 
 have suffered during the past ten years. 
 
 * Meanwhile the whole Empire has watched with sym- 
 pathetic admiration the constancy and courage by which you 
 overcame your difficulties and the spirit that prompted you 
 to contribute generously — in spite of your own imperilled 
 fortunes — to the relief of jour suffering fellow-subjects in 
 India, the West Indies, and in South Africa.' 
 
 In 1902 the epidemic of plague was followed by an 
 epizooty of the disease known as surra, which attacked horses, 
 mules, and cattle with cruel severity, and from an economic 
 point of view was more disastrous than the plague. Such 
 was the fatalit}^ of the disease, that within a year it dis- 
 located the whole system of tranport by animal draught 
 throughout the colony, and it became necessary to substitute, 
 at enormous cost, a mechanical system of transport by means 
 of light railways, surface and overhead tramways, and 
 automobiles. The consequences of the loss of animals affected 
 not onl}^ the sugar industry, but every department of public 
 and private activity, including the work of sanitation in both 
 urban and rural districts. 
 
 An independent witness wrote of the courage with which 
 this calamity was met, in terms which I may well recite : — 
 *When one knows the extraordinary courage with which 
 planters, overseers, and labourers alike here have faced the 
 plague, cattle disease, and torrential rains to which they 
 have been exposed during the course of the last two years, 
 and that planters have not shrunk from any sacrifice to 
 maintain, and generally to maintain with intelligence, their 
 estates, and when one knows and has seen the Indian 
 labourers, owing to the dearth of draught animals, harness- 
 ing themselves to heavy carts and dragging them along the 
 estate roads in the middle of the rains, willingly and cheer- 
 fully bearing all hardships to finish the crop, I cannot 
 think that classes which show such spirit to maintain an 
 industry, which is capable of doing well in fair competition 
 with the world, should be allowed to sink ; and that no hand 
 will be held out to them in their time of trial/ 
 
EVOLUTION OF THE CROWN COLONY. 65 
 
 During this period of adversity tlie popular conscience 
 was guided and controlled by the influence of the unofl&cial 
 members of Council, aided by the leaders of the Indian 
 oommunity within their sphere of influence. And fortu- 
 nately the colony had in its civil service a body of men 
 steeped in the sympathy of common interests with the 
 sentiments of the people. In the strain put on the depart- 
 ments every demand was met with patience and industry, 
 many pressing emergencies with conspicuous ability and 
 fertility of resource. 
 
 The Financial Strain. — It will easily be understood how 
 gravely this series of untoward events affected the colony's 
 finances. An account of the financial administration would 
 be outside the scope of this address. But it is right to 
 declare that the representatives of the community from first 
 to last recognised that above all things it was necessary to 
 maintain the colony's credit, and in its most straitened cir- 
 cumstances Mauritius never followed the example of other 
 colonies by borrowing money to cover annual deficits in the 
 public expenditure. The financial policy of the colony has 
 been for many years controlled by the recurrence of hurri- 
 canes and their disastrous consequences. It has, therefore, 
 steadily adhered to the sound system of meeting the ordinary 
 expenditure of the year out of the revenue of the year, with 
 a sufiicient margin of surplus to form a fund available for 
 a period of emergency or for public purposes, such as rail- 
 way or harbour improvements. But, of course, exceptional 
 measures had to be taken to meet the strain of a series of 
 exceptional emergencies. The period of the financial year 
 was changed to adapt it to the seasons of the sugar crop. 
 The whole system of keeping, auditing, and rendering the 
 colony accounts was recast, and a new procedure was adopted 
 in submitting the estimates to the Council of Government, 
 so that the unofficial members, a body including representa- 
 tives of the principal mercantile firms well versed in accounts, 
 might have more ample facilities for examining them. 
 
 Reorganization. — Coincidentally, the principal depart- 
 ments of government, including the customs and the post- 
 
66 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 office, were the subject of inquiry by commission. On these- 
 committees the elected members of Council and other 
 gentlemen outside of the official sphere gave their time and 
 experience, so that the departments might at the same time 
 be adapted to public exigencies and placed on a business 
 footing. But above all, in view of the principal causes of 
 the colony's misfortunes, the department of health and 
 sanitation was made the subject of an exhaustive inquiry, 
 having for its aim to adapt the department to the re- 
 quirements of the new science of tropical medicine, and 
 the demands made on it by the exigencies of malaria, plague, 
 and surra. 
 
 An Appropriate Population. — I must count myself unfor- 
 tunate if I have failed to show that the evolution of the 
 Crown Colony of Mauritius has resulted in an appropriate 
 population of European, African, and Asiatic descent, en- 
 jojdng equal civil and political rights without distinction 
 of origin or creed, appropriate to the development of the 
 resources of the soil, to the exigencies of commerce, to the 
 high trust and function of administrative and legislative 
 authority. 
 
 The Croicu. — It was remarkable on how many occasion s^ 
 the influence of the Crown was manifested during the 
 period of the colony's adversity. The Diamond Jubilee 
 of Queen Victoria, her Majesty's demise, the accession and 
 coronation of King Edward YII., revealed a sentiment of 
 attachment to the Crown superior to all considerations of 
 race or language. 
 
 Most opportune was the visit of their Eoyal Highnesses 
 the Prince and Princess of Wales in uniting every section 
 of the population in the sentiment of a common patriotism, 
 and in confirming the constancy and courage of which their 
 Royal Highnesses showed a generous appreciation. At the 
 back of every man's mind in the Crown Colonies there is a 
 sentiment of devotion to the Crown rooted in the faith that 
 behind the things that are seen, heads of departments^ 
 judges and governors, there is an unseen power, the source 
 of security of life, liberty of person, freedom of conscience, 
 
EVOLUTION OF THE CROWN COLONY. 67 
 
 and absolute equality before the law for rich and poor of 
 every race and creed. In Mauritius, as elsewhere, it was 
 long known only by the name of Queen Victoria. The visit 
 of their Royal Highnesses was accepted as a message of 
 assurance that it had passed to King Edward VII., and the 
 gracious sympathy with which the message was delivered 
 will for ever associate it with the annual celebration of 
 Empire Day, and all that Empire Day means, in the Crown 
 Colony of Mauritius. 
 
CHAPTER lY. 
 
 Reminiscences. 
 
 Sir Charles Bruce, the writer of tlie foregoing article, has 
 just passed away at a venerable old age. As education has 
 been one of the most important factors in the evolution of 
 Mauritius, and as Sir Charles was the Rector of the Royal 
 College, the principal educational establishment of the Is- 
 land, many years before he became Governor, and was the 
 one who introduced reforms that led both the College and 
 the government and private schools to their apogees^ it 
 will not be out of place if I give here a short appreciation of 
 the value of the man as an educationist. I cannot speak of 
 him as a politician as I had left Mauritius some time before 
 he became Governor, but I believe he was more successful in 
 the educational world than in the political. 
 
 He arrived in Mauritius at a time when the Royal 
 College had almost been ruined by the maladministration 
 and ignorance of his predecessor, Mr. Reddle. This man 
 had been an Austrian sergeant, and rumour ran that he had 
 been fencing-master to one of the Secretaries of State for the 
 Colonies, who thinking that the discipline of the Royal 
 College needed attention, sent him out as Rector. His 
 knowledge of classics and mathematics was too thin to 
 escape the professors' scrutiny, and he quickly set them and 
 the students' parents by the ears, and in a few years he all 
 but emptied the College. A commission of inquiry gave 
 their verdict against him ; he went away on leave, and 
 returned to finish his term of office for a pension, then left 
 for good, and after a year's interregnum under old Mr. 
 Barlow, Mr. Ch. Bruce, former Professor of Sanskrit at 
 King's College, was appointed in his place. 
 
 Although Rector Reddle was a bad chief, he had however 
 
REMINISCENCES. 69 
 
 summoned to his help from England some of the best pro- 
 fessors of the day, amongst them Mr. Walter Besant, a fourth 
 wrangler, afterwards Sir Walter Besant, the novelist ; Pro- 
 fessor Guthrie, of Kensington School of Mines ; Professors 
 Pinn of the London University and MacMahon of the Dublin 
 University. During Mr. Reddle's absence from the Colony, 
 Mr. Besant became Acting- Rector, and at once confidence 
 was restored, and the students began to flock back to the 
 College. He was not only a clever mathematician, but a 
 good classical scholar also, and withal a perfect gentleman. He 
 altered the system of education and discipline, and he 
 affiliated the College to the London University, and prepared 
 the senior students for the Matriculation; he started vocal 
 music as a branch of the curriculum, and was so successful 
 that at the distribution of prizes the College concert drew 
 the admiration and applause of the Governor and guests 
 present. He solved that difficult problem of religious educa- 
 tion, which has been unsolvable here in Great Britain, by 
 setting apart the first quarter of an hour each morning for 
 prayers, and the rest of that hour for religious instruction in 
 each class by rote, so that the whole College had religious 
 instruction once a week. The Anglicans assembled in one 
 hall, the Catholics in another, and the Nonconformists met 
 under the tuition of the Presbyterian minister. He encour- 
 aged games, started cricket, rowing, and swimming clubs, 
 and engaged professors of fencing and athletics for those who 
 wished to learn those arts. 
 
 Unfortunately Mr. Peddle returned, and Mr. Besant and 
 several other professors resigned and left for Europe. Perhaps 
 if Mr. Besant had stayed the British public would never have 
 been charmed by those captivating novels which came from 
 his pen after his return to England, and the East End of 
 London would not have been endowed with * The People's 
 Palace,' and he himself would not have become a Knight. 
 All the same, Mauritius was the poorer, for Sir Walter was 
 a man of noble aims and of high intellect. 
 
 Thus Mr. Bruce ibund on his arrival in Mauritius the 
 sure foundation on which to raise his edifice. He improved 
 
70 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 the system of education by pushing the senior students to the 
 higher degrees of the B.A. London, the junior to those of the 
 Senior and. Junior Local Cambridge Examinations. He 
 admitted, the girls (for the first time in Mauritian history) to 
 these last examinations, and awarded scholarships and prizes 
 to the successful candidates. He not only multiplied 
 scholarships amongst the Royal College students, but gave 
 entrance exhibitions into tbe College to pupils of the 
 Government and private schools. His aim was to unite 
 education under one system, and to gather all the colleges and 
 private schools into the Royal College ; and he succeeded in 
 doing so by securing their principals and teachers as pro- 
 fessors and junior masters. Thus he brought all the better 
 and intelligent class of boys under one curriculum. The 
 College became so prosperous that he had to open a * succur- 
 sale ' at Curepipe and a Royal College school in town. In 
 all these reforms he was greatly aided by Professors Pinn, 
 Doyen, Cahagnet, McKay, Anderson, Stanley, Bell, and 
 others. But, alas ! the malarial fever epidemics became 
 endemic, and ruined the health of both professors and 
 scholars. The B.A. standard had to be lowered, and the 
 College school was closed, the girls' higher education put in 
 abeyance, and finally the Royal College itself — the old Alma 
 Mater of so many of the elite students of the Island, after 
 having been destroyed by a severe hurricane and rebuilt — 
 was transformed into a hospital, and another college was 
 erected at Curepipe. 
 
 Before that took place Mr. Bruce had been promoted to 
 the Education Commissionership of Ceylon. Thus within 
 ten years the Royal College lost the two best principals (Sir 
 Walter Besant and Sir Charles Bruce) that had ever guided 
 its fortunes. From Ceylon, Sir Charles Bruce returned as 
 Colonial Secretary to Mauritius, but he did not remain long 
 at this post, for he became Administrator of the Govern- 
 ment of Grenada, W.I., and finally returned as Governor to 
 Mauritius. 
 
 Whether the * caste ' principles of the Hindus had any 
 attraction for him or not, it would now be difficult to say ; 
 
REMIXLSCEXCES. 71 
 
 lout when lie returned to Mauritius as Colonial Secretar}^, he 
 astonished his former admirers by siding with the ' Union 
 Catholique ' in their propaganda of separation of the classes 
 of the population into those who serve and those who are 
 served. In a speech he delivered under the auspices of that 
 society, he said, he thought that in a colony like Mauritius the 
 <;hildi en of the artisan, the labourer, and servants should not 
 be educated beyond the standard that would raise them 
 higher in social status than that in which they were born ; 
 thus contradicting the very teaching of former days, when 
 he encouraged by open scholarships and entrance exhibi- 
 tions to the Royal College the poor children educated in 
 Government schools ! It was setting the. clock of civilisa- 
 tion back to the Middle Ages and re-establishing vassalage 
 and feudalism in the twentieth century ! Fortunately the 
 former Creole laureates of the Royal College, some of them 
 former pupils of the Government schools, and of humble 
 parentage, had now become influential members of society 
 and of the noble professions, and they opposed Sir Charles's 
 doctrine, and although occasional discussions in the Mauritius 
 Government Councils still reveal a tendency amongst a 
 certain set to separate the classes of society by interfering 
 with the Koyal College system of education, yet the paternal 
 casting vote of the recent Governors of the Island has pre- 
 vented such a catastrophe; for indeed the secret of the 
 harmonious union that exists between the motley group of 
 inhabitants in Mauritius lies, as has been said, in the educa- 
 tion they received in common, and on the same benches at 
 school and at college when they were young. 
 
 As will have been seen in the last chapter, one of the 
 reasons for Sir Charles Bruce's altered opinion with regard 
 to the ' classes ' was the difficulty of finding labourers ; wher- 
 ever he went as Governor the problem of capital and labour 
 demanded his earnest attention, and he had evidently come 
 to the conclusion that so/ne must serve if the Colonies were 
 to be saved from ruin. 
 
 I must dilate shortly on Sir Walter Besant's successful 
 rectorship, for I was one of his pupils and had great admira- 
 
72 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 tion for him. The love and the respect of the scholars for the- 
 man showed itself by the spontaneous response, without any 
 compulsion of any sort, to the discipline of the College, and 
 by their earnest application to their work. It was a pleasure 
 to learn under such a teacher, who enthused his classes 
 with the same passion for knowledge that possessed him. 
 He seemed to know everything. Classics, ancient and 
 modern, English, French, mathematics, and science — all 
 were an open book to him. After having covered the black- 
 board with problems of Conic Sections or Integral Calculus, 
 he would pass into the next room and translate, with the 
 other class, Tacitus and Terence or Euripides and Herodotus 
 as if he were reading aloud an English author ; then, before 
 the luncheon-bell rang, he had presided over the science 
 class, and had explained some intricate chapters in hydro- 
 statics and pneumatics. As for his lectures on English 
 history and literature, they showed where he excelled. The 
 pains he took to make the French boys write the English 
 language and know its best authors as well as they knew 
 their own have borne abundant fruit, as can be attested by 
 any one who attends the Government Councils and the Law 
 Courts in Port Louis, where either language is spoken with 
 equal fluency by the Mauritian politicians and lawyers, his 
 former pupils. Go into any bank or shop, the clerks, white 
 or coloured, will answer you in either French or English, 
 and that in the purest style, and with a perfect Parisian or 
 Cambridge University accent ! It is not Canadian French,, 
 but that pure old style of Louis the XlVth's time ! As 
 before said, the French officials who were sent by Louis 
 the XlVth and Louis the XVth to the colonies, and those 
 Huguenots who fled from persecution after the * Revocation 
 of the ' Edict of Nantes,' were almost all of noble birth and 
 were well-educated men. 
 
 But Sir Walter literally floored us when he would come 
 into the French class and discuss in French with Professor 
 Doyen the French literature of the fourteenth and fifteenth 
 centuries. He has published a book on that subject in. 
 English. 
 
REMIXISCENCES. 7^ 
 
 Many years later, when he was secretary of the 
 Jerusalem Exploration Society, I met him one day in a 
 North London train, and after mutual congratulations at 
 finding ourselves once more seated together, this time in an 
 English train 6000 miles from Mauritius, I asked how ho 
 had managed in those Royal College days to excel both in 
 classics and mathematics, for but very few men are equally 
 good in both. He replied, ' Ah ! you fellows made me work 
 as a slave in those days ; I was a mathematician and not a 
 classical scholar, but perforce I found myself obliged to 
 teach classics as well as mathematics, and I used to burn the 
 midnight oil in revising the Greek and Latin authors I had 
 set you for the next day's work.' ' How came you,' I again 
 asked, * to describe so faithfully in some of your novels 
 {My Little Girl and The Ide of Palmiste, for instance) the 
 Mauritian customs, the people and their habits, and the 
 lovely scenery of the Island ? ' 'I kept my eyes and ears 
 open wherever I went, and made time to visit your lovely 
 glens and cascades, and climbed your mountains, and 
 accepted the planters' kind invitations to their homes. The 
 life on sugar estates is unique. The va et vient around the 
 mill, the roar of the engines, the perfume from the well-kept 
 French gardens, the venison dinner after the chaase — all this 
 was mentally noted down for future use ; but all the same, I 
 was not sorry to come back to England, for the malarial 
 fever had invaded the Island, and I was amongst the first 
 to suffer severely.' ' Alas ! ' said I ; ' it was a thousand pities 
 you were obliged to leave, for there was an interval of one 
 or two years between your departure and the arrival of Sir 
 Charles Bruce, your worthy successor. Although he, too, 
 made the College prosper, and raised the standard of educa- 
 tion, he worked on different lines from you : t/ou gave to the 
 College your whole individual attention ; he embraced the 
 secondary schools of the whole Island in his ambition to 
 centralise education into one institution. He had not such a 
 musical soul as you, and vocal music, introduced into the 
 College by you, gradually ceased to be taught. That was a 
 great mistake, for the monotonous routine of the day used to 
 
74 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 be broken by the sweet refrain of ballads, rounds, ditties, 
 and other songs of more difficult parts, as " The Erl King " 
 and " The Red Cross Knight." English melodies became 
 as fashionable as French in many a home. But the time 
 spent with old Snelling, the music-teacher, was, under Sir 
 Charles Bruce, devoted to the preparation for the higher 
 examinations of the London University. Thus the muse 
 Euterpe made way for Minerva.' 
 
 Before closing these reminiscences of Sir Walter 
 Besant's short stay of five or six years in Mauritius, one 
 •or two facetious incidents come to my memory. As 
 before said, he was the first to solve the difficult problem of 
 religious instruction in a College where Protestants and 
 Catholics studied together and held tenaciously to the 
 doctrines of their faith. Whenever Sir Walter Besant, in 
 the clergyman's absence, had to read prayers, after the collect 
 for the day he would recite the Paternoster ; but he did this 
 so fast that the little boys at the back of the hall could 
 not keep np with him, and whilst they were still at ' Thy 
 will be done,' he had reached the end, so that one day, with- 
 out his knowledge, they all agreed to run a race with him, 
 and see who would say ' Amen ' first. He had scarcely 
 begun the prayer, when they all with one accord called out 
 * Amen ! ' Sir Walter took the hint, and ever after officiated 
 slowly. 
 
 He mistook one day the prayer of the marriage solemni- 
 -sation for the collect for the day, and it w^as only when he 
 <jame to ' What Thou hast joined together let no man put 
 asunder' that he noticed his mistake. He quickly called 
 out ' Amen ! ' and walked out of the room, not to witness 
 the elder boys' merriment. Sir Walter Besant was a 
 religious man ; he scarcely ever failed attending church on 
 the Sabbath Baj^, and took pleasure in frequenting those 
 places of worship where good music could be heard. 
 
 As his novels show, his principal aim in life was to lend 
 a helping hand to raise the lower classes of society to a higher 
 level by means of educdtion, music, recreation, and contact 
 with the upper classes. He tried to ameliorate the lot of 
 
REMINISCENCES. 75 
 
 the masses by bringing whatever was good within their 
 reach. The People's Palace in Whitechapel will ever remain 
 a fitting monument to his memory. The day will come 
 when the statue of this scholar, litferatenr, scientist, and 
 philanthropist will grace one of the principal thoroughfares 
 of London. 
 
 The French professors of the Poyal College will aho long 
 live in the students' affection and memory. Professor Doyen 
 was about fifty-five years old when I attended his class. He 
 taught literature, history, composition, and rhetoric, and 
 gave such long lessons to learn that invariably most of the 
 students had to trick him. Those whose names came at 
 the beginning of the alphabet learnt the first pages, and 
 those near the end learned the last. Woe to us if he hap- 
 pened to call these first to his desk ! Bad marks were 
 the order of that morning ! But the students w^ould then 
 take vengeance, and now and then some one, when the 
 Professor was not looking, would call out quickly, ' Abbe 
 Godoyau! ' the nick-name he went by, and which he intensely 
 disliked. ' Tres bien, toute la classe aux arrets ! ' he would 
 say. Then for the whole class to protest and make a noise. 
 
 * Mais, Monsieur D03 en, ce n'est pas moi ! ' cried everybody. 
 
 * Voulez vous vous taire, tas d'imbeciles ! tas de va-nuds- 
 pieds, tas de vauriens I ' in crescendo as the protests became 
 louder, until the usher made his appearance, and at once 
 there was silence. All the same. Professor Doyen was a 
 learned man, and it was a treat to hear him criticise 
 ^N^apoleon the First and the Second, for he was a red 
 Republican. We of course, for the occasion, became ardent 
 Bonapartists ! 
 
 The French professor of the junior classes, Monsieur 
 Cahagnet, was a Breton, and had a marked accent. He was 
 about the same age as Monsieur Doyen. He would in his 
 spare moments discuss Spiritism with the boys, and gave the 
 following incident as the cause of his conversion : 'My wife's 
 mother,' said he, ' was very ill and was dying ; the doctors 
 
 had given her up. My next-door neighbour, Mr. B , 
 
 ^'ho was the leader of the Spiritists, came to see us, and 
 
70 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 offered to consult the spirits about her. My little daughter 
 
 was made to take pen and paper, whilst Mr. B prayed 
 
 that the patient should be healed. After prayer, my young 
 child seemed to be inspired, and wrote down a prescription 
 in French ; we had it made up, and gave the medicine to the 
 old granny, and she recovered ! From that day all my 
 family became ardent Spiritists.' 
 
 Several years after poor Monsieur Cahagnet had left the 
 College, I met him, and on asking whether he was still 
 a Spiritist, to my astonishment he replied : ' Ah, non, non, 
 mon fils ! le Spiritism vient du diable, je te raconterai ce 
 
 qui est arrive.' ' You remember B , the leader of the 
 
 Spiritists, died a year ago. After his funeral we had all 
 assembled at his house to comfort and pray with his widow 
 and family. We all knelt in his drawing-room and I prayed 
 
 to God to allow his servant B to communicate with us 
 
 and tell us where he was, and whether he was happy in his 
 new state. Suddenly there was a tremendous noise in the 
 room, accompanied by voices and such a volley of oaths 
 that we all got frightened, and ran out of the house. 
 Very few of us remained Spiritists after that ! God in 
 His mercy towards us had loosened Satan out of Hell to 
 bring us back to our senses ! Remember what the Bible 
 says, that we must not consult the spirits of the dead, 
 and that those who seek after them should be stoned to 
 death ! One of the reasons God gave for transferring the 
 kingship from Saul to David was that the former had con- 
 sulted one who had a familiar spirit.'* 
 Mortiioriim spiritus requicscant inpace ! 
 Another personality that will never be forgotten by the 
 Royal College ' boys ' is the dear old second usher, Jacob 
 Stanley. It seems but yesterday that I saw him, with his 
 spectacles on his nose, seated on a high stool at his desk at 
 the end of the College corridor, writing the names of the 
 arrests and absentees in a register. By the side of the 
 register lay a big open Bible, and every now and then he 
 would put his pen down, and, poring over the text of the 
 * Leviticus xix. 31, xx. 6, 27 ; Deut. xviii. 11 ; 1 Cliron. x. 13, 14. 
 
REMINISCENCES. 77 
 
 :sacred Book, would meditate half aloud upon its truths, 
 and thus prepare the sermon he intended to deliver on the 
 next Sabbath, for he was leader of the Brethren in Mauritius. 
 The following ghost-story is told in connection with him. 
 It was during the period when pupils were taken as 
 boarders at College that the elder boys (me night played 
 a trick on Mr. Cassidy, the first ushor who with his 
 family lived in a pavilion in the College grounds. Mr. 
 Stanley was his brother-in-law. Just before retiring to the 
 dormitory in the vast attic of the College, one or two of the 
 elder boys had run upstairs and collected all the night- 
 clothes of the little boys and packed them into a bigger 
 suit wherewith to make a dummy, and placed this near 
 the window overlooking Mr. Cassidy's house. As usual, at 
 9 p.m., all the boarders, with Mr. Stanley and the little 
 boys at the head and the bigger ones at the tail, ascended 
 the stairs in procession, from the hall downstairs to the 
 dormitory. A chorus of voices soon complained that 
 they could not find their night-clothes ; nor was it long 
 before Mr. Stanley saw the bigger boys throw the dummy 
 down into the court-yard sixty feet below, whilst they 
 hollowed out, * Mr. Cassidy ! Mr. Cassidy ! Come quick ! 
 Mr. Stanley has fallen down from the attic ! ' 
 
 Mr. Cassidy's family had retired to bed, but on hearing 
 the call they rushed out, and the naughty boys upstairs 
 greatly enjoyed the joke as they heard Cassidy call out to 
 his sons, ' Quick ! bring the water- jug. Your uncle has 
 fallen down ; he must be dying.' It was some time before 
 the Cassidys found out their mistake, but they carried the 
 dummy inside their house and locked the door. 
 
 As the little boys had need of their night- garments ^Ir. 
 Stanley compelled the bigger ones to go and plead with Mr. 
 Cassidy to forgive their escapade and to return the clothes. 
 In vain they knocked and begged ; no sound was heard, 
 inside was silence like that of the grave, and they had 
 to return empty-handed. Whereupon Mr. Stanley had to 
 go down himself, and as the younger children would not 
 stay upstairs without him, they all accompanied him to Mr. 
 
78 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 Cassidy's house ; but it was of no avail, no one stirred inside^ 
 The procession was re-formed, and this time the bigger lads 
 headed it, and the children and Mr. Stanley came last 
 with a lantern in his hand. They had made up their minds 
 to sleep in their day-clothes. It was now near midnight, 
 and the College* stairs and corridors were in complete 
 darkness. 
 
 The big boys had just reached the landing on the first 
 floor, when suddenly the door opposite opened, and a tall, 
 white ghost reaching nearly to the ceiling, and with arms- 
 extended, came towards them. The lads not expecting such 
 a sudden apparition, lost their presence of mind, and crying 
 out, ' A ghost ! a ghost ! ' they turned tail and rushed down 
 the staircase, capsizing those who were coming up behind. 
 There was a regular hullaballoo, — cries of pain from those 
 who were stumbling over one another, and shrieks of fear 
 from the little ones who did not know what it all meant, 
 and over the noise Mr. Stanley's loud reprimands were 
 heard, scolding the seniors for continuing their practical 
 joke. But they explained that they had seen a real gbost,. 
 and that they would not go up again without a light ; but 
 the oil in the lantern was exhausted, so, taking two or three 
 of the bigger lads with him and leaving the others down- 
 stairs, Mr. Stanley went up to fetch another lamp from the 
 dormitory, but as he turned round the corner of the second 
 landing a big invisible hand laid hold of his He shook it 
 off, and called out, ' Who are you ? ' Once more there was 
 a scramble downstairs, and Mr. Stanley was left alone with 
 the ghost ! Who he was and what took place was kept a 
 secret for a long time by Mr. Stanley, but it gradually 
 leaked out that Mr. Cassidy had had his revenge. He had 
 frightened the boys more than they had frightened him. 
 
 As I am writing about schools and colleges, I ought to add 
 the name of a family who have done much for the secular 
 and religious education of the Island. My father Mr. John 
 Anderson of Glasgow, a grand nephew of the late Sir William. 
 Honyman, Bart., Lord Chief Justice of Scotland, was sent 
 by the Mico Trust to Mauritius to be the Principal of the 
 
REMINISCENCES. 7^ 
 
 N'ormal School. This trust or charity was founded by Lady 
 Mico for the education of the newly -liberated slaves of the 
 British colonies. Some of these Mico Schools still exist in 
 the West Indies, but, like many another educational founda- 
 tion, this one outlived the intentions of the founder, and 
 now educates rich and poor, coloured boys and white, alike ! 
 
 With the help of Mr. de Joux (the director of the trust 
 in Mauritius) j\Ir. Anderson during twenty years cham- 
 pioned education amongst the coloured race all over the 
 Island, and afterwards entered the Government service. 
 These schools eventually became the Government schools of 
 to-day, which give a sound primary education to the poorer 
 class of the inhabitants. By means of scholarships the best 
 pupils can enter the Royal College, and many of the 
 Laureates, or winners of the £1000 scholarship of the Eoyal 
 Collesre, beffan their education on the benches of the Govern- 
 ment schools, and some of them have attained to high 
 positions, both in their own Island and in Europe. 
 
 Mr. Anderson was a lay-preacher all the adult days of hia 
 life, and his sermons have been heard in many lands besides 
 Mauritius, viz. the Cape of Good Hope, Australia, Seychelles,. 
 England, Scotland, Ireland, France, and Italy. He was one 
 one of the elders of the Presbyterian Church, and was the 
 principal mover in getting a church erected for the Scottish 
 colonists in Mauritius. He nevertheless devoted much of his 
 spare time in helping the Rev. Jean Le Brun in his mission- 
 work amongst the coloured race, by whom he was much 
 loved for his sympathy and generosity. 
 
 He married Miss Elie, a grand-daughter of the 
 Huguenot families Elie and Bourelly of Cordognan, France^ 
 who had sought refuge in Mauritius soon after it became a 
 French colony. He had six sons and three daughters, and 
 had the satisfaction of seeing one of his sons obtain the 
 above-mentioned scholarship, and another become Super- 
 intendent of the Government schools ; three others entered 
 the ministry, and one of them, the Rev. S. H. Anderson of 
 Paris, has translated the Gospels and the Psalms into the 
 Creole patois. 
 
^0 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 Mr. Anderson retired in his old days to the Riviera, and 
 died peacefully in Paris (twenty-six years ago), in his seventy- 
 eighth year, surrounded by several members of his family, 
 and was buried at St. Germain. 
 
 Of the ministers of religion, Bishop Ryan's name will 
 ever be connected with Mauritius as being its first Protestant 
 Bishop. A broad-hearted Episcopalian, he embraced Pro- 
 testants of all denominations in his love and ministration ; he 
 established many churches and mission schools in all the 
 districts. As he was a Low Churchman (in fact, there were 
 no High Churchmen in his time in Mauritius) he often pre- 
 sided over Nonconformists' meetings, and spoke on the same 
 platform with them. He was loved and esteemed, and was 
 greatly regretted when, after twenty-five years, he left the 
 Island to return to England. 
 
 But no name is held in greater reverence in Mauritius 
 than that of Rev. Jean Le Brun (senior), of the London 
 Missionary Society, for he was the first apostle of the 
 Protestant religion to the French and to the Creoles. He, 
 like Dr. Ryan, founded many churches and schools for 
 them. He was a wise man and a gifted orator, and did 
 much for the Mulatto race, and was very successful in his 
 ministrations among them. He was truly their friend. He 
 died in a good old age amongst his parishioners, and the 
 whole Island — Protestants, Catholics, English and French — 
 turned out to do him honour at his funeral. There never 
 was a funeral in Mauritius like his. His son, a more eloquent 
 orator still, succeeded him, and died some twenty- six years 
 ago. The Mission is now under the pastorate of the Rev. J. 
 Forrester Anderson, B.D., &c. 
 
 Another minister of religion w^ho left his mark on the 
 pages of Mauritian history was Rev. George Mclrvine, who 
 for over fifty years presided over the Presbyterian Church. 
 He was a scholar, and had been a professor at the Aberdeen 
 University. Many a Mauritian owes his knowledge of 
 classics and moral philosophy to his teaching, and many a 
 Governor made use privately of his counsels in the adminis- 
 tration of the Government ; but he was Governor Pope 
 
REMINISCENCES. 81 
 
 TIennessy's bete noire, not only on account of his religion, 
 but also because Pope Hennessy was an Irishman, and hated 
 the English and ' abominated the Scotch,' so he used to say. 
 There never were two more opposite characters than these 
 two. The Scotsman, a staunch Covenanter, prudent, just, 
 •cautious, and above-board in every respect; the Irishman, a 
 bigoted member of ihe Jesuit Society, impulsive in his 
 actions, uujust towards those who had English or Scotch 
 blood in them, irritable, and calling upon his adminis- 
 tration an inquiry from the Horns Grovernment, with his 
 subsequent suspension. True, after an eloquent plaidoirie 
 on his behalf by a Mauritian, Sir Wm. Newton, he was 
 reinstated, but he was warned not to set the different 
 races in the Island against one another. 
 
 It was under his government and with his support that 
 the Roman Catholic Archbishop Meurin attempted to get 
 the education of the Island (primary and secondary) under 
 the control of the Roman Catholic Church, but fortunately 
 for Mauritius the Home Government refused to grive its 
 consent. Even Catholics and Hindoos joined the Protestants 
 in combating such a disastrous measure. By all means teach 
 religion, for education without religion is like a sharp-edged 
 weapon in the hands of a child, but let each Church have 
 full liberty to teach her own tenets ! Such a thing would 
 never have been allowed in Roman Catholic schools and 
 colleges. 
 
 I must mention the name of a Roman Catholic priest, 
 who by his devotion helped to civilise the black lower 
 classes. Monsieur Laval had been a French chemist living 
 in France. Report says his child fell ill with scarlatina, 
 and his wife nursing it caught the fell disease also. In 
 making up the doctor's prescription one night the father 
 took up the wrong bottle, and it contained poison, and, 
 after administering the medicine to both mother and child, 
 they died ; and it was then only he found out his mistake. 
 The maddened and disconsolate man gave up his shop and 
 home and retired into a monastery, and devoted the rest of 
 his life as a missionary to the coloured people in Mauritius. 
 
 G 
 
82 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 Abbe Laval more than once asked bis friend, Jean Le Bruii 
 tbe Protestant, to preacb for bim. 
 
 Anotber Roman Catbolic priest, Abbe Bardet, tbe Cure 
 of tbe Pamplemousses Cburcb, was a different man from 
 Abbe Laval, and yet tbey were alike in many respects : botb 
 were far abead of tbe doctrines of tbeir Cburcb, but Abbe 
 Bardet was a profound arid clever scbolar. At Abbe Laval's 
 funeral be bad tbe misfortune to deliver an oration 
 wbicb displeased bis Bisbop, for be said : ' Our beloved 
 brotber is now in Heaven, and bas bad no Purgatory ta 
 pass tbrough, for be suffered enough whilst on earth/ And 
 he expressed some other sentiments which were too heretical 
 or too Protestant for the Bishop, and tbe latter exiled him 
 to Grande Baie, a lonely fishermen's village on the north 
 coast, where he could not put to much use his extensive 
 erudition, nor perchance turn bis parishioners into Pro- 
 testants ! As soon as bis vow to remain in tbe priesthood 
 was accomplished, be left Mauritius and joined the Old 
 Catbolic party in the South of France, where he died some 
 years ago. All those who knew him will remember bis tall 
 and erect figure, his handsome features, his kindliness and 
 gentlemanly demeanour, and his protests against Papal 
 infallibility. 
 
 Abbe Curtin, an Irishman, is another priest who has- 
 left pleasant souvenirs amongst Protestants and Catholics 
 alike, of bis long stay in Mauritius. At first he and the 
 Presbyterians or Scotsmen were daggers- drawn, but they 
 gradually came to know each other better, and he was cor- 
 dially received in many a Protestant family. He is now 
 Canon of the Madeleine in Paris. 
 
 In the annexure to this book will be found the names of 
 tbe Laureates of the Royal College, most of whom have 
 become distinguished men in the different professions they 
 adopted. 
 
 Mr. Alister MacMillan has recently given in bis- 
 Mauritius Illmtratcd a short biographical sketch, with 
 portraits, of several of the important men — past and present 
 — in Mauritius. But he has omitted the names of a great 
 
REMINISCENCES. 83 
 
 many more who have made, or are making Mauritius what 
 it is to-day. The future unbiassed Mauritian historian will 
 record with gratitude the names of such men as Sir George 
 Bestel, Sir Farquhar Shand, Sir Eugene Leclezio, Sir Etienne 
 Pellereau, Sir Lionel Cox, and Sir John Gorie, Messrs. Jules 
 Colin, Bazire, Didier, Ackroyd, amongst the eminent jurists ; 
 Drs. Montgomery, Dupuy, Johnson, Poupinel, Edwards, 
 Pougnet, Henry Hogers, Bolton (senior and junior), Reid, 
 Beaugeard, Isaac Paddle, De Chazal, and Laurent, amongst 
 the notable medical men ; Bishops Ryan and Royston, Revs. 
 Buswell and Blackburn, Jean Le Brun (junior), Samuel and 
 James Anderson (worthy succcessors of Rev. Jean Le Brun 
 senior), Patric Beaton, and Geo. Mclrvine, amongst the 
 worthy clergymen of the Protestant Church ; Abbes Faduilhe 
 and Bardet and other priests of the Roman Catholic Church, 
 devoted successors of Pere Laval ; Sir William Anderson and 
 Sir James Fergusson, the heads of the Oriental Bank ; Sir 
 Edward Newton, Sir Colville Barclay, Messrs. Finniss, Dick 
 (senior), Beyts, Meldrum, Home, Elliott, John Anderson, 
 Lavers, Seymour, Dejoux, and many others, in the Civil 
 Service ; Messrs. Blyth, Cheron, Davidson, Brodie (senior), 
 Guthrie, Stanley, Scott, Currie, West, Hammond, to mention 
 only a few amongst the hundreds of merchants and planters of 
 former days. Most of them have either gone to their rest 
 or have retired into peaceful old age, but some are still 
 shining in their respective spheres, either in Mauritius or 
 elsewhere. They have each and all deserved well of their 
 native or adopted countr}^ and have helped to make Mauri- 
 tians respected amongst the nations. 
 
 Most of the Mauritian families have sons fighting on the 
 different battlefields of the present war ; some of them have 
 already laid down their lives for their king and mother- 
 country, and not a few have won the V.C. and the M.C., 
 amongst these are Lieutenants Cyril Anderson- Blackburn, 
 Mayer, Finniss, and Kenneth Paddle. Dr. de Chazal has 
 very generously contributed towards the travelling expenses 
 of these young men to Europe. 
 
CHAPTER y. 
 
 Sanitation in Mauritius. 
 
 * It is not easy to give a full and correct account of what has 
 been done in recent years to improve the sanitary condition 
 of the Island. The efforts have been more or less erratic, 
 extending over a number of years and in different parts of 
 the country. 
 
 *I propose, therefore, to deal with them as a whole 
 without indicating the years in which they were undertaken. 
 
 ' General Board of Health and Sanitary Staff. — Previous 
 to 1904 there was a body called the General Board of 
 Health, composed of one or two medical men, and half a 
 dozen merchants and planters, and the Mayor of Port Louis, 
 the chief medical officer being the President. It was a 
 deliberative and executive board in charge of the sanitary 
 affairs of the Island. 
 
 ' Three sanitary officers, a sanitary warden, and two 
 sanitary guardians formed the staff who had charge of the 
 sanitary control of the Island. They were assisted by 
 sanitary inspectors and guards, and a sanitary engineer. 
 
 ^ All sanitary enactments passed by the G.B.H. had to be 
 submitted to the Governor for his sanction, and then they 
 were laid on the table of the Council of Government, and if 
 not disallowed within one month became law. 
 
 * Quarantine. — There are two quarantine stations in Mauri- 
 tius — one on the mainland at Cannonier's Point, and the 
 second on Flat Island, ten miles from land. 
 
 ^ Quarantine is imposed on persons from the date of 
 departure from an infected port, or from the date of death 
 
to -^ 
 
 * ..../. 
 
 
 ^-.^^ 
 
<0 
 
 a: ^ 
 O Z 
 
 o 
 
 < ^ 
 
 -J ^ 
 
 OL ^ 
 
 -1 
 
SANITATION. 85 
 
 or cure of the last case on board a vessel coming to 
 Mauritius. 
 
 * The period is : — 
 
 For Plague . . 6 days. 
 „ Small-pox . . 14 „ 
 
 „ Cholera . . 10 „ 
 
 * For cholera the station is Flat Island ; other diseases, the 
 mainland. 
 
 ' Since 1904 the General Board of Health has ceased to 
 exist as an executive body. It is now only consultative. 
 
 * The Sanitary Warden has charge of Port Louis, and two 
 assistant wardens attend to the districts. 
 
 * In the townships of Beau Bassin, Rose Hill, Quatre 
 Bornes, and Curepipe, there are Boards of Commissioners 
 who attend to the sanitation of these towns. Their powers 
 however are limited, as they have nothing to do with markets, 
 cemeteries, and latrine service. 
 
 * In Port Louis and the towns and villages there are 
 contractors who attend to the night-soil service. There 
 is still the old system of buckets which are removed 
 every other day. In the town of Port Louis under- 
 ground drainage and water-carriage has replaced the old 
 system in certain parts in the area comprised between the 
 sea. Government, Madame and Labourdonnais Streets, 
 Before long it will have been established up to Corderie 
 Street and to the Champ de Mars. The work is in hand now. 
 
 * Principal Sanitary Works. — Port Louis. — The most im- 
 portant sanitary undertaking of recent years is undoubtedly 
 the substitution of underground drainage and water-carriage 
 for the old bucket system. The work was in charge of 
 specially engaged officers ftom England, and has been very 
 well executed, all the refuse being cast into the bca far 
 from land at a spot where the currents flow outwards off the 
 coast. 
 
 ' One no longer cees the side gutters in the streets carry- 
 ing foul- smelling sewage as formerly. The side drains now 
 serve for the carriage of rain water. Unfortunately, owing 
 to the carelessness of the municipality, washing of clothes 
 
86 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 is still permitted in many parts of the city, so that here 
 and there some dirty water may be found in the side 
 drains. There is a municipal regulation enacting that 
 all water- cocks in yards should be turned off when water 
 is not required. Unfortunately, this provision of the 
 law is in certain parts of Port Louis practically a dead 
 letter, the consequence being that stagnant water is found 
 where none should be allowed. 
 
 *At the present moment the underground drainage 
 has been completed, and is in working order in the area 
 bounded by Poudriere, Labourdonnais, and Madame Streets 
 and the sea ; and is being laid down and will soon be 
 completed in a second area bounded by Corderie Street, 
 the Champ de Mars, and the sea. By the time the 
 second network shall have been in working order the central 
 third of the city will be provided with the new method of 
 disposal. 
 
 * In those parts of the town not so endowed the old 
 bucket system of night soil service still holds good. The 
 sanitary regulation enacts that the soiled bucket should have 
 its lid put on, and then removed to a properly closed cart ; 
 a clean one being put in its place. Through absence 
 of efficient surveillance this regulation is ofttimes infringed, 
 — the scavengers often contenting themselves with trans- 
 ferring the contents of one tub into another, and returning 
 the soiled one to its place. 
 
 ' The faecal matter is taken to one of the manure estab- 
 lishments, of which there are three, and then, mixed with 
 stable and street sweepings, is converted into manure, which 
 is sold to the sugar estates. 
 
 ' The scavengering of the towns is incumbent upon the 
 municipal contractor. The watering of the streets is done 
 by the municipality — unfortunately this is very badly done, 
 some streets, and often the principal ones, not being watered 
 for days — so that when there is any wind, thick clouds 
 of microbe-laden dust are raised and forced down one's 
 throat and into one's eyes, into the shops and on the fruit, 
 vegetables and meat, exposed for sale in the markets. 
 
SANITATION. 87 
 
 , * Water Supply. — The water supply of Port Louis is 
 -derived from tlie Grand River N.W., whicli has been 
 dammed at a place opposite Beau Bassin town. From 
 thence it is carried to the city by cast-iron pipes. 
 
 ' The quality of this water, as already stated in the 
 first chapter, is anything but what it should be. All the 
 dirty clothing of Curepipe (22,000 inhabitants). Phoenix, 
 Quatre Bornes, Rose Hill, and Beau Bassin (80,000), and 
 part of Moka district, are washed in tributaries of the 
 Grand River above the dyke ; and this is what the people 
 of Port Louis drink in all its impurity, as no attempt has 
 ever been made to filter it. And yet this could have been 
 done at a spot behind Pailles railway station, situated 
 172 feet above sea-level, the higher part of the city being 
 barety 100 feet above the sea. 
 
 ' The War Department having laid down Mare aux 
 Vacoas water to the barracks and Fort George, the military 
 enjoy the advantage of a pure water supply. The Colonial 
 Ice Works and Croft's factory of Aerated Waters use this 
 water and no other. 
 
 * Inspection of Food Stuffs. — The meat supply comes from 
 the municipal slaughterhouse in the northern suburb. No 
 fresh meat can be sold in any part of the town if the animal 
 has not been killed in the above establishment, which is 
 visited regularly by the official " vet." (a municipal employe) 
 at killing time. 
 
 ' The inspection of shops is under the control of the 
 sanitary warden and his staff, the town being divided into 
 four sections under a sanitary inspector and one sanitary 
 guard. 
 
 ' Any article of food suspected is sent to the Government 
 analyst for his report. 
 
 ' Markets. — There are four public markets in Port Louis 
 two in the central part — fruit, vegetables and meat ; one in 
 the eastern, and the fourth in the western suburbs. 
 
 ' They are composed of large open sheds, separated from 
 the streets by iron railings. So that when the streets have 
 not been watered for days — as is often the case — and there 
 
88 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 is any wiiid, clouds of dust are blown on to the meat, fruity, 
 and vegetables exposed for sale. Municipal inspectors 
 watch over the markets. Meat, fish, groceries, tea, coffee, 
 milk, bread, fruit, vegetables, and live stock are sold in these 
 markets. 
 
 ' Lighting. — Years ago the city was lit by gas, then 
 hj petroleum lamps, and now by electricity in some parts ; 
 but from what I hear this is not very satisfactory, through 
 some technical defects, the generative power being in- 
 adequate. 
 
 ^ Nuiscowps in Fort Louis. — The most serious are the out- 
 come of defective water-carriage, foul streams, dilapidated 
 tenements, filthy habits of the native and Indian populations. 
 * The water-pipes in the town are provided with taps on 
 the mains for regulating the supply — these are at the bottom 
 of "regards," square openings covered by a stone cap. As 
 a good many of these taps leak there is always some stagnant 
 water where this defect occurs ; as the covering caps are not 
 air-tight there is always sufficient passage for mosquitoes to 
 enter and breed therein. Ross found Anophelines in them. 
 ' There are several streams of small magnitude w^hich 
 take their source in the surrounding hills that overtop the 
 city. The principal ones being Povice, Madame, La Paix, 
 and Latanier streams. 
 
 'The first two start from Tranquebar, in the Pouce 
 Valley, and empty themselves in the Caudan Basin on each 
 side of the Central Railway station. Latanier stream starts 
 from Vallee des Pretres, and ends in Mer Rouge. The 
 La Paix stream starts from Yallee Pitot behind the Citadel, 
 and empties itself in Mer Rouge, at the beginning of the 
 Causeway leading to Fort George. 
 
 ' Pouce stream has been paved between Moka and Des- 
 rochers Streets, below and above — the sides are overgrown 
 with grass, which in some places intercepts the flow of 
 water, stagnation resulting, and the usual mosquito breeding- 
 ground at once established. The same remarks apply to 
 the upper parts of La Paix and Madame streams. As 
 the streams in the town still receive a large share of the 
 
SANITATION. 8^ 
 
 waste waters from the premises along their banks, they are 
 performing the functions of open sewers. 
 
 * Another source of nuisance is to be found in two old 
 sewers. One runs under Corderie and Royal Streets, from 
 Dauphin Street to the Butte a Tonniers stream, near the 
 Company's gardens ; and the second from Government 
 Street to the same open sewer passing near Hazard Street. 
 They receive the refuse waters from the premises on each 
 side of thfese streets : as they are in bad condition they swarm 
 with rats, which can easily gain access to the neighbouring 
 houses. 
 
 * Latanier stream, on the other hand, is in the same 
 condition it has been in for years and years. The bed is 
 very irregular — stony in parts, muddy in others. In the 
 dry season it often ceases to flow, and the water in the pools 
 representing what at some time is a river, soon gets stagnant 
 and green. Mosquitoes then abound. As a large quantity 
 of dirty clothing of the lower classes is washed in the 
 stream, the nature of the water in the pools can be imagined. 
 
 ' The locality round Tranquebar is thickly wooded with 
 jungle, through which the Kuisseau du Prau pursues it& 
 meandering course between two rows of rank vegetation. 
 The periodical recurrence of malaria is well marked in these 
 particular parts of the suburbs of the town. 
 
 ' Some years ago the western portion of Port Louis was 
 supplied with water through the Canal Dayot, which took 
 its source under Grand River railway bridge. When the 
 present source of supply was inaugurated, the Dayot Canal 
 was suppressed at Cassis, but the water was allowed to flow 
 for a short distance into a side gutter along the railway line^ 
 then passing under the rails it crosses the thick jungle which 
 has grown between the railway line and the sea towards the 
 Salines and the country, stagnant water and rank vegeta- 
 tion being common sights. This is the most unhealthy part 
 of Port Louis, malaria being the principal factor. 
 
 * With the exception of the new buildings constructed 
 in the area which was burnt down in 1892, the other houses 
 are built of wood on a stone foundation, with a cellar under 
 
50 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 the floor ; these cellars are dark and not as a rule ventilated. 
 In Camp YolofP, in the western suburb, and the adjoining 
 parts, the inhabitants form the poorer portion of the popu- 
 lation ; the houses are dirty, often overcrowded, and the 
 inhabitants ignore the most elementary notions of hygiene 
 and sanitation. Rats, fleas, bugs, lice, and other vermin 
 abound. Plague and malaria have made this part of the city 
 their haunts. The condition of things described above 
 explains the great difficulty the sanitary authorities have 
 hitherto had to surmount in fighting plague. Thousands of 
 rats are killed every month, and yet they are still to be 
 found in great numbers, the old wooden houses and their 
 dark cellars offering such good refuge to them. 
 
 ' Sanitari/ Works. — Since the outbreak of plague, and 
 afterwards since Professor Poss's visit, some attempts have 
 been made to destroy part of the insanitar}^ conditions in 
 Port Louis and its suburbs. 
 
 ' A large area of land surrounding the town at the foot 
 of the Signal and Citadel Hills have been cleared of the 
 thick growth of cactus and weeds : some drainage and rough 
 canalisation has been done on a very small scale owing to 
 lack of funds and municipal inaction ; but a great deal still 
 remains to be done. 
 
 ' Country Villages, Towns, and Sugar Estates. — It is a 
 matter for congratulation that a considerable amount of good 
 work has been done in the districts both by Government, 
 local boards, and planters. 
 
 * Wherever practicable, marshes have been drained, 
 streams roughly canalised, stagnant pools filled in or 
 regularly petroled ; Savanne, Grand Port, and Plaines 
 Wilhems, being the pioneers, still heading the list. 
 
 * Unfortunately, the outlay in some localities will have 
 necessarily to be very heavy, and the question is whether, 
 considering the small population to be found there, for 
 instance in certain isolated parts of Black River, Flacq, and 
 Pamplemousses, Government would be justified in incurring 
 the expenditure. 
 
 * Townships. — In the districts of Plaines Wilhems are 
 
SANITATION. 91 
 
 towns where Boards of Commissioners are entrusted with 
 their sanitation, i.e., with the scavengering service, latrines, 
 construction of gutters, and streets, and their maintenance. 
 There are four of these townships — Rose Hill, Beau Bassin, 
 -Quatre Bornes, and Curepipe. 
 
 * The house proprietors pay a tax of one-half per cent, on 
 the assessed value of their properties towards the cost of 
 these different items. 
 
 ' Villages. — There are a certain number of villages which 
 have been recognised as such, and their boundaries defined. 
 In each the tub system is used, and Government pays a 
 contractor for the latrine service, 
 
 ^ Coolie Camps. — On every sugar estate the labourers and 
 their families are lodged in camps provided free by the 
 ■owners. The proprietor is bound to keep these camps 
 clean, and latrines have to be provided and equipped for 
 the use of the labourers, — the latrine service being paid 
 for by the employer. 
 
 ' The sanitar}^ officers, medical inspector, and inspector of 
 immigrants, visit these camps, and see that the regulations 
 are complied with. 
 
 ' In other parts of the island the old cesspool is still to be 
 found where no regular latrine service exists. 
 
 ' Sanitary Works undertaken. — The anti-malaria cam- 
 paign started five years ago has necessitated sanitary works 
 on an extensiv.e scale ; but previous to this an immense boon 
 was conferred upon the district of Plaines Wilhems when 
 Mare aux Tacoas as before stated was dammed to provide 
 an efficient supply of pure water to Curepipe, Vacoa, Phoenix, 
 Quatre Bornes, Bose Hill, Beau Bassin, and Coromandel. 
 
 ' The lake was deepened wherever this was considered 
 necessary, all noxious growths were removed. The area of 
 the lake is now more than 400 acres. 
 
 ' The water is carried as far as La Marie, about a mile 
 and a half, where extensive sand filters have been con- 
 structed, and an Anderson rotating cylinder put up. A very 
 good account of these works is given in Simpson's Principles 
 •of Hygiene^ and also in MacMillan's Mauritius Illustrated. 
 
^2 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 ' A very sensible diminution in the number of cases of 
 intestinal diseases has been since observed in the localities 
 where this water is used. 
 
 * Most of the villages receive their water supply from 
 the nearest river, and it is not always of the purest when the 
 numerous sources of pollution are considered. 
 
 ' The medical department has done good work in many 
 parts of the island with the meagre funds placed at its dis- 
 posal for fighting malaria. 
 
 ^ In PnmplenioiiSHPS district a large tract of bog and 
 marsh in the Botanical Gardens have been efficiently 
 drained by a solid cement construction. Several streams 
 have been cleaned, and Pamplemousses river rid of all 
 noxious growths on its banks. A second drain has also rid 
 the village of a considerable area of bog. 
 
 ^ Last year (1910) it was decided to drain Beau Plan 
 Marsh of Pamplemousses [vide map), around the railway 
 station, as its presence nullified what had been done in 
 the village and gardens. 
 
 * Riviere cUt Rempart. — Several small marshes in Poudre 
 d'Or village have been canalised. 
 
 ' Flacq. — A large marsh in the centre of the district near 
 the village of " Centre de Flacq " has been drained, and the 
 banks of the river flowing through the village trimmed 
 and cleared of vegetation. There is a great deal to be done 
 yet before any good can be registered. 
 
 * Grand Port. — Numerous small streams overgrown witk 
 vegetation of all kinds have been cleared and canalised, 
 principally in those places where malaria was known to 
 be rife every year, as in the vicinity of Mahebourg Village. 
 
 * A marsh behind the public hospital has been drained, 
 and another small one in the village filled in. 
 
 * In the village of Cent Gaulettes numerous drains have 
 been dug in order to dry u}) marshy lands. 
 
 * Savanne. — A good deal has been done by the planters, 
 but little by Government as yet. 
 
 ' Plaines Wilhems. — A large swamp in Phoenix has been 
 thoroughly drained, and malaria completely stamped out. 
 
SANITATION. 98 
 
 most of tlie rivers cleared, and wherever practicable roughly 
 canalised — especially in Curepipe, Vacoas, and Phoenix. 
 
 'A marsh at Quatre Bornes has also been drained. 
 This district is the healthiest in the island. 
 
 * Black River. — Nothing done as yet. Its population is 
 small and scattered. The district is mountainous and well 
 supplied with water {vide map). 
 
 ' Moka, — Rivers have been cleared ; small marshes sup- 
 pressed ; two foci of malaria completely destroyed. Small 
 gangs of labourers are permanently employed in the cleaning 
 of rivers and drains, and the suppression of small marshes. 
 
 * Mr. D'Emmerez is in charge of anti- malaria works ; his 
 sphere of action is unfortunately limited through lack of 
 funds ; he has notwithstanding done very good work indeed. 
 
 ' In numerous yards where there were dirty little ponds 
 a few feet in diameter, watercress beds, &c., these nuisances 
 have been suppressed. 
 
 * Public Hospitals and Dispoisarics. — There is a public 
 hospital in eac*h of the following districts : The Civil 
 Hospital in Port Louis. This building originally con- 
 structed for the classes of the Royal College was handed 
 over to the Medical Department in 1890 when plague broke 
 out in the vicinity of the old hospital behind the Custom 
 House. Although not fitted for its present purpose, it has 
 done very good work under the able direction of Dr. Rouget. 
 
 ' Barkly Hospital at Beau Bassin has an orphanage and 
 an infirmary, and public dispensary attached to it. Here, 
 too, is the lunatic asylum, under Dr. Isaac Paddle's most 
 efficient care. 
 
 * Savanne, Grand Port, Flacq, Pamplemousses, Plaines 
 Wilhems, Riviere du Rempart, Moka, have each a public 
 hospital, where consultations and medicines are also given to 
 the poor free of charge. Black River is the only district in 
 which a public hospital does not exist. 
 
 ' Estate Hospitals. — Every contract of service, verbal or 
 written, implies an obligation on the part of the employer to 
 furnish medical treatment and care free if the servant lives 
 on the premises. 
 
94 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 Any person employing more than nineteen men under 
 written contract and living on his premises, is bound to 
 have a hospital duly equipped, or he may elect to send his 
 sick servants to a public hospital if there be one near. 
 
 ' Each hospital must be constructed after a plan from the 
 Medical Officer of the Immigration Department, and must 
 contain a number of beds equal to four per cent, of the men 
 employed. 
 
 'A doctor is attached to the estate, and visits twice a 
 week regularly, and oftener if necessary ; a duly qualified 
 dispenser attends to the sick. 
 
 ' The Medical Officer of the Immigration Department 
 inspects the hospitals twice a year, and reports any infrac- 
 tion of the law, either on the part of the medical attendant 
 or the estate.' 
 
 Biblio(/raphy : The greater part of this chapter was written for me- 
 by Dr. J. Bolton, ex-Sanitary Warden of Mauritius. The map of Port 
 Louis was also drawn by him, 
 
 Chadwick's Reports ; Sir Ronald Ross's Report. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Leprosy. 
 
 Daniels defines Leprosy 'as a disease due to the bacillus 
 lepra (discovered by Hausen in 1879), with special mani- 
 festations in the skin, and mucous membranes or nerves, or 
 both/ These bacilli resemble those of tuberculosis, but in 
 microscopic preparations they segregate more than the 
 latter, in colonies ; and in the tissues they form large nests, 
 in which they swarm. They can be discovered in the 
 exudates from the lepromata, mucus of the nostrils, and the 
 blood of the patients, though in this last not as plentifully 
 as in the former. It is an acid-fast short rod, but in 
 cultures (where it grows as a drejjtothrix) it is rarely 
 acid-fast. It is inoculable in rats, but so far not in man : 
 it is more prevalent amongst the coloured races than 
 amongst the white. Although it is common in India, 
 Japan, Malaya, some islands of Polynesia, and subtropical 
 America, the West Indies, and amongst the Maoris, it 
 is not purely a tropical disease, for it occurred in Europe 
 before the sixteenth century, and is still common in Iceland 
 and Norway. Fish and pork are accused of conveying it ; 
 but it is seen in some countries, where both are very 
 little used as diet. Although several members and friends 
 of leprous families become lepers, yet it has not been proved 
 to be hereditary. So far, the germs or bacilli have not been 
 discovered in the foetus of leprous women, or in the babies 
 of leprous fathers or mothers. Attendants at Leper 
 Asylums have caught it, but there are many instances 
 on record where others have not. Poverty, insanitary 
 conditions, and bad food, are no doubt exciting causes ; but 
 
^6 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 the ricli, with clean habits and good food, have succumbed to 
 it, though as a rule they had been exposed to contamination. 
 It is a well-known fact that cohabitation with lepers has 
 produced it. Careful isolation and segregation of every 
 leper has diminished the number of cases. Descendants 
 of lepers often suffer from atrophy of certain muscles and 
 bones, and of thickening of certain nerves (paraleproid 
 condition) . 
 
 Some skin diseases, especially leucoderma, pinta, chronic 
 erysipelas of the face, and the ' tropical mask ' or pigmenta- 
 tion of face and neck, are sometimes mistaken for Leprosy ; 
 but the diagnosis in these cases can always be made clear by 
 absence of the bacilli leprae. There are two varieties of 
 Leprosy, the 'tubercular' or 'nodular,' and the 'anaesthetic,' 
 or discoloured smooth skin Leprosy, or nerve-atrophic 
 Leprosy. The latter maj^ pass into the former variety ; it is 
 then called 'mixed.' There is a long incubation in both 
 varieties, and both, especially the anaesthetic, are of long 
 duration, from two to forty years. Both varieties may 
 improve under treatment, but may after a time become 
 quite as bad as before, until another remedy is used, and 
 so on. 
 
 In some severe cases the bacilli quickly invade the 
 different organs, and the patient dies from septicaemia. The 
 tubercular kind begins as a rule with fever, and with an 
 erythematous rash on the face, which, even after the fall 
 of temperature, persists in patches. With each attack of 
 fever, these become oedematous and infiltrated with the 
 colonies of the bacilli ; and nodules or tubercles, and in- 
 flamed patches are gradually formed, and if on the face 
 completely disfigure the patient. These tubercles ulcerate, 
 and loss of tissue, and even of bone, takes place, leaving 
 caverns, as in severe rodent ulcers. The sweat-glands and 
 hair bulbs quickly suffer, and the hairs drop off the diseased 
 patches, and the skin becomes dry and shiny ; but strange to 
 say the scalp is not affected. 
 
 If the disease is severe, the mucous and submucous 
 tissues of the nostrils thicken and ulcerate, and there is a 
 
(a) TUBEKCULOSIS BACILLI. (h) LEPROSY BACILLI. 
 
 TUBERCULAR IjEPROSY. ANESTHETIC LEPROSY. 
 
 (From Daniels' Tropical Medicine, by permission.) 
 
[From Daniels' Tropical Medicine, by permission. 
 ANAESTHETIC LEPROSY. 
 
LEPROSY. 97 
 
 foul chronic discharge, with flattening of the nose. The 
 same thickening takes place in the fauces and larynx, with 
 consequent huskiness of the voice, until at last the patient 
 can only speak in a whisper. 
 
 Lepers often become quite blind, the globes of the eyes 
 looking like two white marbles. There are at first conjuncti- 
 vitis and circular keratitis, which finally invades the whole 
 •cornea. In other severe cases, the eyes may be completely 
 destroyed. 
 
 Ancesthetic Leprosy. — As a rule, malaise, chilliness, and 
 very rarely low fever precede the manifestation of erythe- 
 matous patches or maculae on the buttocks. In white 
 persons they are generally ivory white in the centre, and 
 darker at the circumference, and in dark persons they are 
 paler than the surrounding skin. At first, they are 
 hyperaesthetic ; but, gradually they become less sensitive 
 to the touch, heat and pain, successively. As the disease 
 progresses, the patches appear anywhere on the trunk or 
 limbs (rarely on the face). The nerves, especially the 
 ulnar, supplying these maculae are affected, no nodes can be 
 felt on them. Evidently, they no longer are able to govern 
 the nutrition of the parts to which their radicles are distri- 
 buted, and atrophy of the skin, glands, and muscles ensues, 
 with contraction of the fingers, which become like the claws 
 of a bird ; the phalanges, and even the rest of the hands 
 are gradually absorbed, and the skin with nails attached is 
 drawn tight over the stump left. Sometimes however, 
 through injuries, suppuration and necrosis of those parts 
 occur, and the fingers and toes fall off. As before said, 
 tubercles may form in some of the anaesthetic patches, and 
 the mij'ed variety occurs. Progress of Leprosy has been 
 known to be arrested for years ; but as a rule the patient 
 dies from tubercular affection in five or ten years, and in the 
 anaesthetic in twelve to forty years, if he is not carried 
 away by dysentery, chronic diarrhoea, nephritis, gangrene, or 
 septicaemia. 
 
 Treatment. — Chaulmoogra oil is the commonest treat- 
 ment. Beaupertuis and Crocker's intramuscular injections 
 
 H 
 
98 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 of one-eightli grain of mercury in fifteen minims of distilled 
 water once a week. 
 
 Host's Leproline and Deycke's intramuscular injection of 
 Nastin, a preparation from a streptothrix obtaine dfrom a 
 culture of the lepra bacilli. 
 
 Cleanliness, open-air work, and good food. 
 
 ' Hidory. — Leprosy was introduced into Madagascar 
 from the Mozambique Coast at the commencement of the 
 eighteenth century, thence it came to Mauritius with the 
 slaves in 1770. In 1801 Tombe, a French writer, says 
 " that he saw many lepers amongst the black population of 
 the Island." At that time this black population consisted 
 of 60,000 slaves, two-thirds being Mozambiques, and one- 
 third Malagasies and Indians. 
 
 'In 1781 a Commission on Leprosy had inquired into 
 the prevalence of the disease, but nothing was done until 
 1803, when the lepers were exported to He Curieuse, some 
 500 miles north of Mauritius. Thence they managed to 
 escape to Seychelles, and to propagate the disease there. 
 
 * But in the fifties, the laws against lepers were relaxed 
 in Mauritius, and leper- beggars began to wander about the 
 streets of Port Louis and of the country villages, and in 
 1868 the Government was obliged to subsidise the Roman 
 Catholic Hospice of St. Lazare, situated on an island of 
 seventeen acres, at the confluence of two small tributaries of 
 the Lataniers River, in the Yallee des Pretres, north of 
 Port Louis, as a leper asylum. There the lepers had already 
 been treated by Dr. Poupinel (a physician of great talent). 
 Under his care the institution treated over 100 patients per 
 month, as the following tables show. But as there was no 
 law compelling compulsory segregation of lepers, these came 
 to and from the Hospice as they pleased, and the disease, 
 from the year 1860, began to spread to all classes of society, 
 some of the best white families being contaminated. It is 
 no rare sight to see two or three lepers living in the home 
 of their family, and the unattacked members marrying and 
 propagating the disease into other families. The Contagious 
 Diseases Act not being in force in Mauritius, leprous prosti- 
 
LEPROSY. 99 
 
 tutes also help to pass on the infection. This has been 
 constantly questioned, but several cases are on record where 
 the victims could trace the infection to copulation. I know 
 of two men who thus became lepers. As one of Dr. Poupiners- 
 tables shows, the disease is also probably propagated by 
 tradespeople, servants, and laundresses. 
 
 ' Statistics. — The patients at the St. Lazare Hospice on 
 January 1st, 1879, when the first leper census was taken 
 were : 
 
 In St. Lazare Hospice . 243 
 Outsiders . . .519 
 
 762 
 but in all probability a great many outsiders hid themselves, 
 so that it is computed fifty more could be added to the above 
 figures, making a total of 812 in a population of 360,000 
 inhabitants. 
 
 ' The average deaths per year until 1871 inside St. Lazare 
 was 205 ; outside, 83 — the great difference between the two 
 figures being due to the fact that many outsiders are brought 
 by their friends into the Hospice only a few days before 
 their death, in order to save burial expenses. It is but fair 
 to say that after the Commission of Inquiry of 1879, greater 
 care was taken of the lepers and better food given to them 
 at the St. Lazare Hospice. 
 
 'At the next census in 1882 there were in St. Lazara 
 Hospice : 
 
 . .- 73 men j ^^^^j^^^ 
 
 ol women J 
 
 114 men 1 t j- 
 
 } Indians, 
 9 women J 
 
 4 Mozambique men, 
 
 2 Malagasy men, 
 
 2 Rodrigues men, 
 
 8 Chinamen. 
 
 243 
 
100 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 * These 243 comprised : 196 men, 34 women, 7 boys, and 
 6 girls. 
 
 'The total mortality in the Hospice for 1881 = 29. 
 This diminution was due to the fact that after 1879 lepers 
 entering in a dying condition were no longer reckoned 
 amongst those who lived and died inside the Hospice. In 
 all probability the total mortality throughout the Island 
 would be a little less than in 1879. 
 
 ' Average mortality during previous ten years =z 33. 
 
 * At the last census in 1886, there were in the St. Lazare 
 
 Hospice : 
 
 59 men 1 >^ •, 
 
 \ Creoles, 
 2o women J 
 
 109 men 1 t j- 
 _ y Indians, 
 
 D women I 
 
 1 Mozambique man, 
 
 3 Malagasy men, 
 
 4 Chinamen, 
 
 2 others. 
 
 209 
 
 * These 209 comprised : 174 men, 26 women, 4 boys, and 
 5 girls. 
 
 ' Total mortality in the Hospice for 1886 = 42. 
 
 'Average mortality for the last five years = 40. This 
 higher rate being due to malaria, which was very severe 
 in 1886. 
 
 * Commission of Inquiry. — A Leprosy Commission of 1887 
 showed that there were in St. Lazare : 209 lepers 
 
 Outsiders . . . . 500 „ 
 
 jog „ 
 
 Amongst the outsiders : Men, 247 ,, 
 „ „ Women, 211 „ 
 
 * Among the outside Creole lepers the two sexes were 
 nearly equal ; among the Indians the men were more 
 numerous. 
 

 LEPROSY. 
 
 
 * Among the ou 
 
 tsiders the 
 
 ages were : 
 
 
 1 to 10 
 
 years 
 
 
 6 
 
 11 „ 20 
 
 >j 
 
 
 49 
 
 21 „ 30 
 
 >f • 
 
 
 120 
 
 41 „ 50 
 
 )> 
 
 
 99 
 
 51 „ 60 
 
 >> 
 
 
 46 
 
 And above 60 
 
 
 . 22 
 
 101 
 
 showing that after the age of forty they began to die off 
 rapidly. Unfortunately the census for 1886 does not give 
 the mortality for the whole Island. 
 
 * The Commission also brought out the fact that ninety- 
 four patients belonged to leprous families — i.e., that one or 
 more of the relatives were lepers. In other words, that 
 Leprosy is to a considerable extent a family disease, pro- 
 bably (1) through hereditary transmissions, (2) through the 
 conditions and mode of life existing in a leprous family,, 
 sufficing to determine the disease in any member of that 
 family, and (3) by contagion (through constant and close 
 intercourse) from the sick to the sound. 
 
 ' The Commission reported on the mode then in existence 
 of dealing with Leprosy in the Colony, and on the measures 
 most likely to check the spread of the disease. The report 
 shows : 
 
 '1. Thnt only one hospital existed in the Island for 
 lepers, and that it was badly situated, right in the very centre 
 of an extensive breeding-nest of anopheles (the situation 
 could not have been worse) ; 
 
 ' 2. That the public hospitals did not admit them, and 
 the prisons and lunatic asylum retained them only as long as 
 was absolutely necessary ; 
 
 ' 3. That compulsory segregation was the most effective 
 means of checking the spread of the "disease ; 
 
 ' 4. They suggested that no Government relief should be 
 given to those outside the Hospice of St. Lazare ; 
 
 * 5. That a law should be passed compelling lepers to 
 enter that institution ; 
 
 ' 6. That intermarriage of lepers be forbidden, so as to 
 prevent the hereditary taint ; 
 
102 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 * 7. That no leper immigrant or alien be allowed to land 
 in the Colony ; 
 
 ' 8. The necessity of the introduction of the Contagious 
 Diseases Act ; 
 
 ' 9. T/iat a new Lazaret in a healthier locality, supported 
 ■entirely by Government and staffed hy Gorcrnmtnt officials^ be at 
 once constructed. 
 
 ' Of all these resolutions passed in 1887, the only one 
 that has been put into effect is the prohibition of Govern- 
 ment relief to those outside the Hospice St. Lazare. None 
 of the other resolutions have, until this date (twenty-eight 
 years after), been put into execution. This is cruel negli- 
 gence on the part of the authorities, for as loflg as the 
 Hospice is in its present situation it will be impossible not 
 only to cure the leper, on account of the malaria transmitter, 
 the anopheles from the neighbouring dirty streams, but 
 aLso to stop the tran^mission of the disease from patient to 
 patient and to attendants through the same carrier. For 
 in all probability the mosquitoes, as well as bugs and flies, do 
 carry the bacilli. 
 
 ' Dr. Poupinel's last report unfortunately is more than 
 twenty-four years old, but it nevertheless is interesting, as 
 Leprosy of the present day is exactly what it was in those 
 days. He reports that at the end of 1882 there were at 
 St. Lazare Hospice : 
 
 113 males with tuberculous Leprosy 
 22 females ,, ,. ,, 
 
 32 males „ ulcerous Leprosy 
 10 females „ „ „ 
 
 31 males „ maimed extremities 
 5 females „ „ ,, 
 
 10 males „ paralysis Leprosy 
 
 female ,, „ ,, 
 
 1 male ,, the anaesthetic or macular Leprosy 
 female „ „ „ „ 
 
 * To-day all the above, except the anaesthetic, are classed 
 under one category in Mauritius. 
 
 * The Indian lepers are more numerous than the Creole, 
 
LEPROSY. 
 
 103 
 
 but not proportionately so, as there are a great many more 
 Indians in the Island than Creoles. 
 
 * The districts whence the lepers came were : 
 Port Louis . . . . .49 
 
 Flacq .... 
 
 1t7 
 
 . 26 
 
 Pamplemousses 
 
 . 17 
 
 Savanne .... 
 
 . 17 
 
 Grand Port 
 
 . 16 
 
 Plaines Wilhems 
 
 . 13 
 
 But in other years lepers from the other three districts have 
 been inmates at the Hospice. As before said, there are almost 
 ns many outside lepers who never seek relief at the Hospice. 
 The greatest number live in Port Louis, the capital, and 
 the fewest were to be found in Plaines Wilhems and Moka, 
 where the rich people live, and whence they are driven away 
 by the police. Dr. Poupinel considers the anassthetic kind 
 to be much more serious than the tuberculous, for, according 
 to him, the nervous centres in the anaesthetic being first 
 affected, distal effects with profound alteration of nutrition 
 and innervation ensue, causing loss of sensation, necrosis, 
 ulcers, and fall of extremities. He found that the tempera- 
 ture rose slightly at the period of ulceration, and that the 
 cold weather drove the leprosy inside, to the mucous 
 membrane of the respiratory and digestive tracts, causing 
 milliary tuberculosis ^ haemoptysis, and haematemesis ; and 
 that the anaesthetic leper was more liable in winter to 
 rheumatism, arthritis, articular ulcerations, and tetanus : 
 that the wintry months of June and July produced the 
 highest mortality — 38 on an average out of 209 inmates at 
 the Hospice. But this kind of Leprosy is not as common 
 as the tuberculous in the Tropics ; anyhow, that was the case 
 in Mauritius. 
 
 ' Contagiousness of the Disease. — Dr. Poupinel believed 
 Leprosy to be contagious, especially during the ulcerative 
 stage, and he gives numerous examples of the transmission 
 of the disease from one person to another, especially be- 
 tween husband and wife, or amongst other members of a 
 family, and between friend and friend, or in copulation of a 
 
104 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 healthy man with a leprous woman. It is a fact that until 
 1838 there was not a single case of Leprosy in Seychelles^ 
 but after that date constant communication took place 
 between Sej^chelles and the He Curieuse, to which all the 
 lepers from Mauritius had been exiled, and the disease 
 began to spread throughout the whole Archipelago. Dr. 
 Poupinel believed suckling from a contaminated wet nurse,, 
 or vaccination from a member of a leprous family might 
 transmit it ; also that syphilis might light up heredity to 
 Leprosy, nor does it modify one way or another the course 
 of the latter ; but one cannot produce the other, for the 
 Mahommedans, who from the most remote times have had 
 lepers amongst them, maintain that they never had syphilis 
 until after the French invasion of Egypt by Napoleon — - 
 here, then, is the grafting of a disease on another. la 
 doubt as to one's diagnosis, mercury will heal the one and 
 often aggravate the other. 
 
 * Heredity. — Dr. Poupinel has never seen all the children. 
 in a leprous family affected at the same time ; in some 
 families, one member and not the others, in others it 
 skipped two or three generations. (He does not say 
 whether these had lived under the same conditions as their 
 ancestors.) , 
 
 ^Concurrence of other diseases is common, and often, 
 causes the death of the patient. During the malarial 
 months — November to April — the patients invariably in- 
 creased in number. They were either relapses who had 
 left relieved and had become worse again whilst suffering 
 from malaria, or strangers who, through repeated attacks 
 of malaria, found their Leprosy had become so bad as to- 
 compel them to seek relief at the asylums. 
 
 * Treatment. — He tried: 
 
 ' (1) Pulv. hurae crepitantis (Euphorbiacae), said to have- 
 been very efficacious in the West Indies, but it purged 
 and weakened the patients too much, and he had to give- 
 it up. 
 
 * (2) Sodium-arseniate and its derivatives. 
 
 * (3) Carbolic acid (inside and out). 
 
LEPROSY. 105 
 
 * (4) Beauperthuy's hydrargyri bicUor. gr. one-fifteenth 
 taken internally ; Acajou oil (ol. cassuvii pommiferi) to be 
 applied on the tubercles (it causes ulcerations and cicatrisa- 
 tion) ; and the application of argenti et cupri nit rati s sol. 
 to the anaesthetic spots to recall their sensibility. 
 
 ' (5) Gurgeon oil. 
 
 * (6) Kochi tuberculin, 1 c.c. ; and acid carbol. sol., 1/200,. 
 9 c.c. 
 
 ' Mix, and label " Solution A to 1/10." 
 'Of the above dilution to 1/10, 1 part; carbolised water, 
 100 parts. 
 
 ' Mix, and label " Solution B," 20 drops containing 1 mg. 
 
 * But this Solution B being too voluminous. Solution C 
 was used, consisting of Solution A, 1 part; carbolised water, 
 25 parts ; and as much as one centigram was often used at 
 the twenty-second and twent3^-third injection during a two 
 or three months' treatment. Fifteen patients were sub- 
 mitted to this treatment with marked amelioration. 
 
 'But Dr. Poupinel prefers to all the other treatments 
 that of chaulmoogra oil continued for four or five years,, 
 and used internally and externally, but with the greatest 
 prudence. 
 
 * As he has had some success with this treatment (though 
 most of his patients after a period of great amelioration 
 relapsed into a state almost as bad as at the commence- 
 ment), I have thought it useful to give the method he 
 adopted. 
 
 ' He gave pearls of chaulmoogra oil containing 5 drops 
 at first, and as soon as tolerance had set in, he gradually in- 
 creased the dose to 150 drops. He also rubbed the oil on 
 the affected parts ; but as a painful herpetic eruption ensued,, 
 patients often refused the external treatment. 
 
 'Taken internally, it often brings out a pustular san- 
 guineous eruption on the posterior aspect of the forearms 
 and tibiae, and vomiting, and occasionally haematemesis. A 
 few days' rest is allowed, and during that time extractum 
 thebaici and mag. carbonat. are given to bring about a 
 tolerance. The pustules and consequent ulcers are dressed 
 
106 THE EPJPEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 witli light carbolic lotions one day, and the next with a 
 solution containing iodide of pot. and iodine lincture. If 
 it be necessary to suspend the chaulmoogra treatment for 
 several days, small doses of Fowler's solution are given 
 morning and night. Chaulmoogra oil, either in pearls or 
 in milk, when given in the morning should be followed at 
 night by a solution of iodide of pot. in iodine tinct. Never 
 should these two medicines be given together. This treat- 
 ment must be suspended when vomiting and diarrhoea 
 •ensue. 
 
 ' He advises that the chaulmoogra treatment should be 
 combined the same day, or on alternate days, with the 
 tuberculin. As beforesaid, whenever he suspected syphilis 
 he gave mercury first, and some months after, the chaul- 
 moogra treatment. Nastin had not been discovered in 
 his time. 
 
 * It is unfortunate for Mauritius, aye, for the whole world, 
 that this talented physician died about twelve years ago. He 
 expressed no opinion as to the origin of the Leprosy bacilli, 
 whether they come from fish or pork or any other kind of 
 food. With a report on tuberculin he gives a series of 
 photographs before and after treatment. He says all the 
 patients gained in weight and improved somewhat. 
 
 ' Conclimou. — In this account of Leprosy in Mauritius, I 
 have endjeavoured to trace its introduction into the Island, 
 its endemicit}^ its attack of all classes of society, its con- 
 tagiousness under certain conditions (as from an open wound 
 to an open wound), its heredity, its high mortality (1 per 
 2000 of the inhabitants) ; the infrequency of the anaesthetic 
 or macular kind ; the incurability, so far, of the disease by 
 mercurials, iodides, gurgeon oil, and chaulmoogra. Most of 
 these, except the iodides, are at first markedly beneficial, but 
 ,as a rule the efPect ceases after some time. It would seem 
 best to keep ringing the change on all of them. I have also 
 drawn attention to the deplorable fact that the Leper 
 Asylum is still the old one situated in the very midst of 
 breeding nests of anopheles and culices. Since Dr. Poupinel's 
 •death no specialist in Leprosy has been appointed to replace 
 
LEPROSY. 107 
 
 liim. In such a wide field a clever pathologist would find 
 ample scope for research.' 
 
 There are many persons in Mauritius affected with Pinta, 
 a leucodermic (or white skio) disease due to a fungus. They 
 are generally Indians or Africans, and their affection is 
 mistaken for Anaesthetic Leprosy. The white patches spread 
 pretty rapidly, and may cover the whole hody from head to 
 foot. I saw two well-marked cases in a Madrasee and in a 
 dark Creole in Mauritius, but the most wonderful case I ever 
 saw was that of an Indian woman in British Guiana, an 
 inmate of the lunatic asylum. The only black patch on her 
 body was a letter V on her forehead, even the hairs on her 
 body were quite white ; but she was about sixty when I saw 
 her. 
 
 Bibliography; Dr. Poupinel's Government Reports; The Commis- 
 sioners' Reports, 1879 ; my own observation when in Mauritius. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Cholera. 
 
 Before describing the epidemics of Cholera which devastated, 
 at different times the Island of Mauritius, I shall briefly 
 state what we now know of this fell disease, and then we 
 shall be better able to understand the difficulties that lay in 
 the path of government authorities and doctors in their 
 endeavour to combat it. 
 
 Cholera is a most infectious disease due to a toxin or 
 poison derived from a vibrio (discovered by the late Professor 
 Koch in 1884 in India), which is swallowed and which 
 grows in the intestines. This vibrio, or comma bacillus, is 
 ingested with contaminated water, milk, or solid food, and 
 carried by means of clothes, flies, and desiccated contaminated- 
 excreta blown about by the wind. 
 
 These vibrios, isolated in a pure culture, will produce in. 
 a culture of peptone water, nitrites and indol which give an 
 indigo-red coloration on the addition of strong sulphuric 
 acid. 
 
 Pure cultures of other vibrios will not give this reaction. 
 
 The incubation period of the disease is from a few hours 
 to three days. 
 
 Symptoms. — These are premonitory malaise and diarrhoea,, 
 or the sudden onset of uncontrollable and continuous evacua- 
 tion of loose stools, at first bile-stained, but gradually thin,, 
 colourless, and inodorous, and having the appearance of 
 rice-water. Next vomiting occurs, at first bilious, then rice- 
 watery. Both the stools and vomit contain millions of 
 Koch's comma bacilli. Then severe cramps of the muscles 
 of the abdomen and limbs set in, followed by the cold or 
 
CHOLERA. 109 
 
 algide stage, when the temperature in the axilla falls to 95° 
 or even to 92°, whilst that in the rectum rises to 101° and 
 102°. Collapse sets in, the eyes and cheeks become sunken, 
 the skin blue and clammy, the tongue small and greyish, 
 the respirations shallow and quick, the breath cold, voice 
 inaudible, the pulse thready and gradually lost at the wrist, 
 suppression of bile and urine, but not of milk. 
 
 Duncan says that * although apparently moribund, yet 
 the patient can get up and walk across the room if he is not 
 unconscious.' 
 
 These symptoms last from three to twelve hours and 
 then end fatally, or bile and urine are again secreted, and 
 the patient regains consciousness, the skin becomes warm, 
 the pulse and respiration improve, diarrhoea lessens or stops, 
 and either convalescence quickly sets in, or the patient may 
 pass into the reaction stage. 
 
 During the reaction or secondary fever stage, the case 
 resembles one of typhoid ; the temperature remains high, 
 the face is flushed, the tongue dry, dirty, and brown, 
 lips and teeth sometimes covered with sordes; there is low 
 muttering delirium, scanty high-coloured albuminous urine, 
 feculent motion, and often an exanthematous rash. The 
 patient is fortunate if he passes safely through this stage ; 
 but even then complications may ensue ; real enteritis, 
 chronic diarrhoea, nephritis, mental disturbance, and 
 anaemia; and abortion in pregnant women. 
 
 Varieties. — There are many varieties of Cholera, some 
 are wanting in one' or two of the above-named stages, 
 others like the * Cholera sicca ' or dry cholera pass without 
 vomiting or purging into the collapsed condition, and are 
 quickly fatal. 
 
 Diagnosis. — S^joradic or non- Asiatic Cholera, acute diar- 
 rhoea from ptomaine poisoning, or from arsenic, without 
 the rice-water stools, or even bacillary paracolon infection, 
 with those stools and the algide stage, may obscure the 
 diagnosis ; but all these ailments do not reveal under the 
 microscope the true cholera vibrio, or if vibrios are present, 
 they do not give the indigo-red reaction. 
 
no THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 The Prognosis is bad, 50 per cent, die, but Sir Leonard 
 Rogers of Calcutta has discovered a treatment by means of 
 which he saves over 90 per cent. But we shall read of this, 
 and other treatment further on. 
 
 Post-mortem examination, according to Daniels, reveals 
 the following : The blood is thick and dark, the tissues dry, 
 the serous cavities sticky, — the right side of the heart is full 
 of this black blood. The stomach and intestines are empty, 
 but the latter contain greyish white slime full of vibrios. 
 The mucous membranes and liver are congested ; the gall- 
 bladder is full, and the bile ducts contain bile. There is 
 cloudy swelling of the renal cells, and in later cases some 
 blocking of the renal tubules with detached epithelial cells. 
 
 gOMMA BACII^H AND SPIRILLA IN CHOLERA, 
 
CHOLERA. Ill 
 
 CHOLERA IN MAURITIUS. 
 
 *FiVE or even six epidemics of Cholera have visited 
 Mauritius in the years 1775, 1819, 1854, 1856, 1859, 
 and 1862. 
 
 * Each time they lasted only a few months, but long 
 enough to cause a mortality of 8400 in a population of 
 about 360,000 ; or, if we consider the population of Port 
 Louis, where the disease did most mischief, as averaging 
 48,000, the ratio was 6000 in 48,000, or 1 in 8. 
 
 * The epidemics of 1854 and 1856 were particularly 
 severe, though short, 8000 dying within three months, 
 March to May (1856). It is interesting, now that we 
 know the cause of Cholera is Koch's comma bacillus, to 
 read the reports of the Medical Commissions as given below, 
 trying to explain the incidence of the disease, and invari- 
 ably blaming either the barometric or the thermometric, or 
 hygrometric, or electric variations of the atmosphere, and 
 yet suspecting that drink and food had something to do 
 with it ; coming very near the truth and yet not finding it. 
 But no wonder when we remember that microscopy was in 
 its earliest infancy at that time, and that bacteriology is but 
 three or four decades old. 
 
 * When we read of the disastrous consequences in the 
 seventies to the troops in India, due to the chief medical 
 officer's ignorance of the real cause of Cholera, and how 
 his obstinacy in sticking to the atmospheric -miasma theory, 
 when water and food had been proved to be the carrier 
 of the disease, sent thousands of soldiers to an early grave, 
 we do not wonder at the doctors in Mauritius in 1819 
 floundering in a hopeless maze of theories. We read of 
 good old Dr. Montgomery throwing up the sponge in 1856, 
 
112 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 whilst trying to explain the contagiousness of the disease 
 in some cases, and its evident non-contagiousness amongst 
 the nurses and officials at the large civil hospital ; its 
 deadly march through certain localities during the epidemic 
 of 1854, and its harmless passage through those very 
 localities in 1856, and vice-versa^ and ending his report with 
 these words : " The disease is of so mysterious a nature as 
 to be beyond the search of human investigation, that rests 
 with the Divinity alone I " 
 
 *The doctors of Mauritius not only in 1819, but also 
 in 1854 to 1865 were fully persuaded, as the reports show, 
 that the atmospheric changes or some poison in the air, 
 were the cause of the Cholera epidemics, the inciters if not 
 the actual cause. Dr. Burke (the chief medical officer 
 of the island, 1819), says: "Both classes (English and 
 French) of the medical profession seem to be unanimous in 
 not supposing the disease to be contagious or of foreign in- 
 troduction (their confreres, of 1855-1862 differed from them in 
 this). From the disease pervading classes who have nothing 
 in common but the air they breathe, it may be believed 
 that the cause may exist in the atmosphere. It has been 
 remarked that the great vicissitudes in the temperature of the 
 atmosphere such as have lately been observed here prog- 
 nosticate the approach of an epidemic. A similar disease 
 prevailed in this island in 1775, after a long dry season — 
 the symptoms, suddenness of onset, fatality, and duration 
 of the disease, would seem to have been exactly the same as 
 now ; a hurricane put a stop to its ravages, which continued 
 for probably two months, and caused a great mortality among 
 the blacks and coloured people.'' 
 
 * We shall see further on that, although the doctors 
 in 1854, 1856, and 1862, distinctly traced the epidemics 
 of those years to the arrival of infected coolie ships from 
 India, they were at a loss to explain its contagiousness and 
 its fatal march, and thought the poison, whatever it was, was 
 blown about by the prevailing winds. 
 
 ' Each epidemic came at the commencement (September, 
 1819) or during (March, 1854; January, 1856; January, 
 
CHOLERA. 113 
 
 1862) the hot season, at the very time when Cholera becomes 
 intensified in India. The coolie ships with disease on board 
 used to be put into quarantine at the mouth of the Grand 
 River North -West, not far from the entrance into the 
 harbour of Port Louis, and if the prevailing south-east 
 winds veered round to the north-west, the poison from the 
 quarantined ships was supposed to be blown ashore (a mile 
 oif), and thus to infect the inhabitants. In 1854, after four 
 days' stay at the Grand River mouth, an infected ship was 
 ordered (but not before the harm had been done) to Flat 
 Island, vidi' map, where the immigrants, sick and whole, 
 were landed, and the ship returned to her former anchorage 
 for twenty days. In 1856 and 1862 the same thing took 
 place and, as will be read later on, the inhabitants in 1862 
 protested against this state of things and petitioned that 
 the island of Rodrigues should be turned into a quarantine 
 station ; but of this anon. 
 
 ' Of course it was not the winds that scattered the 
 poison ; but infringement of the quarantine laws daily took 
 place whilst the ship was at the quarantine anchorage, and 
 thus the Cholera germs were taken ashore and spread, as a 
 rule, first amongst the Indians or other coloured persons 
 whose friends had had communication with those on board. 
 Since 1862 these quarantine laws are stringently kept, and 
 therefore Cholera has not returned (1918). 
 
 * Besides the atmospheric poison or vicissitudes, other 
 causes were supposed to predispose the people, especiall}^ the 
 "blacks" and the other coloured races, to the disease; 
 insufficient clothing and food, working in the sun or in damp 
 places, sleeping in the open air " or on damp ground," bad 
 or rotten meat and fish, green and other indigestible or over- 
 ripe fruit, and spirituous liquors ; "the police were to exclude 
 from the Bazaar the traders of such unwholesome provisions 
 which they so artfully and injuriously disguise." Worms 
 also were said to predispose to it. 
 
114 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 'CEOLERA EPIDEMIC OF 1819. 
 
 *The epidemic of 1819 d-eclared itself in November in 
 Port Louis, after H.M.S. Topazes visit, with Cholera on 
 board. As there had been a suspicious case in September in 
 Port Louis, that ship was said not to have been the prime 
 introducer of the poison, though in all probability she v»^as. 
 The disease spread rapidly to all the quarters of the Capital, 
 and thence north to the flat Riviere du Rempart district,, 
 south-west to the mountainous Black River district, and 
 afterwards to the higher central district of Moka. It did sad 
 havoc amongst the slaves principally, and after killing about 
 7000 of the inhabitants it gradually disappeared in two 
 months, although no measures of isolation had been adopted, 
 for the medical profession did not believe in the contagious- 
 ness of Cholera. 
 
 * They modestly admit that being uncertain of the actual 
 cause of the disease, they could merely combat the 
 symptoms. 
 
 ' It is very remarkable that the treatment of those early 
 days (1819) does not very much differ from that in vogue 
 still at the present time. Or, to be severe with ourselves, it 
 is shameful that with the great advance of therapeutics, 
 toxinology, sero-, and opotherapy, and in spite of powerful 
 microscopes, bacteriological cultures, stains, and the various 
 laboratory methods at our disposal, we have not yet found 
 an infallible cure for Cholera, and that we are still obliged 
 more or less to keep to the old remedies of our ancestors. 
 
 * In several of these reports, even as far back as that of 
 1819, purgatives were used, as one of these doctors (Burke) 
 puts it : *' to drive out the vitiated contents of the bowels in 
 ivhich teas the Cholera poison "; and in addition to purgatives 
 he recommends " the liberal aibninisfration of emetics and 
 fluids to assist Nature in getting rid of the poison, which had 
 the appearance of cocoa nut oil " ; evidently the rice-water 
 
CHOLERA. 115 
 
 stool; lie was not far wrong. He further says, •*' the 
 stomach being relieved, the bowels sympathise, and Nature 
 endeavours to restore the healthy balance of the circulation 
 by establishing a reaction " ; and in order to excite this cir- 
 culation and soothe the cramp pains, and check the excessive 
 evacuations, he gives opium three to five grains per mouth, 
 or one drachm of laudanum in mucilage per rectum — a 
 method which is still adopted in some countries at the 
 present day. But Dr. Burke used to begin with opium, and 
 follow the next day with mild purgatives, " taking care," says 
 he, "not to give these too early, so as to prevent any irritation 
 (of the bowels) which may cause a relapse." 
 
 ' The purgatives he recommended were : Neutral salts, 
 jalap, cream of tartar, rhubarb, magnesia, castor oil, or 
 calomel mixed with opium. He occasionally gave a warm 
 alcoholic and stimulating aromatic bath, "watching the 
 heart lest asphyxia should supervene, and applying ammonia 
 to the nostrils whilst the patient is in the bath." In the 
 intervals between the baths, he employed fomentations and 
 frictions with hot spirits or oils ; and when baths could not 
 be taken, he gave by the mouth wine and spirits diluted 
 with warm water, with or without aromatics. But if severe 
 pyrosis ensued he gave camphor or ol. month, pip. As 
 most of the patients who came to the civil hospital were past 
 the first stage of the disease he began right off with anti- 
 spasmodics, and rubbed the body with hot spirits, mustard, 
 garlic, capsicum, and other rubefacients, and wrapped the 
 patient in warm blankets dusted with ginger and pepper. 
 As a final resort, he employed galvanism and electricity. 
 
 ' As prophylaxis he recommended " removal to the high, 
 dry, airy, and sparsely-populated plateaux or mountain- side, 
 as the disease prevailed in towns and villages lying in low 
 situations and surrounded by mountains." 
 
.116 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 CHOLERA EPIDEMIC OF 1854. 
 
 'Since the last scourge of 1819 the island had been 
 remarkably free from serious outbreaks of diseases. There 
 had been very short epidemics of measles and of diphtheria ; 
 remittent and intermittent fevers imported from Madagascar 
 and India ; diarrhoea and dysentery had added their quota 
 of mortality to that of the above, but on the whole the 
 island was considered to be very salubrious. The slaves had 
 been emancipated, and they worked as domestic servants, 
 labourers, and apprentices, and received an education ; and 
 immigrants from India tilled the sugar-cane fields ; com- 
 merce and industry had more than quadrupled the revenues 
 of the island ; the governors Gomm, Anderson, and Higginson, 
 during the forties and early fifties, had ruled wisely, and had 
 developed the resources of the colony, when suddenly, on 
 April 10th, 1854, Cholera, which seemed to have first shown 
 itself in the colony in January, in Port Louis, and had 
 already sporadically carried off several persons, burst forth 
 as an epidemic in the capital. 
 
 ' On March 23rd an immigrant ship, the Sultany from 
 Calcutta, arrived and anchored off the harbour with 375 
 immigrants on board. Thirteen daj^s after leaving the Sand 
 Heads, Cholera made its appearance on board, and during 
 her passage of thirty-four days she lost thirty passengers 
 from that disease. She was refused pratique, and ordered 
 to remain in strict quarantine at the mouth of the Grand 
 Biver North- West, a mile from land (vide map), all com- 
 munication with shore being prohibited. She remained there 
 until the 30th, when she was ordered to land her immigrants 
 at Flat Island, where they were to remain for thirty days 
 — the other quarantine station at the Isle des Benitiers, 
 S.W. {vide map) being occupied by a few cases of small-pox, 
 — and to return to anchorage for another ten days' quaran- 
 tine. But owing to the Flat Island station not being ready 
 
CHOLERA. 117 
 
 for the immigrants' reception, the Sultani/ only left the 
 Grand River fifteen days after her arrival, five more pas- 
 sengers having in the meantime died from Cholera and 
 Dysentery. On April 19th the Sultany was permitted 
 pratique ; and as during their stay at Flat Island the 
 coolies' health underwent a rapid improvement, and two 
 boys onl}^ had died from Dysentery (?), quarantine was 
 raised on May 4th, and the coolies were distributed amongst 
 various estates throughout the colony. During the epidemic 
 the total mortality on those sugar estates was reported to be 
 fifty-six ; how many of these were the newly-arrived immi- 
 grants is not stated. But as will be seen in the annexed 
 tables, a great many estates suffered from Cholera. 
 
 * The question, however, arose whether the epidemic was 
 or was not due to these immigrants on board the Sultan ij^ as 
 it was only soon after her quarantine in the roadstead that 
 the disease broke out (April 10th) in Port Louis. More than 
 half a dozen immigrant ships with Cholera on board had 
 arrived in Mauritius during the half-dozen previous years, 
 and had been put in quarantine, and no epidemic had 
 occurred. The French inhabitants of the Island main- 
 tained that the rules of .quarantine had this time been 
 infiinged, and that there had been constant communication 
 between the shore and the ship (in all probability there 
 was), whereas the Government Commission of Inquiry 
 reported that there was no evidence of any communication 
 having taken place either at Grand River or at Flat Island. 
 But in view of the nntrustworthiness of evidence from the 
 Lascar, Indian, and Creole witnesses, there is no doubt 
 that letters, drink, food, and even clothes (if no other contact 
 did take place between those on board and visitors from the 
 shore^, found their way to and from the ship, and thus scat- 
 tered the germs of the disease throughout the Island. 
 
 • As was said before, up till April 10th there had only been 
 seven or eight cases of Sporadic Cholera in the Island that 
 year ; most of them had occurred in the Pamplemousses 
 district, the rivers there being polluted by the sugar mills 
 and Indian camps near by. But on April 10th. a Creole 
 
118 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 child died from Cholera in town ; on the loth a woman had 
 it, but recovered; on the 16th two carpenters in the same 
 shop caught it, one died and the other recovered. All 
 these were in town, and were not attended by any physician. 
 * On May 6th a child died of it at Grand River, and her 
 aunt two days after ; on the 12th, another victim at Grand 
 Biver. 
 
 'On the 12th a servant died in Port Louis, and on the 
 14th a prisoner died in the civil prison. Thenceforward it 
 spread like wildfire through the gaol ; by the 23rd there had 
 been fifty-two cases with twenty fatalities ; but no wonder, 
 for the sanitary conditions of this prison were most primitive. 
 An open sewer passed through the centre of the courtyard, and 
 emptied its contents into a cesspool, whence it was discharged 
 some forty feet below into an open stream, Ruisseau des 
 Tonniers, which, as will be seen on the Port Louis map, 
 crosses the main central portion of the town to empty 
 itself into the harbour at the Caudan. It is only within 
 the last five or six years that this sewage has been 
 deviated, by hydraulic machinery, from the harbour into 
 the open sea at Cassis {cide map). The prisoners, 420 in 
 number, were transferred to two hulks in the harbour, 
 and 230 more to Flat Island. Thirty-one died there from 
 Cholera and other causes, and the rest returned on 
 August 6th to the civil prison, which by this time had 
 been disinfected, and the sewer and cesspool covered up. 
 Of the total 420 who had been sent to the two hulks during 
 June and July, 150 died from Cholera and other causes. 
 
 * The worst place to send the prisoners to was the 
 harbour, for the ships got their water from a putrid fountain 
 at the landing-stage {vide my monograph on '* Dangers to 
 Health on Board of Passenger Steamers " : Journol of 
 Tropical Diseases ^ 1903), and this fountain was fed from the 
 Grand River, where the first cases of Cholera had broken 
 out. Moreover, from what I have just said, the harbour 
 was the cesspool of the town, for no less than five dirty 
 streams (open sewers) emptied their contents into it. As 
 we will now see, not only the water they drank, but the 
 
CHOLERA. 119 
 
 air they breathed was the cause of the high mortality 
 amongst the soldiers during this epidemic. 
 
 * MortaUffj cujiong-st the Garrison. — The garrison of 
 Mauritius on May 25th consisted of 1704 men of all ranks, 
 part of whom were quartered in the Port Louis Barracks in 
 the centre of the town (the Pouce stream, an open sewer, 
 crossed the drill-grounds in those days), and in the adjacent 
 Artillery Barracks ; part in the citadel, on a hill at the rear 
 of Port Louis ; and part on a low, marshy creek, the Caudan, 
 to the south part of the harbour, and in various places near 
 T^y ; detachments being stationed likewise at different towns 
 and villages in the country districts. 
 
 ^ Fifty-six soldiers were admitted to hospital with 
 Oholera (between May 25th, when the Cholera was in full 
 swing, and August 31st), of whom thirty-four, or nearly 70 
 per cent., died. But the proportion of fatal Cholera cases 
 to the strength of the garrison was hardly 2 per cent., less 
 than half of the proportion in the civil population of 
 the colony, and two-thirds less than that amongst the 
 police. 
 
 * This partial exemption from disease is ascribed to 
 •energetic preventive measures having been taken from the 
 very first, the barracks being thinned as soon as a case broke 
 out, some of the men being sent to the country and others 
 put under canvas, all intercourse with the town cut off, a 
 Cholera belt issued to every man, bedding aired in the sun 
 every day, the windows left constantly open night and day, 
 and the very first symptoms of illness being at once reported. 
 The men stationed at Flacq suffered most in proportion to 
 the others, but many of the civilians of that district too, 
 fell victims to the disease. The married soldiers in town and 
 their families suffered much, probably owing to the fact that 
 their quarters were situated immediately to the leeward of 
 the yard where the hearses and *' dead-carts " were kept at 
 night. Some of these men were also hard drinkers, and 
 some had been helping the police outside. The last case in 
 the garrison occurred on June 16th, and terminated in death. 
 The mortality amongst the soldiers* wives (133) and 
 
120 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 children (234) was 6 amongst the former and 2 amongst 
 the latter. 
 
 ' Prevalence of the Cholera amongst the Civilians. — Port 
 Louis. — We now return to the state of things amongst the 
 civilians during the latter half of May. We saw how the 
 disease spread rapidly in the civil prison, thence it got 
 amongst the population outside, and during the latter half of 
 May the mortality continued- to increase in town, and by the 
 end of the month 6-39 declarations had been made, 377 
 between May 25th and 31st being exclusively Cholera 
 casualties ; universal panic ensued, and 10,000 persons 
 abandoned the town for the country, carrying contagion 
 with them. The streets leading to the town cemetery pre- 
 sented a long, lugubrious line of funeral processions, and 
 in the desolated city the most heart-rending scenes of misery 
 and despair were daily visible, in spite of the unremitting 
 efforts made by the Government and the Municipality to 
 arrest the progress of the fatal malady. 
 
 ' The epidemic raged with increasing violence till 
 June 11th, when it reached its apogee, that day's mortality 
 being 243 in Port Louis. It then began to decrease in 
 virulence, the next four days presenting respectively 138,. 
 168, 111, and 92 fatal cases; on the 15th the mortality 
 again rose to 213; on the 17th there were 92 deaths;, on 
 the 18th, 129; on the 30th only 7. In July there were 64 
 deaths, the cases being confined to the outskirts of the town. 
 The last case in Port Louis was on August 1st. 
 
 'The estimated population of Port Louis on May 31st: 
 was about 49,000. 
 
 ' The declared mortality from Cholera between May 25th 
 and August 1st was 3492, or an average of 50 per diem, 
 whereas the usual average of deaths from all causes was. 
 7 per diem. 
 
 ' Of these Cholera cases the Males = 1623 ~| n^p^igg 
 
 Females = 1326 / 
 
 Males = 463 1 T .. 
 Females = go P"^""^- , 
 
 ' Appearance of the Epidemic in the Country Districts. — The 
 
CHOLERA. 121 
 
 epidemic spread rapidly to all the other eight country districts 
 of the island from May 25th up to August 31st, though attack- 
 ing each at different times and with different violence ; and, 
 strange to sa}', as these districts became more and more 
 invaded in June, July, and August, Port Louis, the Capital, 
 became healthier, and had scarcely a single death from 
 Cholera during those last two months. That was probably 
 owing to the sanitary measures and precautions that were 
 thoroughly carried out, and to early treatment being given 
 to the cases who were sent to the hospital, and also to the 
 great emigration from town. 
 
 ' Pcunplemousses. — The first district to be affected was 
 Pamplemousses, at Roche Bois, on the northern limit of 
 Port Louis, on May 2oth ; from that date onward to 
 August 15th scarcely a day passed without a fresh estate, 
 village, or camp being attacked (those situated along rivers 
 and canals suffered most). Only eight estates came off scot 
 free, owing to better precautions being taken against the 
 invasion of the disease. As will be seen on Table 6 at the 
 end, the percentage of mortality was 13*4 out of a population 
 of 32,102. 
 
 ' P/aines Wilhems. — The next district to suffer most was 
 Plaines Wilhems. The epidemic began only on May 28th 
 on two estates, and on the 30th and 31st on three others, but 
 by the end of June all the other estates except six had been 
 attacked ; in July only one more, and in August two suc- 
 cumbed to the invasion. ]\Iost of the camps and villages 
 had been visited, and three only out of thirteen escaped, and 
 the percentage of mortality was 1 3*2 out of a population of 
 13,984 {vide Table 4). The epidemic reached its height 
 about June 19th, and then generally decreased in intensity. 
 
 ' The Commissioners were unable to account for the 
 virulence and great mortality in this district, which, with 
 the adjoining one of Moka, had always been regarded as 
 the liealthiest in the Island, being situated on a high plateau 
 {ride map), and at the very springs of the watershed. With 
 perplexed minds they report : 
 
122 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 "The most startling phenomena of the epidemic in iJiis 
 quarter are the contradictions, by ascertained facts, of the rules 
 generally accepted with regard to a predisposition to Cholera 
 brought on by neglect of cleanliness tiud exposnre to a tainted 
 -atmosphere, and the presence of stagnant water. At Palma, 
 Ebene, and Bonne Terre, there was but little sickness and little 
 mortality, although the emanations from the distilleries established 
 in these three places are very sensibly felt in the neighbourhood. 
 At Stanley, the Indian Camp is built on a locky foundation, the 
 ventilation is perfect, and the whole p)laceis a model of cleanliness 
 ■and good oi-der ; whilst at the Couvois Estate and the Plaines 
 St. Pierre, the labourers' huts are closely crowded together in a 
 hollow at the foot of a hillock, near four ponds of stagnant water, 
 the filtration from which goes through the camp, and adds its 
 miasma to that produced by large heaps of manure and a great 
 many swine. In the qualities of cleanliness, ventilation, and 
 apparent salubiity no two places could be more opposite ; and yet 
 the first had 05 cases of Cholera, of which 45 proved iatal, out of 
 398 labourers ; whilst the loss of the latter did not exceed 3 men 
 ill a population of more than 250 At Claremont Villa, a charm- 
 ing model house, inhabited by a most respectable family, who 
 studied conxeuience, comfort, and cleanliiiess in their very 
 minutest details, the fatal disease broke in, and in spite of every 
 precaution, and every medical assistance and unremitting care, 
 «ixi,een of the inmates j erished." 
 
 ' Now that we know Koch's bacillus, we ean understand 
 ^hy Plaines Wilhems was so severely visited. Being tbe 
 sanatorium district of the Island, it attracted all the families 
 from the lowlands already contaminated by the disease, and 
 as the dry season was on, the surplus population very 
 quickly drained and polluted the rivers, and concentrated the 
 contagion in that district. 
 
 ' Flacq. — After Plaines Wilhems comes Flacq with a 
 percentage mortality of 9*5 due to Cholera out of a popula- 
 tion of 24,263. This district was invaded on May 29th, the 
 contagion having been brought from Port Louis by a child 
 who got Cholera on the night of her arrival, but recovered. 
 Two days after, her sister contracted the disease and died on 
 the third day ; from that day Cholera spread in the family 
 who had received these children, and nearly every second 
 •day some one died. In all, between May 31st and June 21st, 
 there were sixteen cases in this one house (a small one), 
 
CHOLERA. 123 
 
 of which eleven were fatal. From June 5th the epidemic 
 spread, and villages and estates, one after the other, became 
 affected until August 16th; and whilst in some instances, 
 in spite of the same treatment by the same doctor, most of 
 the patients died, in others most recovered. Again, those 
 camps and estates situated along the main road (where 
 constant inter-communication took place) paid the heaviest 
 penalty, whilst those around which sanitary cordons had 
 been strictly placed, or which derived their water from wells 
 and not from the polluted rivers, came off scot-free. Fifteen 
 estates were totally exempt from disease during the 
 epidemic. 
 
 ' Riviere dii Rempart. — After Flacq comes Riviere du 
 Rempart district, with a population of 16,147 and a per- 
 centage mortality of 8*1 due to Cholera, which was brought 
 to it from Port Louis on May 28th. It did much harm to 
 the Creole population, who were mostly poor fishermen or 
 improvident labourers in the villages and on the estates. It 
 decimated those estates situated on polluted rivers^ or those 
 homes fed from cisterns. It went on spreading until July 
 80th, and then ceased altogether. 
 
 ' One of the estates, Bon Espoir, was the greatest sufferer in 
 the district. There were no cases in May, July, or August ; but 
 in June there were 107 cases of Cholera, including sixty-six 
 deaths in a population of '^bb. I have no means of ascertaining 
 the cause of this ; but as Bon Espoir lies between two main 
 roads and on a verj^ dry area, one may suspect the constant 
 intercommunication with wayfarers, and the want of a good 
 supply of fresh water, to be the probable cause, as was the 
 case at Flacq in the following October. After the fatal 
 month of June, the owner of the estate no doubt took severe 
 measures of disinfection and isolation with good results, for 
 there was no mortality after June. 
 
 * Moka. — We next pass on to Moka, the district in the 
 centre of the Island, situated like Plaines Wilhems on an 
 elevated plateau ; it fared better than its adjoining neigh- 
 bours (mortality was 7*9), probably because it had the 
 smallest population (5726), the fewest estates (twenty-five 
 
124 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 only), and a larger number of well-to-do European residents. 
 Here are Reduit, the Governor's residence, and those of the- 
 Commander-in-Chief of the Army, the Chief Judge, the 
 Procuror- General, the Bishop, and of many other heads of 
 Government Departments. The police no doubt saw to it 
 that the rivers and Indian camps were kept in good order. 
 The district moreover was not easy of access ; two main 
 roads only, with many steep ascents along them, led to it, 
 and it was hoped that it would suffer but very little from 
 the Cholera. Nevertheless, only five or six estates escaped ; 
 but the mortalitj^ on the others was not great, there 
 being only about fifty deaths among the men and ten. 
 among the women. Most of the fatal cases occurred 
 among the Creoles and the white residents, the Indians 
 escaping. The first case was that of a young man who; 
 arrived on May 27th from Port Louis with Cholera, and 
 died the same night. , From that day the disease spread, 
 reaching its apogee a month after, and diminishing at the 
 end of the month, when it was all but extinct, only twenty-; 
 one cases occurring in July and August. 
 
 ' Moka is a well-watered district ; by referring to the 
 map, it will be seen that most of the rivers feedin»g- Port 
 Louis, Plaines Wilhems, and Flacq take their origin in it ; 
 and, moreover, the stream is swift, with many cascades along 
 its course, some of them over 150 feet high. 
 
 ' This abundance of water dashing over high boulders 
 and down great heights, in its swift course to the sea, 
 exposing all parasites, bacilli, and other germs not only to 
 a hammering death, but also to the action of light, had, no 
 doubt, a great deal to do with the mild invasion of this 
 favoured district. 
 
 * Black River. — The next one with a lower mortality still 
 is Black River (population 13,984 ; mortality due to Cholera 
 7'2 per cent.). In February and March two sporadic cases 
 of Cholera had occurred on a sugar estate, but it was not 
 before May 2 8th that the disease began to assume an 
 epidemic character, and it continued to rage, with alterna- 
 tions of increased and decreased violence, until the end of 
 
CHOLERA. 125 
 
 July ; only nine fatal cases occurred in August. Of thirty- 
 seven estates, sixteen escaped. 
 
 * The fatal power of the epidemic does not seem to have 
 l)een affected by any difference of class, constitution, or tem- 
 perament, but those persons who lived on the Montague 
 Chamarel {ride map), over 1000 ft. above the level of the 
 •sea, at the very source of the rivers, and had no communica- 
 tion with Port Louis or the rest of the district, escaped the 
 malady. 
 
 ' As will be observed, Black River, with a population 
 almost double that of Moka, had nevertheless a smaller 
 mortality than the latter. This is to be accounted for by 
 three principal facts: (1) This mountainous district is diffi- 
 cult of access ; all the Chamarel quarter lies on a high 
 plateau, with sharp, almost perpendicular declivities, facing 
 north, i.e., the route of communication with the outside 
 world. (2) Fully a third of the population lived on this 
 sequestered spot. (3) The early treatment of all his cases 
 by Mr. Fyers (an intelligent estate-manager) by emetics and 
 castor oil. 
 
 ^ He invariably began with thirty grains of ipecac, and 
 two grains of tartar emetic in a wine-glassful of cold water, 
 followed by copious draughts (eight or ten quarts) of hot 
 water, and after an hour he gave a large dose of castor oil. 
 If within an hour or two the vomiting and diarrhoea per- 
 sisted, he administered two to four wineglassfuls of dilute 
 sulphuric acid mixture (thirty drops in each wineglassful of 
 water). He saved 149 persons out of 150, and to this 
 solitary fatal case he had not given any emetic, but sul- 
 phuric acid mixture and laudanum enemata. He and several 
 others record that laudanum uncombined with other re- 
 medies seldom produced good effects, much more frequently 
 the reverse. 
 
 ' Grand Port. — Grand Port district, with a population of 
 19,947, has the small recorded mortality of 6*8 per cent.; 
 but as several estates did not send a report of the deaths on 
 them, and some were known to have lost many men, it is 
 suppo'sed that this district suffered quite as much as Flacq, 
 
126 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 where the mortality was 9*5 per cent. The disease was^^ 
 imported from Port Louis on May 26th by a coachman, who 
 died thirty-six hours after his arrival ; the second case also 
 came from Port Louis on the 27th ; then it spread rapidly 
 all over the district, and lasted without intermission till 
 August 20th. The estates and villages situated on the 
 marshy Mare d' Albert, Plaine Magnien, or on banks of 
 rivers — Riviere La Chaux, Riviere du Poste, Riviere Cham- 
 pagne — suffered most, whilst those which derived their 
 water principally from wells and springs escaped altogether, 
 making Dr. Pierrot say that " he was convinced that Cholera 
 is a 'comm.unicable' disease, like typhus, rubeoli, and variola, 
 and not like syphilis, and that it was the emanations from a 
 Choleraic patient transferred somehow by food, water, or air 
 into another predisposed person that gave the disease to the 
 latter." Here is a doctor who in 1854 hit on the truth. He 
 was greatly in advance of most of his confreres of that time, 
 some of whom maintained that the disease was not con- 
 tagious or *' communicable," and that it was the *' Digitus 
 Dei visiting them for their sins." 
 
 ' Savanne. — Savanne (population 9875) comes last with 
 a mortality of 6*7 per cent. This is a sparsely inhabited 
 district ; the estates are large, and there are but a few 
 populous villages where the inhabitants are concentrated 
 together. Moreover, the distance from Port Louis is great, 
 although the disease was imported into the district by a 
 girl who had fled from the capital the day before. The 
 disease then spread, and on one estate, St. Felix, during the 
 four months' duration of the epidemic, 148 persons were 
 attacked out of 288, and 61 died. Six estates were attacked 
 in July, and only one in August, but there was one sporadic 
 case in September and two in October, these last three 
 being cholerine rather than Cholera. But although twenty- 
 seven estates suffered, eleven others escaped the disease 
 altogether. Nevertheless, in its progress through this dis- 
 trict, the pestilence displayed the same capricious character 
 which it had manifested elsewhere, both in regard to its 
 course and in the selection of its victims. Whilst raging 
 
CHOLERA. 127 
 
 close to Souillac Village, at Surinam and Camp Michel 
 Estates, the village itself comparatively escaped. Long 
 Champ was losing four and five men every day, whilst the 
 adjoining property, Bel-Ombre, none at all. The district 
 medical officer. Dr. Bolton (senior), one of those intelligent 
 doctors far in advance of their time, working on the con- 
 viction that Cholera was contagious, did his utmost to 
 isolate the cases, and he treated them early with large 
 doses of calomel, ten to twenty grains repeated some- 
 times every three or four hours (he found salivation was 
 induced only in a very few instances), or with " purgative 
 Leroy." It is probably due to the efficacious treatment 
 adopted by Dr. Bolton, and to the sparsity and isolation of 
 the inhabitants, that the Cholera did not do much havoc 
 in this district. 
 
 ' Reappearance of Cholera. — The last declared case of 
 Cholera in the Colony was on August 30th ; perhaps 
 there were a few in the early days of September, but the 
 epidemic was supposed to have stopped by September 1st, 
 when on October 16th it broke out afresh at Trois Hots, 
 in the Flacq district {vide map), where a man died of it ; on 
 the 18th a second fatal case occurred, and on the 20th two 
 more, and by the 28th five more fatal cases at Espoir. All 
 these in Flacq alone. On November 11th it attacked the 
 sugar estate, ''Mon Heve" (Flacq), which had not lost 
 a single case during June or previous epidemic, and eleven 
 cases died within twelve hours of the onset of the symptoms. 
 ' On November 5th, on a third sugar estate, " Queen 
 Victoria," Flacq, four fatal cases occurred, three in one family. 
 ' On November IcJth, it broke out in a singular manner 
 on a neighbouring estate, the Clementine, which during 
 the previous epidemic, out of a population of 727 persons, 
 had only three cases. A woman on the above date pulled 
 open the window of a house that had been closed since the 
 death from Cholera of its tenants in June, and thrust her 
 head in, and, remarking on the disagreeable smell that 
 existed inside, closed the shutters again, and went away. 
 The same night she fell ill, and died four davs after, when 
 
128 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 Tier child and another neighbour's child also caught the 
 disease and died within twenty-four hours ; thence it spread 
 to the Indian Camp near, and seventy-eight cases occurred 
 with seventeen deaths. 
 
 ' So that during the months of October and November 
 125 decided cases of Cholera were verified in Flacq (and 
 fortunate^ it did not extend to the rest of the Colony), of 
 which fifty-one proved fatal. In all probability that figure 
 oould be doubled, as many uncertified deaths had occurred 
 during these two months. 
 
 'No satisfactory reason could be given by the Commis- 
 sioners why this fresh outbreak took place at Flacq amongst 
 the Creoles, as they lived in detached houses surrounded by 
 small garden plots, and they and their "houses were cleaner 
 than the Indians and their huts, who lived in the other dis- 
 tricts, which were not attacked. 
 
 * The drainage was good, but the water in the rivers was 
 low just at the time of the outbreak. Of course, with our 
 present knowledge of the spread of Cholera, ice are able to 
 give an explanation which the medical men of those days 
 were unable to do. There is no doubt that, as this district 
 had been the one (next to Port Louis and Pamplemousses) to 
 suffer most ( Hde Table) during the previous epidemic, when 
 its mortality was 718 (Port Louis 3492, Pamplemousses 1385), 
 the disease had not completely extinguished itself on 
 August 31st before it broke out again with virulence in 
 October, and, owning to the scarcity and pollution of water, it 
 {i.e., the Cholera comma bacillus) spread rapidly through the 
 polluted rivers to those villages, camps, and estates situated 
 on their banks {vide maps) ; and as these rivers flowed direct 
 down the east coast to the sea, and did not pass through the 
 other districts, these remained unaffected. 
 
 'A singular fact, which remains unexplained even with 
 our present advance in knowledge, is the illness, wdth all the 
 symptoms of Cholera, of a soldier in barracks at Flacq (the 
 infected district), six months after the cessation of the 
 epidemic there. The Commissioners say it was a well- 
 marked case. He recovered. 
 
CHOLERA. 129 
 
 * Before reading the account of the various treatments the 
 doctors adopted (most of them were men of great experience 
 and of sound knowledge), it will be well to peruse the 
 account given in the Annexure of three fatal cases in Port 
 Louis in the Ackroyd family, during the month of October, 
 showing that the fresh outbreak was in no wise different 
 from the pestilence that raged three months before. For- 
 tunately, as before said, these were the only three cases that 
 occurred outside Flacq. 
 
 * The Commissioners sent to Flacq at the end of October, 
 1854, to investigate the nature of the fresh epidemic preva- 
 lent in that district, reported : 
 
 ' (1) that the epidemic was identical with the Cholera lately 
 prevalent throug-hout the Colony ; 
 
 * (2) that the two epidemics appeal* to have been continuous, 
 notwithstanding that no deaths from Cholera were reported from 
 September 21st to October 16th ; 
 
 ' (3) that the character of the disease was as severe as ever ; 
 
 ' (4) that the four estates that had suffered or were still 
 suffering on this occasion, had almost entirely escaped in the first 
 epidemic ; 
 
 '(5) that the people in the affected localities received their 
 water supply from canals which were in had order from scarcity 
 of wafer ; 
 
 ' (6) that there was evidence that the affected persons had 
 drunh of the water from these canals ; 
 
 ' (7) that various interesting facts as to the manner in which 
 the disease was transmitted from one locality to another, tend to 
 support the opinion that the disease can be propagated by human 
 intercourse. 
 
 * Treatment. — Different kinds of treatment were adopted 
 by the medical men practising in the Island at that time, 
 most of them being M.D.'sof a British or French University. 
 The treatment of each seems to have depended on the opinions 
 he held with regard to the cause of the disease and its con- 
 tagiousness. Some believing it to be due to a " carbonization 
 of the blood, a want of oxygen in the blood, as in suspended 
 animation, collapse, and asphyxia," recommended the cold- 
 water douche, and obtained a certain amount of success. 
 ** These douches, producing shock, caused deep inspirations, 
 
 K 
 
IBO THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 whicli stimulated the heart and reanimated the patient." 
 Others simply dashed water on the patient's face, and said 
 that it was as good as the douche, and condemned the latter 
 as causing more rapid collapse. 
 
 ' A second class of physicians paid special attention to 
 the vomiting and diarrhoea, and tried to arrest these by 
 dilute sulphuric acid and calomel combined with opium, 
 whilst they anticipated the cramps by frictions with strong 
 rubefacients, and the collapse by diffusible stimulants. A 
 third, evidently nearer the truth, believing in the infection 
 having got into the system through the mouth, gave emetics 
 and purgatives, in spite of the antecedent or actual vomiting 
 and purging, and thus tried to drive out the poison ; after- 
 wards rubbing the patient and keeping him warm. 
 
 * A fourth filled their patients' stomach with " tisanes," 
 the Ayapanah infusion being considered the best. 
 
 ' Each claiming, notwithstanding numerous failures, that 
 his treatment was the best.' 
 
 As we have before seen, Drs. Bolton and Pierrot and 
 Mr. Fyers, with their emeto-cathartic remedies, met with 
 the most success. 
 
 ^ Some of these physicians believed in the contagiousness 
 of the disease, and others, like Dr. Montgomery, did not ; 
 and, like their predecessors of the 1819 epidemic, attributed 
 the epidemic to a meteorological effect, a current of ozone, 
 or want of it, blowing in certain directions and affecting 
 towns and ships at great distances from one another, but in 
 the track of the current. 
 
 ^In support of his scepticism as to the contagiousness of 
 Cholera, amongst many others. Dr. Montgomery quotes 
 
 Mrs. A 's case. He attended on her when she died from 
 
 Cholera on May 27th after nine hours' illness. He says : 
 " How can the disease be contagious ? If it were, after 
 having attended hundreds of cases, I ought to have caught 
 
 it. I sat by Mrs. A 's side for two hours, and her 
 
 husband, eight children, and sisters were all in the room, 
 and she would give the breast to her baby, two months old, 
 until we took him from her ; and yet not one of that family 
 
CHOLERA. 131 
 
 contracted the disease." There is no doubt from the history, 
 
 that Mrs. A caught Cholera from her husband, who 
 
 during the previous days had been doing duty as chaplain to 
 the hospital. 
 
 ' The Commission of Inquiry, after consulting with all 
 these medical men as to the most effectual remedies employed 
 by them, reported that : 
 
 " At present, no antidote nor specific medicine is known that 
 can neurralise the poison of Cholera, and arrest with any certainty 
 the progress of the disease ; but in the period of invasion — i.e., 
 dni-ino- the premonitory diarrhoea — the raovbid effec^ts of the 
 Cholera poi.son may be snccessfiiilv combated, whereas in the stage 
 of complete collapse, from the altered composition of the blood, 
 the dein-essed condition of the nerves, and above all from the 
 impossibility of absorption by the alimentary surface, medicines of 
 any kind given internally must be almost inert, and external 
 applications in like manner of little etticacy." 
 
 * In reading this, one would think he had before him a 
 medical report of the present day. In the treatment of the 
 premonitory stage considerable uniformity prevailed, one of 
 the three modes of treatment being generally adopted. Of 
 these the first was the employment of dilute sulphuric acid 
 in doses of thirty drops, frequently repeated ; the second was 
 the giving of infusion of Ayapanah generally combined with 
 ginger and brandy ; the third was the exhibition of opium, 
 either in pills or draughts in combination with aromatics 
 and stimulants, or more commonly in the form of enema. 
 
 ^The treatment of collapse was most various, and 
 resembles those in use to-day. Stimulants of every kind, 
 both external and internal, were employed, either alone, or in 
 combination with other means. 
 
 ' Some condemned the undue use of opium. The douche 
 or cold water aspersion at all stages was extensively employed 
 by the Army surgeons, but others limited it to the period of 
 collapse, whilst it was condemned by others. 
 
 ' Finally, most state that here, as in other countries, 
 medicine has very little power over this disease, except in 
 its early stages — that is, before collapse is fully established. 
 
 ' In closing this report of the epidemic of 1854, I must 
 
132 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 add tliat the Chinese population of the Island suffered leasts 
 for they never drank any liquid except tea, of course 
 infused in hot water. That fact by itself ought to have 
 opened the eyes of the doctors that the poison (I use the 
 word poison as in those days the comma bacillus was not 
 known) was in unboiled water ; but, apart from a few rare 
 exceptions, they were so thoroughly imbued with the atmo- 
 spheric or electric theory, that they attributed the Chinese 
 immunity to peculiarity of racial resistance to that disease. 
 The fact that the Chinese coolie is an unclean man, rarely 
 using soap, and living amidst filth, made the theory of the 
 origin of Cholera through filth untenable, and strengthened 
 the doctors' scepticism as to its contagiousness. 
 
 * As I said before, as long as the bacillary origin was^ 
 unknown, our ancestors groped hopelessly in an inextricable 
 maze of theories.' 
 
 But with improved machinery, i.e. with better know- 
 ledge of bacteriology and parasitology (which were quite 
 unknown in 1854), hrT^matology, chemistry, and microscopy, 
 pathology has made rapid progress during these last sixty 
 years, and has enabled Sir Leonard Rogers to discover a 
 treatment which, in his hands, has saved over 90 per cent, of 
 patients in the Calcutta Cholera Hospital. 
 
 Believing that the comma bacilli or a toxin from them 
 concentrated the blood in the body by a rapid exosmosis of 
 fluid from the blood, with the consequent increase of red and 
 white corpuscles (leucocytes) and the specific gravity, he 
 prepared a hypertonic solution, which when injected warm 
 (three drachms per minute) intravenously, subcutaneously, or 
 per rectum, stopped the loss of fluid, and the consequent 
 vomiting, diarrhoea, and collapse. 
 His preparation is : 
 
 Sodium Chloride — grs. 120 (8 grammes). 
 
 Calcium „ — „ 4 (0*25 grammes). 
 
 Potassium ,, — „ 6 (0*4 „ ). 
 
 Water — 1 pint. 
 
 One-third less strong for rectal administration. 
 
CHOLERA. laS 
 
 By carefully watching the blood pressure so that it shall 
 not ascend over 100 mm., and the sp. gr. of the blood 
 so as to lower it to 1050, the dangerous and sometimes 
 fatal hyperpyrexic reaction can be avoided. Three to four 
 pints of this solution are given, three to females, and two to 
 children under fifteen. If severe headache or oppression 
 in the chest with quickened breathing is produced, the rate 
 of flow into the veins should be slowed. 
 
 8ir Leonard also found the administration of one to six 
 grains of permanganate of calcium to a pint of water given 
 three ounces at a time, or better still potassium permanga- 
 nate pills (two grains) given every quarter of an hour for 
 two hours, then one pill every half-hour until the stools 
 become green and It^ss copious, to be useful adjuvants. 
 Barley water is given in the intervals. 
 
 He advises that opium should be given only in the 
 premonitory stage of cholera, and never when the colourless 
 evacuations or collapse have set in, nor in the reactionary 
 «tage. 
 
 He checks the hyperpyrexia in this stage by copious iced- 
 water rectal saline injections, or by cold sponging if surface 
 temperature is 103° "5 F., or the rectal one over 104° F., and 
 by ice to the head. 
 
 He does not check diarrhoea in the after stage of reaction, 
 and condemns opium then and acetate of lead, as they actively 
 predispose to fatal ursemia. 
 
 To combat ursemia and ensure free action of the kidneys 
 after Cholera, rectal isotonic saline injections* should be 
 regularly continued every two to four hours after collapse is 
 past until at least two pints of urine are excreted in 
 the twenty-four hours. The patient is also given as much 
 water as he can drink. Carbonate of ammonia, sal 
 volatile and 6 minims of nux vomica (and 5 minims of tinct. 
 digitalis if the blood pressure is deficient), serve as stimu- 
 lants and diuretics. 
 
 He also gives pituitary extract to raise the blood 
 
 * Eighty grains of common salt to the pint. 
 
134 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 pressure, and advises dr}^ cupping on both loins (three 
 cups at a time) twice daily until the kidnej^s act freely. 
 
 As for alcohol, he condemns it in the collapse stage, but in 
 the later stages he gives it in small quantities and diluted. 
 
 As for did, only barley-water is given during the acute 
 stages and during the reaction. Farinaceous food, thin 
 arrowroot or cornflower, and whey follow ; and after the 
 diarrhoea has stopped for two days or more, custards and 
 other light food are commenced, soups being given only 
 after the kidneys have acted freely. 
 
 As prophylaxis or prevention. Professor Haffkine has 
 introduced an anti-choleraic vaccine with which he inoculates 
 persons exposed, or likely to be exposed, to Cholera. This 
 preventive, which has been proved to be very eflicacious 
 and safe, is carried out in two stages, with a few days' 
 interval between. The malaise and discomfort which ensue 
 last for twenty -four hours, but the immunity gained is for 
 two or three years. 
 
 This vaccine is prepared from Cholera vibrios grown at 
 a temperature of 39° C. in a current of air on agar, and 
 then rendered virulent by passage through a series of 
 guinea-pigs. * 'The organism is then cultivated on an agar 
 slope and washed off with sterile broth, which is made up 
 to 8 c.c, and then 1 c.c. is injected in the subclavicular 
 region or anywhere else in the tissues. Haffkine claims that 
 the vibrios thus introduced into the blood or tissues are 
 rapidly killed, that a certain amount of immunity to the 
 invasion of the intestines and of the superficial layers of 
 the mucosa is conferred. Killed instead of living cultures 
 are also of considerable value. Immunity is not established 
 till five days after the injection ; on the contrary, it is 
 probable that the susceptibility is increased.' ' For vaccina- 
 tion it is essential that the disease has not commenced, it is 
 then useless and even dangerous, for the injections wdll 
 increase the susceptibility and diminit^h the resistance.' 
 
 * Treatment by antisera is on a different principle; it is 
 found that the blood of an animal (man) injected with 
 * Daniels' Tropical Medicine. 
 
CHOLERA. 135 
 
 several doses of culture or toxin of a pathogenic organism 
 becomes immune to this, and his blood then contains 
 ' antibodies.' This antiserum acts as a prophylactic, or the 
 animal's blood acquires the power of destroying the toxins 
 formed by the pathogenic organisms, so that they are com- 
 paratively harmless if introduced.' 
 
 Besides these new methods of treataient against Cholera 
 many remedies have been in vogue, especially in India. 
 Most authorities are against giving opiates, as the principal 
 aim is to cause the escape of the cholera toxin and not to 
 retain it. However, at the very first premonitory symptoms 
 it may be of use if given in the form of pulv. aromat. cum 
 opio, 5 grs., combined with 10 of carb. bismuthi after a good 
 dose of castor oil has acted five or six times. If the oil 
 cannot be taken pulv. rhei co. is given. Ten minims of oil 
 of eucalyptus every quarter of an hour at first, then hourly 
 in a teaspoonful of milk (for children 1 to 3 minims) were 
 found efficacious by some. 
 
 When Cholera breaks out, all the wells whence water is 
 drawn should at once be treated with permanganate of potash. 
 Tw^o ounces in the solid state should be hung in a thin bag 
 inside the well, and this bag constantly moved imtil the 
 permanganate has been dissolved. If,, after half an hour, 
 the water is still red, enough of i he crystals has been added ; 
 if there be no red colour, some more must be added. A 
 faint red colour should remain for twenty- four hours. If 
 the well be very foul eiglit ounces will be required. 
 
 All vessels should be washed in this faint red solution of 
 Coudy. 
 
 The late Professor Major Duncan used to recommend the 
 following rules in times of cholera prevalence : 
 
 ' 1. Keep cheerful and have your time occupied in some 
 work. 
 
 ' 2. Wear your commerbund (or large flannel belt). 
 
 '3. Be attentive as regards the food you eat ; let there 
 be nothing indigestible. 
 
 '4. Avoid all spirituous drinks. If any stimulant is 
 necessary, take red wines. 
 
136 
 
 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 * 5. Aerated waters, oranges, and lemons are all excellent 
 (but not other kinds of fruit). 
 
 ' 6. Always filter your water with the Pasteur or the 
 Berkefield filter, or else boil it and add a few drops of 
 Condy's fluid to it. 
 
 * 7. Take a daily ration of hydrochloric, sulphuric, or 
 acetic acid, or drink sulphuric acid lemonade. 
 
 ' 8. Never eat food in the patient's room. 
 
 * 9. Be inoculated.' 
 
 Bibliography: Government Commissioner's Report, 1854; Govern- 
 ment Sessional Papers, 1854 and 185o ; Sir Leonard Rogers's Cholera 
 and its Treatment', Major Duncan's Nursing in the Tropics; Daniels' 
 Tropical Medicine. ' Memoranda on Medical Diseases in the Mediter- 
 ranean ' has very useful hints on treatment. 
 
 'TABLE III. 
 
 Summary of Mortality from Cholera in Mauritius from 
 2bth May to 'dlst August, 1854. 
 
 DISTRICT. 
 
 May. 
 
 June. 
 
 July. 
 
 August. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Port Louis . 
 
 377 
 
 3049 
 
 64 
 
 2 
 
 3492 
 
 Pamplemousses 
 
 9 
 
 1245 
 
 126 
 
 5 
 
 1885 
 
 Eivi^re du Eempart 
 
 2 
 
 246 
 
 107 
 
 1 
 
 356 
 
 Flacq . . . 
 
 12 
 
 851 
 
 290 
 
 65 
 
 718 
 
 Grand Port . 
 
 2 
 
 182 
 
 209 
 
 89 
 
 482 
 
 Savanna 
 
 — 
 
 185 
 
 64 
 
 48 
 
 247 
 
 Black Elver . 
 
 1 
 
 200 
 
 44 
 
 9 
 
 254 
 
 Plaines Wilhems . 
 
 9 
 
 491 
 
 65 
 
 86 
 
 601 
 
 Moka .... 
 
 7 
 
 186 
 
 21 
 
 1 
 
 165 
 
 Total 
 
 419 
 
 6035 
 
 990 
 
 206 
 
 7650 
 
 'TABLE lY. 
 
 Summary as regards Classes. 
 
 General Population. 
 
 Blacks. 
 
 Indians. 
 
 Total. 
 
 1538 
 
 8832 
 
 2280 
 
 7650 
 
CHOLERA, 
 
 137 
 
 * TABLE Y. 
 
 Table showing the Centesimal Proportion of Deaths to Population. 
 
 Port 
 Louis. 
 
 Pample- 
 mousses. 
 
 Riviere dv. 
 Rempart. 
 
 Flacq. 
 
 Grand 
 Port. 
 
 Savanne. 
 
 Black 
 River. 
 
 Plaines 
 Wilhems. 
 
 Moka. 
 
 26-8 
 
 13-4 
 
 8-1 
 
 9-5 
 
 6-8 (?) 
 
 6-7 
 
 7-2 
 
 13 
 
 7-9 
 
 * TABLE VL 
 
 Table shotving the Centesimal Proportion of Deaths to Population 
 
 in each Sex. 
 
 
 Port 
 Louis. 
 
 Patn pie- 
 mousses. 
 
 Rivi6redu 
 Rempart. 
 
 Flacq. 
 
 Grand 
 Port. 
 
 Savanne. 
 
 Black Plaines 
 River. Wilhems. 
 
 Moka. 
 
 Males . 
 Females . 
 
 7-2 
 
 6-7 
 
 4-5 
 3-9 
 
 2-2 
 
 2-0 
 
 3-1 
 2-4 
 
 2-3 
 
 1-8 
 
 2-7 
 
 1-9 
 
 2-6 
 2-1 
 
 4-4 
 
 3-8 
 
 3-2 
 2-2 
 
138 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 CHOLERA EPIDEMIC OF 185G. 
 
 ' Two vessels arrived almost simultaneously, having had 
 a great number of cases of sickness during their voyage, 
 having lost upwards of twenty persons, and still having very 
 numerous cases of sickness on board. Those two vessels 
 were the Hyderee and the FuUay Mombarrack, which arrived 
 from Calcutta in the month of January 1856, at an interval 
 of a few days, namely, the 5th and the 8th. They had on. 
 board, the one 272, the other 380 coolies. 
 
 ' After a great deal of hesitation, after having kept both 
 of these ships in temporary quarantine, the one for a week, 
 the other for five days, and after having very nearly 
 admitted one of the ships to pratique, the General Board 
 of Health decides upon putting them both into regular 
 quarantine. 
 
 ^ The two ships are dispatched to the Quarantine Station 
 at Gabriel Island, to the North of Mauritius, without any 
 special instructions, and are admitted to pratique, the one 
 two days and the other six days after disembarking the 
 coolies and their return to the roadstead of Port Louis. 
 The admission to pratique takes place without the participa- 
 tion of the Board of Health, evidently through a misunder- 
 standing. 
 
 ^ In the interval of the two admissions to pratique, a 
 report is received- stating that Cholera had hrol-en oid at 
 Gabriel Inland* This circumstance, which would have pre- 
 vented the admission of the first vessel had it been known 
 in time, retards but by a few days that of the second, a second 
 mistake ; and it is only eight days after Cholera has broken 
 out at Gabriel Island that the Board of Health meets. 
 
 ' Then, and then only, is the Quarantine Station declared 
 to be in quarantine by a proclamation, with precise in- 
 structions. 
 
 * To the north of Mauritius. 
 
CHOLERA. 13^ 
 
 ^ The men sent to Gabriel Island in those two ships 
 numbered 652, and there was accommodation only for 500 — 
 the rest had to li:\"e in tents and shanties hurriedly put up, 
 and they fared very badly, for not only did cholera decimate 
 them, but the elements fought against -them during the 
 cyclone months of March and April, and the n^ortality was 
 heavy. 
 
 ' Some weeks afterwards, while the authorities are still 
 doubting. Cholera breaks out in Port Louis on March '3rd, 
 1856. 
 
 ^History of the Lnrision and Criticism thereon. — So that 
 we see how Cholera had been contracted by the immigrants 
 before leaving India in January, and although the Indian 
 unqualified doctor* on board, and the captains, for obvious 
 purposes, declared the malady to be anything else than 
 Cholera, there is no doubt that it was this fatal contagious 
 disease ; for very soon after the coolies had been landed at 
 Gabriel Island the epidemic broke out, and from January 
 24th to May 4th (ninety-four days) there were 271 deaths : 
 83 from Cholera, 90 from dysentery, 58 from fever, and 
 32 from other diseases. 
 
 ' All this time, no strict measures having been adopted to 
 prevent the disease from being carried to Port Louis by the 
 Government steamer, which was in constant communication 
 with the infected Island, or to the mainland near to the 
 Quarantine Station, by visitors and fishermen, it eventually 
 reached the Capital as we have just seen. Cholera begins to 
 spread in Port Louis, and from March 3rd to June 1st the 
 Island of Mauritius once more is ravaged by that fell disease, 
 which kills comparatively quite as many as it did two years 
 before, ride table further on. 
 
 'History of the Outbreak in Port Louis and the Country 
 Districts. — C)n the last day of February, a Lascar on board 
 the Government steamer plying between Gabriel Island 
 and Port Louis contracts Cholera, and dies in the harbour of 
 Port Louis the next da}^, and two days after two soldiers in 
 the barracks are attacked, but do not die. The next day 
 three civilians at some distance from one another die from 
 
140 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 it, and by March 6th the disease was not only spreading 
 rapidly in the Capital, reaching its climax (127) on March 
 27th, but it started also in Pamplemousses and Savanne. 
 The eastern and western suburbs of Port Louis, two very 
 poor and insalubrious quarters, and Grand River and Hoche 
 Bois, were the largest foci of the disease. 
 
 ' Pamplemousses. — In Pamplemousses the disease broke 
 out on March 3rd, on the same day as in Port Louis. The 
 disease became violent and remained a long time in the 
 district, and, as in the former epidemic of 1852, those estates 
 and villages situated along the canals suffered most. The 
 village of Grande Baie to the north of the Island, inhabited 
 by fishermen who used to communicate with the quarantine 
 islands before strict surveillance had been enforced, also had 
 a heavy mortality. 
 
 ' Savanne.—SsLYSiniie, too, from the very first was invaded, 
 owing to a patient from Port Louis having imported the 
 disease there ; but by April 20th the epidemic became extinct 
 in that district, with 85 deaths on record. 
 
 ' Plaines WUhem.s and Riviere du Bempcirt, however, were 
 the two districts which suffered most, with a record of 240 
 and 203 deaths. 
 
 ' Fiacq and Blaek River followed, with 157 and 131 
 deaths. 
 
 * Mol'a and Grand Port. — Moka, as in the last epidemic, 
 suffered least, probably for the same reason as before, losing 
 only 97 cases ; whilst Grand Port nearly escaped the 
 epidemic altogether, having only 8 casualties. 
 
 *The following comparative table shows how the nine 
 districts of the Island were severally affected during these 
 two epidemics; but the table for the epidemic of 1856 does 
 not give the mortality up to May 31st, when the disease 
 stopped, whereas that of 1854 carries it to the end. But 
 it is on record that after May 10th the epidemic of 1856 
 gradually became extinct all over the Island. 
 
CHOLERA. 
 
 141 
 
 * Summanj of Mortality from Cholera in Mauritius during the 
 two Epidemics of 1854 and 1856. 
 
 
 From May 25 
 31st, 
 
 til to August 
 1854. 
 
 From March 2nd to May 
 lOth, 1856. 
 
 DISTRICTS. 
 
 Totals. 
 
 Order 
 
 according to 
 
 mortality. 
 
 Totals. 
 
 Order 
 
 according to 
 
 mortality. 
 
 Port Louis. . 
 
 3492 
 
 1 
 
 1 1484 
 
 1 
 
 Pamplemousses 
 
 1385 
 
 2 
 
 845 
 
 2 
 
 Kivi^re du Rempart 
 
 356 
 
 6 
 
 203 
 
 4 
 
 Flacq .... 
 
 718 
 
 3 
 
 157 
 
 5 
 
 Grand Port . 
 
 432 
 
 5 
 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 Savanne 
 
 247 
 
 8 
 
 85 
 
 8 
 
 Black River . 
 
 254 
 
 7 
 
 131 
 
 6 
 
 Plaines Wilhems . 
 
 601 
 
 4 
 
 240 
 
 3 
 
 Moka .... 
 
 165 
 
 9 
 
 97 
 
 7 
 
 * On comparing the two epidemics, the first point o£ 
 difference that strikes one is the diminished mortality of 
 1856, as if the population had become somewhat immuned 
 to the disease. The Army's total loss in the first epidemic 
 w^as twenty-eight, whereas that of 1856 was thirty-seven ; 
 but a few companies from England had recently reinforced 
 the garrison, and they furnished two-thirds of the victims. 
 New arrivals anywhere always take less care of themselves, 
 and are less acclimatised than the older residents. 
 
 ' The next point of difference is that in 1854 the disease 
 in a week had spread all over the Island — to every point 
 of the compass, so to speak — owing to the panic-stricken 
 
 inhabitants of Port Louis having sought refuge amongst 
 friends in the country. It was the first time in the memory 
 of most of those alive that Cholera had visited the Island ; 
 their grandfathers had told them of the epidemic of 1819, 
 and they had read of the severe visitations in Europe and 
 in India since 1852, hence their dread and alarm, which 
 neurotic element no doubt predisposed many to looseness of 
 the bowels, a good nidus for Koch's bacilli. But in this 
 
142 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 epidemic of 1856 tlie inhabitants suffered less because they 
 were now less alarmed, for they Had even become almost 
 persuaded of the non-contagiousness of the disease. They 
 had moreover during these last twenty or twenty-four months 
 accomplished much in the way of improving the sanitary 
 conditions of Port Louis and Mahebourg (the two cities of 
 the Island), the estate camps, and villages. A large number 
 of Indian and Creole camps had been burnt, and new ones 
 rebuilt and located on better ground. The epidemic 
 accordingly spread more slowly on the whole, and excepting 
 Savanne, and Pamplemousses where in one day 100 men 
 died on one estate, it did not invade the other districts 
 seriously until after May 14th, when the quarantine at 
 Gabriel Island had been raised and the surAdvingrimmis^rants 
 had scattered all over the Island to their different estates. 
 There is no doubt that thorough disinfection had not been 
 carried out before these coolies left, and some of them were 
 carrying Koch's bacilli with them in their bowels, utensils, 
 and clothes ^although new clothes had been given to them 
 the morning before they left quarantine and the old ones 
 burnt). 
 
 ' Nevertheless, in comparison with the former epidemic, 
 the mortality, except in Savanne and Pamplemousses as before 
 said, was not very great (refer to table already given), and 
 in Grand Port it was almost nil; probably few of the 
 estates had any of the new immigrants, and the villages had 
 been more than decimated by the former epidemic, and were 
 therefore less crowded. 
 
 * Another point of difference between the two epidemics 
 was the fact that in the latter, few of the public establish- 
 ments were affected ; the prisons, having better drains, this 
 time escaped altogether. But, a singular fact^ whereas the 
 harbour and places connected with it suffered very little 
 in 1854. only a few cases of Cholera occurring among the 
 numerous crews of the shipping, and the large establishment 
 of the Dock Company with its hundreds of labourers in like 
 manner escaping, as did also the neighbouring military 
 barracks on the Caudan Creek to the north of the harbour. 
 
CHOLERA. 143 
 
 in 1856 all was reversed ; many fatal cases occurred among 
 the crews of the ships and amongst the Dock Company 
 labourers, and the Caudan Barracks were so severely visited 
 as to render their total evacuation necessary. 
 
 ' One of the most remarkable facts in the history of both 
 epidemics, and more especially in that of 1856, was the 
 escape of the attendants in the Civil Hospital, and of the 
 ordinary patients in that institution under treatment for other 
 diseases. Only one attendant died from Cholera. , 
 
 ' Another fact recorded is the miraculous escape of the 
 night-soil men, those men who went all over the town and 
 collected and emptied the sanitary buckets at night. 
 
 * Treatment. — The different treatments of 1854 were still 
 in vogue in 1856 — the emeto-cathartic being the favourite 
 one — but they had now begun to believe in purging the 
 patients first of all. Unfortunately, there is no record of 
 the number of successes or of failures of any given treat- 
 ment. We read that Dr. Montgomery, of the Civil Hospital, 
 still believed in the non-contagiousness of the disease, 
 attributing the invasion as before to certain atmospheric 
 poison blown from " no one knows where " ; whilst the 
 chief Medical Officer kept, with sad consequences, to the 
 belief in electrical disturbances of the atmosphere, and that 
 the Colonial Secretary protested against expendituie on 
 quarantine and drainage, seeing that the disease could not, 
 on account of its capricious visits and preferences, be con- 
 tagious — " that God sent it and He only could remove it." 
 Hence the Government's dilatoriness in checking the disease 
 from the very first.' 
 
 Bibliography ; Commissioners' Eeport of Epidemic of Cholera in 1856 ; 
 Sessional Government Report, 1855-57. 
 
144 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS 
 
 THE CHOLERA EPIDEMICS OF 1859 AND 1862. 
 
 * Preface. — We shall find in this account that Sir Wm^ 
 Stevenson, who had had vast experience in the West Indies 
 and Honduras before he succeeded Sir James Higginson as 
 Grovernor of Mauritius, never exposed himself to being 
 caught napping ; he, from the very first, attended to the 
 quarantine laws and stations, made himself acquainted with 
 every Government department and every public institution,, 
 turned Flat Island into a model quarantine station, insisted 
 on European doctors accompanying the coolies to and from 
 India, and tried to purify the town by a system of drainage 
 (which unfortunately is only now, sixty years after, being 
 carried out), and he brought a fresh and abundant supply of 
 water into Port Louis, and established railways, lit the town 
 with gas, and subsidised steam connection with Europe. 
 Never since the time of the French Governor Mahe de 
 Labourdonnais, the founder of Mauritius, had the Island 
 seen such a Governor. But in 1863, after six years' 
 administration, he died of dysentery, brought on by weary- 
 ing and excessive application to duty, without adequate 
 relaxation and repose. His remains were buried at Moka,. 
 not far from Reduit, his residence. 
 
 ' After the epidemic of 1856, the Government authorities 
 took stringent measures to prevent a recurrence of this fatal 
 disease in the Island. Flat Island, at great expense, was- 
 turned into a most suitable quarantine station. A good 
 hospital and commodious and well-protected quarters for the 
 immigrants were built, a solid jetty for the landing of 
 passengers and stores in all weathers constructed, and 
 intelligent British medical men appointed to live on the 
 Island whenever necessary. Moreover, the Board of Health 
 acquired greater powers, and was made responsible for the 
 strictest observance of the quarantine laws. No wonder 
 then that, in spite of Cholera and Small-pox patients arriving^ 
 
CHOLERA. 145 
 
 •almost every month from India in the coolie ships, these 
 diseases scarcely gained access to the inhabitants on land. 
 
 ' Cholera of 1859. — True, in 1859, during a violent epi- 
 demic of both raging in India, and with the consequent 
 arrival of twelve ships w4th Cholera and eight with Small- 
 pox, in spite of these quarantine laws, sporadic cases of both 
 declared themselves in town amongst all classes, and quickly 
 spread to the country. But the mortality was not great, 
 and although many fair ladies were pitted and disfigured for 
 life, it could not be really said that there was an epidemic of 
 Cholera or of Small-pox in 1859. Even in 1856, whilst 
 the Cholera was raging over the Island, several families, 
 especially in town and in the south of the Island, had 
 small-pox. 
 
 ' Cholera of 1862.— But in November, 1861, Cholera 
 broke out again with such virulence, and killed so many 
 persons both in the capital and in the country, and did not 
 abate till the first days of March, that it was called the 
 Epidemic of 1862. 
 
 ' The non-contagionists again maintained that the disease 
 had become endemic, had been capriciously fanned up, 
 and that no one was to blame for its recurrence ; but from 
 the meagre reports to hand, one can distinctly trace the link 
 between the coolie ship Mount Stuart EIphinHto}ie, which 
 arrived on November 22nd, 1861, and the first victim in 
 towm, who died on December 1st. Both the doctor and the 
 captain having sworn (no registers were kept) that for 
 twenty-one days there had been no cases of Cholera amongst 
 the crew and passengers, the Medical Health Officer, after 
 having placed the ship in quarantine for tw^enty-four hourf, 
 during which she was cleaned and disinfected and the 
 coolies exchanged their old " capras " for new^ clothes given 
 them by the Government, she was given pratique, and the 
 coolies were landed and scattered all over the island. As I 
 said before, all through December the Cholera ra'ged in 
 Mauritius. 
 
 ' But not only does' this connecting link prove the pro- 
 bability of the coolies being the importers of the disease into 
 
 L 
 
146 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 the Island, but on a second return of the Mount Stuart 
 Elphlnstone from India to Mauritius, in September, 1862, 
 both the captain and the doctor admitted that there had 
 been two suspicious cases of diarrhea on board, a few day& 
 before their arrival in November 1861. They had evidently, 
 through interestedness, declared these cases as diarrhoea, 
 whereas they were Cholera — and the consequence was 
 another epidemic. 
 
 'By January 1st, 1862, the disease had begun to abate, 
 the people had learned wisdom since the last two epidemics, 
 and had, as soon as this epidemic broke out, taken care to 
 boil the water they drank, and to disinfect the privies, and 
 in a word to keep themselves and the servants and coolies 
 under them in as good a condition of health as possible. But 
 on January 4th H.M.S. Urgent arrived with troops from 
 Hong Kong, and on her way she had touched at Trincomalee. 
 As there had been no deaths on board during the voyage, 
 she was allowed pratique, and landed her soldiers — and two 
 days after Cholera revived in town, and once more it spread 
 to the country and did sad havoc until the end of February. 
 A third and a fourth ship had arrived between December 8th 
 and January 12th with Cholera-stricken coolies on board, 
 but they had been speedily sent to Flat Island and, after 
 having been fumigated and cleaned, they had cast anchor 
 for twenty- one days at the quarantine station at the mouth 
 of Grand River. 
 
 'Finally, a French ship, Parmentier from Martinique, 
 arrived with Cholera- stricken emigrants for India. She put 
 in for water and stores, and, after she had, under the 
 strictest surveillance, been supplied with these, she con- 
 tinued on her voyage. 
 
 'H.M.S. Orestes^ from the Cape, arrived in Mauritius 
 during the epidemic and contracted Cholera, and went away 
 on January 30th, and when she returned on the 20th of the 
 next month she was denied pratique, although she had only 
 some suspicious cases of dysentery on board. The captain 
 reported the Governor to the Admiralty at home, but the 
 inhabitants praised his determination to compel great ^md 
 
CHOLERA. 147 
 
 small to observe tlie Quarantine Laws, and henceforth to 
 save the Island from this terrible scourge. They went even 
 further, and begged His Excellency to transfer the quaran- 
 tine isolating station from Flat Island to Rodrigues. But 
 he refused, seeing that this last-mentioned island was too far 
 away, and that moreover at a heavy expenditure the former 
 island had been turned into a most suitable quarantine 
 station. It is probably owing to this Governor having laid 
 the foundation, during his administration, of wise and 
 stringent laws against the introduction of disease into 
 Mauritius, that the Island has never since 1862 been re- 
 visited by Cholera. 
 
 * Treatment. — I cannot find a single word on the subject 
 in any of the reports to hand, but no doubt it was the same 
 as before.' 
 
 Bibliography ; As before stated. 
 
148 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 ANNEXURE ON CHOLERA. 
 
 (1) Extracts from the Reports of the Medical Commission 
 
 (1819). 
 
 * It is observed that the black and coloured persons who are not 
 well clothed or fed, or whose occupations expose them to the in- 
 clemency of the weather, and especially those working in the open 
 air. the sun and in moist places, are more liable to be affected 
 than others. Fatigue and exposure to the weather ought conse- 
 quently to be avoided, and the clothing of the slaves should be 
 attended to, and the use of crude indigestible food carefully 
 prevented. 
 
 ' Opium will allay irritation, soothe pain, remove spasms, 
 check excessive evacuations, and rather increase and excite the 
 circulation of the blood ; this would seem to be what we want. 
 The cure cannot, I think, be expected without it. The dose may 
 be from one to three and five grains, or from twenty to sixty and 
 hundred drops of laudanum : if vomited, it should be repeated 
 without delay, mixing the opium with a little syrup and sucking 
 it in by degrees. 
 
 ' Enemas of opium in larger quantities (grs. 10) or equal 
 quantity of tinct. opii in four ounces of cangee and mucilage; the 
 remedies to be repeated according to the effects, and the violence 
 of the symptoms without regard to the quantity. The use of 
 opium to be followed by a mild laxative to remove any torpor 
 from it, but care to be taken not to give the laxative too early, so 
 as to prevent any irritation that can cause a relapse. The parga- 
 tive may be neutral salts, jalap, cream of tartar, rhubarb, 
 magnesia, castor oil, or calomel may be joined with the opium. 
 
 ' The Committee would strongly urge the most early adoption 
 of whatever means are to be pursued. Those which they would 
 particularly recommend, as being within the reach of almost all, 
 are frictions of the body with hot arrack, and as soon as possible 
 the employment of the hot bath; the exhibition of hot brandy and 
 water, adding, when at hand, a tea-spoonful of laudanum, and the 
 same quantity of spirits of hartshorn, &c.; the use of lavements 
 containing laudanum to the amount of two tea-spoonfals. These 
 means, with the exception of the hot bath, they would advise to 
 be most assiduously and rigorously employed until symptoms of 
 the patient's revival become manifest, or till professional aid can 
 be obtained. 
 
 'With regard to the blacks, it is in the interests of their 
 
CHOLERA. 149 
 
 masters to clothe them properly, and to pay particular attention 
 to the preservation of their clothing ; to see that on quitting 
 their work in a state of perspiration they should forthwith cover 
 themselves, and on no consideration to admit of their sleeping in 
 the open air, either on the damp ground or on that warmed by 
 the scorching rajs of the sun. It is, moreover, of the greatest 
 importance that they should be made to refrain from spirituous 
 liquors. And under existing circumstances it would be advisable 
 they should abstain from them altogether. The food should like- 
 wise be strictly examined, whether it consists of rice, meat or fish, 
 as they frequently purchase bad articles of the above description. 
 And to prevent which the police should use every exertion and 
 inquiry in order that retail traders of such unwholesome pro- 
 visions, which they artfully and injuriously disguise, should be 
 excluded from the Bazaar. 
 
 ' By order, 
 
 ' (Signed) G. A. Baery. 
 * Chief Secretary to Government.'* 
 ' Chief Secretary's Office, 
 
 *Port Louis, 27th Nov., 1819. 
 
 (2) Cholera in Mr. Ackroyd's Family m 1854. 
 
 ' In October three fatal cases of Cholera took place in the family 
 of Mr. Assistant Commissary-General Ackroyd. This gentleman 
 died after a few hours' illness on the 13th, and two of his children 
 died on the 17th and 23rd respectively, one of Cholera, and one of 
 typhoid fever, which set in on reaction. The following account 
 of these cases is in the words of Dr. Home : — 
 
 " The habits of the late Mr. Ackroyd were extremely regular 
 and temperate, and though neither of muscular or vigorous con- 
 stitution, he could not be said to be delicate, for he was scarcely 
 ever ill. He was not predisposed to relaxation of the bowels, and 
 had never to my knowledge suffered from dysentery. 
 
 " On Thursday, October 12th (the day previous to his attack) 
 he was in all respects in his usual health ; his dinner consisted of 
 roast mutton, which he ate with an ordinary appetite, and having 
 passed the evening, as was his habit, with his family, he retired 
 to rest at nine o'clock. 
 
 " There is no reason to believe that during the night he was 
 otherwise than well, for he subsequently stated distinctly, in reply 
 to my questions on the point, that no symptom of anything wrong 
 showed itself before daylight on Friday morning. On that 
 morning, the 13th, on getting up as was his custom soon after six 
 
150 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 o'clock, he had a call to evacuate his bowels, and this was repeated 
 many times at intervals till between eleven and twelve o'clock, 
 after which the evacuations which were of the characteristic rice- 
 water appearance entirely ceased, and did not again return. At 
 nine o'clock he sat down to breakfiist with his family, and though 
 remarked to be ill he made light of his complaint, conversing as 
 usual but taking nothing but a cup of Yapana tea. Soon after 
 (perhaps about ten o'clock) he vomited for the first time, and even 
 after this symptom had recurred twice or oftener, so lightly ill did 
 he consider himself that he actually sent to say that he would be 
 at his office soon after twelve o'clock. 
 
 " About eleven, beginning to feel weak and really unwell he 
 decided on taking off his clothes and lying down in bed, and it 
 was when preparing to do so, and in the act of drawing off his 
 boots, that he had the first attack of cramps. 
 
 " After this the symptoms began rapidly to increase, a copious 
 and cold perspiration came on, the cramps returned at short 
 intervals, and notwithstanding the use of stimulating draughts 
 frequently repeated, of warm tea, brandy a,nd water, &c., and of 
 continual frictions, the whole surface of the body became cold and 
 livid, the vomiting continued to recur occasionally, but the action 
 of the bowels, as before stated, had by this time finally and entirely 
 ceased. 
 
 " By two p.m. all the symptoms of the worst foim of 
 malignant Cholera w^re but too distinctly marked ; the features 
 were livid and collapsed, the eyes sunk in their orbits, the whole 
 surface was cool and w^et with perspiration, the nails blue, the 
 skin of the fingers shrivelled, the nose, cheeks, and lorehead cold. 
 The patient, whose inielligence was unimpaired, replied to ques- 
 tions in a whisper, which could only be heard by plachig the ear 
 almost close enough to touch his mouth. Deglut-ition was per- 
 formed with great difficulty, and notwithstanding the burning 
 heac complained of at the pit of the stomach, it was with much 
 difficulty either drinks or medicine could be swallowed. About 
 four o'clock r.he pulse had ceased to be perceptible at the wrist, 
 and both the tongue and breath were cold. By six o'clock the 
 symptoms of collapse and debility had increased, the spasms of 
 the Umbs were distressingly severe, and it had become ahnost 
 impossible to swallow the medicine that up to this time had been 
 administered every quarter of an hour. At eight the agitation 
 and restlessness were extreme, the respiration became laboured on 
 account of the sensation of weight and tightness experienced in 
 the region of the heart, to which all the applications that could 
 be thought of afforded not even the least possible relief This 
 state of uneasiness and jactitation continued up to half-past eight 
 o'clock, at which time he became rather suddenly quiet, and 
 
CHOLERA. 151 
 
 apparently unconscious either of pain or external impressions, and 
 in this state he expired about quarter before nine o'clock, never 
 having throughout his attack manifested the slightest apprehension 
 as to the result, or given any i-eason to believe that he was aware 
 of the true nature of his complaint. Early in the forenoon of the 
 following day, Saturday, 14th, the six children left by Mr. Ackroyd, 
 consisting of two grown-up sons, one young lady, two boys aged 
 about ele\en and seven, and one child a girl of four, removed to the 
 house of Mr. Hunt in Rempart Street, the young men returning 
 at night to sleep in their own house as a protection to property 
 which it contained. 
 
 " All went well till Sunday afternoon, when William, the 
 boy of eleven, was seized abouc five o'clock p.m. with frequent 
 ■calls to evacuate the bowels. The supposed cause of this attack 
 was his having an hour or two before been observed to chew 
 some billimbees,* which were lying about ; but of which there 
 is no evidence to prove he had ever swallowed any, as no trace 
 whatever of them was found on the most careful examinacion of 
 the stools. It was then considered that the attack was nothing- 
 else but an ordinary derangement of the bowels, such as was not 
 uncommon at the time. About six o'clock he took a laxative of 
 rhubarb, which, having acted satisfactorily, was followed by an 
 interval of quiet of four or five hours, during which he slept and 
 appeared quite Avell. On awakening, however, about one in the 
 morning, the purging again recurred, copious, watery and light 
 in colour, and though astringents were then given in frequent 
 doses no beneficial effect followed, and at three a.m. he vomited 
 for the first time, the purging thereafter increasing in frequency, 
 and consisting of pure rice-water stools passed without the slightest 
 pain, and accompanied with a cold, clammy perspiration. 
 
 "About half an hour before this his youngest brother Frederick, 
 who had slept perfectly well, and had ncA'er complained up to this 
 time, suddenly awoke, saying he was sick and wished lo go to the 
 stool ; in this case the symptoms advanced much moi'e rapidly than 
 in the other, the purging and vomiting went on simultaneously, the 
 •evacuations became almost at once light in colour, and the surface 
 became cool. Emetics were given to both, and all means used to 
 prevent the temperature sinkmg and to keep up the strength. 
 The following morning reaction had taken place in the eldest boy, 
 but not at all in the youngest. The extremities of the latter con- 
 tinued cold, his skin livid and clammy, his eyes sunk, and towards 
 the afternoon of Monday his pulse was not to be felt ; at six a.m. 
 €n Tuesday he died. The other went on more favourably, the 
 vomiting having ceased entirely on Tuesday and Wednesday, the 
 
 ■^ A small sour fruit. 
 
152 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 evacuations having become bilious and the urinary secretions^ 
 having been partially restored. Nourishment both on this and 
 the following day was well taken ; but though the evacuations- 
 did not exceed two or three in the twenty-four hours, his strength 
 did not improve, the eyes were sunk in the orbits, there was much, 
 thirst, great debility, and the tongue continued very foul. On 
 Friday the secretion of the urine became again arrested, and in 
 the night there was delirium, which prolonged itself into the fol- 
 lowing day; and though the pulse was very moderate iu rapidity 
 it was weak, and the tongue became dark and dry; in fact, all the 
 symptoms of typhoid fever now set in. On Sunday alternate dehrium 
 and somnolency manifested themselves, the urine continuing still 
 suppressed, though the bowels acted naturally. On Monday the 
 eyes were suffused, the pupils contracted, the tongue dry and 
 black, and he ceased to be able to reply to questions. At eleven 
 p.m. he died (23rd). Of the remaining four children of Mr. 
 Ackroyd, one on the Monday forenoon (the third day after the- 
 father's death) had a small attack of diarrhoea, which was accom- 
 panied with nausea, but without actual vomiting ; treatment was 
 had recourse to at the very commencement, and in four or five 
 hours all the symptoms ceased. 
 
 " Another child, aged about four, was similarly attacked on 
 Tuesday morning, and after very frequent watery stools the skin 
 w^as observed to become a little cool, upon which an emetic was^ 
 immediately given ; after its operation and the use of the warm 
 bath, and a few doses of astringent medicine in the afternoon, all 
 symptoms of the complaint abated. But two, therefore, it will 
 be observed of the six of Mr. Ackroyd's family have shown no 
 symptoms whatevei* of the disease.' 
 
 "Regarding the cause of the outbreak of Cholera in this 
 family, after being three months entirely absent from Port Louis, 
 no satisfactory evidence can be given, A careful examination of 
 the servants and the premises, in which I had the pleasure of 
 being assisted by Mr. Dauban, threw no light on its occurrence, 
 nor does it aid in dealing up the difficulty the fact that very early 
 in the epidemic the whole Ackroyd iamily had been freely exposed 
 to the disease, by having a European servant attacked in their 
 house, where she received every attention from Mr. Ackroyd and 
 his family until she died. Several of the children, including 
 William (the last who died), had at that time sharp attacks of 
 Choleric diarrhoea; but Mr. Ackroyd himself had up to the period 
 of his last illness entirely escaped, though he had assisted in. 
 rubbiug the servant above mentioned, had spent, I believe, a, 
 night in aiding the treatment of the late Mrs. Kelsey when^ 
 suffering from Cholera, and had immediately after her death 
 received her children for some days as residents into his iamihv 
 
CHOLERA. 15a 
 
 having also on more than one occasion visited the Cholera Hospital 
 of St. Mary, which was at no great distance, but to the leeward 
 of his house. 
 
 "Such is the history of these unfortunate cases of Cholera 
 which so recently made their appearance in Port Louis. That 
 they were really identical with the pestilence that occasioned such 
 mortality in the Island admits not of the slightest doubt; nor 
 because their origin is inexplicable, and their being confined to 
 one single family is as surprising as providential, is any one 
 justified in doubting that the disease was the veritable malignant 
 Cholera. 
 
 " (Signed) W. Home, M.D." ' 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Small-pox, 1856 and 1891. 
 
 ' History. — Small-pox, like the other diseases already de- 
 scribed, occasionally broke out amongst the inhabitants of 
 the Island even as far back as 1771, when it was very 
 fatal amongst the slaves. In 1820 it broke out in Port 
 Louis and was supposed to have come either from Mada- 
 gascar or India, though there was not at that time any 
 importation of immigrants from the latter countr}^, 
 
 ' Firsf severe Epidemic, 1856. — In 1856 several immigrant 
 ships from India arrived with Small-pox on board, and as 
 the quarantine laws were still rather lax, communication 
 took place between the ships and persons ashore, and an 
 epidemic of Variola occurred first in town, and as the 
 people got scared and left for the country (a great number 
 had already done so on account of the second great cholera 
 epidemic which was at that time devastating the Island), 
 they carried the disease with them. Eight coolie ships 
 were actually in quarantine with Small-pox in 1856. The 
 quarantine station at the He au Eenitier was so crowded 
 out that Flat Island, to the north of Mauritius, was turned 
 into a second quarantine station ; and finally, as we have 
 seen before, Gabriel Island, close to the latter, was also 
 requisitioned for the cholera patients. The epidemic, which 
 was very severe in Port Louis at first, gradually diminished 
 in intensity, and by the end of the j^ear it had become 
 extinct. Baby-vaccine was the vaccine used, and there are 
 accounts extant of blood-poisoning and transmission of 
 diseases from family to family through that system. It is 
 said that a Chinese Doctor Assy was very successful in his 
 treatment, but what that was is not stated. 
 
 ' Although the Variola cases were numerous, the mortality 
 was not heavy. 
 
SMALL-POX. 155 
 
 'Second Ejndemic, 189L — As we have already seen, Sir 
 IVilliam Stevenson became Governor of Mauritius in 1857, 
 and it was due to his wise administration that not only 
 was cholera stamped out for ever (after 1862) from the 
 Island, but Small-pox also was supposed to have become 
 a disease of the past, for a period of thirty-one years elapsed 
 l)efore the second great Variola epidemic broke out early 
 in 1891 ; and this would never have occurred had not the 
 blackguard captain of the ss. Fangola from Delagoa Bay 
 deceived the health officer by hiding a Small-pox passenger 
 in the hold, and after having obtained pratique landing him 
 at night ; the ship left Mauritius the next day. 
 
 'A few days after the Pangola's departure, the schooner 
 Alerte, from Reunion, was given pratique, and a day or 
 two after the first mate, his wife, and a sailor developed 
 Small-pox. It would appear that the Fangola had touched 
 at Reunion when the Alerte was in St. Denis Hnrbour, a ad 
 had landed passengers there who subsequently developed 
 ^mall-pox ; one of these had had frequent communications 
 with the crew of the Alerte before he fell ill. From these 
 two foci (the Fangola passenger and the Alerte crew) the 
 disease made rapid progresg. Two important factors 
 operated in furthering the spread of the disease : (1) the 
 insufficiency of vaccine in the Island at the time of the 
 outbreak ; and (2) jthe. jgnorance, stubbornness, and super- 
 stition of the natives. 
 
 ' With regard to the latter, the popular idea was that, 
 like cholera. Variola was due to some atmospheric disturb- 
 ance, and that no amount of vaccination could prevent its 
 prt'gress, and no precaution need be taken against con- 
 tagion ; hence the wakes, or custom of watching the dead, 
 helped to spread the disease, some eight out of twelve 
 persons being infected on one occasion. The Indian natives 
 too, attributed the epidemic to the ire of the particular 
 deity presiding over this disease, and maintained their 
 practice of flocking, sick and whole, to their temples to 
 offer cocoanut-milk, cucumber, sweets, water-melons, milk, 
 and lilac flowers as a propitiation. It was with the greatest 
 
150 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 difficulty they could be compelled to desist in this practice- 
 or to submit to vaccination. 
 
 ' But with regard to insufficiency of vaccine at the 
 time of the unexpected outbreak of Small-pox, the General 
 Board of Health claimed that they were not to blame ; for 
 thirty-two years had elapsed since Small-pox had visited 
 Mauritius, and only a small amount of lymph sufficient for 
 the needs of the inhabitants used to be imported from 
 Europe by each mail. 
 
 ' True, a laboratory had been instituted, where calf 
 lymph was prepared and distributed, but many cases of 
 lymphangitis having been traced to its doors, it was closed, 
 and before a larger quantity of vaccine could be obtained 
 from the Lister Institute in London, the epidemic had 
 time to spread. It only shows how important it is to 
 have a Lister or Pasteur Institute in every populous 
 centre. 
 
 ' The inhabitants of Port Louis were very refractive to 
 the measures issued by the General Board of Health, that 
 they should remain twenty-one days under surveillance 
 after having been discharged from the Small-pox hospital,, 
 and that everybody living within an area of 100 metres 
 of any Small-pox case should be vaccinated. The people 
 left their rooms and their dwellings by day, and the 
 vaccinator never operated upon more than fifteen to twenty 
 per cent, of the inmates^ the consequence being the gradual 
 and steady spread of the epidemic^ in Port Louis ; whilst 
 those who could, migrated to the country, infecting others- 
 there. It was suggested to the General Board of Health 
 that compulsory vaccination should be proclaimed in the 
 whole of Port Louis, and after having divided the town 
 into eight parishes, the proclamation was made for one 
 parish at a time. All doctors in town were enlisted into 
 the work of vaccinating from house to house, and after 
 parish No. 1 was finished, 'No. 2 was proceeded with, and 
 so on, until the whole town had been vaccinated. The 
 consequence was that whereas in January 1892, before this 
 system of compulsory vaccination had been adopted, the 
 
SMALL-POX. 157 
 
 oases of Yariola in town amounted to 500 per month, in 
 April there were but a very few cases, and by May the 
 epidemic had been mastered. Over 10,000 persons were 
 vaccinated in town, and if to this figure were added the 
 number of children still under tlie protection of infant 
 vaccination, of adults previously revaccinated, and of those 
 who had had the Small-pox, the whole population of Port 
 Louis, by end of May, had been protected ! This praise- 
 worthy result must have been ver}^ gratifying to the late 
 Sir Francis Lovell, the C.M.O., and to the Sanitary Warden, 
 Dr. Bolton. 
 
 ' As the epidemic ceased in town it very quickly stopped 
 in the country too. 
 
 * Another factor in the rapid abatement of the epidemic 
 was the revocation of the twenty-one days' surveillance 
 after removal from a Small-pox hospital, for before the 
 revocation people ill with Small-pox hid themselves rather 
 than go and spend two or even three months in the Small- 
 pox hospital. But when they knew that they could return 
 home as soon as the secondary fever had passed and the 
 scabs had fallen, they did not hesitate to flock into the 
 hospital. 
 
 ' Several points of interest attract one's attention in the 
 above account; viz.: 
 
 ' (1) The absolute contagiousness of Yariola. 
 
 ' (2) The importance of vaccination with pure calf lymph. 
 
 ' (3) The curative and preventive efficacy of vaccination. 
 
 ' (4) The difficulty of dealing with natives in times of 
 epidemics. 
 
 *(5) The absolute necessity of enforcing " vi et armis" 
 the measures passed by Government for stopping epidemics. 
 
 * Since 1901 Variola still occasionally visits the Island, 
 but it has never spread again into an epidemic. Vaccination 
 is compulsory.' 
 
 Bib iography : Bulletin de la SociStS Mddicale de Maurice ; Dr. 
 Bolton's Notes ; Interviews with other medical men ; Articles in the 
 Mauritian daily papers. 
 
158 
 
 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 Chart showing relation between temperature, rainfall, and number of cases 
 and number of deaths during the Small-pox epidemic of 1891 and 1892. 
 
 Ex'planation : Temperature of Air (mean) ~~il 
 
 Relative Humidity °/^ •-•-•-•-• 
 
 (Saturation 100). 
 
 Ea,infall (inches) 
 
 No. of Cases treated o o o 
 
 No. of Deaths • . . . 
 
SMALL-POX. 
 
 159 
 
 Yearg 
 
 Iinmuiiity Curve by agre periods 
 
 Years 
 
 ^ 
 
 o/o ^r 
 
 5 to 10 to 
 10 15 
 
 15 to 20 
 20 
 
 to 30 to 
 30 40 
 
 40 to M 
 50 %^l 
 
 Un. 
 • knuwn 
 
 o/o 
 
 30 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 .30 
 
 28 
 
 28 
 
 
 
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 26 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 26 
 
 24 
 
 
 
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 5 
 
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 T 
 
 
 24 
 
 22 
 
 
 
 
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 22 
 
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 20 
 
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 16 
 
 14 cin p. 
 
 uli y vi , 
 
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 25 
 
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 8 
 
 
 Curve showing the percentage of liability according to age periods. 
 
 Total number of Cases treated 
 
 3,517 
 
 Deaths 
 
 657 
 
 Census in 1891 .... 
 
 371,000 
 
 Ratio per 100 of Attacks 
 
 9-48 
 
 Deaths 
 
 1-17 
 
 94-9 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Malarial Fever. 
 
 Briefly, this fever is due to a parasite or protozoon intro- 
 duced into tlie blood by an Anoplieline mosquito. There 
 are three kinds of this parasite : one produces the ' Benign 
 Tertian ' intermittent fever every alternate day, or every 
 forty-eighth hour after the first attack, unless the fever be 
 checked by quinine ; the second gives the ' Quartan ' every 
 third day, or every seventy- second hour ; and the third, the 
 ^Malignant Subtertian,' which comes on every day, or 
 sometimes every thirty-sixth hour. The symptoms of the 
 three kinds of fever are very much alike, except that those of 
 the ' Subtertian ' are severer, and the fever may end fatally, 
 and the temperature is usually remittent, not intermittent, 
 i.e.y does not come down below the normal line of 98° F. 
 It also ascends and descends slower than in Tertian and 
 Quartan fevers, and delirium is frequently present. 
 
 The symptoms of all three are : malaise, fatigue, some- 
 times muscular pains, headache, chilly sensation, blueness of 
 nose, lips, and nails, then shivering or rigor, which, however, 
 is sometimes absent. This stage may last from half an hour 
 to an hour ; then the hot stage sets in, with hot sensations all 
 over the body, severe headache, thiobbing pulse, and hurried 
 respiration ; that stage may last from one to many hours. 
 Finally, there is profuse perspiration (which may, in the 
 Subtertian, alternate with dryness of skin), and sleep ensues. 
 On waking up, the patient, apart from weakness, feels quite 
 well, and the attack is over, to begin again, as before said, 
 twenty-four to thirty-six hours after if the fever be Sub- 
 tertian, in forty- eight hours if Tertian, and in seventy- two 
 
Temperature 
 
 98-2 
 
 Temp 
 
 u?l 
 
 y^\ 
 
 T| 
 
 w| 
 
 T 
 
 Fi 
 
 s| 
 
 106*^ 
 
 M 
 
 E 
 
 M 
 
 E 
 
 M 
 
 E 
 
 M 
 
 E 
 
 M 
 
 E 
 
 M 
 
 ^ 
 
 M 
 
 E 
 
 105° 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 104° 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 103^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 102"" 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 
 
 lor 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 A 
 
 
 A 
 
 
 A 
 
 
 
 
 
 100° 
 
 i 
 
 \ 
 
 
 \ 
 
 J ■ 
 
 V 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 
 
 
 
 99° 
 
 :/ 
 
 "N 
 
 J 
 
 \l 
 
 
 ▼ 
 
 \/ 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 TL 
 
 1 
 
 £. 
 
 , :... )L 
 
 ^^ 
 
 ^,^, 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 1 
 
 ■r 
 
 _^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 97° 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 r 
 
 ^ 
 
 2 
 
 H 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 L 
 
 1 
 
 J 
 
 
 
 
 « 
 
 )UB ' 
 
 rERTIAN 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 NORMAL 
 TEMP. 
 
 Temp 
 
 s 1 
 
 M 1 
 
 -T 
 
 w| 
 
 ■T| 
 
 ^F ! 
 
 s 
 
 ■s 1 
 
 M 
 
 T 
 
 w 
 
 
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 105" 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 104" 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 103' 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 102" 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 r 
 
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 ^ 
 
 
 ^n 
 
 96" 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 [ 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
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 L 
 
 
 
 
 __ 
 
 
 n 
 
 Quartan 
 
 
 Temp 
 
 s 
 
 M 
 
 T 
 
 W 
 
 T 
 
 F 
 
 S 
 
 ^ 1 
 
 
 106' 
 
 M 
 
 E 
 
 M 
 
 E 
 
 M 
 
 E 
 
 M 
 
 E 
 
 M 
 
 E 
 
 M 
 
 E 
 
 M 
 
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 M 
 
 E 
 
 
 104' 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 103° 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 102° 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 101° 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 100' 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 99° 
 
 
 
 
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 ilk 
 
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 ^ 
 
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 NORMAL 
 TEMP. 
 
 Benign Tertian 
 
 M 
 
162 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 hours if Quartan, and so on for four or five attacks, unless 
 quinine be taken by the mouth or be subcutaneously in- 
 jected (or be given by the rectum in babies). 
 
 In Tertian and Quartan the temperature is always inter- 
 mittent {vide charts), but two attacks of fever might occur 
 close on one another : in other words, say, a rigor might 
 occur every day in Benign Tertian if the parasites have been 
 introduced on two consecutive days, one will mature accord- 
 ingly a day earlier than the other, and the Tertian chart 
 will be mistaken for a mild Subteitian with intermission. 
 For the same reason there may be a double or treble Quartan 
 chart, or an irregular one, if all the three parasites are in the 
 man's blood. The microscope alone could reveal their 
 presence. 
 
 Pathology. — The red corpuscles are destroyed by the 
 parasites, and after several attacks anaemia ensues. Some 
 authorities believe that only people whose blood has been 
 thus deteriorated can get Blackwater Fever. 
 
 There is congestion of all the internal organs, and 
 cloudy swelling of the cells of the liver and kidneys. 
 Parasites of llalaria are found in the red blood corpuscle?,, 
 the capillaries and cells of the internal organs, with deposit 
 of pigment in the connective tissue of the liver, and in the 
 parenchyma of the spleen, the Malpighian bodies of which 
 are enlarged. 
 
 In chronic cases the spleen becomes hard and enlarged 
 (Ague Cake) and its border becomes rounded. At post 
 mortem, the colour of that organ is slaty if it be a chronic 
 case, red if not. 
 
 In a section of the brain the parasites are found in great 
 quantity, sticking to the walls of the capillaries and blocking 
 the circulation. This is especially the case in Subtertian 
 fever, and is no doubt the cause of the delirium and coma. 
 Quinine, if injected early intravenously or intramuscularly, 
 destroys this adhesiveness, and thus removes the obstacle to 
 the circulation. 
 
 Chronic and constant attacks of Malarial Fever induce a 
 * Malarial cachexia.' The patient becomes anaemic, has a 
 
MALARIAL FEVER. 
 
 163 
 
 
 5 L^i/A g / ArvophgCta 
 
 
 
 
 7 AnfiralfL"' • 
 
 
 
 
 M-i^o. 
 
 
 f Ctt(. 
 
164 
 
 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 I dirty or bronzed skin, a tender and enlarged spleen and liver ; 
 he is ''irritable and depressed, and suffers from, insomnia, 
 dyspepsia, muscular weakness, neuralgia, and oedema of the 
 legs. There are often ocular disturbances, and a predisposi- 
 tion to tuberculosis and dysentery ; whilst latent diseases, 
 
 ^ like syphilis, niay recur. 
 
 : -Etio/'Ogi/.—As heiore said the fever is due to a parasite 
 which is sucked from a Malarial Fever patient by an 
 Anopheline mosquito and introduced into the blood of a 
 fresh Victim. Whence it originally came no one so far 
 knows. It was suppo.sed.to have bred in marshes, because 
 people living near these generally got the fever, but that 
 was due to tlie fact that these swampy, places are the 
 habitats of the carrier, the mosquito. ISo other insects have 
 been known io carry it, and only one su,b-famil3!^, the 
 Anopheline, does so. Some authorities maintain that the 
 ^dine sub -family also are carriers. 
 
 The following table indicates iJte differences heticeen the 
 Ano2)KeliH(B and the common mosquitoes, the Culicina\ 
 
 1. 
 
 I 2. 
 
 I'- 
 
 In Anophelinoi 
 
 The female palps are long ; 
 
 The male palps efid in a club ; 
 
 The proboscis is penetrating and 
 is nearly in a straight line with 
 the head, thorax and abdomen ; 
 
 When at rest the Anopheline 
 lifts its abdomen and tail away 
 from th^^rface on which it 
 r6sts ; . 'T.^ 
 
 The larvae lie horizontally under' 
 the surface of the water, and 
 
 ^^ave compound palmate hairs 
 
 ,o& each side of the abdomen ; 
 
 The eggs are laid singly though 
 close lo one another, and are 
 boat-shaped, and have an air- 
 float on each side ; 
 
 The scutellum or tail of the 
 thorax is round. 
 
 In Culicince 
 
 The female palps are short ; 
 The male palps end in a brush ; 
 The proboscis is not in a straight 
 
 line with the long axis of the 
 
 body ; 
 When at rest the Culicine does not 
 
 lift its tail up, but keeps it 
 
 down ; 
 
 The larvae have a syphuncle through 
 which they breathe, opening 
 near their tail, and they lie with 
 their head down and with their 
 body at an oblique angle from 
 the surface ; 
 
 The eggs are laid in clumps, or rafts, 
 and are like ditWb-belJts, stand- 
 ing with the handles up ; 
 
 The scutellum is tri-lobed. 
 
MALARIAL FEVER. 165 
 
 It is tlie female mosquito that bites, and not the male ; 
 she has few hairs on the antennoe, whereas the male has a 
 bushy beard on them. 
 
 Many midges resemble the mosquito; but the veins or 
 ribs on the wings differ ; the third rib on a mosquito's wing 
 is short, and starts half-way down to the end of the wing ; 
 the midge's third rib (if any) is not like this. 
 
 The second and fourth ribs of a mosquito's wing are 
 bifurcated at their ends, and the third is not. The midge's 
 are not bifurcated. 
 
 Most mosquitoes, especially the Anopheline, breed in or 
 near water, some in old broken receptacles, hollows in 
 trunks, and between branch and stem of trees; and others 
 in grass along the banks of streams. ■ Some species prefer 
 clear and swiftly-flowiiig water, others stagnant pools ; 
 some live in tanks, filters, and barrels of drinking water, 
 others in sewers ; some again hide in dark corners, and 
 under furniture in houses, others prefer the jungle. 
 
 Mitzmain* has proved that during the winter or cold 
 months only adult female mosquitoes hibernate, and the 
 Anophelines are not infected during that time, but become so 
 in the spring, when they bite human beings, who are the 
 real carriers of the parasites all through the winter. It is, 
 therefore, important to keep all infected persons, at least 
 those who had Malarial Fever in the Fall, far away from the 
 breeding-places of Anophelines as soon as spring begins ; 
 so that before expensive measures are taken for the ex- 
 termination or avoidance of the malarial Anophelines, iheir 
 habits and habitats have to be studied, and it may be found 
 to be cheaper to remove human habitations from the vicinity 
 of their breeding-places rather than to clean, modify, or 
 destroy these, or even to attempt to exterminate or to 
 avoid the mosquitoes themselves. 
 
 But vast and valuable territories, once the unhealthiest 
 
 on earth, like Colon and Panama, on account of the 
 
 Anophelines and the Culicine Stegomyia fmciata (the carrier 
 
 of Yellow Fever) have become about the healthiest spots in 
 
 * Fuhlic Health Bulletin, No. 84, 1816, U.S.A. 
 
166 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 the world, under drainage, destruction of the jungle, the 
 clearing of grass and sedges from the banks of rivers, 
 streams, lakes, and marshes ; the systematic petrolization of 
 same ; the gauze -netting of doors and windows of houses ; 
 the curtaining of beds, and the dosing of the inhabitants 
 with quinine, and wherever possible the isolation of the 
 infected patients. 
 
 Towns and villages in the West Indies, Egypt, and 
 Siam are being reclaimed from the mosquitoes by the 
 adoption of these measures, and by the canalization of 
 rivulets and streams on to a cemented bed, or into pipes; 
 by the almost hermetic sealing of all tanks and tubs of water 
 with close-mesbed gauze ; by the removal of all broken pots, 
 pans, bottles, tins, and any other water-holding receptacles 
 from court-yards and gardens ; and the destruction of those 
 plants which are capable of holding water for a long time 
 between their trunks and branches and leaves ; or their 
 transplantation to some distance from human habitations ; 
 and finally by constantly removing all barriers (natural, or 
 those formed after hurricanes and rain storms) to the current 
 in the rivers. 
 
MALARIAL FEVER. 
 
 167 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF THE PARASITES CARRIED BY THE 
 ANOPHELINES. 
 
 These parasites can be recognised by the colour and size 
 of the red corpuscles they are in ; by the fineness or coarse- 
 ness of the pigments inside their bodies ; by their shape or 
 appearance; and, finally, by the number of 'spores' inside 
 them. Daniels gives the following table of differences 
 between these parasites of Malaria : 
 
 It is only on the eighth or twelfth day after one has 
 been bitten by an infected anopheline that one feels feverish. 
 During these eight or twelve days the parasites introduced 
 into veins are no doubt (in a Tertian fever case) casting 
 
108 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 toxin into his blood every forty-eight hours ; but the 
 accumulation of the toxin proclmes a sensitive efl'ect only 
 on the eighth or twelfth day. If his blood be constantly 
 examined under the microscope for two or three days 
 the pa^-asite's development could be easily watched. It 
 first looks like a diminutive signet-ring just inside the 
 red corpuscle, and it gradually becomes bigger, losing at 
 the same time its circular form and evolving a lot of 'fitie-' 
 brown pigmejils in its interior (probably the undigested 
 constituents of the hiX3moglobiii) ; these are thrown inta 
 active movement and gather in the • entre of the parasite, 
 the corpuscle becoming pale and almost twit?e its t)riginal 
 size; finally, about the forty-eighth liour after it has 
 entered the corpuscle it splits into twelve or even twenty- 
 five concentric segments, or 'spores,' or 'merozoites' around 
 the mass of pigment**, and at the forty-eighth hour it bursts 
 through the sac of the corpuscle and discharges its spores 
 and the toxin. 
 
 When the parasite is thus segmented it is called a 
 *schizont,' and the process is lermed ^ ^^chizQijonii' When 
 this happens in the blood stream the spores at once begin 
 to attack fresh red corpuscles, and ihe toxin produces a 
 rigor and brings the temperature up to 103° or 104° F. 
 In fresh blood recently taken after a rigor large ' mono- 
 nuclear' white corpuscles and 'phagocytes' are seen advancing 
 towards the spores, and throwing out amoeboid processes, 
 catch and absorb these spores as well as the pigments. If the 
 ' merozoites ' or ' schizonts ' are sucked up by a mosquito they 
 die. J3ut some of the ' merozoites ' escape the phagocytes 
 and manage to penetrate inside the red corpuscles, to begin 
 anew another a.sexnal cycle. This 'schizogony' is reproduced 
 three or four times, and then ^ sjmrogony'' or the sexual 
 gmnctociite comes int(j existence. That" is to Say, the seg- 
 mentation of the parasite does not take place after the 
 first four attacks of fever, but the parasite having filled 
 the sac of the red corpuscle and having its pigments 
 scattered all about its interior, has become a potential male 
 or female. If it is to be a male, or microyanwtc, the 
 
FiGUHE 1. 
 
 Benign Tertian Malarial Parasites. 
 
 1. Size of a normal red blood cor- 
 
 puscle in comparison with those 
 attacked. 
 
 2. A red blood corpuscle attacked 
 
 by a Malarial tertian parasite. 
 3 & \. Stages in the development of 
 the parasite -the corpuscles in- 
 creasing in size at the same time. 
 
 Plidse in the Jaexual stofie : 
 o. A Gametocyte, 
 H. A ' rosace' form of the parasite. 
 
 7. Vermicules set free. 
 
 Plmne in the Sexual utape : 
 
 8. Male parasite or Microgamete. 
 
 9. Do., throwing out ' flagella ' 
 
 10. Female parasite throwing out 
 • poles.' 
 
 Fiai KK II. 
 Quartan Malarial Parasites. 
 
 1. Size of a normal red blood cor- 
 puscle in comparison with those 
 attacked. 
 
 2 A red blood corpuscle attacked 
 
 by a Malarial quartan parasite. 
 
 3 & 4. Stages in the development of 
 
 the parasite -the corpuscles de- 
 creasing in size at the same time. 
 
 I'lidsc i)i the Aacxnal atiuje : 
 o A Gametocyte. 
 (5 A ' rosace ' form ot the parasite. 
 
 7. Vermicules set free. 
 
 Phaae in the Sexual staoe : 
 
 8. Male parasite or Microgamete. 
 
 9. Do., throwing out * flagella. 
 
 10. Female parasite or Macrogamete. 
 
 11. Do., throwing out 'poles.' 
 
 Ffgure III. 
 
 .Estivo-autumnal or Malignant 
 or Subtertian Parasites. 
 
 1. Size of a normal red blood cor- 
 
 puscle in comparison with those 
 attacked. 
 
 2. A red blood corpuscle attacked 
 
 by two parasites. 
 3 & 4. Stages in the development of 
 the parasite. 
 
 Pha:<e i)i the A.'<exual Stape : 
 .^. A ' rosace' form of the pai'asite. 
 fi. Vermicules set free. 
 
 Phase in the Sexual Stage : 
 7 & 8. Males or Mierogametes— 
 
 crescents at first. 
 9. Male parasite throwing out 'fla- 
 gella.' 
 10 & 11. Females or Ma(;rogametes. 
 12. Female parasite throwing out 
 ' poles.' 
 
MALARIAL FEVER. 
 
 1G1> 
 
 
 
 '' f^i^y-^ 
 
 5^/; 3 
 
 \M' 
 
 
 'M«««i.«rf( rvL 
 
170 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 pigments accumulate in the centre ; and if a female, 
 ^macrogamete,'' in a circle. If no unophelines come along 
 to suck the patient's blood, these gametocytes die or are 
 absorbed b}^ the mononuclear white cells ; but if they 
 are sucked into an anopheline's stomach, the male throws 
 out flagella (spermatozoa), and the female two 'polar 
 bodies ' along their circumference. The former enter 
 the latter and the fertilised macrogamete, now called a 
 * zygote' or 'ookinet,' makes a nest between the coats of 
 the anopheline's stomach, and during eight or twelve days 
 batches hundreds of vermicules or * sporozoitesJ These 
 finally burst through the mother and nest into the mos- 
 quito's abdominal cavity, and weeding their way through 
 the insect's hump to its salivary gland, glide thence into 
 the lower channel of its proboscis, ready to be spat into 
 the next victim's blood, there to enter his red corpuscles 
 and to start afresh the asexual cj^cle, and finall}^ the sexual. 
 
 The same course of events takes place with regard to 
 a Quartan and Subtertian parasite ; but the latter' s micro- 
 gametes and macrogametes take a ' crescentic ' or sausage 
 shape, inside the mosquito's stomachy or on a film if a 
 drop of water be added. After staining, these crescents 
 are distinctly visible, and at once indicate that the patient 
 has the malignant Subtertian remittent fever. 
 
 Treatment. — As a rule ten grains of quinine sulphate 
 thrice daily for a week or two, and thereafter five grains for 
 fifteen days, are sufficient to keep the iever away, probably 
 by killing the parasites that may circulate in the blood, but it 
 is wise to go on taking two to three grains every day as long 
 as one is in a malarial country, and even to continue doing 
 so for three years after one has returned to Europe. It is 
 believed that in so doing one can protect oneself against 
 attacks of Black water Fever, which seems to come on only 
 in persons who have have had Malarial Fever, and who have 
 neglected to take a daily dose of quinine, however small it 
 may be, even after their return to a temperate climate. 
 
 If quinine produces gastric disturbance, or fails to act, 
 intramuscular injections (in the Gluteus or Deltoid muscle) 
 
MALAKIAL FEVEE. 171 
 
 of fifteen grains of bihydrochloriHe of quinine in ten c. c. 
 of filtered and boiled water should be given in two doses ; 
 -careful antiseptic precautions being taken. In pernicious 
 or comatose cases, ten grains of bihydrochloride should be 
 intravenously injected every eight hours — making thirty 
 grains, and no more, in the twenty-four hours. INormal 
 saline solution (0"75 per cent.'^ should also be injected, and in 
 cerebral cases a sodium bromide solution (0*75 p. c.) as well. 
 
 In bilious remittent fever, or where jaundice supervenes, 
 glucose (two drachms in half a tumblerful of water) shoidd 
 be given orally or by the bowel. 
 
 Always cure the patient of his Malaria, if possible, 
 before attempting any surgical operation. 
 
 In chronic cases, especially where the spleen is enlarged, 
 arsenic should be combined with quinine — a useful prescrip- 
 tion is the following: 
 
 Acidi arseniosi, gr. ^V ; hydrarg. subchlor., gr. >, ; pulv. 
 ipec. CO., gr. 3; quin. h3'drochlorid., gr. 5. Mince, ft. pulv. in 
 oachets or capsules, one in the morning and one at night. 
 
 The heavy doses of quinine were supposed to cause 
 Blackwater Fever, 'which sometimes proved fatal in a few 
 hours. It was then called Haematuric Fever, as the doctors 
 thought it was real red corpuscles that were passed with the 
 urine. Now the microscope has revealed. the fact that it is 
 haemoglobin that escapes from the kidneys in Blackwater. 
 
 Amblyopia, Amaurosis, and night-blindness are known to 
 have been caused by three large doses of quinine (over thirty 
 grains at a dose, thrice daily), but I never saw a case of these 
 sequela) in Mauritius, nor have I seen them recorded in the 
 hospital reports. But several cases of temporary suicidal 
 mania were said to have been traced to these heavy doses. 
 Severe ambulating delirium due to Subtertian fever might 
 have been mistaken for these mental attacks.. There is no 
 doubt, however, that insomnia and peculiar hallucinations of 
 different types follow on large doses of quinine given after 
 sunset, and that some persons cannot take with impunity 
 at any time even small doses ; dyspnoea, palpitation, and rest- 
 lessness being the consequence. 
 
172 THE EPIDEMiaS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 For those persons who cannot take quinine, Dr. Walters 
 of India, recommends quinoidine. It is as effective as and 
 cheaper than quinine, and causes neither cinchonism nor 
 gastric trouble. Alter a preliminary purge he gives four to- 
 eight grains, thrice daily, for three or four days. 
 
 In Salonika, in a vast number of malarial j)atients, even 
 very large doses of quinine (seventy grains) have no effect 
 on the fever. 
 
 The immunity of some natives and old residents of 
 malarious countries is due to their having had the fever 
 constantly in their younger days. Newcomers in a malarious 
 country should avoid living amidst or near natives, or even 
 with Europeans suffering from, or liable to attacks of,, 
 malarial fever, lest Anopheline mosquitoes should carry the 
 parasites from resident to newcomer. He should also be 
 within gauze-protected doors and windows after sunset, and 
 always sleep under mosquito curtains of small meshw^ork,. 
 and well tucked in all round under the mattress; he must 
 not forget that there are some species of Anopheline that 
 bite during the day, and that some others prefer the jungles 
 to marshes or rivers. 
 
 During early convalescence from Malarial Fever he 
 should avoid \ cool, bracing places ' and cold baths ; and in 
 returning to a temperate climate he should live in Avarm, 
 well-protected localities for a year ar. least.. 
 
 ACCOUNT OF THE FEVER IN MAURITIUS. 
 
 Before giving an account of the origin and course of 
 this fever in the Island of Mauritius, I extract the fol- 
 lowing lines from a paper I read before the Hygienic 
 Congress in London in 1890, and reported in the Lancet 
 of August 23rd : . 
 
 ' During a visit wliioh I paid last summer to the Island 
 of Mauritius, I . was enabled, through the kindness of the 
 medical officers in charge of the hospitals of Port Louis, to 
 
MALARIAL FEVER. 178 
 
 obtain mucli interesting information concerning the peculiar 
 type of Malarial Fever which for the last twenty years has 
 been doing so much harm in that beautiful Island. Until 
 the year 1866 Mauritius was considered to be one of the 
 healthiest resorts in the Southern Hemisphere. Tt had a 
 general population of 120,000 souls, and an Indian popula- 
 tion of 200,000 immigrants. To-day, however, its commerce 
 is less flourishing, and the ravages of fever have reduced the 
 general population to less than 100,000, and although the 
 Indian population has increased to over 218,000 this is 
 simply due to the more extensive scale on which immigration 
 from India has been conducted during the last few years. 
 
 ' The origin of Malarial Fever in Mauritius is ev«n now 
 a question on which there is much difference of opinion. 
 Some epidemiologists still uphold Colin's telluric effluvial 
 theory, and argue that for ages past the Malaria has been 
 dormant in ' the soil ; others, with greater • show of reason, 
 maintain that until the arrival of the immigrant ship, the 
 SpuiiJif/, from India, with Malarial Fever on board, in 1865, 
 this fever was not known in Mauri tiiis, and that the germ 
 thus introduced found the Island at that time in a condition 
 most favourable for its propagation, for the soil had been 
 recently turnfed up for the railway and gas works, and two 
 serious inundations in 1862 and 1865, followed by prolonged 
 droughts, had not only filled the cellars and gardens in the 
 lower parts of Port Louis with mud, but had also created all 
 along the course of the rivers small stagnant pools, a condi- 
 tion of things not improved by the cutting down of the 
 forest trees on the watershed of the Island, which was being 
 converted into sugar-cane fields. 
 
 ' Dr. Meldrum, F.R.S. (of the Mauritius observatory), 
 asserts in an article written a few years ago, '' that fever 
 made its fir ^'t 'appearance in 1865 on a sugar estate at Petite 
 Riviere, on the West Coast, whither the Indians disem- 
 barked from the fatal ship j the Sjmnkf/y had been sent, and 
 on which estate a large quantity of putrid black mud, dug 
 out of a drained salt-and-fre'sh- water marsh {haraoJtms)^ had 
 been scattered as manure. Thence the fever spread north 
 
174 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 and south along the coast, round to the other side of the 
 Island, and ascended the watercourses until it gained the 
 high levels." The villages along the mouths of rivers, and 
 those situated near the glens, suffered most ; whilst Port 
 Louis, the capital, became a hotbed of fever, lying as it does 
 in the basin of a valley, encircled aloug two- thirds of its 
 circumference by a high range of mountains which obstruct 
 the healthy breezes from the country. Although it faces 
 the open sea on the west, yet on each side of the harbour, at 
 the extremities of the mountain range, extend two or three 
 square miles of low-lying land, with the mouth of the 
 Grand River and the Cassis salt-pans to the south, and the 
 Lataniers River and the Fanfaron and La Paix streams to 
 the north emptying their muddy water into a shallow part 
 of the harbour called the " Mer Rouge.'' Moreover, running 
 through the town from the mountains to the harbour are 
 three other muddy streams into which the surface and sub- 
 soil waters drain. All these streams are practically open 
 sewers, and their mouths for a hundred yards or more are 
 below high- water level, so that at high tide they become large 
 cloaca, the stench from which in summer is most offensive. 
 
 The suburbs of Cassis and Roche bois, situated in the 
 neighbourhood of the mouth of the Grand River and the 
 Mer Rouge respectively, paid very heavy tribute to the 
 fever, as did those of Camp Malabar and Champ de Mars, 
 both built upon, or in the vicinity of, ancient quarries and 
 sandpits filled in with the rubbish of the town. Indeed, 
 every quarter of Port Louis contributed more or less heavily 
 towards the daily mortality. Most of the villages in the 
 country to which the fever- stricken people fled, gradually 
 became invaded with the disease, with the exception of those 
 situated at a high altitude. During the epidemic of 1867- 
 1868, one-fifth of the population of Mauritius is computed to 
 have died ; and now, in spite of large sums of money spent 
 by the Government in ameliorating the condition of Port 
 Louis and in carrying out other sanitary improvements, the 
 Malarial Fever has become endemic in Mauritius. 
 
 ' I had the opportunity of examining the blood of some 
 
MALARIAL FEVER. 175 
 
 of the patients at the hospitals in Port Louis, and in several 
 cases I discovered the ring form of Laveran's malarial 
 parasite. I was one of the first observers in Mauritius to 
 do so. 
 
 * There is no doubt that the parasite was introduced in the 
 Island in 1865 (if it ever was imported before it did not find 
 a suitable nidus or focus, and died away),* and it thrived 
 luxuriantly in the brackish mud on that sugar estate at Petite 
 E-iviere, whence, by contiguity or by transmission, it spread 
 and formed fresh habitats all along the coast, at the marshy 
 mouths of rivers, and wherever salt and fresh water mingled 
 freely and remained stagnant. From the mouths of the 
 rivers it ascended up the glens and river-courses, sowing its 
 spores wherever stagnant pools or marshes existed on each 
 side o^ the river-beds. In the town of Port Louis it found, 
 as we have seen, a too well-prepared soil wherein to form a 
 permanent colony.' 
 
 ' As stated in the preface to this book, in order to under- 
 stand the invasion, progress, and persistence of this epidemic, 
 many things concerning the Island must be known. In the 
 light of the present knowledge of Malarial Fever, the first 
 question one asks is : Are there any Anophelines in Mauritius 
 and did they alwaj^s exist there? Yes, the P ijrotophorua 
 costalis, well known as the carrier of malarial parasites on 
 the West Coast of Africa, actually abounds in Mauritius, 
 especially along the coast, but no one had studied mosquitoes 
 in Mauritius before the year 1890, and consequently no one 
 knows how long before then it had lived in the Island ; 
 one can only surmise that it must have been an aboriginal 
 Dipteron, for in the earliest chapters of Mauritian history — 
 e.g., in Bernardin de St. Pierre's Paid and Virgifna, 1797 — 
 fever similar to that affecting the Malagasies in the big 
 neighbouring island 500 miles west is said to have occa- 
 sionally attacked the French inhabitants and their slaves. 
 The next question will be : Why did the Malarial Fever 
 become epidemic in 1865-1866? We have just traced the 
 
 * The Anopheline Mosquito had not yet been proved to be the carrier 
 of the malarial parasite. 
 
no THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 invasion to tlae landing of; hundreds of, coolie. .immigrants 
 ill with Malarial Fever, along the westej9.^fi59ast, not far 
 from Port Louis. ., .: ; ,^. , 
 
 * But in those days, as already stated, Ross's mosquito- 
 
 ' carrier .discovery had nojt yet astonished the \vorld, and I 
 connected- the malarial parasites, then but recently described 
 
 ^ by Laveran, with the muddy nidus around them, where in 
 ithe dry season I thought they became desiccate^, and after- 
 >wards got scattered by the winds to. other marshes along 
 the coast, to the north and to the south, reviving again, 
 
 *'«like the Rotifera, as soon as they got into the proper muddy 
 
 ' + riidusr,' ^ascending the mouths oi rive^^^ Fish\ Wfe *^^ heart 
 of the Island, devastating the villages and estates on either 
 
 '.side of the rivers, by being drunk or inhaled, but not reach- 
 ing €urepipe and the cooler plateau,. ^?,,\tji^ altitude ,otr low 
 temperature was inimical to their propagation. Of course, 
 when the Anophelines had been found to be the carriers of 
 the parasite, it became easy to explain, thi;§;. gradual en- 
 croachment of the disease by means of marshy lands and 
 puddly beds of rivers, first along the coast where the 
 mosquito abounded, and finally into the interior wherever 
 any collection of water favoured the deposition of the eggs of 
 
 V. the. Anophelines. So, after all, the, connection between the 
 marshes and the propagation of the parasite was not wrong, 
 but the water and the air were not the vehicle of the 
 Plasmodium. - , 
 
 ' Now we can answer our question in full. The two 
 or thr^e hundred malarial coolies landed at marshy Petite 
 Riviere infected the Anopheliaes, which at that time of the 
 year and under the special circumstances that had fayoured 
 their extensive propagation were read^, to bite the newly 
 arrived infected immigrants, and tocarry. the ^parasite, from 
 village to village and estate to estate:. .. 
 
 ' The above remarks explain the epidemic invasion of 
 
 .1865.' .. " ' 
 
 J >i:* The third, question will be: Why. has, it become 
 endemic ever since ? For the simple reason that there is 
 scarcely another place on the globe m'(^r6; favourable to the 
 
MALARIAL FEVER. 
 
 177 
 
 MAP OF ELEVATIONS OF MAUEITIUS. 
 
 Map showing the Mountains, Kivers, and Marshes, O, the three elevated 
 Plateaus in the S.W. and Centre of the Island ; the most elevated in the 
 S.W. being over 1800 ft., the inner central from 1200 ft. to 1800 ft., and 
 the large external from 600 ft. to 1200 ft. The area beyond this, i.e., along 
 the coast, is from to 600 ft. The broader the circular line the higher the 
 elevation of the plateau within it This map also indicates the areas where 
 Malarial Fever is endemic, which correspond with the coast area, and which 
 the epidemics of 1866, 1867, and 1868 successively invaded. 
 
 N 
 
178 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 existence of the Pyrotophorus costalis than Mauritius, with 
 its multitudinous small marshes, its grass-ridden streams, 
 and stagnant pools which form on either side of the river- 
 beds after the heavy rains are over. As long as immigrants 
 from India, and commerce with that country and Mada- 
 gascar exist, the Anophelines will find ample source of 
 plasmodial supply, and distribute the parasite broadcast 
 over the Island. Dr. Bolton, the late Sanitary Warden of 
 Mauritius, writing on this subject, says (Sir E-onald Ross's 
 report, p. 158) : 
 
 ' There is not a single estate in the Island upon which on close 
 inspection there is not something to be attempted, something done 
 to drive away the fever-carrier. 
 
 ' All the estates of the Island were started long before the 
 memorable year 1867, when malaria showed itself in an epidemic 
 form. Isolated cases had been met with long before ; in fact, 
 from the beginning of Indian immigration into the Island. 
 Mauritius then enjoyed a v/ell-deserved reputation for its salubrity. 
 The parcelling oui of estates had not begun, and the Island was 
 not stocked as it is now with agglomerations of Indian huts, 
 forming hamlets, villages and camps, inhabited by Indo-Creoles 
 and free immigrants who have served their original indenture. 
 The streams and even rivers of the Island furnished a supply of 
 pure water, or water nearly so. Such being the hygienic condi- 
 tions prevailing before 18G7, all estate camps were constructed in 
 the vicinity of streams, in view of an easy and abundant supply of 
 water. 
 
 ' Alas ! how altered the ante-18G7 local conditions. What a 
 harrowing picture could a facile pen draw of the present most 
 insanitary conditions to be met with all over the Island, from the 
 Morne Brabant in the south to Caiie Malheureux in the north, from 
 Port Louis in the west to Trou d'Eau Douce on the east. 
 
 * Everywhere the same : polluted rivers, foul, boggy, mosquito- 
 haunted jungles on each side ; filth, rank vegetation on the 
 outskirts of villages, and dark, ill-constructed, utiventilated tene- 
 ments ; with the ever-present Anopheline mosquito ready to 
 inoculate the first person who happens to come within the I'ange 
 of its peregrinations. 
 
 ' Of Port Louis, in 1808, Sir Konald Ross says : " Major 
 Fowler and I spent ten days in a close inspection of the capital 
 (fifteen square miles). The population of the whole district of 
 Port Louis has recently been steadily diminishing, as shown at 
 each successive census : 
 
MALARIAL FEVER. 
 
 179 
 
 Year . . 1846 1851 1861 1871 1881 1891 1901 
 Population . 45,212 49,909 74,128 63,015 66,466 62,046 52,740 
 
 * The decrease commenced after the great epidemic in 1867, 
 during which year alone one-quarter of the inhabitants died from 
 all causes. 
 
 ' It has probably been accelerated by the facilities given by 
 the railway to the wealthier inhabitants to sleep in the cooler areas 
 of Plaines Wilhems, and to visit the town only for business during 
 the day-time. 
 
 
 
 Jan 
 
 Feb 
 
 Mar 
 
 Apr 
 
 May 
 
 Jun 
 
 Jul 
 
 Au| 
 
 Sep 
 
 Oct 
 
 Nov 
 
 Dec 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 /\ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 /. 
 
 
 \ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 / 
 / 
 
 / 
 
 ^. 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 'A 
 
 f 
 
 / 
 
 \ 
 
 
 ^\ 
 
 \ 
 
 V 
 
 
 
 
 
 Fever Admission 
 
 T?ninfall -- 
 
 
 
 -- 
 
 r/ 
 
 / _ 
 
 
 
 
 
 \ 
 \ 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 
 
 
 ***.^ 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 v^ 
 
 
 S. > 
 
 / 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 > 
 
 \ 
 
 
 -Hy^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 •..., 
 
 
 \ 
 
 --% 
 
 • 
 • 
 
 .•' 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ••-. 
 
 • .. 
 
 
 _.•' 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Diagram illustrating the relation of the mean monthly Fever Admission and 
 Death-rates to the average monthly rainfall {after Davidson). 
 
 ' " The death-rate of Port Louis, which has ahvays been in excess 
 of the whole Island, as shown by the chart in the annual reports 
 of the Registrar-General, has been steadily rising (apparently), 
 and averaged 56*97, or nearly 57 per mille dui'ing the seven 
 years 1900-1906. It rose to 07*9 in 1901, and to GO--! in 1908. 
 In 1906 it was 105*6 in the Asiatic area of the town. 
 
 ' " Out of 2008 children examined by Dr. Keisler in the schools 
 ■of Port Louis 706, or 85*4 per cent., had enlarged spleen early 
 this year (1908). The average spleen of all the children was 2*61: 
 times the normal. These are slightly above the mean for the 
 whole Island, but school children generally give lower rates than 
 €State children, of whom there are none at Port Louis. 
 
180 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 ' '* Dr. Keisler, Major Fowler and I made a cai'efal search for 
 Anopheline larvae, and found that the principal breediiig-places are 
 the uncanalised lengths of the three little streams, the Pouce, La 
 Paix and Trinchinopoli, which traverse the town proper." 
 
 * Is there any remedy to this state of things ? As Eng- 
 land has got rid of the Malarial Fever, as malarial and 
 pestiferous Panama has become a health-sanatorium, so 
 Mauritius takes courage, and hopes that under the measures 
 recommended by Major Ross, and several of us before him, 
 as to the drainage of the Island, the reforestation of the 
 central plateau, the cleaning of the banks of the rivers, the 
 removal of camps and villages from the neighbourhood of 
 marshes and rivers, the proper sanitation of the towns in 
 every minute detail : the mosquito- netting of every bed, 
 and the wire-netting of every door and window ; the con- 
 tinuous destruction of mosquitoes by lighting great bonfires 
 of green wood (to cause much smoke) at twilight near the 
 habitations during the mosquito season ; the petrolizing of 
 the borders of every stream, gutter, pond, and marsh ; the 
 destruction of every water-retaining plant ; the compulsory 
 daily administration of quinine on every estate, in every 
 government office, prison, asylum, school, and house, and 
 the isolation from the healthy of all those who have 
 enlarged spleens ; and also by good food, light work, keeping 
 indoors after sunset : so Mauritius hopes to drive Malarial 
 Fever from its shores. I quite agree with Sir Ronald that 
 it will be difficult to compel the people to take quinine, and 
 that all the above recommendations, if carried out, will for 
 many years to come be a great burden on the tax -payers, 
 who will either resist or elude them. But severe diseases 
 require severe measures, and if necessary a national or 
 colonial local debt must be incurred, to be gradually cleared 
 off by extra taxation during prosperous years. 
 
 ' I have several times at the British Medical Association 
 meetings drawn attention to the smoking-out method 
 employed by the natives of countries where mosquitoes- 
 swarm. 
 
 * The conical hut with an opening at the apex, andl 
 
MALARIAL FEVER. 181 
 
 a fire of green sticks and leaves on the centre of the floor, is 
 not an absolute necessity where these diptera do not exist. 
 But the Malagasy cooks his food and sleeps in that smoky 
 hut (as I saw him do in 1889 in Madagascar, the Comorro 
 Islands, and Mauritius), in order that he may not be bitten 
 by the mosquitoes. Even though their eyes have to suffer, 
 men, women, and children all crowd under the smoky tent 
 as soon as the sun sets, and rarelj^ come out before dawn. I 
 have myself whilst in the Riviera, and even in Paris, 
 secured a few hours' sleep in the summer by lighting on 
 either side of my bed a special preparation of charcoal, 
 wood-dust, and gunpowder, which produced a quantity of 
 smoke sufficient to dull the mosquitoes, and yet not dense 
 enough to inconvenience the sleeper ; on other occasions I 
 have used strong essence made out of aromatic herbs, with 
 good results. Vide chapter on Dengue. 
 
 ' Dr. Bolton has so well treated the question of the 
 clearance of trees and under-brushwood along the river 
 banks, in the letter hereto appended, that I shall not say 
 anything more about it ; but I do not agree with those who 
 would cut down irrespectively all trees that grow near 
 the houses and other buildings, rendering towns and villages 
 perfect deserts, without shade against the burning rays of 
 the sun, and without a vestige of verdure to relieve the 
 eyes from the glare of light ! The shady flowering trees 
 along the streets and roads of tropical countries are not only 
 objects of beauty and comfort, but they act as " screens " 
 between the dust and the houses — especially now that the , 
 monster dust-scatterer, the motor-car, has come into existence. 
 Moreover, most of the trees, in Mauritius anyhow, do not 
 retain any water either between their stems and branches as 
 4o the Traveller's palm in Madagascar, and the Banana-tree, 
 and some species of Palm-trees ; or, within their hollow, 
 broken, or cut stems, as do the Aloes and the Bamboo, but 
 even in those which do, the water under the heat of a sum- 
 mer sun very quickly dries up, and leaves no chance to any 
 Anopheline egg to hatch. The mistake several of the 
 champions (like the late Sir Ruber t Boyce) make, is to forget 
 
182 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 that tlie above-named trees do not grow in a damp, sunless 
 country, like Great Britain — here they would retain the 
 rain-water — and that the street gutters, which they say, 
 owing to the shade of trees, harbour larvae amidst their 
 loose pavement, really only do so in the rainy season, when 
 the rush of the next day's water would, and does, easily carry 
 away any eggs or larvae that may have been deposited 
 there. 
 
 * As for Bilbergias, the Traveller's palm, and certain species 
 of Pineapples growing in forests and in hedges, I quite 
 agree that they are a source of danger, as they generally 
 grow in places not far off marshes and running streams, and 
 they do manage to retain moisture between their leaves ; but 
 although these may be destroj^ed, yet the real Pineapples 
 may still be planted singly away from marshes or streams, 
 and in gardens, and if their roots (not their leaves) are 
 watered, they will grow quite well and bear fruit. In our 
 garden at Pailles we planted them in that way. 
 
 * The advice that all the banana plantations should be 
 abolished will not only cause great loss to the small planters,, 
 but it is in my opinion based on the mistaken idea that the 
 leaves can retain water long enough to allow the eggs to 
 hatch. In heavy showers, as before said, these eggs would 
 all be washed away ; and, in the cool season, the water that 
 does not evaporate contains no eggs, for there are no> 
 mosquitoes to lay them ! Sir Eonald Ross's work of 
 canalising the streams and smaller rivers of the Island and 
 the marshes that could not be properly drained, a work 
 which he himself supervised at its origin, has already begun 
 to bear fruit ; those estate - camps which could not be 
 removed away from the marshes have already within the 
 last two years, i.e., since his recommendations have been 
 carried out, shown a much lower mortality than hereto- 
 fore, owing to the canalisation and part drainage of these 
 marshes. 
 
 *I cannot leave this subject without emphasising the 
 necessity of cutting down those trees along the river side,, 
 whose roots extend into the water, and act as barriers,. 
 
MALARIAL FEVER. 183 
 
 along which harricades of leaves and all sorts of rubbish 
 gradually accumulate, and become for weeks eflScient nests 
 for mosquitoes. I must also say that since Typho-malarial 
 Fever — i.e., typhoid, complicated by Malarial Fever — is 
 very common in Mauritius, and is as a rule easily traced 
 to drinking-water. Dr. Bolton's suggestion of cutting down 
 all the trees and brushwood in the reserves along each 
 side of the river should be carried out— of course the trees 
 on the watershed being exempted. In that case, the 
 Coolies could not soil the ground in the brushwood, and 
 thus pollute the rivers, as they do even to the present day. 
 
 ' All three kinds of Malarial Fever exist in Mauritius, the 
 Quartan being the most prevalent; then the malignant 
 Subtertian ; and, lastly, the Benign Tertian. But since the 
 last fifteen years or so the Subtertian has become rare, and 
 only the malarious cachectic persons, or those who are 
 debilitated, and in whom malaria complicates matters, die 
 from the fever. 
 
 ' Treatment. — I pass on to the divers methods of treatment 
 the people in Mauritius- have adopted. 
 
 ' Curative. — The usual one is, after purging with two 
 grains of calomel at night, and Epsom salts in the morning, 
 to dissolve five to twenty grains of hydrochlorate of quinine 
 in water and a few drops of lemon juice, or dilute sulphuric 
 acid, and to take this two or three times a day at any time 
 before, during, or after an attack. It is only the educated 
 class that has learnt to take it immediately before or after 
 the rigor. They sometimes take it in strong coffee,* or in 
 pills, or on the tongue, and very rarely is it given per rectum 
 or subcutaneously, as during the eighties many patients died 
 from lockjaw after subcutaneous injections of quinine. 
 
 ^ During my visit to Mauritius in 1889, scarcely a week 
 passed without my hearing of a death from Tetanus, and I 
 was awakened once at two a.m. to go to the rescue of a 
 neighbour whose physician had given him over two or three 
 dozen subcutaneous injections of quinine during ten to 
 
 ■^ Dangerous to stimulate the heart when quinine is given, and coffee 
 is a heart-stimulant. 
 
184 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 fifteen days, and lockjaw had supervened. On my return 
 to Europe I exposed that treatment {B.M.J.^ 1893) as 
 dangerous wherever perfect disinfection of needle and of 
 syringe was not carried out, and wherever quinine tablets 
 and boiling water were unobtainable. 
 
 * Massive doses of quinine were sometimes administered 
 by the mouth, as much as sixty grains being given in one 
 dose ; but this was rare, especially in the early years of ^ 
 the epidemic, when quinine cost as much as three to four 
 pounds an ounce. Several chemists amassed a fortune in 
 those days.' 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 Malarial Fever, contuiued. 
 
 Sir Ronald Ross, in his Report on Malarial Fever in 
 Mauritius,* has gone so fully into his subject that I cannot 
 do better than extract, with his permission, the following 
 paragraphs from that report. 
 
 Others before Sir Ronald had written on Malarial Fever 
 in Mauritius. As far back as 1867 the Local Government 
 Commissioners had published a valuable communication on 
 the origin and spread of the disease. In 1890, as seen in the 
 preface to this chapter, I read a paper before the Hygienic 
 Congress on the same subject and on my discovery of the 
 Plasmodium Malarice in the blood of patients in the hospitals 
 of Port Louis. Drs, Davidson, Antelm, and Meldrum about 
 the same time published their researches on Malaria in 
 Mauritius and on its rainfall periodicity ; Mr. Chadwick and 
 Dr. Bolton followed with their Reports on the Water System 
 and the preservation of the rivers against pollution ; and 
 finally Messrs. Daruty and d'Emmerez de Charmoy pub- 
 lished certain communications on the Mauritian mosquitoes 
 and their habitats. 
 
 Summary of facts regarding the amount of Malaria in 
 Mauritius, from Sir Ronald's report : 
 
 ' A. — The followinor figures give important averages during the 
 seven years 1900-1906 : ^ 
 
 (1) The average population of Mauritius was 384.G7C. 
 
 (2) The average total deaths per annum were 14,139. 
 
 The averasfe annual total death per mille of population was 
 87-4. 
 
 * Report on the Prevention of Malarial Fever in Mauritius (1908). 
 Waterlow & Sons. 
 
18() THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 The. average annual deaths reported as due to fever were 
 5384 (doubtfni). 
 
 The average annual death rate per raille of population reported 
 as due to fever was 1-i'O (doubtful). 
 
 The avei-age reported fever deaths were 31 per cent, of the 
 average total deaths (doubtful). 
 
 (3) The total admissions into the hospital for all causes 
 averaged 18,761 a year. 
 
 The admissions into the hospitals for malarial diseases alone 
 averaged 4348 a year, or nearly one-quarter (23*2 per cent.) of 
 the total admissions. 
 
 The total deaths in hospital from all causes averaged 1174 a 
 year. 
 
 The deaths in hospital from malarial diseases alone averaged 
 84 a year, or 7*1 per cent, of the total deaths. 
 
 The ratio of > deaths in hospital from malaria to admissions 
 into hospital f )r that disease (case mortality) was 1-935 per cent. 
 
 (4) The attendances of out-patients at all the hospitals and 
 dispensaries for malaria alone averaged 13,464 a year since 1878. 
 
 In 1907 alone the total attendances for all causes were 
 79,053, and for malaria alone were 28,294, or 35"8 per cent, of 
 the total.' 
 
 ' B. — (1) There are about 182,000 children of fifteen years and 
 under in Maairitins. 
 
 (2) Out of 30,137 of these examined in all parts of Mauritius 
 at the end of 1907 and the beginning of lii08, that is, before the 
 middle of the malaria season, 
 
 19,711, or 65"4 per cent., had no enlargement of the spleen ; 
 
 4,381, or 14*5 per cent., had small enlargement of the spleen ; 
 
 3,479, or 11*5 per cent., had medium enlargement ; 
 
 2,506, or 8 "5 per cent., had great enlargement. 
 From these data it may be computed roughly that the average 
 spleen of Mauritian children is 2*54 times the normal size. 
 
 (3) Out of 885 more children examined, 169 were found to 
 have enlargement of the spleen. 
 
 Thus, out of a total of 31,022 children examined, 10,595, or 
 more than one-third (34" 1 per cent.) had enlargement of the 
 spleen. Hence, probably, out of 182,000 children in Mauritius, 
 about 62,062 suft'ered from enlargement of the spleen. 
 
 (4) If we suppose that children without enlargement of the 
 spleen, but with the parasites in the blood, numbered as many as 
 a quarter of the spleeii cases, then we must infer that at the 
 beginning of the last malaria season 42*7 per cent, of all the 
 children in Mauritius, i.e., about 77,724 children in all, were 
 infected with malaria. Di*. Bolton estimates that malaria costs 
 the estates in Mauritius Rs. 650,000 a year in loss of labour, and 
 
MALARIAL FEVEE. 187 
 
 the labonrers themselves Rs. 150,000 in loss of wages, besides 
 similar losses to the general community.' 
 
 ' (1) Prevmtion of Malaria in Mauritius (p. 7(5). — It has been 
 made clear that malaria will not remain in a localicy (1) unless 
 the carrying agents (Anophelines) are numerous enough ; (2) 
 unless there are enough infected persons to infect the carriers ; 
 and (o) if the insects are j^revented from biting human beings. 
 There are thus three groups of preventive measures which may be 
 employed by public authorities to reduce the disease : 
 
 (1) Anopheline reduction. 
 
 (2) Case reduction. 
 
 (3) Isolation reduction.' 
 
 Ross therefore recommends immediate, persistent, and 
 thorough drainage or deepening of the swamps and marshes, 
 dragging weeds out of the water, clearing and cleans- 
 ing of the pools, pits, canals, and streams, especially of 
 the banks of these last, so as to prevent the Anophelines 
 laying their eggs in the grass along the water's edge; the 
 cutting down of trees and shrubs too near houses, the 
 destruction of all plants which may retain water for some 
 time between their leaves and stems, and in the cups of erect 
 flowers ; the filling or blocking up of holes in trees and 
 in the broken bamboo stems ; the introduction of fish to eat 
 the larvso, and the oiling of cess-pits and banks of streams^ 
 &c. ; the absolute removal of tubs, old pots and cans, and 
 broken bottles from courtyards, and dealing with house- 
 water rigorously : in this way Anophelines might be reduced. 
 
 In accordance with Koch and Celli, he would reduce 
 the cases of infection by curing with quinine the patients 
 from whom the Anophelines become infected. 
 
 The third method — that oi isolation or protection from bites 
 of mosquitoes — has been carried out with success by mosquito- 
 nets, punkas, and fans, wire-netting the doors and windows, 
 and the use of strong-smelling scents and ointments. He also 
 recommends the segregation of Europeans from native 
 villages, where infection will be found, and instructing the 
 public how to protect themselves, although he does not 
 expect much from this last measure. 
 
 Sir R-onald, after discussing the advantages and disad- 
 
188 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 vantages of each of these three groups of joreventive 
 measures to reduce Malarial Fever, comes to the conclusion : 
 * That although any of them rigorously carried out would 
 eliminate the disease, yet for Mauritius it would in the long 
 run be cheaper to adopt the " Pleasures on Anopheline 
 Reduction,'' or a partial combination of these with a partial 
 ■"case reduction." ' 
 
 ' The success of this combination will depend on a firm 
 scientific Government that would force the local authorities 
 to attend to the duties for which they were appointed, 
 foremost amongst which is sanitation, "for a scientific 
 Government recognises that widespread disease is a great 
 bar to prosperity, and can be fought only by concerted 
 measures which are mostly beyond the powers of the indi- 
 vidual citizen, and must be at least directed by authority. 
 On the other hand, it is the guardian of the public purse, 
 ^nd must refuse to sanction expenditure which may lead to 
 no result. It must, therefore, begin by obtaining an esti- 
 mate of the amount of mischief produced by the disease and 
 of the cost of reducing it thoroughly. With organization 
 the spleen-test can be applied regularly once or twice a year 
 for many years without serious difficulty, and thus the 
 authorities could obtain data to justify their expenditure, 
 and could also ascertain which localities most require it." 
 
 ^ Expeaditare on A)di' malarial Worl\ — Theoretically it 
 would be justifiable to spend as much money for the pre- 
 vention of Malaria as the disease costs the community. It 
 is a great source of waste of money {a) by deaths and 
 reduction of population ; (/;) by loss of manual labour in 
 plantations, factories, farms, &c. ; (c) by sickness among 
 Government labourers and officers ; {d) by invaliding and 
 -deaths among higher officials and soldiers. Practically, how- 
 ever, Governments must be limited, not only by their own 
 revenues, but by that part allotted to the medical and sani- 
 tary budget. Perhaps the best estimate under this head may 
 be formed by comparing the total amount of sickness due to 
 Malaria with that due to all causes — generally a large 
 percentage. The cost to the Government ought to be 
 
MALARIAL FEVER. 18& 
 
 recouped by saving to the public and consequent addition to 
 expense. 
 
 ' The cost of Anopheline reduction varies as area, not as 
 population, but the expenses for isolation and caHe-reduction 
 vary as population, and not as area. The greater the density 
 of population, the greater the advantages of mosquito- 
 reduction per unit of cost. In rural areas mosquito- 
 reduction may not be nearly so advantageous. Also in small 
 towns and villages situated in the midst of large marshes, or 
 marshy forests, or flat, water-logged country, the cost of 
 mosquito-reduction may be too great. In that case, resort 
 can be had to the other measures. 
 
 ' In order to carry out these preventive measures some 
 legislation and discipline will be necessary. The success of 
 the work at Panama has been largely due to the great powers 
 given to the Health Department and to the stringent 
 discipline exerted ; and the public themselves have become 
 thankful for this wise severity. There must, therefore, be 
 special working organization placed under an Oflicer of 
 Health, selected for his knowledge of the subject and his 
 capacity for scientific administration.' 
 
 The general preventive measures for Mauritius recom- 
 mended by Sir Ronald are: (1) A periodical census of children 
 in schools and on estates. 
 
 (2) Treatment of children with enlarged spleen in schools 
 and on estates, and a certain amount of quinine distribution. 
 
 (3) Occasional house protection. 
 
 (4) Mosquito-reduction where advisable (r/) by minor 
 works, as already mentioned; (/>) by major works, such as 
 the drainage of marshes, especially those of Curepipe, La 
 Louise, Pamplemousses, and centre of Flacq ; and the canalisa- 
 tion of the minor streams of Port Louis. 
 
 (5) A suitable organization, and an Annual Malaria 
 Report. 
 
 He adds some special notes on prevention in the towns. 
 He recommends for Port Louis : 
 
 (1) That an extensive house-to-house spleen census of 
 
190 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 tlie children should be undertaken in September, October, 
 and November, i.e., after the rainy season, after the children 
 have had Malaria,* with the object of ascertaining exactly 
 which are the most malarious spots, and whether they are 
 contiguous to the uncanalized streams, or to other breeding- 
 places, with a view to the prosecution of major works. One 
 could obtain exact information by a comparison of the results 
 of the examination of the healthiest part, as round Govern- 
 ment House, and of the unhealthiest, as close to the Pouce, 
 at Tranquebar (^Hde Plan of Port Louis), and south-west of 
 the Champ de Mars, east and west of Plaine Yerte, south of 
 the Market, south of the Latanier stream, and near the 
 Cassis streams. 
 
 (2) House-to-house quinine-pill gratis distribution of 
 half to three grains for children of one to nine years of age, 
 and of four to five grains for those above that age and up to 
 twelve, to be taken once a day, provided they suffer from 
 fever or enlargement of the spleen, or are in imminent 
 danger of contracting the fever. The adult poor should also 
 obtain the quinine gratis if they suffer or had recently 
 suffered from Malarial Fever. 
 
 Sir Ronald, as already stated, recommends the rough 
 canalisation of the lesser streams after and before the rains 
 so as to prevent the formation of the pools which fill the 
 town with Anophelines. The Pouce, la Paix, Trinchinopoli, 
 and the Cassis streams should receive special attention, as, 
 although in the town proper, they are well canalised, yet 
 above the canalisation the water runs through grassy borders. 
 The Latanier river, emptying itself in the marshes near the 
 Fanfaron Bastion, breeds the Coda Us plentifully. 
 
 * On the whole,' says he, * I consider that the uncanalised 
 parts of the five streams above mentioned are responsible for 
 the disease in Port Louis ; the spleen rates were high any- 
 where near them. At Tranquebar, close to the pools in the 
 upper part of the Pouce stream, all out of thirty-two 
 children suffered — some very severely.' 
 
 * Vide Dr. Davidson's chart (p. 179) illustrating the relation of the mean 
 monthly fever admission and death-rate to the average monthly rainfall. 
 
MALAEIAL FEVER. 191 
 
 'A special feature in the superficial drainage of the 
 town is the existence of " Regards " or man-holes, leading 
 to the sewers, into which the rain-water from the well-made 
 stone gutters flows. These must be smoothly cemented 
 throughout, and the ooze from leaking \^ater pipes and 
 similar waters must be stopped.' 
 
 As will be seen on the plan of Port Louis, the old drains 
 or sewers of the town are being replaced by new ones, and 
 the whole capital will in a few years hence have a good 
 system of sewers, which will empty the sewage beyond Fort 
 William, where it will meet a strong current from the 
 mouth of the Grand River, and be carried far out to sea. 
 
 The old Canal Bathurst bringing water from Pample- 
 mousses has long ago fallen into disuetude, so also has that 
 from the lower part of the Grand River, and ihey are 
 gradually being filled up with earth, as they were breeding- 
 places for the mosquitoes. But the people of Port Louis 
 still drink the impure and polluted water from the 
 Municipal Canal from the higher reaches of the Grand 
 River, and thus run great risks of complicating Malarial 
 Fever with typhoid. 
 
 The municipality is putting down other pipes to bring 
 pure water to the capital from a spot up the right branch of 
 the Grand River, higher up than the ^ Digue.' 
 
 For Curejnpe, Sir Ronald recommends likewise the 
 immediate drainage of the marshes by deepening the bed 
 of the Mesnil River. 
 
 There are not very many cases of malarial fever in the 
 town as yet, but Clairfond, where there was a serious out- 
 break in 1903, is not far from Curepipe, and the Pyroto- 
 phorus costalis is beginning to find a suitable breeding-place 
 in its marshes. Already some have been found there by 
 Sir Ronald. Around this Clairfond marsh both the Myzo- 
 rhynchiis Mauriticoius and the P. costalis were caught by 
 day and by night. The latter were also found inside and 
 outside houses, and were less numerous than the former. 
 The M. Mauritianus, which is not as dangerous as the P. 
 eostalis, prefers to live outside in woods and under verandahs 
 
192 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 and hedges, and in other sheltered places. They migrate 
 chiefly on warm, still nights, and rest in the grass during^ 
 the day. 
 
 There is an idea that places over a thousand feet above 
 sea-level are exempt from malarial fever, but recently cases 
 of it broke out at Reduit, owing to the presence of the 
 P. costaHs in the immediate neighbourhood, and at Cilaos 
 in the sister island of Reunion, a former health sanatorium 
 situated more than two thousand eight hundred feet above 
 sea-level. 
 
 For Quatre Bornes village the La Louise marsh is a 
 threatening source of danger, as it causes much sickness 
 in its vicinity. 
 
 For the other towns, he recommends not only the 
 removal of neighbouring marshes, but also the reduction 
 of the large number of trees which grow all around the 
 houses. 
 
 * The law that Malaria and Anophelines abound most near 
 breeding-places, holds good for Mauritius as elsewhere.' 
 
MALARIAL FEVER. 198 
 
 ' DR. BOLTON'S REPORT.* 
 
 ^(1) On Major Sanitary Works of a Permanent Nature 
 
 TO be undertaken on Estates, as part of an 
 
 Anti-Malaria Campaign. 
 
 ' Famphmousses District. 
 
 * Beau Plan Estate. — The factory and camps of this estate, 
 situated in the flat, low-lying part of the district, have in their 
 immediate vicinity a large marsh, resulting from the damming of 
 the discharge canal of all the ponds in the Botanical (hardens. 
 The land all round this marsh is boggy over a considerable area, 
 and contains numberless pools and puddles overgrown with aquatic 
 plants and weeds. 
 
 'The Malaria Committee have under consideration a scheme 
 for the suppression of this dangerous nuisance. 
 
 ' In my opinion the most important factor operating in pro- 
 ducing high malaria prevalence in one part ol' the district of 
 Pamplemousses is the state of the banks of the river of the same 
 name. 
 
 ' The banks of this water-course are overgrown with a thick 
 jungle, impenetrable in some places and composed of brambles, 
 bamboo, raffia palms and weeds of all kinds. Any number of 
 collections of stagnant water exist on each bank. The roots of 
 trees, stones, aquatic plants and vegetable matter in different stages 
 of decomposition, by mipeding the flow of water, help to form col- 
 lections of stagnant water. This most insanitary condition of 
 things from a general, as well as from a malaria point of view, is 
 the result of tJte maimer in which the forest laivs hfive been 
 applied, and of the faiiatical reverence for trees which is shoiqn 
 b// those in charge of river reserves. 
 
 ' Besides the above obstacles to the flow of water and trie 
 resulting nuisance*, several dams exist on this river to supply 
 water to Rosalie-Constance, Le Plessis, The Mount, Maisdn 
 Ijlanche and I'Ksperance Estates, and lastly to the Botanical 
 •Gardens. Acres of land have thus been submerged, aquatic 
 plants and weeds have grown, water stagnates and mosqi^itoes 
 abound. 
 
 ' These estates have always given high malaria percentages on 
 
 * From Sir Ronald Ross's Report. 
 
 o 
 
194 THE EPIDEMICS QF, MAURITIUS. 
 
 the total deaths, 50-GO per cent, beiiio- common figures. The 
 camps of these estates have all been built close to the river on 
 account of the Avater supply. 
 
 ' Anti-maiaria measures on a small scale will not be of any 
 use. 
 
 ' Rosalie - Coxstaxce, The Mouxt, Maisox Blaxche, 
 L'EsPERAXCE. — To abate the nuisances existing on these estates 
 will necessitate perhaps alterations in the method adopted in sup- 
 plying water to the factories of the first two estates : removing 
 some of the dams, cutting down the trees and jnngle on the banks 
 of Pamplemousses river, cultivating the land thus reclaimed, train- 
 ing and banking the stream wherever this may be found necessary. 
 But inasmuch as Pamplemousses Villag*G begins immediately 
 after I'Espei'ance Estate, and as the river flows through part of 
 it, I sliould say there should be one comprehensive scheme of 
 sanitation embodying the estates mentioned above PamplemousBes 
 . Village, includinir the Botanical Gardens and Beau Plan Estate 
 as far as the Royal Alfred Observatory. Needless to say this calls 
 for the interference of the sanitary engineer. 
 
 ' Riviere du Rempart District. 
 
 ' The coast line of this district being low and flat presents 
 numerous marshes, the most important being at I'Union, Poudre 
 d'Or, Haute Rive and Schoenfeld. 
 
 ' L'UxiON. — This at one time a large estate has been parcelled 
 out, and we have now to deal with a scattered population living 
 in isolated huts, so that I do not advise any major works. 
 
 ' Poudre d'Or. — This estate now forms part of St. Antoine 
 Estate. There is a camp with ahout thi'ee hundred souls. In the 
 vicinity of this camp there is a large marsh which empties itself 
 into the sea by a small sti-eam which skirts Poudre d'Or village. 
 Here again, any works to be U!idertaken should comprise the 
 village as well, and must be entrusted to a sanitary engineer. 
 
 ' ScHOEXFELD. — There is a marsh on this estate which in my 
 opinion is the cause of the high prevalence of Ma'aria. I have 
 not inspected it carefully, so can form no idea of the works which 
 should be undertaken, A careful survey is necessary. 
 
 ' Haute Rive. — Several large marshes overgrown with rushes 
 exist on this estate, and a river passes through one of the camps. 
 
 * I do not think it will be easy to drain all marshes, as the 
 land is very low and there is barely any fall to the sea, which is 
 quite close. A proper survey and plane tabling will have to be 
 made preliminary to any substantial and permanent work. 
 
 * Flacq District. 
 
 'There is but one estate in this district where comparatively 
 
MALARIAL FEVER. 195 
 
 extensive works will have to be undertaken. Here again, how- 
 ever, as in the case of Pamplemousses, whatever scheme is even- 
 tually adopted should comprise Centre of Flacq village. The 
 estate alluded to above is Constance (d'Arifat). 
 
 ' Constance (d'Arifat). — The portion of this estate where 
 the factory and camps are situated is only a few feet above sea- 
 level ; very flat and boggy in many places. A sluggish river ser- 
 pentines through it ; the banks are so flat that it often overflows. 
 When the water recedes, part remains behind to stagnate in small 
 pits and hollows, and this occurs under the usual thick, im- 
 penetrable jungle, the river reserves. Besides this one there is 
 another river which comes from Centre de Flacq village to meet 
 it. The above description applies equally well to the latter. 
 
 * Grand Pm't District. 
 
 ' Union Yale. — This is the only estate in this district where 
 sanitary works ot* any magnitude are called for. Between the 
 factory and the hospital exists a marsh which should be drained, 
 but as its overflow runs through private property lower down, I am 
 not in a position to judge the magnitude of the works which may 
 be lequired. 
 
 *0n no estate \\\ the districts of / 
 
 Savanne, 
 Plainer Wilhems, 
 
 MOKA, 
 
 AND Black River 
 
 are major works necessary in the fight against Malaria. Such 
 as may be undertaken will be connected with a general scheme for 
 all villages, townships, and hamlets, and need not be discussed 
 here. 
 
 ' If the major anti-malaria undertakings are not numerous in 
 connection with estates, the same cannot be said with regard to 
 
 Minor Sanitary Works and Measures forming part of 
 an Anti-Malaria Campaign on Estates. 
 
 * Pamplemousses. 
 
 * Rosalie, The Mount, Rosalie-Constance, Le Plessis (part of 
 The Mount), Maison Blanche (part of Mon Rocher), I'Esperance. 
 All these camps are within mosquito reach of Pamplemousses and 
 have already been considered. At Maison Blanche malaria is at 
 times very bad. 
 
 * Rivihe du Rempart. 
 
 * Haute Rive is the only estate in this district where there is a, 
 
196 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 stream close enough to the camps to operate against the healthi- 
 ness of the camps. There are two small ones near the two camps 
 of He d'Ambre and a river at Haute Eive. As these camps 
 are, so to speak, within a stone's throw from the sea, the river 
 should be cleaned, all jungle removed, and the banks trimmed. 
 
 *Flacq. 
 
 •' In this district the following have water-courses near their 
 camps : Constance (d'Arifat) has already been dealt with under 
 the heading of Major Works ; Argy, Beau Bois (a few huts near 
 the rivei-) — T propose to have this small camp removed, Belle- 
 Rive, Belle Vue, Constance (M), Deep River, Olivia, Rich Fund, 
 and Union. 
 
 * Grand Port. 
 
 'Anse Jonche, Beau Vallon, Ferney, Joli Bois, Le Vallon, 
 Riche en Eau, St. Hubert, Union Park. 
 
 ' On all of these, streams or rivers exist with the usual reserves, 
 which have to be attended to. 
 
 * Savanne. ,.», 
 
 * In this district there are numerous streams in too close 
 proximity to the camps. 
 
 'Bel Air, Bel Ombre, St. Aubin, St. Avoid, St. Felix, Savannah, 
 Terracine, have all a heavy malaria percentage on total deaths. 
 With exception of St. Avoid, they are all situated near the coast ; 
 they have no neighbours along the river between them and the 
 :sea, so that no possible harm can accrue to any one if the different 
 .'streams were to dry up afcer cutting away all the river reserves, a 
 thing I do not anticipate. 
 
 * Plaines Wilhems. 
 
 '" 'Bassin, Trianon, and Ebene (part of Stanley) are the only 
 Estates in this district W'hicli have tilthy streams near the camps. 
 
 * Molca and Black River. 
 
 " 'The' first district is the healthiest of the Island, malaria pre- 
 valence low. The Malaria Committee had this district under its 
 consideration in 1902, and with most beneficial results. (See my 
 report on Estate Hospitals for the second half of 1902.) 
 
 ' In Black River distficfc,-Medine Estate has streams near the 
 camp. 
 
 ' I propose now to enumerate the Estates where other measures, 
 aire called for besides destruction of jungle on river Side or concur- 
 rently therewith : these consist in filling in pits, draining small 
 marshes, or filling in as the case may be, searching for old tins, 
 token bottles, hollow stumps of trees, collections of stagnant water 
 
MALARIAL FEVER. 1^7 
 
 in factories, boilers, tanks, &c., i-emo\al of lank vegetation in the 
 vicinity of cainps, and lastly a change in the style of hut adopted 
 on Sugar Estates (sanctioned by law) for the housing of the coolies. 
 The system of having long ranges of huts divided into eight, ten^ 
 or more compartments, should be condemned, as they favour in^ 
 fection from one to the other — the partition between being never 
 an efficient pn^tection. To obtain a radical change in this direc- 
 tion, the Labour Law and Camp Regulations will need alteration. 
 ■ On the following Estates, collections of water repiesented by 
 small pools and marshes and tanks will call for special attention : . 
 
 * PampUmousses. , u: 
 
 'Beile Vue (Harel) . Tanks, wells, factory. 
 
 •Belle Yue S.E. Co. . „ „ „ 
 
 * Mon Piton . ., „. old pits, no factory. 
 
 ' Mon Rocher . . „ ,, „ 
 
 ' Rosalie . . . „ „ ftictory. 
 
 ' Rosalie Constance . „ „ ,, 
 
 'Solitude. . .,„,,, „ canals, small 
 
 marshes. 
 'Mount . . . „ „ „ „ 
 
 ' Maison Blanche . Old pond, canal. 
 ' L'Esperance . . Old pits, canal. 
 
 • Riviere du Remparf. 
 
 ' Antoinette. — Old drain near Mon Songe Camp. Old disused 
 molass pits in the closed factories of La Lucia and Mon Songe. 
 Pits near manure heaps. 
 
 ' Beau Sejour. — If the boilers are not emptied after the crop^ 
 they should be kept closed to keep out mosquitoes. Tanks and 
 other receptacles for watei*. 
 
 ' Belle Vue-L'Amiti^. — Old molass pits at L'Amitie. Factory 
 tanks, &c. 
 , 'BonEspoir. — Canal, old factory. 
 
 ' EsPERANCE. — Cistern at the well near the hospital, collections 
 of stagnant water. 
 
 ' MoN LoisiR (A). — Ponds in yard near camp. 
 
 ' L'Union (R). — Tanks in yard in vanilla plantation. 
 
 ' Labourdonnais. — About halfway between the factory and 
 the hospiral on the right-hand side of the road, I have often 
 noticed a collection of water which in the rainy season will persist 
 for weeks. 'J'his should not t)e allowed to continue. At Forbach, 
 an annex of this estate, the cisterns should be carefully watched 
 or properly closed to keep out mosquitoes. The same precautions 
 should be taken at Mapou. 
 
198 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 'FJacq. , ;, 
 
 * Beaux Champs.— Part of the camp of this estate has been 
 erected to the leeward and Avithin anopheles range of some boggy 
 lands which are converted into stagnant pools during the rainy 
 season, the period of greatest ma]ari« prevalence. In presence of 
 the high death rates and persistent increasing malaria prevalence, 
 I have recommended the removal of this part of the camp to a 
 healthier locality. This will soon be an accomplished fact. 
 
 'Deep River. — The reservoir for supplying the factory of 
 this estate with water is a lai'ge pond dug in the earth. The sides 
 are overgrown with brushwood and lank vegetation in which the 
 water stagnates ; although the pond is stocked with some fish, 
 they cannot reach the larvae of the gnats living among the grass 
 in water barely half an inch deep in certain places. An ordinary 
 road separates this sheet of water from one of the estate camps. 
 The necessity of exploring the pond and clearing and trimming its 
 sides is obvious. 
 
 * La Gaiete. — Draining and filling in of some small collection 
 of marshes. The factory has been closed for yeais ; as is usual in 
 such cases, open pans, old tanks and pits are to be found ; as 
 water may stagnate in them, they should be searched for and dealt 
 with. 
 
 * Grand Port. 
 
 * The remarks concerning La Gaiete apply also to Anse Jonchee, 
 Ferney, Le Vallon, Virginia, as regards sluggish and stagnant 
 Svater. 
 
 ' At La Rosa and New Grove, parts of Rose Bell Estate, Anse 
 Jonchee, Savinia (part of La Baraque), Sauveterre, Viiginia, the 
 factories have been pulled down ; old pans, cisterns, molass pits, 
 &c., should be caiefully investigated and dealt with as circumstances 
 .may requiil^, 
 
 * Savanne. 
 
 ' BE?f ARES. — The land all round tire reservoii- should be kept 
 'free of jungle, any collection of stagnant w^ater suppressed. The 
 canal passing through the camp kept clean, and the sides properly 
 trimmed aiid freed of grass, &c. 
 
 ' L'Uj^ion. — A large depression next to the camp should be 
 carefully watched and no stagnant water allowed in the rainy 
 season; 
 
 'Savannah. — There is a ditch on one side of the lower camp 
 which is often overgrown with rank vegetation. As there is 
 almost always more or less water in it, it should be kept perfectly 
 clean, the banks properly trimmed, and all obstacles to the flow of 
 water removed. 
 
MALARIAL FEVER^ 199 
 
 'Terracine. — Canal and ditch to be kept clean. The other 
 estates of this district which I have not mentioned, need no special 
 attention beyond searching for collections of stagnant water in old 
 tins, tanks, and cisterns, &c. .< o .^ 
 
 'Molca. 
 
 'As I have already observed, the estates of this district being 
 comparatively malaria-free, the measures to be adopted need no^ 
 be ^specified at length. At Bon Air, however, there is a spring 
 wHi'ch supplies watei^to the camp; at one time a marsh had been 
 formed just below the spring and malaria had prevailed exten- 
 sively. This was suppressed by the Malaria Committee with 
 most, marked effect. It should not be allowed to fall into its 
 original state. 
 
 * Flames Wilhehis. — Black River. 
 
 -Nothing special to be said of any of the estates of these two 
 districts beyond what I have akeady written. a 
 
 'Execution and S'ost* of Major Works. 
 
 ' I am sorry I am not in a position to lay down, even approxi- 
 mately, the cost of some of the works to be execnted. Each case 
 must be dealt with separately, and the area to be attacked properly 
 surveyed, levels taken, and the natuie of the works to be under- 
 taken specified by a Sanitary Engineer. 
 
 ' I am still of the opinion ex'pressed in my report addressed to 
 the Honourable the Protector of Immigrants, on the 20th of June, 
 190(), that the so-called "reserves" should be cut down in the 
 lower parts of the island where malaria prevails, the wood given 
 to the riparian proprietors, and the land thus reclaimed culti- 
 vated. X. very large saving will thus be effected. I have gone 
 fully into this subject in a paper which I read before the •' Societe 
 Medicale " of this island at a meeting held on the 8th of August, 
 190G. 
 
 'Minor Works. 
 
 ' These can easily be undertaken by ordinary lab(jurers under 
 the direction of a trained overseer; the tools required being a 
 measuring tape, a few hoes, pick-axes, crow-bars, and baskets. 
 Each district should have its own gang or gangs distributed over 
 certain areas. I propose to divide each distiict into sections, each 
 section to be in charge of a patrol composed of : — 
 
 ' One Sanitary Guard at ... ... Rs. 35 p. m. 
 
 Four labourers at 64 p. m. . 
 
 Rs. 99 p. m. 
 
200 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 *At Rs. 35 p. in. the services of an intelligent man able to 
 draw up a report can be secnred. All pati'ols to be under the- 
 direction of the Sanitary Warden of the disti-ict, and to be 
 allowed to travel free on the rnilway, and to be entitled to the 
 refund of any travelling expenses where the railway will not be 
 available. 
 
 'A considerable part of the expenditure to be incurred could 
 be secured by a hut-tax by imposing a licence of Rs. p. a. on 
 each day-laboui'ei", and by a house-tax outside townships ^Yhere 
 the same is not already levied. 
 
 'The Indians and Creoles in Indian villages, hamlets, and 
 camps outside estates are the principal sufferers from malaria ; 
 they do not contribute to the revenue, and in case of sickness are 
 a burden on the Colonial finances — gi-atuitous medical aid. 
 
 * The total Indian population of the island may be roughly 
 estimated at :i«0,000 souls. Of these 99,000 reside on sugar 
 estates. So that there is a population of 181,000 ito lie accoufltM 
 for. 
 
 ' Of these fully 40,000 work as day-labcurers. A licence of 
 Rs. G per annum, equal to 2 c. per working day imposed upon 
 every day-labourer, Indian and Creoles, would bring in Rs. 240,000 
 per annum at least. And a house and hut-tax perhaps consider- 
 ably more.' 
 
 In the following schedules the probable cost of draining 
 marshes and clearing and improving streams is given by the 
 Director of Public Works and Surveys, P. le J. de Segrais : — ^ 
 
 * Schedule No. 1 of prohahle Cost of draining 3Iarshes and 
 clearing and improving Streams. 
 
 No. of Probable 
 
 Annexure District. Cost. 
 
 1. Port Louis ...... 
 
 2. Pamplemousses, Northern section . 
 
 3. ,, Southern ,, . 
 
 4. Riviere du Rempart .... 
 
 5. Flacq, Northern section .... 
 
 6. ,, Southern ,, 
 
 7. Plaines Wilhems, Beau Bassin and Rose Hill section 
 
 8. ,, ,, Quatre Bornes section . 
 
 9. ,, ,, Vacoas section . 
 
 10. ,, ,, Curepipe ,, . 
 
 11. Moka . ..... 
 
 12. Grand Port, Rose Belle section 
 
 13. ,, ,, Mahebourg ,, 
 
 14. Savanne ...... 
 
 15. Black River. . . . . 
 
 * Sir Ronald Ross's Report. 
 
 Rs. 
 21,700 
 87,500 
 20,500 
 33,000 
 64,500 
 17,400 
 33,500 
 54,500 
 65,300 
 60,000 
 26,000 
 41,400 
 16,500 
 25,000 
 63,500 
 
 630,300 
 
MALARIAL FEVER. 
 
 201 
 
 * Schedule No. 2 of prohahJe Cost of ainiuaUy recurrent Expin- 
 (Hiure for Mcmitenance of Brainuge Worlxk when completed. ' 
 
 No. District. Particulars of Labour 300 Working Days. 
 
 1 sirdar 
 1 rupee 
 
 1. 
 
 Port Louis . 
 
 1 
 
 gang of 10 men & 
 @ 60 cents. @ 
 
 2. 
 
 Pamplemousses — 
 
 
 
 
 North 
 
 
 ,, 15 ,, 
 
 
 South . 
 
 
 „ 10 „ 
 
 3. 
 
 Riviere du Rempart 
 
 
 M 10 ,, 
 
 4. 
 
 Flacq, North 
 
 
 „ 10 ,, 
 
 
 ,, South 
 
 
 ,, 10 „ 
 
 5. 
 
 Plaines Wilhems, Beau 
 
 
 
 
 Bassin and Rose Hill 
 
 
 „ 10 „ 
 
 
 Quatre Bornes 
 
 
 ,, 15 ,, 
 
 
 Vacoas .... 
 
 
 „ ]0 „ 
 
 
 Curepipe 
 
 
 M 10 ,, 
 
 6. 
 
 Moka . . 
 
 
 „ 15 ,, 
 
 7. 
 
 Grand Port, Rose Belle 
 
 
 ,, 15 „ 
 
 
 Mahebourg . 
 
 
 „ 10 ,, 
 
 8. 
 
 Savanne 
 
 
 „ 15 „ 
 
 9. 
 
 Black River . 
 
 2 
 
 „ 10 „ 
 
 Probable 
 Cost. 
 
 2,100 
 
 3,000 
 2,100 
 2,100 
 4,200 
 2,100 
 
 2,100 
 3,000 
 4,200 
 2,100 
 3,000 
 3,000 
 2,100 
 3,000 
 4,200 
 
 205 
 
 42,300 
 
202 
 
 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 'TABLE L* 
 
 ■' ■ vv • ■ ■■ ■ 
 
 Giving Popul/ttion y.^peaths, and declared Deaths from Fever 
 in Mauritius from 1865 to 1906. 
 
 Years. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Deaths, 
 
 Death Rate 
 per 1000. 
 
 1 
 
 Fever 
 Dtaths. 
 
 Fever 
 
 Death Rate 
 
 per 1000. 
 
 1865 
 
 360,337 
 
 12,042 
 
 33-4 
 
 5,181 
 
 14-8 
 
 1866 
 
 305,051 
 
 11,702 
 
 32-1 1 
 
 4,913 ^f^'l 
 
 14-0 
 
 1867 
 
 332,968 
 
 40,114 
 
 120-5 
 
 31,920 
 
 99-5 
 
 1868 
 
 324.370 
 
 18,403 ; 
 
 56-7 
 
 10,923 
 
 34-9 
 
 1869 
 
 322,892 
 
 11,295 
 
 35-0 1 
 
 6,330 
 
 20-6 
 
 1870 
 
 32«,604 
 
 7,4"3 
 
 22.6 
 
 3,3?9 
 
 10-6 
 
 Mfan 
 
 336,579 
 
 14,476 
 
 44-1 1 
 
 9,769 
 
 30-3 
 
 3 871 
 
 319,470 
 
 8,171 
 
 25-6 
 
 3,578 
 
 11-1 
 
 1-Tl 
 
 325,960 
 
 8,745 
 
 26-8 
 
 4,235 
 
 12-8 
 
 1873 
 
 332,476 
 
 11,210 
 
 33*7 
 
 5,031 
 
 15-1 
 
 1874 
 
 339,806 
 
 10,019 
 
 29-5 
 
 4,024 
 
 11-8 
 
 ]875 
 
 345,037 
 
 8,584 
 
 24-9 
 
 4,061 
 
 11-Y 
 
 1876 
 
 346,390 
 
 9,525 
 
 27-5 , 
 
 4,845 
 
 14-0 
 
 1877 
 
 349,060 
 
 10,335 
 
 29-6 
 
 5,787 
 
 16-6 
 
 . ]878 
 
 355,058 
 
 9,649 
 
 27-2 . 
 
 5,144 
 
 14-5 
 
 1879 
 
 357,774 
 
 11,485 
 
 32-1 
 
 5,303 
 
 14-8 
 
 1880 
 
 360,328 
 
 10,143 
 
 28-1 
 
 5,173 
 
 14-3 
 
 Mean 
 
 343,135 
 
 9,787 
 
 28-5 
 
 4,718 
 
 13-7 
 
 1881 
 
 359,419 
 
 10,746 
 
 29-9 
 
 5,826 
 
 16-2 
 
 1»82 
 
 3.'i9,322 
 
 12,563 
 
 35-0 
 
 7,483 
 
 20-8 
 
 1883 
 
 360,221 
 
 12,770 
 
 35-4 
 
 6,741 
 
 18-7 
 
 3 884 
 
 368.813 
 
 11,2-47 
 
 30-5 
 
 6,103 
 
 16-5 
 
 1885 
 
 367,288 
 
 12,352 
 
 33-6 
 
 7,423 
 
 20-2 
 
 188G 
 
 368,145 
 
 10,624 
 
 28-9 
 
 5,839 
 
 15-8 
 
 1887 
 
 368,163 
 
 12,690 
 
 ;u-5 
 
 7,690 
 
 20-8 
 
 1888 
 
 369,302 
 
 i 11,193 
 
 30-3 
 
 6,110 
 
 16-5 
 
 1889 
 
 372,664 
 
 12,567 
 
 33-7 
 
 7,338 
 
 19-6 
 
 1890 
 
 370,624 
 
 1 12,781 
 
 34-5 
 
 7,004 
 
 18-8 
 
 Mean 
 
 366,396 
 
 11,953 
 
 32-6 
 
 6,751 
 
 18-4 
 
 1891 
 
 373,985 
 
 10,080 
 
 27-2 
 
 5,003 
 
 13-3 
 
 1892 
 
 374,079 
 
 J 3,055 
 
 38-4 
 
 5,698 
 
 14-9 
 
 1893 
 
 371,798 
 
 1 15,307 
 
 40-9 
 
 6,032 
 
 16-2 
 
 1894 
 
 376,219 
 
 1 10,792 
 
 29-0 
 
 5,655 
 
 14-9 
 
 1895 
 
 378,041 
 
 i 13,958 
 
 37-1 
 
 7,509 
 
 19-8 
 
 1896 
 
 374,942 
 
 1 15,843 
 
 41-9 
 
 8,181 
 
 21-8 
 
 1897 
 
 377,856 
 
 1 11,066 
 
 29-5 
 
 5,890 
 
 15-5 
 
 1898 
 
 378,872 
 
 ! 12,064 
 
 31-9 
 
 6,507 
 
 17-1 
 
 1899 
 
 379,659 
 
 13,222 
 
 34-8 
 
 4,576 
 
 12-0 
 
 1900 
 
 389,897 
 
 13,691 
 
 34-8 
 
 4,844 
 
 12-4 
 
 Mean 
 
 377,535 
 
 12,908 
 
 34-5 
 
 5,980 
 
 15-8 
 
 1901 
 
 380,212 
 
 14,971 
 
 40-3 
 
 5,612 
 
 14-7 
 
 1902 
 
 383,410 
 
 12,716 
 
 34-0 
 
 4,456 
 
 16-6 
 
 1903 
 
 382,483 
 
 15,034 
 
 39-9 
 
 5,840 
 
 15-2 
 
 1904 
 
 387,395 
 
 12,064 
 
 32-2 
 
 4,333 
 
 111 
 
 1905 
 
 386,128 
 
 15,379 
 
 40-6 
 
 6,764 
 
 17-5 
 
 1906 
 
 383,206 
 
 15,118 
 
 40-0 
 
 5,827 
 
 15-2 
 
 Mean 
 
 383,606 
 
 14,214 
 
 36-0 
 
 5,472 
 
 1 14-2 
 
 * Sir Ronald Ross's Report. 
 
MALARIAL FEVEB. 
 'TABLE IL* 
 
 203 
 
 \ Statement showing the Deaths from Malaria and from all 
 Causes for the Years 1896-1906. 
 
 Districts. 
 
 
 1896. j 1S97. 
 
 l)-98. 
 
 1899. 
 
 1 
 19C0. 
 
 1901. 
 
 Port Louis 
 
 Malaiia . 
 
 1,565 
 
 1,111 
 
 1,394 
 
 . 789 
 
 601 
 
 802 
 
 
 All causes 
 
 3,184 
 
 2,262 
 
 2,699 
 
 2,886 
 
 1,982 
 
 3,002 
 
 Pamplemousses 
 
 Malaria . 
 
 1,302 
 
 688 
 
 871 
 
 616 
 
 691 
 
 916 
 
 
 All causes 
 
 1,966 
 
 1,110 
 
 1,282 
 
 1,319 
 
 1,346 
 
 1,626 
 
 Kivi^re du Rempart 
 
 Malaria . 
 
 598 
 
 308 
 
 378 
 
 241 
 
 219 
 
 299 
 
 
 All causes 
 
 1,042 
 
 680 
 
 674 
 
 629 
 
 722 
 
 839 
 
 Flacq . 
 
 Malaria . 
 
 1,309 982 
 
 1,153 
 
 1,002 
 
 1,112 
 
 1,000 
 
 
 All causes 
 
 2,065 1,572 
 
 1,855 
 
 1,670 
 
 1,961 
 
 1,759 
 
 Orand Port . 
 
 Mnlaria . 
 
 1,007 ! 915 
 
 691 
 
 625 
 
 690 
 
 823 
 
 
 All causes 
 
 2,234 1,702 
 
 1,508 
 
 1,492 
 
 1,633 
 
 1,751 
 
 Savanne . 
 
 Malaria . 
 
 59.2 j 491„ 
 
 324 
 
 374 
 
 437 
 
 524 
 
 
 All causes 
 
 ■ 
 
 ] ,299 ! 274 
 
 479 
 
 969 
 
 992 
 
 1,231 
 
 Plaines Wilhems 
 
 Malaria . 
 
 1,012 783 
 
 944 
 
 346 
 
 384 
 
 351 
 
 
 All causes 
 
 2,292 1,644 
 
 1,894 
 
 1,810 
 
 2,201 
 
 2,124 
 
 Moka 
 
 Malaria . 
 
 393 349 
 
 428 
 
 231 
 
 296 
 
 453 
 
 
 All causes 
 
 1,197 787 
 
 943 
 
 915 
 
 1,054 
 
 1,142 
 
 Black River .. 
 
 Malaria . 
 
 403 263 
 
 324 
 
 352 
 
 416 
 
 442 
 
 
 All causes 
 
 564 435 
 
 460 
 
 508 
 
 607 
 
 685 
 
 Districts. 
 
 
 1902. 
 
 1903. 
 
 1904. 
 
 1905. \ 1906. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Port Louis . • ^ 
 
 llalaria . 
 
 _-.„ao4 
 
 451. 
 
 378 
 
 939 ' 549 
 
 
 
 All causes 2,543 
 
 2,428 
 
 2,148 
 
 2,926 ! 2,416 
 
 
 Pamplemousses 
 
 Malaria . 812 ' 1,020 
 
 820 
 
 1,084 985 
 
 
 
 All causes 1,509 1,636 
 
 1,381 
 
 1,795 1,734 
 
 
 Riviere du Rempart 
 
 Malaria . 243 419 
 
 326 
 
 498 i 531' 
 
 
 
 All causes 731 940 
 
 748 
 
 1,039 1 1,263 
 
 
 Flacq 
 
 Malaria . ! -"811 " 1,328' 
 
 1,047 
 
 1,557 1,511 
 
 
 
 All causes ' 1,465 :2,121 
 
 1,721 
 
 2,412 2,401 
 
 
 Grand Port . 
 
 Malaria . 643 \ 1,065 
 
 537 
 
 1,090 643 
 
 
 
 All causes 1,538 2,188 
 
 1,595 
 
 2,204 1,700 
 
 
 Savaane . 
 
 Malaria . I 368 ; 524 
 
 413 
 
 545 j 465 
 
 
 
 All causes 988 ; 1,124 
 
 976 
 
 1,212 1,156 
 
 
 Plaines Wilhems 
 
 Malaria . 217 I 273 
 
 189 
 
 274 i 292 
 
 
 
 All causes 1,957 \ 1,950 
 
 1,684 
 
 1,896 j 2,240 
 
 
 Moka . . . 
 
 Malaria . i 352 i 369 
 
 304 
 
 427 479 
 
 
 
 All causes 
 
 986 r 976 
 
 .S99 
 
 1,097 
 
 1,236 
 
 
 Black River . 
 
 Malaria . 
 
 406 391 
 
 319 
 
 350 
 
 372 
 
 , 
 
 
 All causes 
 
 609 ! 6Sl 
 
 656 
 
 546 
 
 638 
 
 
 * Sir Ronald Ross's Report. 
 
•204 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 'TABLE IV.— D.* 
 
 Summanj of Spleen Rates [Seetiou 20). 
 
 
 — "O 
 
 
 
 Spleens. 
 
 
 
 
 
 si 
 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 V 
 
 , 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 ^ a 
 
 
 !c S 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 9 
 
 with 
 
 ^A 
 
 ^^, 
 
 
 o £ 
 
 
 
 
 
 Spleen. 
 
 qqOS 
 
 <^ 
 
 Estates. 
 
 • 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Pamplemousses 
 
 1,997 
 
 1,207 
 
 365 
 
 300 
 
 125 
 
 790 
 
 39-6 
 
 2-62. 
 
 Riviere du Eempart 
 
 3,945 
 
 2,964 
 
 541 
 
 261 
 
 179 
 
 981 
 
 24-a 
 
 1-97 
 
 Flacq . 
 
 2,877 
 
 1,158 
 
 825 
 
 582 
 
 312 
 
 1,719 
 
 59-8 
 
 3-45 
 
 Grand Port . 
 
 3,110 
 
 1,615 
 
 504 
 
 636 
 
 355 
 
 1,495 
 
 48-1 
 
 3-26 
 
 Sg-vanne 
 
 2,953 
 
 2,317 
 
 334 
 
 189 
 
 113 
 
 636 
 
 21-5 
 
 1-85 
 
 Black River . 
 
 875 
 
 378 
 
 192 
 
 193 
 
 112 
 
 497 
 
 56-8 
 
 3-57 
 
 Mbka . . 
 
 1,961 
 
 1,874 
 
 23 
 
 34 
 
 30 
 
 87 
 
 4-4 
 
 1-23 
 
 Plaines Wilhems . 
 
 1,191 
 
 1,089 
 
 33 
 
 35 
 
 34 
 
 102 
 
 8-6 
 
 1-43 
 
 Total . 
 
 18,909 
 
 12,602 
 
 2,817 
 
 2,230 
 
 1,260 
 
 6,307 
 
 33-35 
 
 2-42 
 
 Schools. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Port Louis 
 
 2,003 
 
 1,297 
 
 305 
 
 179 
 
 222 
 
 706 35-2 
 
 2.64 
 
 Grand Port . 
 
 1,152 
 
 813 
 
 144 
 
 116 
 
 79 
 
 339 ! 29-4 
 
 2-30 
 
 Savanne 
 
 449 
 
 300 
 
 43 
 
 51 
 
 5q 
 
 149 33-3 
 
 2-74 
 
 Black River . 
 
 76 
 
 20 
 
 30 
 
 17 
 
 9 
 
 56 
 
 73-4 
 
 3-89 
 
 Moka . 
 
 263 
 
 209 
 
 41 
 
 8 
 
 5 
 
 54 
 
 20-5 
 
 1-62 
 
 Plaines Wilb ems . 
 
 2,245 
 
 2,094 
 
 88 
 
 33 
 
 30 
 
 151 
 
 6-5 
 
 1-26 
 
 Total 
 
 6,188 
 
 4,733 
 
 651 
 
 404 
 
 400 
 
 1,455 
 
 23-5 
 
 2-05 
 
 Various Localities. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 By Dr. Milne . 
 
 3,907 
 
 1,768 
 
 677 
 
 657 
 
 805 i 2,139 
 
 67-7 
 
 3-84 
 
 By Masson. Ross, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 and Fowler 
 
 1,133 
 
 608 
 
 236 
 
 188 
 
 101 
 
 525 
 
 46-3 
 
 2-96 
 
 Total . 
 
 5,040 
 
 2,376 
 
 913 
 
 845 
 
 906 
 
 2,664 
 
 52-9 
 
 3-64 
 
 Miscellaneous. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total . 
 
 30,137 
 
 19,711 
 
 4,381 
 
 3,479 
 
 2,566 
 
 10,426 
 
 34-6 
 
 2-54 
 
 Ross and Fowler . 
 
 885 
 
 716 
 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 169 
 
 19-1 
 
 — 
 
 Grand Total . 
 
 31,022 
 
 20,427 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 10,595 
 
 841 
 
 — 
 
 * Sir Ronald Ross's Report. 
 
MALARIAL FEVER. 
 
 >05 
 
 * TABLE IV.— E.* 
 
 Spleen. Rate according to Altitude {Section 20, 7). 
 
 
 Children 
 
 
 Spleens. 
 
 
 
 Spleen 
 
 Average 
 
 Altitude 
 
 
 
 
 
 T 'tal with 
 
 in Feet. 
 
 examined. 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 9 
 
 Spleen. 
 
 Rate. 
 
 Spleen. 
 
 100 
 
 5,210 
 
 2,623 
 
 1,030 
 
 732 
 
 734 
 
 2,587 
 
 49-6 
 
 3-30 
 
 200 
 
 4,843 
 
 2,593 
 
 813 
 
 765 
 
 633 
 
 2,250 
 
 46-4 
 
 3-16 
 
 300 
 
 3,559 
 
 2,208 
 
 616 
 
 457 
 
 258 
 
 1,351 
 
 37-6 
 
 2-59 
 
 400 
 
 2,817 
 
 1,432 
 
 651 
 
 473 
 
 262 
 
 1,386 
 
 49-2 
 
 3-01 
 
 500 
 
 1,246 
 
 786 
 
 193 
 
 177 
 
 90 
 
 460 
 
 36-9 
 
 3-48 
 
 600 
 
 830 
 
 518 
 
 106 
 
 128 
 
 78 
 
 312 
 
 37-5 
 
 2-74 
 
 700 
 
 1,963 
 
 1,373 
 
 227 
 
 •235 
 
 122 
 
 590 
 
 30-0 
 
 2-27 
 
 800 
 
 1,398 
 
 1,241 
 
 80 
 
 41 
 
 36 
 
 157 
 
 11-1 
 
 1-65 
 
 900 
 
 624 
 
 478 
 
 52 
 
 48 
 
 46 
 
 146 
 
 23-4 
 
 2-14 
 
 1,000 
 
 972 
 
 901 
 
 47 
 
 11 
 
 13 
 
 71 
 
 7-3 
 
 1-26 
 
 1,100 
 
 782 
 
 736 
 
 18 
 
 9 
 
 7 
 
 46 
 
 5-8 
 
 1-14 
 
 1,200 
 
 858 
 
 751 
 
 49 
 
 28 
 
 19 
 
 107 
 
 12-4 
 
 1-28 
 
 1,300 
 
 130 
 
 124 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 6 
 
 4-6 
 
 — 
 
 1,400 
 
 1,991 
 
 1,556 
 
 185 
 
 160 
 
 90 
 
 435 
 
 21-8 
 
 1-94 
 
 1,500 
 
 612 
 
 586 
 
 10 
 
 12 
 
 4 
 
 26 
 
 4-2 
 
 1-19 
 
 1,600 
 1,700 
 1,800 
 
 112 
 
 105 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 6-2 
 
 1-31 
 
 765 
 
 740 
 
 13 
 
 6 
 
 5 
 
 25 
 
 3-2 
 
 113 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 * TABLE lY.— F.* 
 
 Spleen Rates compared with Death Rates h(j Districts 
 {Section 20, 8). 
 
 Class. 
 
 Districts. 
 
 Death Rates 
 Average 
 1905-06. 
 
 Spleen 
 Rates. 
 
 Average 
 Spleen; 
 
 Estates only . 
 
 Pamplemousses 
 
 37-3 
 
 39-6 
 
 2-62 
 
 
 Kiviere du Kempart . 
 
 30-7 
 
 24-6 
 
 1-97 
 
 
 Flacq 
 
 30-9 
 
 59-6 
 
 3-45 
 
 
 Grand Port 
 
 24-5 
 
 48-0 
 
 3-25 
 
 
 Savanne . 
 
 28-7 
 
 21-5 
 
 1-85 
 
 
 Black River 
 
 39-5 
 
 56-7 
 
 3-56 
 
 
 Moka 
 
 18-7 
 
 4-4 
 
 1-23 
 
 
 Plaines Wilhems 
 Average of the above 
 
 27-0 
 
 8-6 
 
 1-43 
 
 
 29-7 
 
 32-9 
 
 2-42 
 
 All Classes 
 
 Port Louis 
 
 56-6 
 
 35-6 
 
 2-66 
 
 
 Pamplemousses 
 
 46-1 
 
 45-7 
 
 . 3-04 
 
 
 Riviere du Rempart . 
 
 39-7 
 
 27-6 
 
 2-12 
 
 
 Flacq 
 
 42-4 
 
 62-7 
 
 3-89 
 
 
 Grand Port 
 
 38-6 
 
 42-4 
 
 2-97 
 
 
 Savanne . 
 
 32-5 
 
 '^3-0 
 
 1-96 
 
 
 Black River 
 
 44-2 
 
 58-2 
 
 3-63 
 
 
 Moka . . . 
 
 31-1 
 
 11-2 
 
 1-52 
 
 
 Plaines Wilhems 
 Average of the above 
 
 31-9 
 
 14-3 
 
 1-61 
 
 
 40-3 
 
 .35-6 
 
 2-6Q,_ 
 
 Sir Ronald Ross's Report. 
 
206 
 
 THE P]PIDE\IICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 'MAURITIUS BLUE BOOK. 
 
 Tables of Cases of Malarial Fever or other Endemic FeceTy. 
 Plague, Typhus^ Small-pox, Scarlatina, Enteric {or Typhoid) 
 Fever, Erysipelas, Pycetnia, occurring amongst Patients. 
 
 
 1908. 
 
 1909. 
 
 Name of Disease. 
 
 No. of Cases 
 admitted. 
 
 No. of 
 Deaths. 
 
 No. of Cases 
 admitted. 
 
 1 
 
 No. of 
 Deaths. 
 
 PoBT Lonis. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Civil Hospital — 
 
 Malarial Fever 
 
 Plague .... 
 
 Enteric (or Typhoid) Fever . 
 
 Erysipelas .... 
 Prison Hospital — 
 
 Malarial Fever -. 
 
 Plague . . ... 
 
 980 
 14 
 
 8 
 17 
 
 546 
 
 10 
 
 7 
 4 
 3 
 
 I 
 
 710 
 
 25 
 
 9 
 
 13 
 
 : 361 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 20 
 
 2 
 
 Pamplemouss^s. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Lorn) Mountain Hospital — 
 Malarial Fever 
 Plague .... 
 Erysipelas .... 
 
 126 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 143 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 KlVlfeRE DU KeMPART. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Povdre d'Or Hospital — 
 Malarial Fever . 
 Enteric (or Typhoid) Fevtr) . 
 Erysipelas .... 
 Pyaemia .... 
 Plague .... 
 
 263 
 
 15 
 
 12 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 2 
 
 173 
 
 14 
 
 12 
 
 3 
 
 1 ^ 
 
 3 
 4 
 2 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 Flacq. 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 Malarial Fever 
 
 Plague 
 
 Erysipelas .... 
 
 Enteric Fever 
 
 Pyeemia .... 
 
 535 
 12 
 
 
 
 303 
 1 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 Prison Hospital — 
 Malarial Fever . 
 
 31 
 
 2 
 
 17 
 
 1 
 
 Erysipelas .... 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 Grand Port. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Malarial Fever 
 
 Erysipelas .... 
 
 Enteric Fever . 
 
 Plague 
 
 Pyaemia 
 
 830 
 
 11 
 
 9 
 
 7 
 2 
 2 
 
 601 
 
 18 
 
 ! 6 
 
 ! 3 
 
 9 
 3 
 1 
 
MALARIAL FEVER. 
 Mauritius Blue Book — continued. 
 
 207 
 
 Name of Disease. 
 
 Savanne. 
 
 Malarial Fever 
 Erysipelas 
 Enteric Fever . 
 Plague .... 
 Prison Hospital — 
 Malarial Fever . 
 
 Plaines Wilhems. 
 New Central Prisons. 
 Benu Bassin — 
 Malarial Fever . 
 Erysipelas . 
 Pyaemia 
 Enteric Fever 
 
 Barkly Asj/lum, Beau Bassin- 
 Enteric Fever 
 Malarial Fever . 
 Plague 
 Erysipelas . 
 
 Lunatic Asylum — Infirmaries 
 
 Malarial Fever . 
 
 Erysipelas . 
 
 Plague 
 Government Beformatory, Rose 
 Hill— 
 
 Malarial Fever . 
 
 Typhoid . . . . 
 
 MOKA. 
 
 Malarial Fever 
 
 Erysipelas. . . . . 
 Enteric (or Typhoid) Fever 
 Plague 
 
 1908. 
 
 No. of Cases 
 adiuitted. 
 
 23'.) 
 3 
 
 3 
 34 
 
 546 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 607 
 
 110 
 1 
 
 101 
 
 123 
 
 1 
 
 21 
 
 No. of 
 Deaths. 
 
 1900. 
 
 No. of Cases 
 admitted. 
 
 287 
 5 
 1 
 
 47 
 
 329 
 1 
 2 
 2 
 
 29 
 556 
 
 186 
 2 
 1 
 
 128 
 2 
 
 144 
 
 3 
 
 11 
 
 No. of 
 Deaths. 
 
208 THE EPIDExMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 *DR. BOLTON'S GOVERXMENT REPORT OxV THE 
 POLLUTION OF THE RIVERS IN MAURITIUS.^ 
 
 ' As a prelimiiiaiy to this report I must allude to Riviere des 
 Pamplemousses, the fans et origo mcdi. The source of this river 
 is not, I believe, well known, as it received the waters of the Ville 
 Bague Canal at a spot between " Rosalie " and " Rosalie Con- 
 stance " estates. If the waters of this canal were to be diverted 
 from Pamplemousses River a very insignificant little stream will 
 be all that would be left, as it has no feeders of any importance. 
 
 ' Numerous dams have been constructed along- its course to 
 meet the water rights of the estates having them ; the last one is 
 situated just on the boundary line of Pamplemousses village and 
 supplies the Botanical Gardens, after which the waters are again 
 ■collected into the Mon Plaisir Canal near the high road leading to 
 Mapou, whence this canal goes to " Beau Plan " estate, where 
 there is another dam and a large marsh. 
 
 * " L'Esperance," " Maison Blanche " (part of Mon Rocher), 
 " The Mount," " Le Plessis " (part of th| Mount, and " Rosalie 
 Constance"), are Avell situated along the Pamplemousses River. 
 Fourteen years ago Mr. Chadwick was requested to report on the 
 insalubrity of Pamplemousses district. The following extracts are 
 from his report No. A/89 of 12.8.92 :— 
 
 * " The fact that malarial fever is rife in the district of Pample- 
 mousses needs no demonstration ; all the conditions which favour 
 the production of this disease exist. There are numerous marshes 
 and a large area covered with dense bush. The manner in which 
 the forest laws have been applied has aggravated the natural 
 defects of the district." 
 
 * This was written fourteen years ago, when it was not known 
 that jungles and marshes are not injurious to health in themselves, 
 but owing to the presence of the fever-carrying mosquito in them 
 ^in the former it finds perfect shelter, and in the latter its 
 natural breeding places. 
 
 'As a member of the Malaria Committee I had occasion a 
 short time ago to inspect several parts of Pamplemousses River. 
 Its banks are in many places impenetrable, so overgrown are they 
 with bamboos, raffia palms, Jamrosa trees, and weeds of all kinds. 
 In many places the roots of these trees project into the river, 
 hinder the flow of water, and help to form pools and swamps in 
 which anopheles are to be found in large numbers. The water 
 was dark coloured, and gave evident signs of the washing of large 
 
 * Sir Ronald Ross's Report. 
 
MALARIAL FEVER. 209 
 
 -quantities of dirty clothes along the whole course of the river. 
 This very undesirable condition of things is due, as Mr. Chadwick 
 wrote, to the " fanatical reverence for trees which is shown by 
 those in charge of river reserves." 
 
 ' The whole vegetable kingdom, bamboos, raffia palms, ravenals, 
 rushes, and aquatic plants of all sorts are saved, and may not be 
 touched even after death. 
 
 * Land is too valuable in this district for the owners to allow 
 it to remain uncultivated, so that the cause of the insalubrity of 
 that part of the district of Pamplemousses wherein are situated 
 the estates I have mentioned above is to be found in the "reserves" 
 of the river. 
 
 ' In my report for the second half of the year 1905, it will be 
 found that Malaria caused 50 per cent, of the deaths of L'Esperance 
 Estate, 28-5 per cent, on The Mount, 28*12 per cent, on Rosalie 
 Constance (it is worse this year), 60 per cent, on Mon Rocher. 
 The percentage of the whole district was 48*4 for the second and 
 58 "75 for the first half of the year ; and for Beau Plan 35'3 ; 
 L'Esperance, 50; Mon Rocher, 70 '5; Rosalie Constance, 50 ; and 
 The Mount, 49. 
 
 ' It is clear, therefore, that a very large fraction of the deaths 
 on these estates could be reduced to a considerable degree if anti- 
 malaria measures were adopted. 
 
 ' I have shown the cause of the high death-rate on the estates 
 mentioned to be Malaria. This disease must therefore be either 
 suppressed in that particular locality or considerably mitigated. 
 The remedy is simple. Reduce the depth of the reserves of 
 Pamplemousses river ; remove all brushwood, small trees, bamboos, 
 <&c., leaving a narrow belt of large trees on each side of the 
 •stream. 
 
 'In Mr. Chadwick's report, he says (paragraph 15): "All trees 
 or bush should be cut down in the bed of the stream and on the 
 banks for a distance of, say, two yards from the banks. No 
 bamboos, raffias, vieilles filles, and similar rubbish should be 
 allowed to grow within twenty feet of the stream. I do not 
 propose that the trees on Government river reserves should be 
 cut down, though I believe that they might without any evil 
 results." 
 
 ' Paragraph 18 : '* I am not in any way opposed to re-afforesta- 
 tion — indeed, I believe that it would, in the uplands, be of the 
 greatest benefit to the Island ; but I maintain that to affect the 
 rivers re-afforestation must take place above the springs which 
 furnish the dry weather supply. It is clear that nothing that 
 happens below these springs can have the slightest effect on 
 their discharge. Trees along the banks of rivers may to some 
 .slight extent check evaporation by shading the rivers, but if 
 
 p 
 
210 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 neglected they cause obstruction and stagnation, and aciuaJly 
 increase both evaporation and loss by perrotationy 
 
 ' It is clear, therefore, that river reserves have no raison d'etre 
 in the low-Jying parts of the Island — i.e., within the zone of 
 Malaria prevalence ; they do not help to keep the water supply, 
 and even if they did, to whom Avould this water supply profit ? 
 No one in particular, for there are no factories in the low parts 
 which derive their water supply from the spot. It all comes in 
 canals from a long distance. This fact, added to the other that 
 the reserves are prejudicial to the health of those living in 
 their neighbourhood, brings us to the only conclusion possible: 
 do away w^th them. If my suggestion, based upon opinions ex- 
 pressed by such a high authority on sanitary matters as Mr. Chad- 
 wick, were accepted, I believe they could be carried out at a very 
 little, if any, cost to Government. 
 
 * The riparian proprietors would only be too glad to undertake 
 the work if they were allowed to keep the wood removed. 
 
 ' If the timber on river reserves belong to Government, then 
 tenders might be called for the purchase thereof ; or it could be 
 sold by public auction en bloc or in portions. 
 
 *The money resulting from the transactions would defray the 
 cost of clearing the river, cutting the brushwood on the banks, and 
 filling in pools and swamps. 
 
 ' If as the Forest Laws now stand my recommendations are 
 illegal, special legislation will have to be resorted to. What Mr. 
 Chadwick has stated with regard to the Pamplemousses applies to 
 all rivers of the colony; and the reserves in populous localities such 
 as towns, villages, hamlets, and Indian camps on estates should be 
 dealt with as I have recommended. 
 
 ' Take for example Riviere Dragon in the district of Savanne. 
 The reserves opposite " Abattis Mareuille " and in the vicinity of 
 the camp of St. Felix Estate are positively pernicious to that hamlet 
 and to the estate camp. As the reserves in no way tend to maintain 
 the water supply they should be removed. 
 
 ' There is a considerable capital represented by the wood in the 
 reserves which could be therefore called in and employed in fight- 
 ing Malaria ; the portions of reserves which are considered dan- 
 gerous and therefore removable should be marked out and the- 
 wood sold. 
 
 (Signed) *John Bolton, 
 
 '2Mt June, 1906. ' Medical Officer.'' 
 
 With regard to tbe vexatious questions of Forest Laws- 
 and Eiver Reserves, I could not do better than give the- 
 foUowing extract from Sir Ronald Ross's report : 
 
MALARIAL FEVER. 211 
 
 * Addendum 3. — The Question of the River Reserves. — 
 The chief product of Maurifcius is sui^ar. It has been shown by 
 years of observation that the amount produced Uj her magnificent 
 fields varies as the rainfall multiplied by the number of rainy days. 
 Now it has long been a dogma of forestry that forests tend to 
 increase the rainfall. For this and other reasons, Manritius 
 possesses a Forest and Gardens Department, costing Rs. 142,377 in 
 190G (Blue Rook). 
 
 'Although the whole island is well wooded, the true forests 
 exist mostly on the mountains or higher parts of the plateau^ 
 where they are carefully guarded by the law. In addition, how- 
 ever, there is an old law which prevents the cutting of trees, with- 
 out permission of the Forest Department, within a distance of 
 from ten to fifty feet from the edge of certain parts of rivers and. 
 streams. The result is that in most parts of Mauritius, wherever 
 there is a small river or stream, or even a stony channel, there is 
 generally found a strip of thick, and sometimes impenetrable, 
 vegetation, consisting both of lai'ge trees and underwood., and ex- 
 tending from the stream to the top of the ravine made by it, in the 
 deep shadow of which the water runs along almost hidden from sight. 
 
 'These strips of jungle are called the ''River Reserves." 
 Recently the question has arisen whether, whatever may be their 
 good eft'ects, their existence is beneficial to the health of the people 
 who live near them. It has been pointed out that nuisances which 
 tend to pollute the streams (which are largely used for drinking) 
 are often committed in the shelter of the wood, and may cause 
 ankylostomiasis ; and that the water is further polluted by dead 
 leaves of bamboos and other plants, which lie soaking in the pools. 
 More recently, Di'. Bolton, Medical Officer of the Immigration 
 Department, being directed to report on the cause of the high 
 death rate on certain sugar estates, came to the conclusion that 
 on many it was due chiefly to malaria caused by Anophelines 
 breeding largely in these River Reserves (July, 1906). His 
 reports were forwarded fur an expression of opinion to the Societe 
 Medicale, which endorsed his views, and advised " la suppression 
 et le maintien de la suppression des reserves forestieres le long des 
 rivieres dans tout centre de population de la zone malarienne et a 
 3 et 400 metres en aval et en amont de ces centres " (August, 
 1906). The matter was now put before the Woods and Forests 
 Board, which considered it at various meetings for more than a 
 year. During the same time the Director of Forests (Mr. Koenig) 
 wrote reports in which he maintained the utility of the River 
 Reserves, and criticised some of Dr. Bolton's conclusions. Finally 
 H.E. the Governor asked me (Colonial Secretary, No. 9826/06 of 
 15/2/08, with correspondence enclosed), for my views on the 
 question. 
 
n2 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 * I have carefully considered this literature, as well as reports 
 by Mr. Thompsou (1880) and Mr. Gleadow (1904) on the Forests 
 of Mauritius. I also had opportunities to discuss the whole 
 matter with Dr. Lorans, Mr. Koenig, Dr. Bolton, and many others, 
 and will do my best to throw some light on the controversy. 
 
 'The fii'st questions which arise relate to matters of fact. 
 (1) Is it really true tltat forests increase the raifffall ? In this con- 
 nection I had the advantage of being able to read in manuscript 
 an able report on the subject by Mr. Walter, of the Observatory. 
 By analysis of a mass of meteorological statistics he concluded that 
 certain large denudations of forest which occurred in the island 
 some decades ago had certainly had a small but definite effect on 
 the rainfall. The total rainfall had not been markedly changed, 
 but there had been an appreciable decrease of the number of rainy 
 days — one of the most important factors in sugar-cane cultivation. 
 From another paper of his (and also from other articles I have 
 read) it w^ould seem that trees suck up moisture by their roots and 
 exhale it into the atmosphere by their leaves in large quantities. 
 On calm days this exhaled moisture increases the humidity of the 
 air until saturation and a fall of rain occur — thus explaining the 
 afternoon showers so frequently seen over the land (but not at sea). 
 Hence trees would be, as it were, syphons which tend to draw up 
 water buried in the soil and to distribute some of it over the fields 
 — in other words, valuable irrigators. 
 
 ' But the efi'ect of the whole extensive denudations referred to 
 had not been large. I have unfortunately mislaid my notes on 
 Mr. Walter's report ; but if I remember aright there was evidence 
 of only a small percentage of decrease in the num.ber of rainy days. 
 Now the entire extent of River Reserves put together amounts, I 
 believe, only to 2 or 3 per cent, of the total forest in Mauritius. 
 Hence, I presume, the removal of the entire River Reserves would 
 scarcely diminish the number of rainy days by more than a small 
 fraction. Still further, the proportion of River Reserves and other 
 wooded water channels within 400 metres of populous centres 
 must be only a small fraction of the entire River Reserves and 
 other wooded water channels ; so that the removal of these parts 
 only, as advised by the Societe Medicale, would have (I should 
 think) an absolutely inappreciable efi'ect either on the total rainfall 
 or on the number of rainy days. If the denudation of large areas 
 has had little effect, surely that of a few hundred yards of narrow 
 strips of ground near a few populous centres could have scarcely 
 any at all. 
 
 * But other benefits are attributed to the Reserves. It is said 
 vhat they break the force of the wind on the cane fields ; and I 
 think that they do — but only to a very small percentage on the 
 average. They prevent the water running away too quickly to 
 
MALARIAL FEVER. 2Vd 
 
 sea ; they check erosion of the banks by floods and the washing 
 away of the soil by heavy rains. But while admitting these points, 
 we must again remark that it is not proposed to denude all the 
 streams but only small parts of them near " populous centres." 
 
 'Now let us turn to- the other side. (2) Is it reallf/ true that 
 the River Reserves cause Malaria ? Dr. Bolton drew his conclu- 
 sions from a comparison of a number of estates which he divided 
 into two classes, namely. Class A, in which a stream, river, or 
 marsh exists in the vicinity of the Camp ; and Class B, in which 
 they do not exist. The death rates for the first half of each of 
 the years 11)03, 11)04, 11)05, tended to be higher in Class A than 
 in Class B ; while, taking the average estate death rate for the 
 district as a mean, the death rates of Class A were above it and 
 those of Class B were below it. Uufortunaiely, owing to large 
 statistical error, death rates are not very reliable quantities for 
 such a comparison. Spleen rates would obviously give much 
 sounder information ; and the details for 1007-08 will be found in 
 Table lY, A. These will not necessarily accord with Dr. Bolton's 
 figures, since they were collected two years later, and also because, 
 owing to the confusion of names adopted for some of the estates, 
 I camiot always identify his localities ; but they generally support 
 his argument. On averaging the spleen rates for the districts I 
 find as follows : — 
 
 Class A. Class B. 
 
 Av. Spl. R. Av, Spl. R. 
 
 ' Pamplemousses . . . 55*7 21-8 
 
 Flacq 67-1 53-8 
 
 Grand Port .... 68-8 44-0 
 
 Savanne 20-9 27-7 
 
 * Savanne is the only exception ; but the sources of error are so- 
 numerous that the figures are worth but little. There may, for 
 instance, be breeding-places in Class B not included in those men- 
 tioned ; while in Class A some of the waters may be too distant to 
 have any great effect. 
 
 ' I trust that the spleen census and the results of the minor 
 works proposed in sections 28 and 33 will definitely clear up the 
 question in a year or two ; but at present I cannot say that the 
 River Reserves (or more generally the wooded water channels) 
 have been fully convicted of causing all, or even much of the 
 malaria, near them — at least, by statistical evidence. 
 
 * Speaking generally, however, they are certainly dangerous. 
 There is no doubt whatever that the Anophelines do breed in the 
 streams ; bat they breed in water along lengths of grassy margin, 
 and in pools, in rocks, &c., not in the trees. I am not certain that 
 the trees affect the question much one way or the other. In fact, 
 as pointed out to me by Mr. Koenig, the shade of large trees- 
 is inimical to the growth of grass, which is generally scanty under 
 
214 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 them — and it is grass in water which is the danger. Moreover, I 
 can quite imagine that a thick growth round a stream must make 
 ingress or egress much more difficult for mosquitoes. On the 
 other hand, trees do breed Culicinee, and shelter all mosquitoes; 
 and our ' moustiquiers ' easily captured Anophelines in the Reserves 
 — suggesting that women and children who go to draw Wiiter may 
 often become infected there. And the objections to the Reserves 
 on account of nuisances still stand. 
 
 • Before proceeding to consider recommendations, two more 
 points have to be discussed. (1) It is, I think, perfectly agreed 
 to by both sides in the controversy that the undergrowth in the 
 Reserves is quite unnecessary. Mr. Koenig informed me that his 
 •department requires the large trees, not the dense growth of useless 
 bushes under them ; and it is precisely this undergrowth which 
 the Health Department objects to. There is therefore no reason 
 whatever why it should be retained. ■ The removal, at least near 
 villages and coolie camps, will give free access to the streams not 
 only to the people but to the n^alaria gangs. Nothing more is 
 required than what was so excellently done by the Forest Depart- 
 ment itself in the Mesnil at Phoenix, 
 
 * The second point is one which I have heard raised, but 
 W'hich, I think, few will assent to. It is that, if they are of use 
 to the planters, the Reserves should be maintained even if they do 
 cause mat aria. From a humanitarian point of view, this proposi- 
 tion is open to strong criticism. It suggests in brief that human 
 life may be exploited in the interests of individuals. But no 
 civilised state can allow such a thing; and the Immigration 
 Department in Mauritius has been expressly constituted to protect 
 the indentured, coolies. From a rational economical point of view, 
 however, the proposition is still more unsound. If it could be 
 proved that the small parts of the Reserves near populous centres 
 really add materially to the output of the estates, then something 
 might be said for maintaining them. Even then, however, the 
 question would arise w'hether the loss to the estates from the 
 malaria would not more than counterbalance the gain from the 
 Reserves. People who uige this proposition seem to have com- 
 pletely forgotten this last item. As Dr. Bolton says, the day's 
 work of a coolie is worth from R. 1*25 to R. 1"50 to an estate 
 during the season. When 10 per cent, or more of the men are 
 '" down with the fever," the loss must mount up to hundreds and 
 thousands of rupees to a single malarious estate during the year. 
 Dr. Bolton adds (18/7/06): — "On many estates new immigrants 
 have to be imported to make up for the loss of labour through 
 sickness. They cost R. 200 each on landing, but in reality a great 
 deal more if the cost of those who desert or die is added to that of 
 those who remain. On some estates more than 25 per cent, of 
 
MALARIAL FEVER. 215 
 
 the new immigrants imported within the last three years have 
 •deserted. Add to this 5 per cent, of deaths. The remaining 
 seventy out of 100 men therefore cost Rs. 20,000, equalling 
 Rs. 285'7 per head for five years, or Rs. 57*14 per year, or Rs. 4.7G 
 per month." He remarks also that numbers of convalescents 
 have to be put to light work, which means that ten men have to 
 -do the w^ork of six, and says, *'The low price of sugar, the high 
 price of transport, labour, and provisions, leave a very small 
 margin, if any of profits, so that any economy in the cost of pro- 
 duction becomes a matter of serious import." Does any one 
 suppose that a few hundred yards of jungle planted along a S'tream 
 is evei- likely to compensate a planter for such heavy and constant 
 losses caused by malaria ? It therefore seems to rae that, if 
 Government is finally di-iven to decide between River Reserves 
 and malaria sanitation, it would do wisely to clear away the former 
 without much hesitation. For the practical needs of the moment, 
 however, my single recommendation is as follows : — 
 
 * The promotion of a bill to allow riverain proprietors to cut 
 ■down, destroy, or remove any uprooted or dead tree, and also any 
 bush, weed, or noxious growth, found or growing on their property, 
 "vvith proper clauses to notify the Forest Department before this is 
 done, with a vicAV to saving such tiees as this department may 
 wish preserved. The bill might be on the lines of the proposed 
 Ordinance of 1905, framed by the Directors of the Forest and 
 Medical Departments, but with the compulsory clauses changed 
 into permissive ones. (I understand that the bill was lost owing 
 to these compulsory clauses.) In sections of the bill the Medical 
 And Health Department might be allowed to do the work after 
 notice. The wood removed might be given to the remover, i.e., 
 the proprietor, the Medical or the Forest Department (if this is 
 possible), whichever does the work. A system must be considered 
 by which the Forest Department will not impede the work either 
 •of the owner of the property or of the Medical Department, by 
 delay in specifying or notifying which trees are to be left alone 
 (for example, the trees to be preserved may possibly be marked). 
 
 ' So lar as I can see, this bill would meet all the requirements of 
 the case, and would satisfy all parties. The Forest Department 
 admits that it does not wish to I'etain the worthless growth, and I 
 believe every one else wishes to get rid of it. Many planters told 
 me that they were only too willing to remove it, but they were 
 prevented, or hampered, by the laws. If the owner does not wish 
 to do the work, the Medical Department can do it for him. If he 
 refnses permission, I fancy that he could be compelled to give it. 
 The actual work can be done, where required, by the malaria 
 gangs, especially during the winter months. I would not advise 
 iim.itation of the bill to any particular localities, e.g. those near 
 
210 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 populous places, unless the Forest Department wishes to pre- 
 serve undergrowth as well as trees in spots far removed from 
 habitations. 
 
 ' In conclusion I must add that the exact effect of the streams 
 in causing malaria can be ascertained only by watching the results 
 of the minor works and by taking the spleen census frequently, as 
 already recommended. The facts will declare themselves auto- 
 matically in the course of the work. Here, as elsewhere, labour 
 lig-hts itself. 
 
 '(Signed) R. Ross.' 
 
 ■fe' 
 
 I am sorry to end this chapter on Malarial Fever with 
 the statement that the disease is still very prevalent in the 
 Island.— D. E. A., Od., 1918. 
 
 Bihliography : My own notes taken in Mauritius, Madagascar, Comorro 
 Islands, and Egypt ; Sir Ronald Ross's Report on Mauritius ; Personal 
 experience, for I suiTered severely for many years from Malarial Fever 
 contracted in the above countries ; ' Parasitical Nature of Malarial Fever 
 in Mauritius,' by myself, i«wc^f, August, 1890; 'Tetanus after Quinine 
 Injections,' by myself, British Medical Journal ; ' Dangers to Health ork 
 board Passenger Steamers,' by myself. Tropical Journal. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Dengue Fever. 
 
 Dengue*, or Dandy, or Breakbone Fever occurs as a rapid,, 
 short spasmodic fever almost everywhere in the tropical and 
 sub-tropical countries, especially along the seaboard. 
 
 The virus, which has not yet been discovered, is supposed 
 to be transmitted by the common mosquito, the Culex 
 fatigans, and probably by the Stegomyia. 
 
 The virus, which is filterable, remains in the patient 
 until the fifth day after he has been bitten by the mosquito, 
 which itself remains infected from the first to the eighth, or 
 even to the twenty-seventh day. 
 
 Sf/mptoms. — These are pretty fully described further on. 
 They are successively the following : — First attack lasting 
 two or three days, sudden onset after two to five days*^ 
 incubation ; rise of temperature to 105^ F., initial transient 
 scarlatinal rash over face, neck, and extremities, itchiness of 
 palms and soles, breakbone pains about the joints, and 
 myalgia, with swelling of the fingers and toes, severe frontal 
 and postorbital headache, swollen glands, insomnia, de- 
 pression, malaise, loss of appetite, constipation. After three 
 or four days all these symptoms and fever disappear to reap- 
 pear in two days, with a measly rash about the wrists, toes, 
 and ankles, elbows and knees, and sometimes about the whole 
 body. After one to three days, desquamation and conval- 
 escence, which is slow, sets in. Some of the tendons [Tendo 
 J chillis especially) remain painful for a long time. 
 
 Diagnosis. — The seven days' Phlebotomic Mediterranean 
 fever resembles Dengue, but the saddle-back temperature 
 
 * Memoranda of Mediterranean Diseases (War Department). 
 
218 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 chart and the ra«h may be absent ; the spleen is also 
 enlarged. 
 
 Influenza, small-pox, measles, scarlatina, malarial, yellow, 
 typhoid, and paratyphoid fevers in some of their signs and 
 symptoms resemble Dengue, but they have special cha- 
 racters of their own. 
 
 Treatment. — Five or ten grains of cryogenin, phenacetin, 
 aspirin, for pain and headache, cold spongings, port wine, 
 and light diet. In prolonged cases of asthma — adrenalin : 
 thirty drops of a 1/1000 solution in a little water, drunk 
 twice a day. 
 
 Destroy mosquito hiding-places, and protect against their 
 bites by nets and wire-guards (eighteen meshes to the linear 
 inch), and rubbing the skin with one ounce of Epsom salts 
 in half a pint of water ; or with one part oil of bergamot in 
 sixteen parts of kerosine ; citronella oil in vaseline ; 50 per 
 cent, alcoholic solution of thj^mol or oil of cloves in lanoline 
 and glycerine. 
 
 DENGUE FEVER IX MAURITIUS. 
 
 ^ The epidemic of Dengue Fever occurred in the summer 
 of 1873, when I was in Mauritius, and, as I suffered acutely 
 from it, I can speak from personal experience of its painful 
 symptoms. 
 
 ' The epidemic lasted only six or eight weeks, and was 
 not fatal, but in a very short time it became general. 
 Beginning with Port Louis, it quickly spread to all the 
 other districts ; its general as well as its individual onset 
 was so sudden that the machinery of daily work came to a 
 standstill whilst it lasted. Everybody in every house became 
 attacked one after the other ; but, in spite of the pain, there 
 was no scare nor panic, for it was easily diagnosed as the 
 Dengue Fever, well known in India, whence it probably 
 ■cam^e to Mauritius with the coolies. Of course, every 
 invasion of every disease was laid to the charge of the 
 
DENGUE FEVER. 219 
 
 immigrants from Asia, for until immigration had. been 
 instituted Mauritius had been comparatively free of 
 epidemics. Nay more, apart from the cholera in 1854, 
 1856, and 1862, the Island had, until the invasion of malarial 
 fever in 1865, been looked upon as the sanatorium of the 
 Southern Hemisphere, and troops came from India and 
 Singapore to convalesce on its plateau, and tuberculous 
 patients from Europe visited its shores during the cool and 
 dry months of the year. 
 
 ' Etiology of Dengue. — Its Etiology in Mauritius has been 
 a mystery. The disease was prevalent in India in 1873, 
 and several coolie ships with it on board arrived and were 
 given pratique, as it was not thought necessary by the 
 General Board of Health to place them in quarantine for *' a 
 disease which did not kill." 
 
 * I wonder whether these wiseheads had their fair share of 
 the break-bone pains ! It is still a question until this day 
 as to how the disease is propagated : mosquitoes, midges, 
 bugs, ticks, fleas, flies, lice, air, water, food have all been 
 accused as the carrier of the parasite or micro-organism, 
 some authors claiming that the Culex fatigaus^ or the 
 Stegomyia, or the Phlehotomus, all of which abound in 
 Mauritius, especially during the hot season and along the 
 coast, was the medium of transference. But Dengue spread 
 to the upper and cooler region of the Island, where these 
 OuUcines and Psychodidce are not very numerous ; still they 
 are to be found, even at Curepipe, 2000 feet above sea- 
 level. As the coolie immigrants scattered all over the 
 Island as soon as they landed, they carried the disease with 
 them, and that explains the complete invasion of all the 
 districts at about the same time. 
 
 ' Symptoms. — The symptoms were typical I went to bed 
 quite well, and woke up with pains in my feet and hands 
 and a slight feverishness. Thinking it was my old and 
 constant enemy, malarial fever, that was coming on, I stayed 
 in bed, and took a good dose of quinine. By ten a.m. my 
 whole body ached from head to toe, and in spite of the 
 •quinine the fever had risen over 101° F. These sj'^mptoms 
 
220 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 lasted the whole day and night, and the next day the 
 doctor declared it to be Dengue. I do not remember 
 whether I had. any initial eruption, but I shall not forget 
 the intense pains in my fingers and toes, and the swelling of 
 all the phalangeal joints; the fingers were like sausages. 
 My face was swollen and bloated, my eyes injected ; I had 
 no vomiting nor diarrhoea, no epistaxis, nor any swollen 
 glands. The above symptoms gradually disappeared in three 
 or four days, when the secondary fever and eruption soon 
 came on. At that time this secondary stage was thought to 
 be a relapse with greater exacerbation, for in my case the pains 
 recurred with as great intensity as before, and the fever 
 rose to over 102", and a rubeolar eruption covered my whole 
 body, producing an intense pruritus, especially of the scalp, 
 and more swelling of the face, hands, and feet than before^ 
 So great was this irritation that for a couple of hours I off 
 and on kept my head under a tap of cold water, and took 
 during the day two or three warm baths containing bran 
 and bicarbonate of soda and medicinal herbs (chiendent and 
 the vouatouc). 
 
 * Neither the secondary fever nor the irritation lasted 
 longer than a couple of days, and the eruption disappeared,^ 
 leaving a branny desquamation behind it. The swelling of 
 the fingers was the last to go, but within ten days from 
 the onset of the attack of Dengue I was back at College 
 again. I had no relapse, but my father, brothers, and 
 sisters all followed suit, and, though none of them had the 
 pruritus as severely as I, yet the other symptoms were more 
 or less the same as mine had been. Our house was 
 infested with mosquitoes ; we had ornamental ponds and 
 bath-rooms quite close to our bedrooms, and although we 
 always slept under mosquito- curtains, in the hot season in 
 the twilight hours the whole Nature buzzed with the noise of 
 these creatures, and ere we retired to rest we had supplied 
 ample food for their stomachs. 
 
 * Mortality. — I do not remember having heard that any- 
 body died from that epidemic. 
 
 * Treatment. — Cold camphorated water-compresses to the 
 
DENGUE FEVER. 221 
 
 liead (Raspail's treatment), witli hot mustard foot-baths, 
 relieved the headache. A blue pill, followed by an aperient, 
 was invariably also given for the same purpose and to keep 
 the priiuce vice in good condition. Quinine was given 
 empirically without any good result — on the contrary, some 
 believed it made the pruritus worse ; the room was darkened 
 on account of the injection of the eyes ; sponging with warm 
 water and iced lemonade brought the temperature a degree 
 or two down. As before said, during the secondary eruption, 
 when the pruritus was bad and the body swollen, medicated 
 tepid baths were given. 
 
 ' Seqiielm and Complications. — None in my case, and I do 
 not believe that the other patients had any, as the epidemic 
 was comparatively light and short.' 
 
 Criticism. — The consensus of opinion as to the carrier or 
 transmitter is that it is a Phlehotomus, probably the Papatasiiy 
 which is also believed to carry the micro-organism of the so- 
 called ' seven days Mediterranean fever/ and possibly of the 
 Micrococcus Melitensis. 
 
 The Psychodidce, of which the Phlehotomus is a genus, 
 inhabit the Tropical and Temperate Zones. 
 
 It is a singular fact that in some countries, as in 
 Mauritius, the epidemics of Dengue recur only after twenty 
 or thirty years' interval. In others, as in India, it is 
 endemic in some localities and epidemic in others, and pro- 
 duces no immunity of long duration. 
 
 Since this chapter on Dengue Fever in Mauritius was 
 written I have heard that, although the disease has never 
 again taken on an epidemic form of severe intensity, yet it 
 visits the Island much oftener than before. 
 
 Bihliof/raphy : My own personal experience of the Disease ; The 
 Tropical Society s Journal. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Beri-beri. 
 
 *Beri-beri' or 'Khake' is an infective peripheral neuritis^ 
 due, according to some authorities, to a deficiency of certain 
 necessary chemical elements in food, or to an unknown 
 specific micro-organism associated with ov^er-crowding. 
 
 I shall give the latter, or the germ theory first. Sir 
 Patrick Manson believes that the disease is produced by 
 the toxin of a germ, or a germ itself, either of which some- 
 how gets into the body, where it produces neuritis. 
 
 Etiology. — Many cases are adduced to show that by 
 removing the persons attacked to more salubrious localities, 
 the epidemic stopped ; in other words, that the infectious 
 germ remains in buildings, earth, or places indefinitely. 
 Avoid these and you are safe. JN'o such germ, bacterial or 
 protozoal has been identified — but it may be like those of 
 the zymotic diseases which have not yet been revealed by 
 the microscope. In that case, says Professor Daniels, 'it 
 is essential to demonstrate that Beri-beri is conveyed from 
 man to man, that pre-existing cases of the disease are ne- 
 cessarily present, and that the disease does not arise de novo. 
 This has not been established.' * 
 
 The other theory is the dietetic theory : 
 
 First, that the disease is due to a superabundance of 
 carbohydrates (rice) and deficiency of fats and proteids- 
 (meat). The eminent Japanese Doctor Takaki, by improv- 
 ing the diet in the navy and army on these lines, has all 
 but eradicated this disease in both these services. 
 
 Second, the theory of the elimination from rice by over- 
 
 * Daniels' Diseases of the Tropica. 
 
BERI-BERI. 223 
 
 milling (i.e., by decortication, or by prolonged boiling or 
 boiling under pressure) of certain anti-neuritic substances, 
 has been proved to be a correct one so far as Beri-beri 
 in tbe far East is concerned, but not in South America, 
 where very little rice is eaten. Here they eat other cereals, 
 and in the process of their preparation the elimination 
 of these same antineuritic substances takes place, with the 
 consequent neuritic effect in those who eat of these cereals. 
 
 The conclusion is * don't eat decorticated rice or certain 
 cereals alone, but mix them with other non-decorticated rice 
 and with fat and proteids.' I would add in view of the cases 
 due to * pique ' fish and meat in Mauritius, that fat and 
 farinaceous (non- decorticated rice) food be partaken of at 
 the same time with suspected proteids. 
 
 'Therefore, the condition we know as Beri-beri is a 
 multiple peripheral neuritis, and must be a secondary con- 
 dition, and due to the action of a toxin or poison intro- 
 duced into, or manufactured in the human body, or to the 
 absence of some special substance required for the proper 
 nourishment of the nerves ' (Daniels). 
 
 In this disease there is in the last stages fatty degenera- 
 tion of the white substance of the nerve and atrophy of the 
 axis cylinder. 
 
 The treatment adopted by the School of Tropical Medi- 
 cine at the Albert Docks is the dietetic, i.e., not giving 
 rice at all, or mixing this with other cereals, vegetables, and 
 meat ; next attending to and treating the symptoms ; in other 
 words, providing attentive nursing, preventing the patient 
 from moving brusquely or getting out of bed if his heart is 
 implicated, giving three to five drops of nitro- glycerine, 
 one per cent, solution, every half-hour, or inhalations of 
 nitrite of amyl if there be increased excitability of the heart, 
 palpitation, great dyspna3a, pain under the sternum,- pulsa- 
 tion of the large vessels of the neck and in the epigastrium, 
 and a feeble pulse at the wrist. Mustard sinapisms are 
 also placed over the heart. As the patient gets better, his^ 
 legs are massaged and Faradized, but not before his heart 
 is very much relieved and the hyperaesthesia of the muscles 
 
224 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 ■is diminislied.^ For tlie ocdematous condition of the lungs 
 warm poultices are employed. 
 
 Although as a rule Beri-beri cases are either of the 
 paralytic or of the dropsical kind, yet both may be present, 
 or one may pass into the other. 
 
 When there are positive proofs that rice or other cereals 
 are not the cause of the disease, then the patients' clothes 
 and rooms should be thorough^ disinfected, and they them- 
 selves be removed to another locality where the disease does 
 not exist. Ships on board of which it broke out should be 
 fumigated, and the cabins, forecastle, or mid-decks occupied 
 by the patients, be well disinfected by sulphur fumes. 
 
 The mortality is from five to forty per cent. 
 
 * The post-mortem examination reveals nerve-lesions (seen 
 under the microscope), and as a rule in the hydropic foi^m : 
 serous exudations in the pleural, pericardial, and peritoneal 
 sacs, and infiltration in all the connective tissues ; and in 
 acute cases congestion of the capillaries of the viscera sup- 
 plied by the pneumogastric and splanchnic nerves' (Daniels' 
 Trop. Med. and Hygiene). He adds 'that the limgs are 
 often oedematous and flaccid, the heart slightly hypertrophied, 
 the cavities dilated, especially the right. The heart muscle 
 is fatty and friable, and sometimes there are hsemorrhages 
 in the renal tubules, in the liver and spleen, and in parts of 
 the mucous membrane of the alimentary canal.' 
 
 Symptoms. — Weakness of legs with tenderness and 
 burning sensation about the epigastrium and pericardium, 
 numbness and * pins and needles ' in the legs, deep pain in 
 calves and arms after pressure lasting some time, gradual 
 anaesthesia and analgesia, with motor and sensory paralysis 
 of the muscles affected (generally the peronei and tibialis 
 anticus) ; oedema of the anterior part of the legs ascending 
 to the thighs, and even into the abdomen (ascites) ; effusion 
 in pericardial and pleural sacs ; affection of the vagus nerve 
 with dilatation of the heart, and severe dyspnoea in acute 
 cases. There is also loss of the deep reflexes, and reduced 
 secretion of urine. 
 
 The wet or dropsical kind often passes into the dry 
 
BERI-BERI. 225 
 
 atrophic variety, and vice versa. The local paralyses cause 
 a peculiar characteristic walking gait, the ' high step ' walk. 
 The patient, when squatting, cannot rise if his arms are up. 
 
 Incubation about ten days. 
 
 Pathology. — The principal lesion is the fatty degeneration 
 of the white substance of the nerves affected, with or with- 
 out atrophy of the axis cylinder, and occasionally small 
 ha)morrhages within the sheaths of the nerves. In addition 
 there are all the changes already referred to on the pre- 
 ceding page. 
 
 Diagnosis. — The * squatting test ' and the walking gait on 
 tip-toe are characteristic of Beri-beri. 
 
 Valvular Diseases, peripheral and arsenical neuritis, and 
 nephritis, may be mistaken for Beri-beri. 
 
 Tabes dorsalis has lightning pains, and Argyll-Robertson 
 pupil. 
 
 Scurvy has, besides the subcutaneous and submucous 
 haemorrhages, spongy swollen gums, loose teeth, &c. 
 
 Epidemic or acute ancetnic dropsy ^ common in India and in 
 Mauritius, and also due to rice and other articles of diet, is 
 sometimes mistaken for Beri-beri ; but, although very much 
 like it, there are certain symptoms which differentiate it 
 from Beri-beri — e.g., the itching and burning sensations 
 which precede the anasarca, and the erythematous rash 
 which is common in the epidemic dropsy, the vomiting and 
 diarrhoea, the anaemia, the absence of anaesthesia, and the 
 paralysis of the motor nerves. 
 
 * Treatment. — * Extract of rice polishings : desiccated 
 yeast, two teaspoonsful rubbed up into a paste with boiling 
 water aud milk and sugar ; " Marmite," a substitute for 
 dried yeast, one cube twice a day ; nitro-glj^cerine or nitrate 
 of amyl carefully inhaled (one or two capsules, and no more) 
 broken on a handkerchief, or 1 per cent, solution of this 
 injected intra-muscularly when cardiac dilatation threatens 
 death. Strychnine, and electric stimulation after the dropsy 
 has disappeared. 
 
 * Memoranda of Medical Diseases in the Mediterranean War Area. 
 
 Q 
 
226 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 * A good diet of eggs, fresh milk, vegetables, soups, and 
 oatmeal — all in small quantities at a time, to avoid painful 
 epigastric distension/ 
 
 BERI-BERI IN MAURITIUS. 
 
 ' History. — Beri-beri for many j^ears past has become 
 endemic in Mauritius. As far back as 1808, when the 
 colony belonged to the French, the C.M.O. Chapotain, 
 wrote a thesis on this disease, which was then called 
 Barbiers, and ever since then sporadic cases have occurred 
 in different parts of the Island, in the prisons and hospitals. 
 
 ^ Acute Amemic Dropsy. — In 1878 and 1879 there were 
 so many cases of acute ana3mic dropsj^ all over the island, 
 and it spread so rapidly from house to house and estate to 
 estate that it became a regular epidemic, and a Commission 
 was appointed to discover the cause of the outbreak and the 
 best method of stopping it. The Commissioners gave their 
 opinion that the disease was not Beri-beri, but simply an 
 epidemic of contagious acute anoemic dropsy. But the con- 
 sensus of opinion amongst the other medical men of the island 
 was that the disease was none else than Beri-beri, for 
 although the neurotic symptoms were wanting in most of 
 these cases, yet all the other symptoms of Beri-beri were 
 present, as will be seen in the following account, by Dr. 
 Bolton, of the cases that were under his care at the time. 
 
 * The symptoms were : 
 
 * 1. Swelling of the limbs, the lower always the most 
 persistent of the symptoms, the upper sometimes, and occa- 
 sionally the body. 
 
 * 2. Burning and deep-seated pain in the affected limbs 
 at the commencement. 
 
 * 3. Fever with rubeolar eruption, sometimes before, 
 sometimes after the swelling ; in some cases altogether 
 abyeni;. 
 
BERI-BERI. 227 
 
 *4. Shortness of breath, cough, and palpitation in all 
 cases. 
 
 * 5. Great emaciation, exhaustion and anaemia in some 
 •cases, slighter in others, but well marked in all. 
 
 ' 6. In fatal cases great disturbance of respiration and 
 •circulation, and death generally sudden. 
 
 * 7. Bowel complaint in many, diarrhoea, commonly 
 •accompanied b}^ vomiting, dysentery in a few. 
 
 ' 8. The duration of the disease : about two months in 
 cases of average severity, leaving the patient greatly en- 
 feebled. The red cells were diminished and the leucocytes 
 increased. The staggering gait and the nerve disturbance, 
 generally the more prominent symptoms in Beri-beri, were 
 often ahsoit, but present in some of those attacked by the 
 dry kind (as is the case in Beri-beri) ; especially was this 
 the condition in Chinamen, 
 
 ' It is noteworthy that the acute anaemic dropsy in 
 Mauritius was both contagious and epidemic ; that during 
 the latter part of 1878 and commencement of 1879, starting 
 from Flacq, it spread rapidly all over the island. It was 
 supposed to have been imported from the east coast of India 
 whence Coolies came. The man who was first attacked had 
 been living with newly-arrived immigrants, some of whom 
 had had acute anaemic dropsy on board. 
 
 'The treatment adopted during the epidemic of 1879 
 consisted of free purgation with pulv. jalapao co., blisters 
 over cardiac region as soon as pericarditis came on, friction 
 of the extremities with stimulating liniments, tonics (strychr 
 nine and iron), diuretics combined with iron, small quantities 
 of gin, and careful dieting. 
 
 'The following table gives the cases of admission into 
 the hospital and of mortality throughout the Island during 
 sixteen months of the epidemic of November, 1878, to 
 February, 1880 : 
 
228 
 
 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 
 Admissions 
 
 Deaths through- 
 
 DISTEICTS. 
 
 into Hospitals. 
 
 out the Colony. 
 
 Port Louis .... 
 
 18G 
 
 97 
 
 Pamplemousses . 
 
 
 
 116 
 
 101 
 
 Riviere dn Remparfc 
 
 
 
 24 
 
 27 
 
 Flacq . 
 
 
 
 48 
 
 118 
 
 Grand Port 
 
 
 
 61 
 
 104 
 
 Savanne 
 
 
 
 79 
 
 138 
 
 Black River 
 
 
 
 U 
 
 6 
 
 Plain es Wilheins 
 
 
 
 131 
 
 69 
 
 Moka . 
 
 
 
 128 
 
 69 
 
 Total 
 
 787 
 
 729 
 
 ' The disease was almost entirely confined to the Indians 
 of ail ages and both sexes, residents in town and country ; 
 it attained its acme in February, 1879, and disappeared by 
 October. But the mortality given above included not only 
 acute anaemic dropsy, but also other kinds of dropsy and 
 anasarca cases. 
 
 * The post-mortem examination revealed the same appear- 
 ance as in Beri-beri occurring in other parts of the world : 
 pericardial effusion with characteristic flabbiness of the 
 heart, its cavities often empty, in others containing a mode- 
 rate quantity of dark semi-fluid blood, pleural effusion, 
 oedematous lungs. After 1879 right on to 1900 this so- 
 called acute anaemic drops}'', without the neurotic symptoms 
 of Beri-beri, became so scarce that until to-day those medical 
 men who saw the epidemic cases do not feel quite certain 
 whether, after all, the Commissioners were not in the right 
 in dissociating the disease from Beri-beri, which continued 
 to be sporadic amongst the Chinamen. 
 
 * In 1900 all acute anaemic dropsy at the Civil Hospital 
 are entered as Beri-beri, whether neuroses were present or not. 
 
 * Outbreak of True Beri-beri Epideinic, — In 1902, however, 
 three vessels arrived from China with Chinese immigrants 
 on board, and a few months after the landing of these 
 Chinamen many of them showed signs of true Beri-beri, and 
 
BERI-BERL 229 
 
 Tiinety-four cases were admitted into the Civil Hospital, and 
 all tlirougli that year more than sixteen to twenty cases were 
 also daily treated at the Chinese Hospital. The mortality at 
 the Civil Hospital was excessive, thirty- three died out of the 
 ninety-four, eighteen in less than seventy-two hours after 
 their admission, and five in four or six days. 
 
 * In 1904 there were only sixteen cases at the Civil Hos- 
 pital, all of these save one being Chinese ; but in 1905 there 
 were twenty, fourteen Chinese and six Indians, and ever 
 •since then the cases have gradually diminished ; but not at 
 the Chinese Hospital, where until 1908 there was an average 
 of twenty in the ward. 
 
 * Sy))iptoms. — As I have given the symptoms of acute 
 anaemic dropsy, I shall compare them with those shown by 
 the Beri-beri patients of 1903. Dr. Rouget, of the Civil 
 Hospital, and Dr. de Chazal of the Chinese Hospital, say 
 that most of the patients had the dry form. All without 
 -exception had paralysis of the legs and arms. They com- 
 plained first of numbness of the legs and pain over the 
 ankles on pressure. Those who could walk had the " high- 
 stepping gait." A few had the clawed fingers. 
 
 * Palpitation, quick pulse, especially after an effort, 
 irregular cardiac rhythm, diffuse cardiac impulse, murmur 
 present in some, absent in others. Gastric disturbance, 
 -eructations, appetite lost during the crisis but voracious 
 during convalescence, pain in the epigastric region on pres- 
 sure, loss of patellar reflex always as the case got worse ; 
 this last sign being characteristic of the disease, and dis- 
 tinguishing it from all other forms of dropsy and anasarca 
 of the legs. As is often seen in chronic malarial patients, 
 anaemia is present in most cases. 
 
 * If fever was present, quinine showed that it was a 
 malarial concomitant. 
 
 * Death was generally preceded by nausea, or some other 
 gastric disturbance, and dyspnoea, tightening of the chest, 
 great pains over the heart region ; and the patient either died 
 slowly and retaining consciousness to the last minute, or 
 more rarely he died suddenly. 
 
230 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 ' FoHt-mortem. — At the only post-mortem made at tlie Civil 
 Hospital nothing very abnormal was seen, except a slight 
 hypertrophy of the heart, splenomegaly, fatty liver, and the- 
 presence of ankylostomes in the small intestines. No micro- 
 scopic examination of the organs, nerves, or other tissues 
 was made. 
 
 * Treatment. — Besides rest in bed, special diet of fresh meat 
 and fresh fish, milk, and bread and batter; most of the doctors 
 in Mauritius adopted the IIo})g Kong mixture containing: ferri 
 perchlor., acid phos. and digitalis ; sometimes strychnine was 
 added. Dr. Bolton gave either pulv. jalapae co. or Leroy 
 mixture to reduce the dropsy — this mixture contains elate- 
 rium, scammony, rhubarb, and cucurbit vegetalis. During 
 convalescence be employed massage and electricity. 
 
 ' Etiology. — I have left this moot question to the last, as 
 Mauritius offers a good field for the investigation of this 
 important problem. 
 
 ' Dr. Bolton's report on the outbreak of the disease in 
 Diego Garcia (^vide Annexure) in July, 1900, throws a flood 
 of light on the contagiousness of the disease. He says in 
 his concluding remarks : *' With regard to Diego Garcia,, 
 one would be tempted to admit that under certain special 
 conditions the Beri-beri patient might be compared to an 
 ambulating laboratory of toxins which he scatters on all 
 sides around him, or which toxin was extracted from him by 
 a carrying-agent, bug, flea, or louse, and conveyed by that 
 insect and inoculated into those persons who were in daily 
 contact with the patient." 
 
 ' How could one otherwise explain the case of the little 
 Indian baby of a few days old, who, on the death of its 
 parents from Beri-beri, is taken to a white lady's house half 
 a mile away and placed in a clean cot in this lady's well- 
 aired and wholesome bed-room, and dies a few days after 
 from Beri-beri, after having given it to the lady who had 
 nursed it as if it had been her own child ? All the other 
 members of the household escaped, as none of them had been 
 near the child. The lady had Beri-beri very severely, and 
 nearly died' 
 
BERT-BERT. \ 231 
 
 ' But Dr. Bolton himself, within two or three months of 
 his return from Diego Garcia, caught Beri-beri ; his ankles 
 began to swell, the oedema gradually extended up his legs, 
 he could not walk without the aid of two sticks, the 
 cardiac disturbance was marked, the impulse very diffuse, 
 and the pulse fast and irregular. He never was paralysed ; 
 under treatment he recovered, and within three months none 
 of the symptoms remained. 
 
 None of the people at Diego Garcia, not even the 
 Anjouanese who brought Beri-beri to that island, nor Dr. 
 Bolton, ate any other rice except the Indian rice (Mooghy 
 and Chatta Balam). In the Comorro Island whence the 
 Anjouanese came and where Beri-beri is endemic, Saigon 
 rice from Cochin China is eaten. 
 
 So that it is evident that the Diego Garcia inhabitants 
 and Dr. Bolton caught the Beri-beri disease by contagion 
 from the Anjouanese and not from the Indian rice. 
 
 'In 1906 a certain merchant introduced large quantities 
 of Saigon rice into Mauritius, and sold the same at a cheaper 
 price than the Mooghy white rice, and even than the Chatta 
 Balam, the common red rice. (The Mooghy is a decorticated 
 and well- washed rice, like the Saigon, and is sold at twelve to 
 fifteen rupees per bag, and is eaten by the rich, whereas 
 the Chatta Balam is a non-decorticated rice, still in its 
 reddish husk, and is sold at ten rupees per bag, and has to be 
 pounded and fanned and washed each time before it is 
 cooked.) The Government and many planters bought the 
 Saigon rice on account of its cheapness, and fed the prisoners 
 and the coolies upon it. But the Chinese, who often had 
 Beri-beri, ate decorticated white Chinese rice, and not the 
 Saigon. Therefore Beri-beri in their case did not come 
 from the Saigon rice. It was something else that commu- 
 nicated the disease to them. 
 
 Soon after the introduction of the Saigon rice, the 
 Indians on the estates and the prisoners inside the civil 
 prison began to be attacked with all the symptoms of 
 Beri-beri. As twelve or eighteen months before, several 
 Lascars on board the Union line steamers from Durban 
 
232 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 liad arrived witli Beri-beri, and had been sent to tbe 
 Civil Hospital, and some had died there, it was thought 
 at first that these Lascars had started an epidemic once 
 more in Mauritius, and the infection-theory partisans 
 blamed these Lascars ; but when it was remembered that 
 the Antemours, a healthy tribe living in the south of 
 Madagascar, had contracted Beri-beri at Tamatave (where 
 they worked during certain months of the year) by eat- 
 ing Saigon rice,* the Government stopped the supply of 
 that rice to the prisons, and the planters also did likewise, 
 and fed the coolies with Mooghy rice, and at once Beri-beri 
 stopped and the cases recovered. This was a distinct 
 impeachment of the Saigon rice as the cause of the disease. 
 Moreover, all those who had always eaten Mooghy or Chatta 
 Balam or Malagasian rice never got the disease. How did 
 the Chinese get it ? Dr. de Chazal, who is the Chinese 
 Hospital doctor, and who has for a long time sought a solu- 
 tion to the enigma, thinks that the germ or poison causing 
 the disease in the Chinese is to be found in all probability 
 either in the white decorticated Chinese rice, or in the pre- 
 served salt meat and salt fish and other food imported from 
 China, and of which the Chinese in Mauritius partake very 
 freely ; and in support of this opinion, the case of an out- 
 break of Beri-beri amongst the crew of a Norwegian ship, 
 the HerOy is given. That ship had a cargo of dry stock fish 
 on board, and had come direct to Madagascar without 
 touching at any seaport on her way. The crew of eight 
 men had eaten of that fish and also of salt meat and biscuit 
 during ninety days, and all but one sailor caught Beri-beri. 
 One died at sea. The late Dr. Chevrau, who narrates this, 
 examined the barrels of salt meat, dried stock fish, and bis- 
 cuits, and found the meat and biscuits in perfect condition, 
 but the fish had all been perforated here and there {pique is 
 the French word ; it may mean, perforated by an insect or 
 showing minute blotches). Dr. de Chazal and several other 
 doctors in Mauritius say that the fish and the meat the 
 
 * And also at Reunion, a neighbouring island where Beri-beri was 
 endemic and severe, the inhabitants ate Saigon rice. 
 
BERI-BERI. 233 
 
 Chinese eat are also pique or pricked. Several other 
 medical men in Mauritius, Reunion, and Madagascar aver 
 that the old rice seeds often show this pricked or diseased 
 condition, whether they be from Saigon, or from India or 
 China. 
 
 * It is worth noticing that the Lascars above referred to 
 and who had Beri-beri, all slept in one damp, dark, and 
 close room in the ship's forecastle, and that all the other 
 Lascars who slept in the other room partitioned off by a 
 strong, well- fitting wooden wall, escaped. The rule in 
 Mauritius now is to eat only non-pricked rice freshly- 
 gathered from the fields in India, decorticated or not, and 
 never to eat it the next day after cooking; or to eat non- 
 pricked, well-cleaned Chatta Balam after pounding it oneself. 
 
 As the Saigon rice is cheap, a mixture of this with the 
 other rice has been tried with good results. 
 
 So far, then, the doctors in Mauritius are divided into 
 two camps in their belief as to the cause of Beri-beri — 
 (1) Those who believe that certain kinds of rice and other 
 food are the cause, and (2) those who believe that the germ 
 or poison, as Manson says, '' resides in the soil, in the 
 houses, and surroundings of Beri-beri areas — that it is a 
 toxin secreted by a living germ which gains access into the 
 body through the lungs, or through a wound in the skin, or 
 by an insect bite." 
 
 * Criticism. — I have often thought that this toxin may be 
 secreted by an insect or a germ which feeds on certain kinds 
 of rice and other food-stuffs, causing a poisonous metabolism 
 in the rice, just as Pellagra may be due to a poison secreted 
 by the Simulium in the maize, or directly in the person 
 bitten or stung. We have an analogy in the gastritis pro- 
 duced by mouldy cofPee-seeds. Just as when green coffee- 
 seeds, exposed to a damp, cloudy sky for drying purposes, 
 become mouldy and diseased, and produce severe colic, so 
 the marshes in which the rice grows, or the weather at 
 harvest- time, or a small insect, or mould, may cause a change 
 in the chemical equations of the rice, and a chemical poison 
 or toxin is produced which (according to the most recent 
 
234 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 researcli) has its an ti- toxin in the phosphorus and other 
 ingredients normally existing in the head of the seed, which 
 is broken off during decortication, and in the husk, which is 
 pounded or scraped off. 
 
 ' Perhaps at Saigon the factors inducing that change in 
 the rice are powerful and numeirous, and when once any rice 
 so affected is carried in ships, the mould or germ finds its 
 way into dirty and dark, damp places on board, and with the 
 greatest difficulty can it be drivea thence, entering both 
 through the lungs and the mouth of the strong as well as of 
 the weuk exposed to its baneful effects. Dr. de Chazal 
 found that the stronger and more athletic the patient was 
 the more virulent was the disease. 
 
 ' This poison, or germ, may get in the clothes as well as 
 inside the bodies of those persons exposed to it, and it is in 
 that way conveyed from person to person, and even to other 
 food, especially salt meat and salt fish. It evidently grows 
 best under unhygienic conditions, and the larger the quantity 
 absorbed (as by a strong man with a large appetite, or in a 
 close room) the more violent the disease. The fact that most 
 of the other patients in a well- ventilated ward escape, would 
 indicate that a large dose must be absorbed before the 
 disease can be produced — but all the same it is a contagious- 
 disease.' 
 
BERI-BERI. 23,!^ 
 
 ANNEXURE ON BERI-BERI. 
 
 A Resume of Dr. Bolton's Report on the I^eri-beri 
 Epidemic at Dip:go Garcia in 11)01. 
 
 * At the commencement of 1901 Mr. de Caila, Administrator of 
 Diego Garcia, noticed that several of the labourers had all the 
 symptoms of Beri-beri, and requested the Governor of Mauritius 
 to send a physician out to Dieg-o. 
 
 ' This island is one of the Chag-os Archipelago, latitude 7° 8. 
 by longitude 72° E. Ic is a long coral-and-sand bank, horse-shoe 
 in shape, rising a few. feet above the level of the sea ; the bay is 
 fifteen miles broad by three long. The inhabitants lived in two 
 camps situated at each end of the bank. The Eastern Camp, 
 Point de I'Est, had 326 souls ; and the other, Pointe Marianne, 
 140. Apart from a dozen white persons the othei's were African 
 Creoles, Malagasies, and Indians, They ate fresh and salt fish,, 
 eggs, vegetables, fowl, birds, pork, fresh cocoanut oil, and Bengal 
 rice, imported from Mauritius. 
 
 'Only one ship did service between Mauiitius and Diego and 
 the Isle Peros Banhos, sitnated 120 miles to the east. One and 
 the same kind of rice was eaten, it was disembarked first at 
 Pointe Marianne, then at Eastern Point, and last of all at Peros- 
 Banhos. The water drunk came from wells of five or six feet deep, 
 and was slightly brackish, but the Administrator and his servants 
 drank rain-water. 
 
 ' The huts in both camps were well constructed, with well- 
 ventilated, high, dry rooms and stucco floors. The Administrator's 
 house was raised some distance above the gronnd. The inhabit- 
 ants all worked in the open air, and had abundance of food. In 
 a word, the whole population were living under very favourable 
 hygienic conditions. 
 
 'On July 27th, 1900, a convoy of thirty labourers arrived at 
 Diego, amongst whom were nine Anjouanese, who, after leaving 
 the Oomorros, hnd gone to Mauiitius, and thence were recruited 
 for Diego. On their arrival, Mr. de Caila noticed that seven of 
 them had ophthalmia, stomatitis, gingivitis, and oedema of the- 
 legs, one of them could scarcely Avalk. They were all detained at 
 the Eastern Camp, and in three days two of them entered the- 
 hospital, complaining not only of oedema but also of pain on 
 pressure over the calves and over the epigastrium. There was no 
 fever. On January 14th one of them became bedridden, and 
 
536 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 complained of pain in the cardiac region, palpitation, dyspnoea, 
 weak and irregular pulse, srernal oedema, and distended epi- 
 gastrium. He died suddenly the next day. His companion, 
 however, only remained fifteen days at the hospital and re- 
 covered. 
 
 ' On August 6th, 1900, i.e., two days after landing, a third 
 Anjouanese had shown signs of hypei^esthesia of the legs as well as 
 oedema, but he had refused to come into the hospital ; on 
 January Sth, 1901, however, having all the symptoms of the fatal 
 ■case above described, he came into the hospital, and died suddenly 
 two days after. 
 
 * A fourth and fifth Anjouanese, still with oedema of the legs 
 and partial paralysis, returned to Mauritius together with all their 
 fellow-countrymen. One of them showing signs of hallucination 
 was treated for some weeks at the Lunatic Asylum and recovered, 
 but he was still lame when he left. Of the other no news could 
 be obtained. 
 
 ' Until March 15th, 1901, only Anjouanese had shown symp- 
 toms of the disease, but on that date some of the other inhabirants 
 of Mauritius began to be attacked ; the usual symptoms of Beri- 
 beri being very marked in most of the cases. Theie were three 
 •deaths in April, the first one being the man who had nursed the 
 Anjouanese. 
 
 * In May there were two deaths ; a man who had often visited 
 one of the sick Anjouanese showed rapid signs of the disease and 
 died on the 10th ; and an Indian woman who on the same date gave 
 birth to her child, sickened with Beri-beri and died on the 22nd. 
 On June 11th her husband took ill and died five days after from 
 the same disease, and the baby is adopted by Mrs. de Caila, and, 
 as has been seen, in spite of all that care, devotion, and good 
 hygiene could do, the child dies on June 23rd from Beri-beri, and 
 Mrs. de Caila soon after catches it and nearly dies. By July 1st, 
 ]901, six more persons, all of whom had been in contact with the 
 «ick Anjouanese or with other Beri-beri cases, had contracted the 
 disease, but had all recovered. 
 
 * The interesting facts in this epidemic are : 
 
 * I. A population of 326 persons living under the very best 
 -conditions had no disease amongst them, except colds (malaria 
 does not exist at Diego), before the arrival of the Anjouanese. 
 
 ' 2. On July 27th, 1900, nine Anjouanese arrive in the island, 
 ^even of them with incipient Beri-beri (mixed form). 
 
 * 3. The disease spreads amongst those of the population who 
 had been in contact with the Anjouanese, and not amongst the 
 rest of the inhabitants. Therefore there can be no doubt as to the 
 contagiousness of Beri-beri. 
 
 *4. Again, the rice eaten after the arrival of the Anjouanese 
 
BERI-BERI. 23r 
 
 was the rice that had been in the stores in the island hefore their 
 arrival. 
 
 ' 5. Moreover the same rice was being eaten at the other 
 camp (Camp Marianne), and also at Peros Banhos, where Beri- 
 beri never broke out. 
 
 ' Therefore, this Indian rice could not have been the cause of 
 the disease. 
 
 ' (). The disease disappears from Diego after the departure of 
 the Anjouanese. 
 
 '7. Dr. Bolton arrived on July 1st, 1901, when the last six of 
 the cases amongst the inhabitants were recovering ; he saw these 
 and also Mrs. de Caila, at whose house he lived. He only spent 
 two months in the island, and returned to Mauritius, and two 
 months after he contracted a mild form of the disease, recovering 
 in a few weeks.' 
 
 Bibliography : Personal Notes ; Bulletins de la Societe Medicale de 
 Vile Maurice .• Dr. J. Bolton's Notes ; Dr. Daniels' Tropical Medicine and 
 Hygiene. 
 
CHAPTER Xlir. 
 
 Diphtheria. 
 1878 AND 1907 TO 1909. 
 
 * History. — Just as with the other epidemics, Diphtheria, 
 from the earliest period of the Island's history, every now 
 and then broke out sporadically, and scared the families 
 with young children, for the disease once imported seemed to 
 hide its germs, and whenever the occasion was propitious 
 brought them out of their crannies, nooks and corners, 
 to attack the throats, especially of the young. Neverthe- 
 less, a decade or two would sometimes elapse, during which 
 only a few cases attracted the doctors' attention. 
 
 ^ Epidcuiic of 1878. — But in 1878 the disease spread 
 with such rapidity and virulence in the Moka district that 
 it became necessary to take preventive measures against its 
 extension to the other districts. But it managed to leak 
 through iuto Port Louis, where it occasioned a pretty severe 
 epidemic, and also into the southern districts, where even 
 several doctors lost their children. In those days, before 
 the bacteriologists had discovered the Bacillus diphtherice 
 and serotherapy was not yet hinted at, therapeutic agencies 
 were all but useless, even tracheotomy could not in half the 
 cases stop the invasion of the bronchi. In those days there 
 was a layman in Mauritius of the name of Gentrac, who 
 had made out of simple herbs a secret remedy, which when 
 applied to the patient's throat before the fourth day of the 
 disease, was invariably successful, — and from morning to 
 night this man was hard at work curing the little ones. 
 Professor Brown Sequard, of the College de France (Paris),* 
 
 * This celebrated physiologist was born and educated in Mauritius. 
 He was offered the chair of J'hysiology at Oxford, but preferred to 
 retain that of the College de France. 
 
DIPHTHERIA. 239 
 
 persuaded him to visit Paris, and try his remedy on the 
 children, who were dying from Diphtheria by the hundred 
 at the Trousseau Hospital. The Paris Academy at once 
 placed the children under his care^ but his remedies here 
 had no effect, and the fatal cases were as numerous as 
 before ; he returned to Mauritius a sadder man than 
 when he left, and he handed his secret over to a Monsieur 
 Flauricourt, who became as successful a healer as Gentrac 
 had been before he left for Paris. In all probability 
 Gentrac's Avant of success in Europe was due to the fact 
 that the herbs he used in Paris, though the same in every 
 respect as those of Mauritius, grew on French soil. 
 
 * It is a well-known fact that the same plants have 
 different properties according to the soil they grow in. 
 The cacumina of Genesta coparium have diuretic effects in 
 the British Isles, but not so the French ones. They 
 produce dizziness and vomiting in France. So also the 
 edible potato is a poisonous tuber in some of the islands 
 of the Pacific Ocean, whereas the berries can be eaten with 
 impunity. 
 
 *To return to the epidemic of 1878. In those days, 
 unless fever prostrated the little patient, or his swollen 
 submaxillary glands, attracted notice, no attention was paid 
 to his complaint of soreness of throat, or to red spots on the 
 veil of the palate ; and even then, unless membranes were 
 forming on his tonsils or his fauces, no measures were 
 adopted to check the disease, which a day or two later laid 
 such a firm grip of its prey, that no skill, not even Gentrac^s 
 infusions, could rescue him from the claws of death. 
 
 'The doctors at that time did not believe that Diph- 
 theria germs could exist in mild sore throats without fever and 
 without submaxillary swelling, for bacteriology had not yet 
 taught them that even the most benign case, without any 
 red spots or n^embranes, could in a few days develop into a 
 malignant one with adherent membranes full of Loeffler's 
 bacilli. In other instances, sudden local paralysis occurred 
 in persons who apparently had not previously had Diph- 
 theria and no sore throat to speak of except a few red 
 
240 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 spots on their tonsils, but who liad been in contact with 
 diphtheric patients. If the mucus from these red spots had 
 been examined under the microscope, or a culture made 
 from it, Loeffler's bacilli would have been revealed. 'Now, 
 of course, the situation is different, but in those days neither 
 the bacillus nor its cultures had been discovered. 
 
 ^Symptoms. — The general symptoms were : (1) As to the 
 aspect of the throat : redness, partial or total of the throat, 
 sometimes limited to one or both tonsils, or to the pillars of 
 the fauces, or to the uvula ; the tonsils were sometimes 
 swollen and glazy. (2) With regard to the false mem- 
 branes : their extent and appearance varied from a simple, 
 filiform, yellow or white spot, to a pultaceous mass covering 
 one or both tonsils, pillars of the fauces, and the soft palate. 
 If the spots were aphthous in appearance, the prognosis was 
 serious ; the disease then often ended in local paralysis. 
 (3) With regard to the fever, the temperature rarely rose 
 high, but it sometimes went up to 39''-5 C, and 40° C, and 
 came down in a few hours in some patients, whilst it 
 remained high in others. (4) The pulse was generally 
 normal but weak, except in those who had fever. (5) The 
 submaxillary glands were not very swollen, and yielded to 
 treatment in a few days. (6) Albuminuria existed in a feeble 
 degree as a rule in all the cases, and persisted sometimes 
 for months, so did the anaomia and paralysis of the soft 
 palate, the sequela3 of the disease. 
 
 'After 1878 there was no other epidemic until 1901, 
 which was very mild and easily extinguished, but that of 
 1907 remained three years. 
 
 'Epidemic o/1907, 1908, and 1909.— By this time— May 
 1907 — not only was lioeffler's bacillus well known, and its 
 culture likewise, but the Government had opened a labora- 
 tory at St. Pierre village in Moka, and a competent 
 bacteriologist, Dr. Lafont, a former army surgeon and 
 pupil of Pasteur's Institute, had been appointed its director. 
 Consequently, although the epidemic was severer and more 
 extensive than that of 1878, yet under the early injections 
 of anti-diphtheric serum into all suspicious cases, as well as 
 
DIPHTHERIA. 241 
 
 into those severely affected, a fatal issue became very rare, 
 and the local post-paralysis less common. It was not, how- 
 ever, until March 1st, 1908, that there was a lull in the 
 spread of the disease, but it was of short duration, for it 
 started afresh at the end of August, and lasted till 
 November 3rd, to begin again on February r5th, 1909, to 
 the end of March ; once more there is a period of calm 
 until July, when it persisted until the end of the year. 
 
 ^Epidemic of 1908 and 1909. — But most of the cases of 
 1908 and 1909 were either relapses of those of 1907, or in 
 persons (adults and children) who had been in contact with 
 diphtheric patients either during or soon after their illness, 
 — and some cases (it is stated by Dt. Clarenc, who had the 
 most successful practice in Mauritius during this epidemic) 
 were contracted by people going to live in houses where 
 eight years before (epidemic of 1901) children had died 
 from Diphtheria, although those houses had been considered 
 disinfected (about their method of disinfection anon) by 
 sulphurous fumes. He mentions that a family took a house 
 in 1908 previously infected in 1901, and whilst they were 
 in it they had the flooring pulled up, and a new floor put 
 in. A few days after, several members of that family 
 became seriously infected with Diphtheria. He quotes other 
 instances of a mere visit of ten to twenty minutes to the 
 laboratory where Dr. Lafont was making diphtheric cultures, 
 as being the cause of Loeffler's bacilli being found on the 
 throat of visitors before they left the laboratory. 
 
 * In other instances no reason could be given for persons 
 living at a distance from the diphtheric foci contracting 
 the disease, except that these persons had passed through 
 a village, a few days before, where Diphtheria existed, and 
 yet they had not stayed there any time nor talked with the 
 people of the village. But such accidents only occurred 
 during the hot and wet months of December to April, 
 during which time the Diphtheria epidemics used to be 
 most violent. 
 
 ' Criticism. — From a study of those epidemics in Mauri- 
 tius one cannot but come to the conclusion that the Bacillus 
 
 R 
 
U2 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 diphtherm must be a most subtle, long-lived, quickly pro- 
 pagated germ, that it easily floats in the air. lives and' 
 propagates itself in the dust of rooms even for eight and ten 
 years, and given a propitious nidus in the nose and throats 
 of children (as their mucous membrane is tenderer and less 
 thick than that of adults), it quickly secretes its toxin. 
 There is food for thought here for sanitarians and bacterio- 
 logists. How long after a diphtheric child is healed is he 
 a safe individual ? In some of Dr. Clarenc's cases, children. 
 sixty-six days after their illness gave it to other children, 
 playing with them at some distance from the infected house- 
 As with typhoid, the once-diphtheric patient may carry 
 the diphtheric germs with him in his throat for many 
 months. 
 
 ' Is not the doctor too an ambulating box of microbes 
 scattering Diphtheria, Small-pox, and Beri-beri germs, not 
 to mention the other zymotic micro-organisms, wherever he 
 goes? 
 
 ' Dr. Clarenc and Dr. Lafont, of the Bacteriological 
 Institute, found Loeffler's bacilli in their own throats after 
 coming from Diphtheria-infected houses, even after they had 
 gargled several times with antiseptics ; true, the cultures of 
 the mucus from their throats produced only attenuated and 
 distorted bacilli which took a long time to grow in gelatine 
 and serum cultures — still there they were. 
 
 ' Technique. — Dr. Lafont reporrs* that he "made 230 
 examinations of mucus specimens scraped from throats of 
 diphtheric patients in Moka, and 119 gave Loefller's bacilli ; 
 out of 520 analyses of specimens sent from all parts of the 
 Island 52*5 per cent, gave microscopic positive results, and 
 6S per cent, culture positives ; and yet most of the other 
 negative ones came from individuals who certainly had 
 Diphtheria. It is therefore an error to suppose that 
 Loeffler's bacillus can be detected in every diphtheric case. 
 Some gave negative results under the microscope, but 
 positive in cultures, even though many took a long time 
 to grow ; 3 per cent, of microscopic positive specimens gave 
 * Bulletins de la Societe Medicale de Maurice. 
 
DIPHTHERIA. 2U 
 
 per cent, {i.e., negative) culture results, and 7 per cent, of 
 microscopic positive gave positive cultures after the fourth or 
 eighth day. 
 
 ^Bacilli — "The bacilli were either short, medium, or 
 long. The first were generally found in benign cases, but 
 were very contagious, the medium were plentiful in the 
 cases with false membranes and easily destroyed, and the 
 long in virulent and dangerous cases. Where these last 
 were seen, and especially when accompanied by streptococci, 
 the prognosis was always bad, unless large and early doses of 
 the anti-diphtheric serum were injected." 
 
 ' "Even after the spots and the membranes had disappeared 
 under the serum treatment, Loefflor's bacilli were seen sixty- 
 six days afterwards in one patient's throat, thirty-three days 
 in two, thirty in three, seventeen in four; the average was 
 fourteen days. The bacilli were not easily seen in the false 
 membrane, except at its very centre, where they were 
 plentiful. Some of these membranes could be easily re- 
 moved, and others not ; in the latter case the bacilli were 
 more plentiful than in the former. 
 
 ' " But all resistant false membranes do not necessarily 
 contain Loeffler's bacilli. In streptococcic and in Vincent's 
 anginas, both producing resistant membranes, Loeffler's 
 bacilli are not to be seen, either under the microscope or 
 in cultures." 
 
 '•'At Moka all the varieties of Diphtheria were seen, 
 viz., the true Loeffler's diphtheria, the influenza angina, 
 the coccal, pneumococcal, diplococcal, streptococcal, and 
 Vincent's anginas. This last was frequent in prisons, but 
 not exclusively there. There were also one syphilitic and 
 one tubercular angina." 
 
 * Treatment. — As soon as it became known that an anti- 
 diphtheric serum had been produced in Europe, a large 
 quantity was imported from the Pasteur and the Lister 
 Institutes, and the injections made when the epidemic of 
 1901 broke out, and the success was so pronounced that at 
 once the empirical treatment (Gentrac's and Flauricourt's) 
 was given up altogether. 
 
244 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 ' The doses of tlie injection varied according to the 
 patient's age and the severity of the attack, from 2000 to 
 6000 units (Lister) and from 28 to 60 c.c. (Pasteur), and they 
 were given early. 
 
 * * " Even if Loeffler*s bacilli were not detected at the 
 laboratory examination, if the clinical symptoms were 
 suspicious, an injection was made. The accidents of serism 
 were very rare and not serious ; they consisted in a temporary 
 swelling of the face, in slight short syncopic attacks, and in 
 the production of urticaria in spite of a previous administra- 
 tion of calcium lactate. A roseola and great pain in the 
 wrists ensued in a child after a severe relapse occurring 
 fifteen days after his first attack ; eight vials of serum had 
 been injected.'' 
 
 * Salicylic acid gargles and swabbing with glycerine of 
 tannin or tinct. iodi were also employed. 
 
 * The singular appearance of yeast on the throats of the 
 little patients as the membranes disappeared under the 
 influence of the serum, I do not think has been observed in 
 other countries than in Mauritius. Invariably every 
 microscopic and chemical examination of mucus taken from 
 the throats of those who were healing revealed the presence 
 of these yeast forms. Whether or not this is due to the fact 
 that in a sugar-producing country children are always eating 
 sugar-cane, and that it is to be found in all their food, milk, 
 &c., it is a fact worth noting. 
 
 'Disinfectants. — The infected rooms were disinfected by 
 burning large quantities of sulphur, after closing as best one 
 could all the openings and crevices. But, as we now know, 
 unless sulphurous acid fumes be forced into an air-tight 
 room in large quantities and under great pressure, as by 
 Clayton's apparatus, the disinfection is not thorough ; so 
 also with every vaporous disinfectant. And that is pro- 
 bably the reason why the Diphtheria, Beri-beri, and Plague 
 epidemics have become more or less endemic in the Island. 
 A few Clayton's apparatus, well managed by a competent 
 
 * Bulletin de la SociiU Medicate de Maurice. 
 
DIPHTHERIA. 
 
 2^5 
 
 engineer, will do much towards exterminating these fell 
 diseases for good and for ever. 
 
 * I learn that one has heen sent out, but that the Indian 
 and black servants not only steal the contaminated clothes 
 from the infected rooms before the disinfection has taken 
 place, but that it is impossible to force sulphurous fumes 
 into a thatched Indian hut or into a black man's shanty. 
 The only way would be either to burn these thatched houses 
 and shanties down, or to remove the thatched roofs and put 
 new 'ones on, and plaster the whole of the interior of the 
 house and cement the floors.' 
 
 DIPHTHERIA BACILLI. 
 
 Bibliography: Bulletins de la Societi Medicale de Maurice (Dr. 
 Clarenc's articles) ; Correspondence and Interviews ; Dr. Bolton's notes. 
 
 I am greatly indebted to the above sources of information, as there 
 never was an epidemic of Diphtheria in the Island whilst I was there 
 
CHAPTER XIY. 
 
 Plague. 
 
 Plague is an acute, chronic, and infectious epizootic disea^se 
 of the grey ship-rat, Uvs JVorregicHS, and the hlack house- 
 rat, Mus Rattus, and other rodents. 
 
 The bacillus, which is not stained by gram, but stains 
 bipolarly, is transferred to man by the rat-flea, the 
 Xenopsylla Cheopis^ which deposits it from its saliva, 
 excreta and urine, into the skin -wound, and in eight or 
 ten days a bubo forms in the groins or axillary glands 
 of the person bitten. This is characteristic of the * Bubonic 
 Plague.' 
 
 The second form, ' Pneumonic Plague,' is also conveyed 
 by the rat-flea, but it attacks the lungs, and produces 
 congestion of these organs, and is transmitted from the 
 sputum and breath of the patient. 
 
 The third form, the ' Septic or Septicaomic Plague,' 
 attacks the blood, and the bacilli are absorbed in the food 
 contaminated by them, or by pus from the Bubonic Plague, 
 or again from the sputum of the Pneumonic patients. In 
 other words, the first two varieties may pass into the third. 
 
 Domestic animals, dogs, cats, horses, and donkeys, may 
 catch Pneumonic Plague, and become sources of infection. 
 Dead rats in Plague countries are a warning of the 
 proximity of danger. Every one in those localities must 
 at once get inoculated with the antiplague, Hafi'kine's or 
 Yer8in\s, serum. 
 
 Symptoms. — The following symptoms are common to all 
 three varieties : Sudden onset, high temperature and dizzi- 
 
PLAGUE. 247 
 
 iiess, great prostration, bloated features, injected conjunc- 
 tiva), thick speech, and tendency to heart-failure. In the 
 mild or ambulating form, these symptoms may be 
 attenuated, though the patient may die suddenty. 
 
 Bubonic Plague. — Swelling of the lymphatic glands of 
 the groins, and sometimes of the arm-pits and neck ; of the 
 first in races who go about bare-footed. A primary vesicle 
 •or pustule forms quickly at the site of the flea-bite ; patient 
 has pains in the head, looks frightened, anxious, pale, 
 haggard, drowsy, and totters when he attempts to walk ; 
 he is thirsty, and lips and teeth are covered with sordes ; 
 he is delirious and may die in convulsions. As is usual 
 in every fever, his urine is scanty, and his liver and spleen 
 ^re enlarged. 
 
 On the third day the characteristic * bubo ' (generally 
 only one) forms on the groin, and grows to the size of a big 
 -Q^^. There is much inflammation ,all around it, and much 
 pain as a rule, and by the fifth day it bursts, discharging 
 putrid' pus. 
 
 If the patient is to recover, convalescence sets in on the 
 fourth or fifth day, with profuse perspiration, and the 
 wound sloughs. If, on the other hand, the case ends 
 fatally, death ensues about the sixth day. 
 
 Sometimes petechia) are seen about the body, accompanied 
 by ha)morrhage from the nose and intestines, gangrene of 
 the skin around the buboes, or pulmonary inflammation. 
 
 P}icu)))Ouic Plague. — Rigors and vomiting often usher in 
 this variety of Plague, the temperature becomes irregular, 
 €Ough and dyspnoea follow, with profuse liquid rusty sputum 
 (that of true lobar or lobular Pneumonia is thick and adheres 
 to the spittoon). Moist rales are heard, e^specially at the 
 back of the lungs ; there is consequently rapid breathing ; 
 the microscope reveals a large quantity of the bipolar bacilli, 
 for this variety of Plague generally ends fatally. 
 
 Septica^mic Plague. — This is the worst form of the three, 
 the patient often dying within forty-eight hours after the 
 symptoms have begun. These are paleness of the face, 
 Iia)morrhage, great prostration, apathy, fever or none at all, 
 
248 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 intense headache, thready pulse, delirium, coma, and as a 
 rule death ensues. 
 
 Morbid Anatomy, — * ' Marked involvement of the 
 lymphatic system, with destruction of the endothelial lining 
 of the lymphatic and blood vessels/ 
 
 Diagnosis. — Plague in its early stages resembles typhus, 
 but the microscope reveals the difference. Yenereal bubo 
 resembles a Plague bubo ; here again the microscope will 
 reveal the Spirillum pallidum of syphilis. Relapsing fever 
 may simulate it, but this is due to the Spirocl/ceta Ohcrmeieri. 
 
 Malaria may be mistaken for it, but the malarial parasites 
 are easily recognised. Influenzal pneumonia also may be 
 mistaken for it, but the thick sputum and the diplococci 
 are characteristic of pneumonia. Septicaemia resembles it, 
 but the Plague bacilli will settle that difficulty. 
 
 Treatment of Plague. — Antiplague vaccine of Haffkine 
 or Yersin's antiplague serum as a prophylaxis. To keep 
 away fleas: Pesterine.* This consists of: Kerosene, 20 parts; 
 soft soap, 1 part ; and water, 5 parts. Dissolve the soap in 
 the water and gradually pour the oil into the hot mixture. 
 Naphthalene by itself, or naphthalene in kerosene. Tricresol 
 p>ou'der (3 per cent, cresol powder). The Pneumonic patient 
 should be in a well-aired room. Strychnine, strophantus, 
 and aromatic spirits of ammonia are useful cardiac stimu- 
 lants, better than alcohol which may increase excitement. 
 Patient should be kept quiet and in a recumbent position, 
 as cardiac failure may ensue on sudden movement. 
 
 Yersin's and Ludwig's antiplague sera (50 to 100 c.c.) 
 administered intravenously in some cases of Bubonic Plague 
 act well if employed early. Treat the symptoms : cold 
 sponging for fever, glycerine of belladonna over unbroken 
 buboes, but incise aseptically as soon as suppuration sets in ; 
 injection of tincture of iodine in the neighbourhood of 
 buboes ; morphia as a hypnotic and cardiac stimulant. 
 
 * ' Attendants should wear leather or rubber gloves,, 
 overalls, puttees, and gum boots ; in the Pneumonic wards 
 
 * According to Memoranda of Medical Diseases of the Mediterranean 
 War Area (published by the Government, 1917). 
 
PLAGUE. 24» 
 
 they should wear, in addition, masks and goggles. Note 
 that Plague bacilli persist in patients for three weeks, 
 therefore convalescents must be isolated for a month.' 
 
 'Patients' clothes, rags, &c., should be burnt, and the 
 house thoroughly disinfected by Clayton's apparatus (3 lbs. 
 of sulphur for each 1000 cubic feet), or the thatched huts 
 should be burnt.' 
 
 * Clayton's apparatus easily disinfects a ship by using 
 3 lbs. of sulphur per each ten tons of tonnage. Rats and 
 
 PLAGUE BACILLI. 
 
 fleas will at the same time be destroyed. Fumigation should 
 be continued for twelve hours. Rat guards must be fixed 
 on mooring hawsers and cables.' 
 
 It is convenient to divide fleas into two great families,. 
 viz. : Those with eyes^ and those without eyes. Those with 
 eyes, are subdivided into three classes: (1) those without a 
 comb of bristles on their neck or on their chin ; (2) those 
 with only a comb on their neck {Ccratophyllus) ; and (3) 
 those with a comb on their neck, and one on their chin 
 {Cte)iocephalus), This last group has also got hairs on the 
 back of the tibiae, arranged in pairs. 
 
250 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 To the class of fleas with eyes and without combs on 
 neck or on chin belong the tropical Rat flea (Xriiop-sf/Ua 
 C/ieojm), and the Human flea {Pulex irntans). They are 
 both yellowish in colour, and the Rat flea has a single hair 
 growing almost vertically in front of each eye, whilst the 
 Human flea has a hair growing hoiizontall}^ beneath but 
 not in front of each eye. But the Ccratophylhis fasciatus 
 is also a Rat flea of the temperate climate — it is greyish, 
 and does not take so easily to man as the Xe)iopf>yUa. The 
 Hoplopmjllm (uiomaJuSf the ground squirrel flea, also feeds 
 on man and can carry the Plague bacilli ; so also can 
 bugs and lice from an infectious case. 
 
 Daniels advises as a protection against fleas the use of 
 -a liniment containing the oils of cherry laurel, eucalyptus 
 or citronella, to be applied freely to the parts likely to 
 be invaded. 
 
PLAGUE. 251 
 
 PLAGUE IN MAURITIUS. 
 
 ' Oiithveal'. — Towards the middle of January, 1899, 
 Dr. Dubois, who was in charge of the Public Hospital at the 
 old Powder Mills in Pamplemousses, reported to the C.M.O. 
 that he had a patient whom he suspected to be suffering 
 from Plague. The patient died the same day. Next 
 morning the C.M.O. and Dr. Bolton made a post-mortem of 
 the body. The body was that of a well-developed Creole of 
 mixed African and Malagasy origin. 
 
 ' One side of the chest presented an extensive cedematous 
 swelling, extending well into the armpit. When this was 
 cut into, the subcutaneous tissues were found to be infiltrated 
 with bloody serum. The axillary glands were matted 
 together and imbedded in a mass of blood exudation. 
 They were all highlj^ inflamed, and showed numerous 
 hsemorrhagic spots on section. 
 
 * Slides made from, the cut surfaces revealed numerous 
 bacilli, which readily took the bipolar staining. This was 
 the first recognised case of Plague in the Island. The 
 patient, Louis Nicolas, lived in Camp Yoloff, in the western 
 suburb of Port Louis, when he was taken ill. An inquiry 
 to find out how the man had got infected, brought to light 
 the fact that previously to this case there had been several 
 persons in the same locality who had suffered from enlarged 
 glands — one of whom had died. 
 
 ' Louis Nicolas had worked in the docks when, at that 
 time, the SS. Mpanjaka from Madagascar was undergoing 
 repairs. In the last three months of 1898 several members 
 of the Antemoor tribe had died in Tamatave (in Madagascar) 
 from what was afterwards recognised as Plague ; and some 
 Mauritians (Creoles) domiciled in Tamatave had died, and 
 their effects sent to Mauritius to friends, inhabitants of 
 Camp Yoloff. It was therefore suspected that the disease 
 was introduced from Madagascar. This point was ij-eyer 
 very definitely made out. - .^ 
 
 * March of the Disease. — For some time the disease appeared 
 
252 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 to be confined to Camp Yoloff, several cases having followed 
 the one of Louis Nicolas ; and at one time there was every 
 indication of its having been stamped out, as no fresh case 
 was discovered for more than a fortnight. However, fresh 
 cases soon began to crop up in other parts of the town, and 
 from there it spread to the districts, and is now endemic. 
 
 ' Many factors have operated in furthering the disease, 
 viz. : 
 
 ' 1. The mode of propagation of the disease and the part 
 played by rats and fleas not being at that time established, 
 disinfection was carried on in such a way that it was soon 
 considered synonymous of " destruction of property," and, 
 as the compensation granted by Government was always 
 inferior to the value of the articles damaged or destroyed, 
 the people removed their goods and chattels, infected and 
 harbouring fleas or not, and lodged them elsewhere as soon 
 as they suspected a case of Plague on the premises. And 
 they still do it, even at the present day, and in spite of 
 inspectors, sanitary wardens, and C.M.O. ! 
 
 * 2. The ignorance and obstinacy of the uneducated classes. 
 They hide their cases, which are often discovered only when 
 other inmates of the house or hut have become infected. 
 
 ' 3. The Chinese shopkeepers, who remove their sick at 
 night so that their shops should not be disinfected. They 
 also scarcely ever inform the Sanitary Authorities if there 
 be any epidemic of rats in their shops. The inspectors have 
 sometimes to bribe their Creole or Indian neighbours to 
 denounce these removals of the sick, and to point out the 
 shops where rats were seen dead or alive. Very often a dead 
 Chinaman was found on the street-pavement in the early 
 morning, no one knowing whence he came. 
 
 *4. On sugar estates the planters themselves have in 
 several cases helped the spread of Plague by failing to 
 acquaint the Sanitary Authorities with the discover)^ of 
 dead rats in large numbers in the estate's grain store. They 
 have, in one or two instances, actually got men to remove 
 dead rats without taking any precautions to protect them 
 from infection. Several were thus infected. 
 
PLAGUE. 253 
 
 * 5. Unexpected opposition on the part of certain medical 
 men who were not yet convinced that the disease was the 
 Plague. 
 
 * Criticism.. — It seems very strange that in a small island 
 like Mauritius, with limited plague areas, the disease has not 
 long ago been stamped out. A Commission consisting of 
 eminent authorities on Plague and Tropical Hygiene should 
 be sent from England to investigate the matter. I have no 
 ■doubt that under their advice and supervision, this fell 
 disease could be permanently driven out of the Colony. 
 
 The C.M.O. should be a man of firm and resolute character, 
 with an extensive experience and knowledge of Plague and 
 other tropical diseases, and of engineering, architecture, and 
 agriculture. He must be untrammelled by family ties with 
 the inhabitants of the Colony, i.e., with Mauritius. 
 
 It were wise if all the Government medical officers in the 
 Colony were compelled to take a course of studies at one of 
 the Schools of Tropical Medicine in England. I would go 
 further, and advise that the Governor, the Chief Judge, the 
 members of the Executive Council, the Government Surveyor 
 and Architect, the Forest Rangers, Sanitary Warden, and 
 all other officials connected with the Health Departments of 
 the Colony, should attend a series of lectures on the Diseases 
 of Mauritius. 
 
 * To return to the march of the Plague in Mauritius. 
 
 * Types. — The types of Plague observed in Mauritius do 
 not differ from those of other countries — viz., the Bubonic, 
 Pneumonic, and Septicajmic, but the Bubonic is the 
 commonest, the immediate cause of death being, in the vast 
 majority of cases, heart failure. 
 
 '■ Statistics. — From the commencement of the epidemic in 
 1899 to October 25th, 1908, there were 6805 cases of Plague 
 in the Colony, with 3579 deaths in Port Louis, and 851 in 
 Plaines Wilhems. The returns from the other districts 
 •cannot be obtained, but according to certain reports about 
 300 more fatal cases may be added to the above figure, 
 making a total of 4730 deaths. 
 
 * During the first year there were 1416 cases with a 
 
254 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 mortality of 1100. During the second year the epidemic 
 sank to 796 cases with a mortality of 600. It rose again 
 during the fifth year to 1380 with 1050 deaths, to sink 
 during the tenth year to 167 (the lowest on record) with 
 80 deaths. But in 1906 it rose to 436 with 310 deaths, and 
 since then it has fluctuated between 100 and 200 deaths per 
 year. As I said before, the Bubonic form of the disease was 
 the most frequent, especially in summer when the fleas are 
 most numerous ; the Pneumonic came next, especially in the 
 cool season (May to November) when colds pre-dispose the 
 lungs for the reception of the bacillus. 
 
 * Treatment : Preventire and Curative. — Yersin's serum or 
 Lister's was employed during the nine years, 1899 to 1908^ 
 with considerable success, as the following table shows : 
 
 
 HEALED. 
 
 DEAD. 
 
 At Bois Savon 
 
 304 
 
 365 
 
 ,, Grand Eiver 
 
 74 
 
 37 
 
 ^, Plaines Wilhems 
 
 227 
 
 120 
 
 ' Vaccine was used as a prophylactic, and the intravenous 
 injection of large doses of fresh anti-plague serum as a 
 curative ; but the efficacy of the serum depended on the way 
 it was prepared, or the perfect imtnunisatfon of the horses. 
 Wherever these measures were adopted in a scientific manner 
 before the fourth day, and by competent practitioners, the 
 result was satisfactory, but there are some medical men in 
 Mauritius who consider themselves authorities or experts in 
 Plague, some of whom have only spent a limited time in a 
 bacteriological laboratory in Europe, and have never attended 
 a course of lectures in any School of Tropical Diseases, who 
 decry serotherapy and anti-plague vaccination, because they 
 were not successful with their cases, with the consequence 
 that the Commissioners sent to Mauritius a few years ago to 
 make retrenchments in the expenditure of the Colony, have 
 advised the suj)pre3sion of the only Government laboratory 
 extant, and the dismissal of its Director, probably the only 
 good bacteriologist in Mauritius, a man who has studied at 
 the Pasteur Institute, and under the great masters in France I 
 
PLAGUE. 255 
 
 I lay stress on this deplorable mistake made by the Com- 
 missioners, to show how the Mother Country may ruin her 
 Colonies in trying to save a few thousand pounds a year ! 
 
 * Dr. Lafont, the man in question, does not think that 
 Mauritius will ever get rid of the Plague, that the rats are 
 too numerous, and their habitats too inaccessible and scattered 
 over too vast an area to make it possible, without' the outlay 
 of a large sum of money to exterminate them ! He points 
 out that a large area of Port Louis is covered by old wooden 
 houses with double walls and double floors and ceilings,, 
 wherein hundreds of rats live ; that the cellar floors are 
 undermined by numerous tunnels, leading from house to 
 house and across the street into the old drains, where the 
 female, although only four months old, propagates her 
 species by six to eight young ones at a time every twa 
 months, every couple producing a progeny of two thousand 
 descendants in one year. He also points out that until the 
 granaries have cemented floors, walls, and doors, it will be 
 impossible to prevent these rodents from getting access to 
 them. If that part of Port Louis where Plague has been 
 most persistent were to be burnt down and new houses built 
 with impermeable concrete walls and floors, and the old drains 
 filled in, and new drains constructed with a good flush of 
 water and a strong incline, then Plague may cease in town. 
 
 ' As for the country, he recommends the determined 
 " chasse aux rats " on every estate, the firing of every old 
 camp, the abolition of cellars from every mill and house, and 
 the concreting of the floors, and constant disinfection with 
 5 per cent. Lysol, as well as the introduction of more 
 cats, rat- terriers, owls, and mongoose. Moreover, every 
 gunny-bng in the Island must be thoroughly disinfected, as 
 they harbour a great many fleas. The above measures, with 
 quarantine and isolating stations, and the compulsory anti- 
 plague vaccination of every individual within a mile of a 
 Plague outbreak, will no doubt save the Island. Of course, 
 that means millions of pounds sterling to be added to the 
 Mauritius debt ! 
 
 * Difficulty of carrying out Preventive 3reasurcs. — The pre- 
 
256 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 <;edmg remarks sbow how difficult it must be to fight the 
 Plague in Mauritius. In the town of Port Louis there are 
 other very important local conditions to fight against. Most 
 of the houses in the peripheral part of the town are of wood 
 on a stone foundation, so that we have the following 
 structural conditions : 1. A very dark cellar, in most in- 
 stances not two feet deep ; 2. Wooden walls with an inner 
 wainscotting, leaving a space of about six inches on a height 
 •of nine to ten feet. Many of these homes are out of repair, 
 often overcrowded and generally dirty, — with rats, fleas, bugs, 
 and lice in abundance ! Again, there are two or three old 
 underground drains built in the time of the French, more 
 than one hundred years ago. They are now more or less 
 dilapidated, and swarm with rats. These drains are gradually 
 being filled in, but fully one-third still exist {vide Map of 
 Port Louis). 
 
 ' The whole of the stock of rice, gram, dhoU, oats- bran, 
 :fl.our, &c., is stored in warehouses in the town. The 
 attraction is too great for rats to resist, so they resort to 
 these granaries in large numbers. On one occasion, one of 
 these stores situated in Church Street was cleared because 
 dead rats had been discovered in it. Over four hundred 
 of these rodents found dead and dying were destroyed. 
 How can one expect the town, aye, the whole Island, to 
 ■ever get rid of the Plague as long as these granaries are 
 not made rat-proof? 
 
 * Every Chinaman- shop contains most alluring food for 
 rats, and they congregate therein. The Chinese supplj^ the 
 largest number of Plague cases. 
 
 * Private initiative being a thing unknown in Mauritius, 
 the Medical Department gets no assistance from outside ; if 
 anything, their recommendations are ignored and even 
 opposed, so that their task is a difficult one. A fortiori the 
 necessity of having a strong-handed man at the head of that 
 department. 
 
 * On sugar estates the suppression of Plague is, as a rule, 
 an easy matter. On an order from the Protector of Immi- 
 grants, the infected camp, or part thereof, is vacated at once. 
 
PLAGUE. 257 
 
 and the inmates lodged in temporary structures built on a 
 distant part of the estate, and the old huts burnt down, rats 
 and all insect life perishing. In every case this measure has 
 proved successful. 
 
 ' On one estate the daughter of a rat-catcher was ill with 
 Plague. The Inspector asked the mother where her husband 
 kept the rats he caught. She went into the hut and came 
 out carrying a tin pot in which were half a dozen dead rats ! 
 It came out that this man had to produce a certain number 
 of rats daily. Whenever he caught more than the number 
 allotted as his task he used to keep the surplus at home, and 
 produced them next day. He used to set traps, and also 
 hunted with a dog. As rats were dying in the camp he 
 would pick them up and keep them. The sick rats found 
 were also easily caught by his dog. The whole family (four) 
 eventually contracted Plague. 
 
 * In a few instances the disease would appear to have^ 
 been transported on sugar estates in second-hand gunny- 
 bags, bought in Port Louis from infected stores. 
 
 * Some proprietors, acting on Dr. Bolton's advice, disin- 
 feet all the gunny- bags before being stored on the Estate 
 — rice and other grain being rebagged. No Plague has aa 
 yet been reported from these Estates. 
 
 *That part of the town where gunny-bags are stored has- 
 had many cases of Plague. 
 
 ' To facilitate the transport and treatment of Plague 
 cases, lazarets have been constructed at Mahebourg, Souillac,^ 
 Flacq, Poudre d'Or, Beau Bassin ; at Port Louis the old 
 Lunatic Asylum is used, as well as a lazaret at Bois Savon, 
 near Abercrombie police-station. At each, patients are 
 treated and suspects isolated, 
 
 * Conclusion.. ^Although, cases of Plague have, within the 
 last two or three years, been less numerous both in town and 
 country, yet occasionally the mortality still goes up to six 
 and seven per day, then there will be a lull of a few weeks,, 
 and again cases crop up. After heavy rains, when the rats 
 are driven out of the drains, or after severe droughts when 
 they come out for water, the mortality is greatest. For 
 
268 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 several years past tlie cases amongst the white people have 
 been few and far between, for as soon as a dead rat is seen 
 on the premises or in the garden, the house is evacuated and 
 thoroughly disinfected from top to bottom, and re-painted 
 and re-papered, whilst the family get re-inoculated with 
 Yersin's serum. 
 
 * Yery often a procession of rats can be seen leaving one 
 part of the town and migrating to another part. It is 
 always an indication that the abandoned homestead is 
 plague-ridden, and at once a search for dead rats is made, 
 and they are invariably found in large numbers ; but before 
 the place can be disinfected several inhabitants are attacked 
 with Plague and die. In the meantime, the people amongst 
 whom the undesired rat- guests have sought refuge, take 
 alarm and vacate their homes, whilst the Medical Depart- 
 ment disinfects and chases the rats away. But they move 
 on and search for pastures new, always leaving death and 
 destruction in their path. 
 
 * In spite of large sums of money spent in the attempt to 
 annihilate this detested rodent, it still multiplies and infests 
 the land. 
 
 * The mongoose has been introduced all over the Island, 
 but the destruction of birds became so rapid that it was found 
 necessary, in order to save the sugar-canes from devastation 
 by insects (borer and others), to kill the mongoose. 
 
 * The Colony has had to bear heavy expenses in connec- 
 tion with its Medical Department. These were already 
 heavy enough ever since malarial fever broke out in 1868, 
 but now what with Plague and Surra, and the expense 
 connected with the ever-vigilant quarantine stations, no 
 wonder Mauritius is nearly ruined, and ruinous Commis- 
 sioners are sent out to add to the burden in seeking to 
 lighten it ! 
 
 Bibliography : Government Reports; Interviews with Medical Men 
 from Mauritius; The Press articles on Plague; Bulletins de la Societe 
 Midicale de Maurice. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Phagedenic Epidemic. 
 
 As will be seen in this chapter on the epidemic of Phage- 
 ■daonic ulcers in Mauritius, the doctor in charge of the cases 
 was not sure whether the ulcers were not due to the (then) 
 newly-discovered Leishman bodies. It is now well known 
 that these parasites or protozoa are introduced into the 
 human body by the bite of the Phlebotomus midge or of 
 infected bugs. It will have been seen in the preface on 
 Malarial Fever that some midges resemble mosquitoes, but 
 an easy way of recognising the latter is to see whether the 
 second and fourth ribs or veins on the wing are bifurcated, 
 and the third short and not extending to the base or 
 starting point of the wing. 
 
 After a fortnight or even a year's incubation, the lesion 
 appears on any exposed part of the body, commonly on the 
 forearm, hand, and face, and looks at first like a hard red 
 papule covered with a brown scale ; it then increases in size, 
 and softens, and the skin becomes purple and glazed, with 
 a narrow rim of chronic inflammation around it. After a 
 period of three or four months a painless superficial ulcer 
 is formed and is covered by a dark adherent scab, from 
 beneath which swelters foul- smelling yellow pus. The 
 ulceration spreads to the surrounding tissues and causes 
 (Edematous swelling. In six or twelve months pus is re- 
 placed beneath the scab by healthy granular tissues, and 
 the ulcer becomes shallower, heals up, and leaves a white 
 or pink scar. 
 
 The virus is inoculable, but there is no constitutional 
 •disturbance, and one attack confers immunitv. Sometimes 
 
260 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 the papules do not ulcerate but grow big and soft, and 
 the skin covering them becomes purple and shiny. All the 
 same, they are full of Leishman bodies, and they eventually 
 shrink, dry up, and are absorbed. 
 
 Diagnosis. — Phagedaenic ulcer. Trench sore, Yeldt sore, 
 and Tertiary syphilis may be mistaken for one another. 
 The microscope reveals the Leishman bodies in Oriental 
 sore, and staphylococci in the first three just mentioned, and 
 Spirillum pallidum in the last. The history and symptoms 
 
 LEISHMAN PARASITES. 
 
 of these are characteristic. The Trench sore is more acute 
 and of shorter duration than the others. 
 
 Treatme}it. — * ' Intravenous injection of tartar emetic, 
 1 per cent, solution of antimony tartrate in distilled water, 
 5 to 10 c.c, every alternate day. 
 
 'Intravenous injections of salvarsan and neosalvarsan, 
 in the usual doses. 
 
 'Injection of hectine (an organic arsenical preparation), 
 1 e.g. for each four kilos of body weight, into the indurated 
 periphery and base of the sore, twice or thrice weekly. It 
 induces rapid healing, and lessens scarring if used before 
 
 • Memoranda of Medical Diseases in the Mediterranean War Area. 
 
PHAGEDENIC EPIDEMIC. 261 
 
 ulceration begins. Local applications of tartarated anti- 
 mony (2 per cent.) ointment once or twice daily, or of 
 ointment made up of equal parts of medicinal methylene 
 blue, A^aseline, and lanoline, nigbt and morning for fifteen 
 days ; then wash away the ointment and reapply fresh 
 until healing is complete. 
 
 * Perma^nganate of potash dusted on the sore is very 
 efficacious, but it is a painful treatment, the pain persisting 
 for eight hours. At most three applications are necessary 
 before the sore is transformed into a simple ulcer. 
 
 * Carbon dioxide, radium exposures, are also useful. 
 
 * Prophylaxis. — Paint the site of all fly and other insect 
 bites with iodine as soon as possible. Remember, Leishman- 
 iosis is contagious and auto -infectious.' 
 
262 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 PHAGEDENIC ULCER EPIDEMIC (1903). 
 
 Dr. Rouget, of the Civil Hospital, Port Louis, relates 
 that : 
 
 *In the last months of the year 1903, without any 
 apparent rhyme or reason, barefooted Creole and Indian 
 labourers in the low-lying districts of the Island were 
 attacked on their legs, ankles, and dorsum of the feet by 
 ulcers which quickly spread and sloughed. 
 
 * Origin. — These ulcers either started from papules, 
 accidental pricks and abrasions of the skin, or from a boil 
 which formed a blebs and then burst, leaving an ulcerative 
 surface. 
 
 * Sf/mptofns, — In the milder cases the skin and sub- 
 cutaneous tissue only underwent gradual sloughing, and 
 the ulcer became circular with irregular and indurated 
 edges, and looked like an Oriental sore, or Delhi boil, 
 whilst in the severer cases an (Edematous areola formed 
 around the ulcer and quickly became undermined, generally 
 along the vertical axis, and soon muscles, tendons, and 
 bone became exposed over half a foot to a foot in length, 
 by five to six inches broad ; putrid greyish green pus, or an 
 adherent slough, covering the wound. These severer forms 
 were certainly j)haged8enic. 
 
 * Spread of the ^jndeniic. — From the country the disease 
 spread to Port Louis, and from January 1904 to May 
 patients crowded into the Civil Hospital in the Capital, and 
 into the other hospitals and dispensaries, as the following 
 table shows, and the epidemic only abated in October, to- 
 disappear completely by December 1905, after having lasted 
 two years and four months. 
 
PHAGEDENIC EPIDEMIC. 
 
 263 
 
 STATISTICS. 
 
 
 
 
 ADMISSIONS. 
 
 
 Civil Hospital 
 of Port Louis. 
 
 Other Hospitals 
 and Dispensaries. 
 
 Total. 
 
 1903. 
 
 
 
 
 August 
 
 September 
 
 October 
 
 
 — 
 
 40 
 31 
 53 
 
 40 
 31 
 53 
 
 November . 
 
 
 — 
 
 55 
 
 55 
 
 December . 
 
 
 ~ 
 
 90 
 
 90 
 
 1904. 
 
 269 
 
 269 
 
 January 
 
 February 
 
 March 
 
 
 
 28 
 69 
 96 
 
 248 
 480 
 524 
 
 276 
 549 
 
 620 
 
 April . 
 May . 
 June . 
 
 
 
 65 
 44 
 20 
 
 310 
 227 
 124 
 
 375 
 271 
 144 
 
 July . 
 August 
 September 
 October 
 
 
 
 26 
 
 18 
 
 12 
 
 7 
 
 89 
 60 
 51 
 49 
 
 115 
 78 
 63 
 56 
 
 November 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 33 
 
 41 
 
 December . 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 28 
 
 33 
 
 1905. 
 
 398 2,223 
 
 2,621 
 
 ■ January 
 February 
 March 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 20 
 
 18 ! 
 
 
 
 April . 
 May . 
 June . 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 13 
 
 6 
 
 
 s 
 - 1 
 
 o 
 
 
 July . 
 August 
 September 
 October 
 
 
 
 1 
 2 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 November 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 December 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 489 
 
 TOTAI 
 
 ^ 
 
 • 
 
 489 
 
 C 
 
 }rand Total 
 
 3,110 
 
264 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 * Prevalence, — As has been seen, the disease prevailed 
 during the hot and rainy months — the fever months — 
 December to April. 
 
 In the majority of cases the disease was associated with 
 anaemia and splenomegaly, or anaemia alone, and was severe 
 amongst the very poor. 
 
 ' Treatment. — The treatment Dr. Rouget found most 
 efficacious, after having tried various antiseptics, was 
 Hanson's cauterisation of the ulcer with pure carbolic acid, 
 until sound granulations were obtained, and afterwards the 
 dressing of the wound with powdered camphor ; in Mauritius 
 a poultice of powdered camphor and pounded sorrel leaves 
 (Oxalis corymhosa) is frequently used by the common people 
 for ulcers. Under the above treatment the wound rapidly 
 healed. There were a few relapses, but they healed too. 
 Good food and tonics followed. Only one death was 
 recorded at the Civil Hospital during that epidemic. No 
 mortality returns from the other hospitals of the Island 
 are to be found. 
 
 ' Dr. Rougefs Conclusions. — Dr. Rouget gives his reasons 
 for believing this epidemic to be one of Tropical Sloughing 
 Phagedaena, and says that in scraping the sides of a well- 
 washed-out ulcer and examining the exudates, he found a 
 large number of very actively motile bacilli, straight or 
 slightly curved, with rounded or somewhat tapering ex- 
 tremities, their length being three or four times their width. 
 On staining with a basic aniline dye the centre of the 
 bacillus did not take the stain. He also found some very 
 fine spirilla, non-gram staining. The bacilli grew in the 
 ordinary media, and were aerobic. He maintains they are 
 similar to those described by Crenderoponto of Camaran, as 
 occurring in the ** Ulcere de Yemen," or Phagedaenic 
 sloughing ulcer of Tropical countries. 
 
 * Criticism. — But knowing how handicapped the majority 
 of the physicians in Mauritius are in Tropical bacteriological 
 research, through the absence of the necessary implements 
 for such delicate work as can only be achieved in an up-to- 
 date laboratory under a competent teacher, I think it would 
 
PHAGEDENIC EPIDEMIC. 265 
 
 Ije wise to withhold one's verdict as to whether this epidemic 
 was one of Tropical sloughing Phagedaena, or one of pure 
 Phagedaena {hospital gamfrene), or one of Oriental sore com- 
 plicated by Phagedaena and syphilis. True, only in one of 
 his cases was the ulcer on the generative organ, on the 
 vaginal cul-de-sac, and implicating the os uteri ; but his 
 •description of the milder cases at the Civil Hospital looks 
 like that of a Delhi boil. With the present means of 
 recognising Leishman- Donovan bodies. Dr. Rouget might 
 perhaps have found them in the exudation scraped from 
 the ulcer. Their transitory forms might have been present 
 ^nd been easily overlooked. 
 
 * I believe the phagedaenic ulcers seen in hospitals in the 
 Temperate climate do not reveal the presence of motile 
 bacilli (though Brownian movement may be mistaken for 
 motility), but those seen stain uniformly, and are in other 
 respects similar to those found in the sloughing Phagedaena 
 of the Tropics. The question is whether on these slight 
 "differences one is justified in not believing that the two 
 •diseases are one and the same. Both are produced by 
 infection ; in both Spirilla pallida have been found, to- 
 gether with the supposed causative bacilli. In the Tem- 
 perate jclimate hospitals a syphilitic sore is often the 
 starting contagion-focus whence all the ulcers in the ward 
 became infected, and took on the phagedaenic character ; 
 or the air of a putrid insanitary ward seemed to change 
 healing wounds and ulcers into gangrene. So could we 
 not attribute the epidemic in Mauritius to some malignant 
 micro-organism or bacillus, generated during a long droughty 
 season from the offal and refuse of the roads, and deposited 
 on the grass and sugar canes in the fields, awaiting the 
 necessary conditions (warmth and rain) to become active 
 and virulent, and the slightest abrasion of the skin offered 
 a door of invasion to the organism ? Or again, if it be 
 asked why did not the epidemic break out before 1903, if 
 the cause was always present in the offal, dust, and refuse ? 
 If a long period of drought, accompanied by high wind, 
 preceding the hot and rainy season (when the disease broke 
 
266 THE EPIDEMICS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 out) be not a sufficient explanation, perhaps we might find 
 one in the human manure mixed with guano from South 
 America, with which the sugar cane fields are prepared 
 before the sugar cane is planted; that year's guano might 
 have been contaminated. In support of this hypothesis, 
 note that only the exposed lower extremities (with one 
 exception), and rarely the hands, were the seat of the 
 ulcers, and that the thick skin of the soles of the feet 
 and of the palms of the hands, not easily abraded, escaped; 
 also that women (with one exception), few of whom work 
 in the fields, and children, in town at least, did not suffer. 
 The seat of the ulcers on the lower uncovered extremities 
 might suggest a flea or low-flying insect, or even a mosquito 
 as the carrier, but in that case women and children would 
 have been affected as easily as the men. 
 
 *My opinion is, in view of the extreme resemblance 
 between the two diseases — sloughing Phagedsena of tem- 
 perate climate (^.^., hospital gangrene) and sloughing 
 Phagedaena of warm climate, the one we are now con- 
 sidering — that they are both one and the same, and are 
 caused alike by the same malignant organism, or by 
 different species of the same germ, concerning which the 
 final word has not yet been said.' 
 
 Bibliography : Dr. Rouf^et's Thesis for the Edinburgh M.D, degree ; 
 Bulletins de la SociMe MSdicale de Vile Maurice ; My own notes of cases 
 seen in the University College and Paris Hospitals. 
 
 I am greatly indebted to Dr. Rouget's excellent Thesis, as it is the 
 only work giving an account of this epidemic. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
FAUNA OF MAURITIUS, 
 
 The only indigenous living creatures found on the Island at 
 its discovery were the Aphanapterix ; a large fruit-eating Bat ; 
 the Dodo ; and the vSolitaire. All four are now extinct, but their 
 fossils have been disinterred and can be seen in the Museum in 
 Port Louis. 
 
 Some authorities maintain that the Portuguese counted four 
 mammiferous, twenty-four ornithological, and twelve reptilian 
 species on the Island. Of the t\v'enty-four species of birds only 
 eight remain ; the others have been introduced from Asia, Mada- 
 gascar, and Africa. 
 
 Of the indigenous animals, the Tandrake, Monkeys, Bats, and 
 Frogs still exist ; and many others were introduced, viz.. Cattle,. 
 Horses, Mules, Donkeys, Monkeys, Hares, Babbits, Deer, Pigs, 
 Tortoise, Goats, Cats, Dogs, Mice and Rats (which have always 
 been a pest), and Mongoose. The eight indigenous birds are the 
 Cnisinier Thiush ; the Phaeton (two varieties, yellow-beaked and 
 red-beaked) ; the Ringed Parrot ; the Chicken-eater (a falcon) ; 
 Meyer's Dove ; the Woodcock ; the Banana Bird ; the White or 
 Manioc Bird. 
 
 Those introduced are the Curlew ; Turnstone ; Petrel ; Frigate ; 
 Terns; Plover; Cuckoo; Martin; Mynah ; Canary; Turtle- 
 dove ; Indian Crow ; Sparrow ; Swallow ; Pigeons ; Partridge ; 
 Quail ; Sarcelle; Bengali ; Pingo; Merle ; Cardinal ; Gasse ; Wood- 
 pecker; and Bo'swain. 
 
 The Island is remarkably free from obnoxious insects and 
 reptiles. Nevertheless, the following are plentiful : Centipedes, 
 Millipedes, Scorpions (lulus and Scutigerus), Ticks, Bugs, Redi- 
 vivuspersonatus (Punaise Maupin), Pediculi, Acari, Pulices, Ants, 
 White Ants (Termites), Ladybirds, Moths (the larvje of some of 
 which, the Borers, are very destructive to the sugar-cane). 
 Lizards or Tchekos, Frogs, Spiders (Olios leucocinus, Salticus, 
 and Epoires), Carapates, and Butterflies, which are very numerous. 
 The pi-ettiest variety has yellow and black wings ; another, A^ekety 
 black wings with blue blotches on them. The Liptoceres and 
 Vanessa were indigenous, but have died out. The following 
 are from Madagascar : Papilio demodicus, Vanessa Radami, 
 Atellanta phalanta, Danais chrysippus, Phytallus Smithii. 
 
 Two genera of Rock Snakes still exist in Round and Serpent 
 
270 APPENDIX. 
 
 Islands in the north of Mauritius ; they belong to the family of 
 Boiidse, and have never been seen anywhere else. They are the 
 Bolieria multicarinata and the Caesarea Uussumieri. Two 
 specimens sent by the Governor Sir Henry Barkly are preserved 
 ^t the South Kensington Natural History Museum. 
 
 FLIES. 
 
 Thje Musca, CaHiphora, Tabanus, Stomoxys, Lucilia, Hippo- 
 bosca, Nyctherus, Cantharis, Tipulidae, Wasps, Cockroaches, 
 Grasshoppers, Crickets, Mantis, Midges, and the following 
 Mosquitoes : 
 
 ■CuUrince : 
 
 Culex fatigans (very common all over the Island). 
 
 „ tigripes (common ; does not always bite man ; very big). 
 
 „ annulioris (only one specimen seen as yet). 
 
 „ arboricolis (found in holes of trees). 
 
 „ Eonaldi 1 (both these have been found to already exist 
 
 „ Fowleri j under other names in Theobald's list). 
 Stegomyia fasciata (comm^on near the sea). 
 Scutomyia notoscripta (the commonest in Mauritius). 
 
 Anophelince: 
 
 Pyrotophorus costalis (principal carrier of malaria in Mauri- 
 tius (found everywhere). 
 
 Myzorhynchus Mauritianus (does not carry Malaria ; found 
 everyw^here). 
 
 Nyssorhynchus maculipalpis (not common). 
 
 PROTOZOA. 
 
 The most important in the Island are : 
 
 The Malarial parasites (Benign Tertian, Quartan the com- 
 monest, and the Subtertian). 
 
 Amoeba3 histolyticag. 
 
 Trypanosomum Brucei and Evansi (imported from India or 
 Madagascar in cattle in' 1902, and causing Surra; con- 
 stantly seen in cattle, horses, and mules). 
 
 Piroplasma bigeminum canis (no one in Mauritius has yet 
 described it, but several dogs are said to have had red 
 urine). 
 
 Spirillum pallidum. 
 
 Leishman-Donovan bodies (not yet described, but a boil very 
 much like Delhi-boil came as an epidemic a few years ago 
 on the lower extremities of labourers). 
 
FAUNA. 271 
 
 Amongst the Helminths : 
 
 Nematodes. 
 
 Ascaris. 
 
 Oxyuris. 
 
 Ankylostomum (ankylostomiasis) ; very common. 
 
 Sfcrongyloides. 
 
 Filariae (elephantiasis; common). 
 Cestodes (this branch has not yet been studied). 
 Taenia solium. 
 
 „ mediocanellata. 
 „ Davainea. 
 
 ,, echinococcus (liydatid) ; and probably the other Taeniae. 
 Trematodes (not yet studied), but Schistosomum (Bilhartzia 
 
 liaBmatobium) is very common. I saw lots in a coolie's 
 
 nrine in 1889, and Fasciola hepatica has been found in 
 
 Chinamen's livers. 
 
 DISEASE FLOEA. 
 
 The following disease-flora exists in the Island 
 Bacillus tuberculosis. 
 „ pneumoniae. 
 „ lepr^. 
 ,, diphtheriae. 
 „ coH communis. 
 „ Kochi (occasionally). 
 „ pestis (since 1901). 
 typhosi. 
 Micrococci ? variolae. 
 „ ? varicella?. 
 
 „ ? beriberi. 
 
 „ ? scarlatinae. 
 
 ,, .^ rubeoli. 
 
 FISH. 
 
 Sea Fish. — The following are edible : 
 
 ■Capitaine (Chrysogoprys belotula ; a deep-water fish). 
 
 Cateau (a multi-coloured fish, frequenting the reefs). 
 
 Cordonnier (a beautiful grey fish, with blotches of pale yellow 
 
 all over ; makes a delicate dish). 
 Mackerel (all around the coast). 
 Dame Berri (a silver-scaled fish). 
 Vieille or Rock Cod (Serranus. The dark brown spotted species 
 
 and the vermilion red are the best to eat). 
 
272 APPENDIX. 
 
 The Croissant and the S. diascope or ' Cheval de bois' are 
 
 poisonous. 
 Gueule pavee (a silver-scaled fish, found in deep water). 
 Ron get. 
 Mullet (a silver-scaled fish ; two varieties only — the ' Mulet 
 
 oToscaille' and the ' Mulet voleur '). 
 Million (vei'y small sprat-like fish, living iu sea and brackish 
 
 warer, and also in rivers ; most useful, as it eats up mosquito 
 
 larvee). 
 Ton or Tunny. 
 Sprats and Sardines. 
 
 Dilai'd (a delicate, very pretty multi-coloured fish). 
 Carang'ue (Sconiberoides ; a deep-water fish, grows to a great size).. 
 Cherugien (Acanthurus Chinensis). 
 Raie or Sun fish ( Rhinobatus) has a Ions: narrow bony tail, and 
 
 powerful fins all round its body. These fins make a delicate 
 
 dish. 
 Poule-d'Eau (Plarax Balochii. Like a gieen turbot with an im.nense- 
 
 dorsal riu, which is a great delicacy). 
 Soles (they are small and lie in the sand). 
 
 Sea Fish. — The following are non-edible : 
 
 Dog Fish. 
 
 Skate. 
 
 Rays. 
 
 Tiger shark (twenty-five feet long). 
 
 Haminerheaded Shark (Zyg^ena malleus). 
 
 Trembleur (Torpedo marmorata) An electric fish, which when- 
 trodden on gives an electric shock ; lives in the shade and 
 under the sand. 
 
 Boule-tangue (Tetraodon argontius), which, when taken out of 
 water, inflates its spine-covered skin into a round ball. 
 
 The Cuttin Fish. That reniai'kably-shaped little fish, which looks 
 like an oblong box with a fish's head stuck to one end of the 
 box^ a short tail to the other, and a small fin to each side. 
 
 Laff Of Weaver (Scorpaena, Synanceia, Pterois). A very poisonous 
 mud fish, which injects a venom into the foot of the unwary 
 fisherman or bather who may tread upon his dorsal fins. The 
 poison, which is said to be green and slimy, secreted from 
 glands placed below the hollow spikes of the fins, is fatal 
 unless the wound be canterised immediately, and a poultice of 
 the leaves of the Ehretia petiolai-is be apt .lied to it to ease the 
 pain, and aromatics and stimulants be given to prevent cardiac 
 failure. The foot and leg become swollen, and in a few days 
 the wound sloughs deeply, leaving a large hole which takes 
 
"TAUNA. ■ 273 
 
 months to heal. There are several other species of this Laff 
 along the coast — the Pterois volitans, the Pterois muricata, the 
 Pterois antennata. 
 
 •Conger and other sea-water eels. 
 
 The Sea Eel or Angaille Morele (Poeciloptera variegata), also a 
 poisonous eel, growing to two or three feet in length and a^ 
 little more than one inch in diameter, greyish black in colour, 
 spotted with white. It frequents in large number the coral 
 reefs and shallow pools, and does not bite unless attacked, but 
 its bite, although not fatal, is painful. Several species of this 
 sea eel abound along the coast and in the creeks and harbours: 
 The Muraana tentaculata is jet black, with a dorsal fin of bright 
 
 THE LAFF. 
 
 yellow, and a blue anal fin. A smaller species, about a foot 
 long (the Ribbon eel) is bright green spotted all over with 
 yellow. It has a pale dorsal fin and bright crimson eyes. 
 
 Errantia (Cent- bras) : Another long, eel-like creature, made up of 
 tubular contractile segments covered with small hooked spines 
 resembling tubercles, protrusible or retractile. They are of 
 different colour, and carry olive-coloured tentacles around 
 theii* pink horny mouth. They bask like eels in shallow 
 water ; or when attacked contract themselves into a round 
 mass, and when drawn out of the water will hug the stick or 
 the arm of a man. 
 
 'Octopus vulgaris (Ouritte). The long tentacles, after having been 
 dried in the sun for several days, make good curry. 
 
 The Squid (Moorgatte) is also plentiful, and is edible. 
 
 Bambaras (sea-slug) looks like a black German sausage, and ;s 
 eaten by the Chinese. 
 
 T 
 
g74 APPENDIX. 
 
 MednsaB of all sizes and colours (Cassiopea Andromeda), which 
 
 sting fearfully. 
 Sea Snakes have not been seen alono^ the coast of Mauritius, but 
 
 they are common along that of Madagascar. 
 
 Crustaeece ': 
 
 Lobsters (Palinurus). 
 
 Crabs (Pagarus). Hundreds of varieties ; the big green one is 
 the most tasty. 
 
 Soldier Crabs are poisonous, and are used as bait. 
 
 Land Crab or Tourbouroux is amphibious, and tunnels under- 
 ground, climbs up trees, and penetrates into cocoanuts and 
 eats the pulp. 
 
 Shrimps (Stenopus hispidus). 
 
 Fresh-water Fish. 
 The Carp. 
 Gouramis. 
 
 Dstme Cere (gold fish). 
 Chit. 
 
 Camarons (big prawii). 
 ShHmps (Palaemon carcinus). 
 
 Cabots (small harmless black fish living in mud, and not edible).- 
 Fresh-water eels are plentiful. 
 
 FLORA. 
 
 * ' The principal remaining species of the aboriginal trees are 
 (according to Mr. Koenig, in McMillan's Mauritius lUustrafed) : 
 The Natte, Makak, Tambalacoque, Colophane, Tatamaka, Sandal, 
 Olive, Cannelle, Pomme, Puant, Benjoin, Ebony. 
 
 ' The lower species are : The Clou, Bigaignon, Sagaye, Ronde, 
 Manahe, Lousteau, Fer, Riviere, Canne, Balais, Cashew. 
 
 ' Trees introduced are : The Goyavier de Chine, Jamrosa (fruit 
 tree), Yatis (fruit tree), Logwood, Bois Noir, Bois d'Oiseaux, 
 Acacia, Badamier, Tamarind (fruit tree), MH9on> Thorny Fram- 
 boise, Marinne, Vieille Fille, Aloes (several species), Raquette or 
 Cactus (several species). Bamboo, Sugar-cane.' 
 
 Baker's Flora of Mauritius is the standard work (1877), with 
 later additions by Mr. Johnstone, Mr. Bewsher, and classificatioa 
 by Martelli and Lloyd. 
 
 * By permission. 
 
CONCHOLOGY. 275 
 
 Fruit tl-ees : Mango (in the summer season, November to 
 February, price is 50 cents to K.l per dozen), Jaraalaqiie, Guava, 
 Fruit de Cithere, Yavangue, Letcliis (40 cents in summer per 100), 
 Jamblon, Sweetsop or Atte (ripens in March), Bilimbi, Bullock's 
 He^rt (of same family as the Atte), Pomme Jacot, Longan, 
 Papaw, Avacado Pear, Jack, Loquat, Bananas (J to 1 cent. each). 
 Yarieties : Gingely, Naine, Mignonne ; Sinneroe, Malgache, Oilier 
 (often cooked) ; JPineapples (abundant) ; Lemons, Limes (fairly 
 abundant) ; Oranges, Peaches, and Yine Grape (rare) ; Straw- 
 berries and Raspberries (cultivated) ; the Carambol (wild) ; 
 Brend-fruit. 
 
 Bouton's Mauritius Medicinal Plants, re-edited by Daruty, 
 contains a list of over 100 species of medicinal plants. 
 
 There are several annuals and creepers whose leaves or roots 
 or tnbers are edible. Some of these annuals belong to the 
 Solanacese and Belladonaceas ; their leaves when cooked make a 
 dish like spinach. To mention but a few : The Brede (Martin, 
 Malabar). Others bear fruit, all of which must be cooked, like 
 the Brinzele, Patole, Pipengaye, Pumpkin, Calabash, Margoze, 
 Sweet Potato and Yam (tubers) ; Manioc and Arrowroot (roots). 
 
 Garlic, Onions, Carrots, Beetroot, Radish, Cabbage, Cauli- 
 flower, Artichoke, Chillies, and Monkey Nuts grow well in kitchen 
 gardens. 
 
 There is a most useful frail tree, the ' Mouroungue,' every part 
 of which is either edible or turned into good account : The 
 blossoms, tender leaves, and fruit when cooked, make a nice dish, 
 and the bark and roots pounded together are used as a rubefacient 
 poultice. 
 
 CONCHOLOGY. 
 
 * Mr. Wade West, in McMillan's Mauritius Illustrated, gives 
 the following list of shells to be found in Mauritius : — 
 Muricidge (thirty vai-ieties) : 
 
 M. Palma-rosae (the most beautiful). 
 
 M. Crossei (the rarest). 
 
 M. tenuispina (a delicate one). 
 Pleurostina (forty varieties). 
 Tritonida3 (eighty varieties) : 
 
 T. anus (Lam.). 
 
 T. clavater (Lam.) 
 Ramella (twenty varieties). 
 Purpurida3 (fifteen varieties) : 
 
 P. persica (most common). 
 
 * By permission. 
 
276 APPENDIX 
 
 ,,, Of the Coral Shells the commonest are : 
 
 Coralliophila. 
 
 Magillus. 
 
 Leptochonchiis. 
 
 Olives (great many varieties and some of them of great vakie). 
 
 Conns (more than one hundred varieties) : 
 
 C. Julii (the principal variety). 
 Cyprsea : 
 
 C. Mauritiana (the finest). 
 
 C. testudinaria (the i-arest). 
 
 C. Tigris (many varieties). 
 Mitra (two hundred varieties) : 
 
 M. papalis and M. epinopaUs (uncommon). 
 Harpa (seven varieties) : 
 
 H. imperialis (much prized). 
 
 H. ventricosa (much prized). 
 Cyclostome (numerous varieties) : 
 
 C. Michaudi (brown shell with a white lip), 
 
 C. Barclayanum (ditto with a red lip). 
 
 C. tricarinatum (a sub-fossil ; has three sharp bands en- 
 circling it). 
 
 Of Bivalves there are not many varieties. 
 
 Pectens (many varieties). 
 
 Nerita. ' , 
 
 Mussel and the Hache d'armes. 
 
 Land Shells. 
 
 Achatina or Couroupas (two varieties). 
 A Fulica (peculiar to Mauritius). 
 A Panthera (from Madagascar). 
 Another rare species (the ' Tourne-a-Gauche '). 
 Three river varieties (Melanees, Lyanees, and a pale green). 
 Pupae (twenty species). 
 Gibbus (four varieties). 
 Pagodus. 
 
 Lyonetianus (very rare). 
 Helices (forty species). 
 
 H. uversicolor (brown above, black below, wdth a rose-coloured 
 mouth). 
 
BIBLIOGEAt>HY. ^77 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY, 
 
 OB WORKS ON MAURITIUS. 
 
 Account of Mauritius and its Dependencies. By a late Official 
 
 Resident. 1842. 
 Account of Mauritius, Seychelles, etc. Martin's Colonial Statistics. 
 
 1839.. 
 Account of the'Ascent of Pieter Both. Taylor. 1833. 
 Account of the Petrological, Botanical, arid Zoological Collec- 
 tions made in Rodrigues, etc., during the ' Transit of Venus' 
 
 Expedition, 1874-1875. 
 A Discourse, Military, Political, aud Religious, delivered in 
 
 Mauritius. By Captain Gordon (Chaplain). 1819. 
 An Appeal in Arabic to the Mussulmans in Mauritius. By Rev. 
 
 Charles Blackbufn. 
 Annual Government Reports on Pimary Education in Mauritius, 
 
 1888-1906. By David J. Anderson, Superintendent of Schools. 
 Archives de I'lle de France : Journal Litteraire et Politique a 
 
 Maurice.' 1818-1819. 
 A System of Cane Cultivation. By Jackson. 1906. 
 Avenir d'une Colonic Sucriere. De Boucherville. 1886. 
 Biographic de Brown-Sequard. Par Dr. Laurent. 1898. 
 Brown- Sequard et son (Euvre. Arthus. 1898. 
 Chinese Immigiation to Mauiitius. De Coriolis. 1886. 
 Climate of Pamplemousses. By Claxton. 
 Colonial Memories. By Lady Browne. 1899. 
 Colonial Poems. By Mrs. Emma Anderson. 1866. 
 Colonial Reminiscences. By Jerningham. 1901. 
 Comptes rendus — Agriculture. Par Langlois. 1884. 
 Consultation of the Lawyers on the Legality of Order in CounciL 
 
 1832. 
 De Maurice et de ses Ressources. Meconnues. 1832. 
 Description of two new Species of Fishes from Mauritius. By 
 
 Dr. Gunther. 1887. 
 Descriptive Account of Mauritius, its Scenery, Statistics, etc. 
 
 By John Anderson. 1858. 
 Detention of Flinders in Mauritius. By Mault. 
 Digest of the Criminal Jurisprudence in Mauritius. By W. 
 
 Greene. 1884. 
 Eight Views of the Mauritius. By Captain A. Temple. 1811. 
 Etudes sur la Sterilitc dcs Parties basses de I'lle Maurice. Par 
 
 Langlois. 1879. - 
 
278 APPENDIX. 
 
 Etude sur le Patois Creole Mauricien. Par C. Baissac. 1 880. 
 Evolution of the Crown Colonies of Mauritius. By Sir Charles 
 
 Bruce. 1908. 
 Extinct Birds of the Mascarene Islands. British Association. 
 
 1866-1872. 
 Fauna and Flora of Round Island. By Sir Henry Barkly. 
 
 1870. 
 Final French Stru^s^2jles in India. With an Account of the Cap- 
 ture of Mauritius. By Malleson. 1884. 
 Future of our Sugar-producing Colonies. By AVilliams. 1896. 
 Oeogiaphy of Mauritius. By Decottes. 1906. 
 Gleuside. A Family Record. By John Anderson. 1879. 
 Gordon Pasha's Eden. By Murat. 1900. 
 Growth of Sugar-cane Seeds gathered in Mauritius. By Perronat. 
 
 1891. 
 Handbook on the Constitution, etc., of the Government in 
 
 Mauritius. By Rae. 1896. 
 Histoire du Protestantisme a I'lle Maurice et aux lies Masca- 
 
 regnes. Rev. James F. Anderson. 1903. 
 History of Mauritius, etc. Grant. 1801. 
 He de France Contemporaine. Par Ranville. 1908. 
 In Paul and Virginia Land. 1896. 
 Island of Paul and Virginia. By Smythe. 1899. 
 Jamaica and Mauritius. By Fortescue. 1891. 
 Journal of Five Months' Residence iu Mauritius. By a Bengal 
 
 Civilian. 1838. 
 La Guerre aux lies de France et Bourbon. Par Poyen. 1896. 
 Le Contre-coup de 1789 a I'lle de France. Par Ducray. 1883. 
 Le Drainage de Port Louis. Par Sir Y. Naz. 1895. 
 Le Nouveim Mauricien. 1881-1884. 
 Le Premier Etablissement des Hollandais a Maurice. Par Prince 
 
 Roland Bonaparte. 1890. 
 Le Theatre a Maurice. Par Moranger. 1897. 
 Letters from Mauritius. By (Grant). 
 Life of Phillibert Cameion. By Pasfield. 1909. 
 L'lle de France. Par Pitot. i7l5-1810. 
 L'lle Maurice depuis sa Conquete par I'Angleterre. Par Mervas. 
 
 1895. 
 L'Immigration Indienne. Par Sir Virgile Naz. 1891. 
 L'Industrie Laitiere a Maurice. Bonnin. 1898.. 
 Liste des Cochenilles de l'lle Maurice. Par Daruty et d'Emmerez. 
 
 1900. 
 Lois de Maurice sur le Notariat. Par Thibaud. 1893. 
 Madagascar, Mauritius, etc. Kelley. 1901. 
 Maurice and Seychelles. Lucas. 1888. 
 Maurice a Vol. de Oiseau. Magny. 1882. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 279 
 
 Maurice, He: Mahe de Labourdoiinais ; Documents Historiques. 
 
 1899. 
 Maurice ou File de France. 1820. 
 Mauritius and Bourbon. Muntagne. 1879. 
 Mauritius nnd its Dependencies : ' Her Majesty's (colonies.' 1886. 
 
 Ihid., by Pridham. 1846. Ibid., by Mill. 1899. 
 Mauritius and Madagascar. Ryan. 186-4. 
 Mauritius as it was before the Cyclone. 
 Mauritius. Blundell. 1851. 
 Mauritius. Bridge. 1906. 
 Mauritius, Island of. Petition addressed to the Governor 
 
 d'Entrecasteaux, etc. 1789. 
 Mauritius : its Commercial and Social Bearings. James Morris. 
 
 1862. 
 Mauritius. Jourdain. 1882. 
 Maui-itius, or the Isle of France. Flemyng. 1862. 
 Mauritius : Report of the Enquiry Commission, 1866-1867. 
 Mauritius, Seychelles, etc. Trendall. 1892. 
 Mauritius. Yon Jedina. 1877. 
 Mauritius. Williams. 1899. 
 -Memoire pour les Habitants de I'lle Maurice. Par un Colon. 
 
 1836. 
 Memoires Historiques sur Mahe de Labourdonnais. Par un Petit- 
 
 fils. 1827. 
 Memoir on the Dodo of Mauritius and the Solitaire of Rodrigues. 
 
 By Sir R. Owen. 1879. 
 Memorial by the Inhabitants of Mauritius. 1833. 
 Monographic de I'lle Maurice. Par James Morris. Translated 
 
 by Ulcoq. 1862. 
 Notes on the Flora of Round Island. By Colonel Pike. 1870. 
 Notice Historique, He Mauritius. 1824. 
 Notice Histoiiqne sur Ch. Telfair. Dejardins. 1836. 
 Notice Populaire sur la Fievre, etc. Par Dr. Leour. 1902. 
 Observations on the Isle of France. De Guignes. 1808. 
 Ocean Lines, Railways, and Highways of Mauritius. By Campbell. 
 Old Immigrants of Mauritius. 1871. 
 Papers relating to 'J'heodore Hook. 1822. 
 Paul et Yirginie. Par Bernardin St. Pierre. 
 Public Instruction in Crown Colonies. By Sir C. Bruce. 1908. 
 <^uelques Lettres sur I'lle Maurice. Par Sir Hubert Jerningham. 
 
 1896. 
 Recollections of Seven Years' Residence in Mauritius. By a 
 
 Lady. 1830. 
 Registration of Deeds in Mauritius. By Guibert. 1897. 
 Repoit on Afforestation, Drainage, and Harbour Improvements. 
 
 1900. 
 
230 . APPENDIX. : 
 
 Eepoi-t on the A^s^iicultural Resources of Mauritius. Home. 1886. 
 Report on the Civil Establishments of Mauritius. By Sir Penrose 
 
 Jul van. 1874. 
 Report on the Forests of Mauritius. By Gladow. 1904. 
 Report on the Inequalities of Mortality from Malarial Fever in 
 
 Mauritius. By Meldrum. 1881. 
 Report on the Prevention of Malaria in Mauritius. By Sir Ronald 
 
 Ross. 1908. 
 Rejwrt on the Storm of March, 1879. By Meldrum. 
 Reports on Port Louis Water Supply, Mare aux Vacoas, General 
 
 Sanitation of Mauritius, etc. By Chadwick. 1891. 
 Reminiscences. By Florent. 1906. 
 Renseignements pour servir a 1 Histoire de I'lle Maurice, etc. Par 
 
 Adrien d'Epinay. 
 Resources of Mauritius. Borwick. 1886. 
 Revue Coloniale. De Bruderville. 1871. 
 Revue Historique et Litteraire de Maurice. 1887-1894. 
 Richesse de Yesous et Cannes a I'lle Maurice. Par Ehrmann.. 
 
 1889. 
 Sejour a I'lle de France. 1803. 
 Seychelles Archipelago. By John Anderson. 1879. 
 Sir J. Pope Hennessy's Case and Position of Affairs in Mauritius. 
 
 By W. Newton. 1887. 
 Six Weeks' Hoh'day to Mauritius and Madagascar. By Captain 
 
 Q. R. 1883. 
 Souvenirs de Tile de France. Par De Froberville. 1874. 
 Stamp Laws of Mauritius. By Banning. 1899. 
 State of Slavery in Mauritius since 1810. Telfair. 1830. 
 Statistique de I'lle Maurice, etc. By D'Unieuville. 1856-1886. 
 Sub-tropical Rambles. By Colonel Pike. 1873. 
 Sugar Crisis in Mauritius. By Newton. 1885. 
 Sugar Industry of Mauritius. James F. Anderson. 1899. 
 Sunspots and Rainfall in Mauritius. By Meldrum. 1879. 
 System of Education in Mauiitius. By Chitty. 1905. 
 T'Eylandt Mauritius. By Pitot. 1905. 
 The Dodo in Mauritius. By Professor Newton. 
 The Gospels, translated into the Creole ' patois.' Rev. S. Honyman 
 
 Anderson. 1900. 
 The Great Hurricane in Mauritius. 1892. 
 The Journal of Mrs. Fenton. 1826-30. 
 Thev were Married ; or The Isle of Palmist (The Captains Cabin) ;. 
 
 My Little Girl. By Sir Walter Besaut. ) , 
 Thirty Years of Colonial Government. By Governor Bow^n. 1889. 
 Three Yoyages of a Naturalist, etc. By Nicoll. 1908. 
 Yallentin : Reisebilder nach Mauritius. 1899. 
 Yiews in Mauritius, etc. By Bradshaw. 1831. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 281 
 
 Voyage a File de France. Par Brunet. 1825. 
 
 Voyage aux Colonies Orientales. Par Auguste Billiard. 1817- 
 
 1820. 
 Voyage aux Colonies Orientales. Par Montalivet. 1822. 
 Voyage et Aventurcs de Frangois Leguat. 1708. 
 Voyage in the Indian Seas. By James Prior. 1810. 
 Voyage of Francis Leguat, 1708. By Captain Pasfield Oliver. 
 Voyage Pittoresque a I'lle de France, etc. Par M. J. Milbert. 1812. 
 Voyage to, and Travels through, the Four Principal Islands of 
 
 the African Seas, etc. By Bory de Saint Vincent, 1805. 
 Voyage to Mauritius, etc. 1838. 
 Voyage to the Island of Mauritius. By Bernardin de St. Pierre. 
 
 1775. 
 Voyage to the Isle of France. By M. de Guynes. 1796. 
 Voyage to the Mauritius, etc. By Author of ' Padiana.' 1851. 
 
ADDENDUM. 
 
 EEMINISCENCES. 
 
 There are many other families whose names should be inscribed 
 on the golden roll of Mauritian history, but want of space has 
 ■compelled me to mention but a very few ; nevertheless I ought to 
 add here two more names to my list. 
 
 Mr. Leoville L'Homme, the talented politician, journalist, 
 litterateur, and poet, many years ago, by his articles in the 
 press, greatly aided in bringing about the reforms which gave 
 a certain amount of local government to the Mauritians. But 
 it is as a litteiateur and poet that he excels. His description 
 •of country scenery classes hitn at once as a disciple of Bernardin 
 de St. Pierre ; the chapters from his pen in McMillan's Mauritius 
 Illusirated read like those of ^tude de la Nature, w^hilst his 
 poem, ' Soir Rustique ' places him as one of the most elegant 
 poets of the French language. When one remembers that the 
 author never left his Island shore, admiration passes into as- 
 tonishment and proclaims him a genius. Many of the French 
 Poets and Critics in Europe, afier having read his productions, 
 have lecorded in Reviews and Magazines their appreciation and 
 praise. Maurice Bouchoir, the French Poet, in the Parisian , 
 review, Le Passant, of October, 1887, writes as follows : ' I 
 admire a poet who, in a counti'y which no longer forms part 
 of our dominions, writes so finely in the French language, at a 
 distance of four thousand leagues from France'; and Prince T. de 
 Boufi'remont, also in a leview, sa\s, 'Mr. L'Homme's verse is at 
 once sonorous and powerful, full of grace and force, with something 
 luminous, which makes one think of the Tropical Katuie in the 
 midst of which the poet lives.' 
 
 The reader who has travelled in Mauritius, or the West Indies, 
 W'ill at once be transpoited in imagination to those beautiful 
 tropical inlands as he peruses the Ibllowing lines : 
 
 SoiB Rustique. 
 
 Les charettiers ont vu les premieres cabanes 
 Pres du chemin qui court le long des champs de Cannes : 
 Leurs fouets claquent plus Ibrt : mais c'est en vain : les boeufs 
 Sous le joug des grands chars lourds de feuillage et d'herbe, 
 C ardent la meme allure en leur dedain superbe, - 
 Le fanon blanc d'ecume et les sabots bourbeux. 
 
KEMINISCENCES. 283, 
 
 Le jour qui meurt sourit, la cloche de I'usine 
 Jette aux lointains I'appel de sa voix argentine, 
 Une rumeur s'accroifc du moulin vers le camp, 
 
 Puis s'appaise. Partout s'erale iiii frais silence ; 
 
 Efc la terre, deja prise de somnolence, 
 ^avoure enfin I'oubli du long soleil piquant. 
 
 Des Indiens tardifs, la pioche sur I'epaule, 
 
 ■Charges de rameaux sees, d'herbe, ou de quelque gaule, 
 
 Emergent du yallon pins ombreux qu'un ravin. 
 
 Nus, baigiies d'or, jonant an tour de leurs cahutes, 
 De beaux enf'ants rieurs aux syllabes de flutes 
 Font de I'humaiLe voix Iccho d'un chant divin. 
 
 Et d'autres labourenrs accourent dans les sentes, 
 Avec enx des chokras et des adolescentes, 
 
 La botte de lastron ou la faucille au bras. ; 
 
 Pour ar liver plustot ils ont pris par Jes Cannes 
 Oil le lievre blotti laisse leurs caravanes 
 
 S'eloigner, et longtemps ecoute encore leurs. pas. 
 
 Au camp, le foyer luit. Montant de la ravine, 
 Dans I'odeur du champac et de la balsamine, 
 
 Des femmes aux cils noirs d'nn eclair etoiles, 
 Le vase en cnivre au flanc, ou pose sui* la tete, 
 Profilent dans le ciel ambre la silhouette 
 
 D'un galbe pur, de seins pudiquement voiles. 
 
 Madrasses et Bombays, leuis cheveux pleins de moire 
 
 Snr la nuque d'or clair ou sur la nuque noire 
 
 Tout tordus en nfieuds lourds de jeune orgueil. Le poids 
 Du vase rempli d'eau laisse au cou droit et frele 
 L'harmonieux contour d'un fln bronze de stele 
 
 Ou rien ne pent froisser la caresse des doigts. 
 
 Elles vont pieds reveurs, plis touibants, une a une. 
 
 L'eclat si pur dont flambe I'air sur leur peau brune, 
 
 Semble un baiser d'amour du soleil expirant. 
 Tel un amant fnrtif, I'Esprit du soir vers elles 
 Se penche, et sons le flottement de ses ailes, 
 
 Eien que dans un soupir entre ses bras les prend. 
 
 L'une, avec ses longs yenx de sourire et d'extase, 
 
 A vu son jeune eponx pres du seuil de leur case : 
 
 II s'arrete, et joyeux la regarde venir. 
 
 Une autre, cils baii^ses, peut-etre en son silence 
 Compte les ans perdus dans la vaine esperance 
 
 D'entendre enfin I'appel qu'attendait son desir. 
 
284 ADDENDUM. 
 
 Efc toutes dardent loin la prunelle. Le veve 
 
 Graiidit la vision qui les hante sans treve. 
 
 Sur leur gorge s'endort le reflet du ciel roux 
 Dans nn enivrement d'haleirie chalenreuse, 
 Et rombre qui s'en vient deja, I'ombre amoureiise 
 
 Fait leur chagrin plus tendre ou leur espoir plus doux. 
 
 As I go to press I hear of the death of a distinguished Mauri- 
 tian clergyman of the Church of England. The Rev. Charles Black- 
 burn has just passed quietly awav in his seventy-third year, after a 
 long life oi usefulness in Seychelles, Paris, and Maurituis. He was 
 bora ill Mauritius of Franco-English parents on the Estate of 
 Chamarel, of which his father was the propi'ietor. He was trained 
 for the ministry by Bishops Ryan and Royston. Alter his ordina- 
 tion he was sent to superintend the Mission at Praslin, one of 
 the Seychelles Islands. After a few years spent at that work, he 
 came to Europe and studied at St. John's Theological College, 
 Islington, and at the Sorbonne, Paris. He w\ns ordained Deacon 
 in 1873 and Priest in 1878 ; and was appointed Curate to the 
 Embassy Church in Paris, later returning to Mauritius as a 
 Missionary of the C.M.S. Here he devoted much of his time in 
 mastering the different dialects of the Indian languages, in which 
 he preaclied fluently to the Indian congregations scattered over 
 the Island. He also learnt the Arabic and Chinese languages, 
 so as to reach the Arab and Chinese merchants, and published a 
 work in French on Mohammed and the Koran compared with 
 Christ and the Gospels, and an Appeal to Mohammedans in 
 Arabic. He also wrote a pamphlet in French on the Hebrew 
 words : Wishamah, I^onahh, and Nephesh. He was preparing a 
 Hebrew Grammar for beginners. Sir Charles Bruce, Sanscrit 
 Professor at King's College, London, used to say he knew no 
 better Arabic scholar in Alauritins. 
 
 But it was principally as a successful- Indian Missionai'y that 
 Mr. Blackburn will be remembered in Mauritius. His piety, 
 modesty, and kindness of heart endeared him to all those who had 
 the privilege of knowing him. He leaves a widow {7iee M. M. 
 Anderson, second daughter of John Anderson) and two sons, the 
 elder of whom. Rev. Eliel Anderson Blackburn, M.A., D.Th., is- 
 Yicar of Corbridge, Northumberland, and the younger. Lieutenant 
 Cyril Anderson Blackburn, M.C-, R.G.A., after fuur years at the 
 War in France, has been transferred to the garrison in Mauritius. 
 
 I cannot end these Reminiscences with a better sentiment than 
 that expressed in the following words by a visitor to Mauritius 
 nearly a hundred years ago^: 'In spite of some unfavourable 
 
 * From Journal of Five Manths^Eesideuce-in the Mauritius by a Bengal 
 Civilian. 1838. 
 
CYCLONE OF APRIL 29, 1892. 285 
 
 traits of a sejour in Mauritius, I should not cherish a very favour- 
 able opinion of that person, who had journeyed tlirough the 
 highways and byways of this charming island, and, sharing the 
 cordial welcome of the Creole planter, had sat at the board where 
 rosy wine and sparkling glances and musical accents, blended 
 their influences, who could hear, in after years, the " Mauritius *' 
 named without its conjuring up some sunny spot in the waste of 
 memory. For myself its mere name will be entertained with ^ 
 thousand scenes of vai'ious beauty ; rather assimilated in fancy to 
 glimpses of Eden or the fabled Hesperides, than aught existent 
 ^nd terrestrial ; nor will there be wanting living groups to impart 
 an added and undivided interest to these Elysian prospects, whose 
 ■eyes of brightness, whose voices of gladness, whose bland manners, 
 whose playful intelligence, whose amiable affections, whose sin- 
 cerity, rectitude, and benevolence might redeem their little Colon^ 
 from the tribute which Malarial Fever imposes upon every visitor 
 to her shores.' 
 
 Of course these last two or three lines have been added, for 
 Malarial Fever did not exist in Mauritius in 1838. 
 
 CYCLONE OF APRIL 29, 1892. 
 
 Reprinted from Blackwood's Magazine, September, 1892. 
 
 * On the 28th April, 1892, Mauritius, the old lie de France, 
 still vied with the Island of Ceylon for pride of place as the most 
 beautiful and the most fertile Colony of the British Crown in 
 the Eastern hemisphere. The cane crop had weathered the 
 summer gales, which on February 12th, and again a fortnight 
 after, had assumed very sinister aspects, and planters, who for 
 some years past had valiantly fought against low^ prices and 
 beetroot competition, were silently revelling in the prospect that 
 the hurricane season being over, the year 1892 was likely to 
 mark a new era of prosperity. The garden of Pamplemousses 
 which Mauritians were wont to consider, and with justice, the 
 third botanical garden in the world, was resplendent with tropical 
 vegetation ; while that of Reduit, which had been nursed with 
 love and pride by every successive Governor for upwards of a 
 hundred years, was looking its best in its luxuriant display of 
 palms and flowers and gorgeously coloured foliage. 
 
 'At 9 p.m. on the 29th, all this was no more ; the island had 
 
286 ADDENDUM. 
 
 lost its beauty, the cane its promise, the planter his hopes, and 
 the gardens their charms. A short twenty-four hours had 
 sufficed to perpetrate this end, and fortunate had it been could 
 the mischief have stopped there, for the soil's fertility cannot be- 
 aifected by a storm, and the soil of Mauritius is pre-eminently 
 fertile and recuperative : but 1100 people had been killed, 2000 
 had been wounded ; one-third of the capital had been levelled 
 to the ground ; thirty out of fifty churches and chapels had been 
 demolished or rendered useless ; sugar-mills had been wrecked, 
 crushing mercilessly men, women, and children who had sought 
 refuge under their solid walls ; every Indian hut had been blown 
 away, whole villages swept from the place where they stood,. 
 and some 50,000 homeless people were left to seek for shelter and 
 food, which a few hours before they were quietly enjoying, through 
 their own exertions and labour. 
 
 ' Nothing could withstand in places the terrible force of the- 
 wind on the fatal day of the 29th of April. It will be for 
 scientific men to explain how trees formerly planted more than 
 a century back, and of 8 and 12 feet diameter, were felled to the 
 ground ; how the iron-like teakwood branches were snapped and 
 cut and b-okpn as mere brushwood ; how girdles of iron 
 18 inches thick were indented and twisted so as to become 
 useless, as in the case of the great pulley-ladders of a sea- 
 dredger ; how, in fine, a column of stones, each weighing more 
 than a ton and fast riveted with iron girders and with cement 
 was thrown down like a pack of cards ; and it will be for 
 meteorologists to ex})lain how an island of 83 miles by 31 in 
 extent through which the centre of the cyclone is passing, can 
 escape at all fi-om a wind so violent as the above denotes. 
 
 ' In the tables of observations, the velocity of the wind is set 
 down at 120 miles at its maximum, w-hich corresponds to a 
 pressure of 67 lb. to the square foot. It does seeai as if this 
 pressuj-e, moved at double the rate of an express train, must render 
 house-habitation useless as a place of refuge in a storm : yet in my 
 inspection of the island I have seen a house destroyed, the walls- 
 surrounding its yard crushed to atoms, and a pigeon-house on 
 four miserable posts saved ! Why ? Everything was unexpected, 
 singular, and unpreceder.ted, in this calamitous stroke dealt by 
 nature with a viciousness that savoured of a woman's vengeance. 
 The barometer fell to the lowest reading on record — viz., 27*9 <)1 
 inches at 2.30 p.m. ; while it had stood at 29*060 at 6 a.m. on thc^ 
 morning of the storm, and got back to 29*719 at 9 p.m. after its. 
 passage ; and the record dates since the year 1759. 
 
 * The wind blew at N.E. by E. at the rate of 22 miles at 6 a.m. 
 • — viz., in a direction which has ever indicated that the dis- 
 turbance, when there is one — and there are many in each year — 
 
CYCLONE OF APRIL 29, 1892. 287 
 
 has passed to the southward of the island. At noon it was N*.G.. 
 by half E. at a rate which had increased to 68 miles an hour, which 
 showed that the storm was on ns, but its centre likely to 
 avoid the island ; and at one, being still in the same direction ; 
 the wind flew at a rate of 96 miies, indicating- hurricane fury.. 
 At 2 p.m., the barometer stiil falling, the wind lulled to 56 miles an 
 hour at the Observatory, where the centre did not pass, and to 
 two miles in the centre, a mere whisper of impending danger. 
 Those who realised the fact were able to save themselves. It is 
 greatly to be feared that the majority did not, and that the greater 
 part of the deaths which have been recorded, and the ruin that 
 was produced, is due to this fact ; for all of a sudden, at 4 p.m., 
 with a violence appreciable even to ears accustomed to the roar of 
 the first pare of the storm, the wind blew at a rate of 121 miles an 
 hour, and carried all before it. 
 
 ' Noble trees that had stood the first blast went down, and in a 
 short two hours upwards of 200,000 trees had been overthrown, 
 and all the rest bereft of their bark, their leaves, and their 
 branches, throughout the island. Such velocity had been 
 unknown. The storm had come from the N.E., and there are only 
 two instances of a cyclone having approached the island from that 
 quarter in January 1863, and in January 1869, when little 
 damage was done. Gales in Mauritius have been known in May 
 and even in June, notably in 1785, when the storm lasted twenty- 
 four hours, but no hurricane ; and though there have been three 
 hurricanes in April since 1773, none were later than the 10th of 
 that month, so that even as to date the hurricane of 1892 was- 
 exceptional, and will probably on these accounts modify many 
 accepted principles of the students of the laws of storms, unless,, 
 indeed, the new interest in the spots on the sun's disc can explain,, 
 by their number and their degree of magnitude, the exceptional 
 variations in aii-currents which revolve about the earth in its 
 whirlwind course around the sun. 
 
 ' From the above enough is gathered to understand that 
 the disturbance of 1892 was probably exceptional, and therefore 
 that it was excusable on the part of the meteorologists of the 
 island to telegraph on the evening of the 28th, in reply to an 
 anxious query of mine own, that the wind having reach N.E. by 
 E., and the barometer being higher than at the same hour on the 
 27th, there was nothing to be apprehended. 
 
 'Notwithstanding ihis consoling message it brought no com- 
 fort, and the sense of impending evil kept gnawing at my heart, 
 knowing and appreciating the dangers of even a full gale at a 
 time when the cane crop could but severely sufiTer from a violent- 
 shaking. 
 
 'At 8 a.m. on the 29th of April another anxious telegram 
 
288 ADDENDUM. 
 
 'bpought no response, and surmising that communications between 
 Le Reduit and the town and thence to the Observatory had been 
 interrupted, though not yet anticipating what was to come, it 
 became necessary to give up all intention of going to Port Louis 
 in order to secure this old residence of the Governors of Mauritius, 
 w^hich an Enghsh Governor once called a barn between two ditches, 
 in total disrespect of its natural beauties. 
 
 ' But as these had to fight nature as best they could, the barn 
 with its 240 doors, windows, and shutters had to be preserved, 
 and the work of closing ports to the N. and E. commenced at 
 8.30 a.m. 
 
 'Towards 10 a.m. broken branches were flying in the air like 
 dust, and the merciless blasts, whenever they came, like guns 
 pointed at the target they were to hit, remorselessly levelled the 
 tallest and proudest trees. 
 
 'At eleven the summer benches, which on the verandahs 
 around the house had been i-apidly secured against any ordinary 
 storm, became the toys of furious gusts, and were lifted in the air 
 and dashed to pieces some sixteen yards away over a hedge of 
 rose-trees on the gravel path beyond. 
 
 ' Till then, between the gusts there had ever been those silent 
 moments, more terrible than the gusts themselves, which 
 characterise a cyclonic storm, as if the wind gathered its 
 Strength in earnest to strike each blow more deadly than the 
 last, but at noon the intervals of quiet were filled in by a roar and 
 a seething noise, such as the sea alone produces when lashed 
 to fury, and an ominous thud, but of scarcely preceptible sound, 
 announced that a portion of the roof had been carried away. All 
 •eff'orts then were directed inside, and the lights were lighted, while 
 the remaining hurricatie shutters were being closed to the south 
 and the west. The clanking of doors that would not close or were 
 burst open, the hissing of the tempest through every chink ; the 
 cracking of glass panes and crashing of glass upon the floor, and 
 the sea of waters that flooded the rooms beneath the loof-shorn 
 wing of the house; the still falling, falling barometer, and the 
 booming of the blast against the building, as if enraged as its 
 withstanding any pressure at all — constitute a recollection not to 
 be forgotten by the two occupants of Le Reduit and their three 
 ■servants on that day. 
 
 'Suddenly the roar ceased, the hissing sank to a whisper, a 
 •calm succeeded the storm, and a haze like a November fog filled 
 the air. Cautiously a door was opened, we issued with difficulty 
 into the oj^en, looked round, and one exclaimed, "This is the 
 ■centre ! " and the other, " Mind what follows ! " 
 
 ' At four, as the last hurricane shutter Avas with difficulty 
 liailed and secured, a boom like that of a ball from a 100-ton 
 
CYCLONE OF APRIL 29, 1892. * 289 
 
 gun resounded, and we knew that the battle raged anew though 
 the centre had passed. Should we pass with it ? Could the house 
 resist this tremendous force ? What should our next step be ? 
 Already two-thirds of the big barn was hors de combaU and our 
 only refuge was the ball-room, which was still intact. For an 
 hour the noise was stupendous, deafening, sickening, but the 
 glass was going up ; and our lives were still what they are 
 worth. Would it be the same elsewhere in the island ? The 
 course of the hurricane must have saved some parts of it, probably 
 Port Louis, which lay some 1000 feet below, behind the signal- 
 mountain and the " Pouce," which hides it from this elevation. 
 Let us hope. Presently the great guns in the horrible fight ceased 
 their roar, and we were proof against the arms of smaller calibre. 
 They, too, were silenced soon, and at 8 p.m. done mentally and 
 physically, we sat down for the first time that day " by Babylon's 
 waters," to weep or to sleep, but to wake at daybreak with expecta- 
 tions of the worst. 
 
 'Never did a more glorious day shine upon Mauritius than 
 on the morrow of the 29th of April. It was awe-striking ; it was 
 magnificent ; it was horrible. Winter, cold snowy winter, from 
 the northern hemisphere, had come upon the tropics, upon this 
 emerald sunny isle. Forests had been fighting, and were white 
 with peeled-off bark ; stumps of trees, mere broomsticks, were 
 everywhere lording over fallen giants ; the alleys, avenues, and 
 roads were littered with rubbish and broken branches ; gaping 
 wounds in the house where a rivet had proved untrue and allowed 
 the onslaught of the wind upon the roof. With difficulty could 
 way be made to the camps, and servants' houses and stables. 
 Everywhere the roofs had been similarily lifted bodily, tiles and 
 all, and deposited yards away, upon the prongs of what had been 
 trees once. 
 
 'No means of riding or driving, yet to town one must. Was 
 the town safe ? Three hours' journey there on foot the greater 
 part of the way revealed everywhere the same horrible spectacle 
 of devastation ; but it increased in horror as it was proceeded with, 
 with an inward fever haste to know the worst and be about doing 
 after the forced inaction of black Friday last. The cane-fields 
 that on the Thursday had looked so fine, so promising of wealth, 
 and so consoling, lay flat upon the soil where they had not been 
 broken in two, and their gone leaves revealed how full of sugar 
 were the sticks. Would it be lost for the time of cutting ? The 
 canes looked like so many bodies shorn of their clothing and 
 lying dead in life. 
 
 'Presently Rose Hill came in view, houses down, crushed, 
 fallen, ruined. Where there human beings beneath ? Yes ; a 
 report came that at the mill of Bassin a hundred people were 
 
 U 
 
290 ADDENDUM. 
 
 buried under its wrecked remains. Impossible ! Onwards to 
 town. Railway gauges obstructed by fallen carriages ; general 
 manager working like a navvy to hurry the clearance of the line. 
 When would it be cleared ? Impossible to tell ; it was being 
 scoured by an engine, but the line was littered with fallen trees and 
 telegraph posts : he could not say. Again on : right and left wide 
 gaping houses ; roofs sunk through the floor, destroying at one 
 fell swoop furniture, clothing, the resources of a whole family, if 
 not the family itself ; tenements shorn of a whole side ; vei'andahs 
 on the roofs, and roofs in neighbouring gardens ; not a single 
 Indian hut to be seen — all blown away — but an Indian woman at 
 work seeking out a piece of linen out of the soaked rubbish and 
 drying it in the cold sun, for the little mites by her side in the 
 open field. Is this the case throughout ? What about the food, 
 and the shops, and the rice-magazines ? 
 
 ^ Further onwards : a church down literally smashed to match- 
 wood ; benches crushed and altar gone, only a plaster statue 
 stands up in the ruins ; no one about. Is everybody dead ? At 
 last ! the outskirt of Port Louis : nothing much in the out- 
 lying w^estern suburb ; but the noise increases. What is it ? It 
 sounds like a demoniac medley of wrangling, and moaning, and 
 screaming, but it is pleasant in its dolefulness ; it is human ; it is 
 a group of people imploring an Indian policeman to hurry and 
 save a whole family of ten who are under a crumbled house. He 
 hurries at a word, and as the western part of the town is reached 
 the town of the dead is i-eached ; long convoys of litters wherein 
 mangled bodies and the dving, the livins^ who are wounded, and 
 orphans who w^ere not orphans yesterday, are being carried to the 
 hospitals. But the Civil Hospital cannot contain them all ? No, 
 but the Protestant Cathedral of St. James has been converted 
 into a hospital since last night, and there too they are being con- 
 veyed. What has happened ? Wind, flood, and fire, four 
 hundred dead, as many wounded, more under the ruins. How^ 
 fire ? It broke out during the last hour of the storm and slowly 
 made its w^ay through the whole of a quarter, burning and 
 destroying property and life : women burnt beside a dead corpse 
 of relatives they would not leave, preferring to be charred than 
 desert their own ; others stunned, paralysed by fear, and riveted 
 to their burning homes. Still onward, to the Municipality, a 
 refuge for hundreds of wounded, houseless, dazed, and horror- 
 stricken people, whom a legion of doctors, attendants, and chari- 
 table souls are powerless to succour in the measure of their wants. 
 Farther to the great thoroughfares ; but where are they ? Whole 
 houses litter the roads, houses bodily removed and deposited with 
 one loud crash on the streets, in front and over which are now 
 travelling the little army of gallant soldiers in fatigue-party 
 
CYCLONE OF APRIL 29, 1892. 291 
 
 detachments, bringing to their distressing task of recovering 
 bodies all the gentleness of woman with the rough energy of men 
 of will and purpose. 
 
 ' The air is foul with human decomposition. The streets 
 resound with moans and half-whispered tones. A black pall 
 hangs over the city. Government House has escaped the fury 
 of the storm, but is invaded by a crowd of inquirerS. How are 
 the bodies to be buried ? How are the people to be fed ? How 
 are we to escape famine or pestilence, or both ? Almost all in 
 authority are away. How so ? Unable to go to their homes on the 
 previous night, they slept as best they could, in the train which 
 was to start at 1 p.m. on Friday, and could only be despatched at 
 7 a.m. this morning on a portion of its course. Nearly 600 
 people were at the station during the storm, the most noted and 
 important persons of the colony, planters, merchants, men of 
 business, clamouring to get away, anxions about their people and 
 their possessions, and preserved from death by the iron will of the 
 manager of railways. Onward again to the principal hospital. 
 It is crowded, besieged, and presents a ghastly sight of old and 
 young, men and women and children, the victims of a relentless 
 storm that drove into their sides and bodies the very walls and 
 stones and rafters on which they relied for protection ; it is a 
 charnel-house, where admittance is asked in order to die, and 
 where human charity, greater even than the disaster, is almost 
 powerless in its efforts to save life. 
 
 ' Farther, and the docks have ttu'ned into ambulances and 
 sheltering houses, where further marks of devotion, heroism, and 
 suffering come to the fore. 
 
 ' How is this gigantic misery to be ever relieved ? How can 
 so much harm have come in such short few hours ? It is heart- 
 rending, desperate. 
 
 ' In the harbour tall ships right and left silently ask pity and 
 help in their stranded condition. Others have been jammed 
 together in a frightful fraternal embrace which has pierced their 
 sides. Even the ponderous ladders of the sea-dredger have been 
 twisted and curved as if their weight of iron was of no account 
 to the destroying wind. 
 
 ' Is nothing saved ? The streets near the harbour are littered 
 with clumsy, heavy lighters full of damaged rice, which the sea 
 would hot swallow, but carried into the town upon the rising 
 surf. The Arab quarter seems safe. It is the granary of the 
 island, and one shudders at the thought of famine, which must 
 have followed upon its destruction. It is safe, and hope rises as 
 the Mussulman merchants, grateful to Allah in this hour of 
 distress, assure their Christian brother man that the price of rice 
 will not be raised, 
 
292 ADDENDUM. 
 
 ' Back to the western portion of the town, on to the Royal 
 College. Foundered, crushed, ruined ; no one dead, and yet how 
 near his end was its sole occupant at the time of its collapse ! 
 Walls swaying to and fro, columns jerking out of their foundation : 
 mad with fear and powerless, the wind that blew the building 
 down enabled him to save himself through the very opening it 
 had rammeS. On again to the Convent of Bon Secours, a mass 
 of rubbish, where heroic deeds were done last night. Children 
 and nuns and old invalids were the buried inmates. The storm 
 spared neither ; but at the call for help the young scions of old 
 Mauritian stock, who with their elders were waiting at the railway 
 station for the signal to leave the town, rushed to the spot and 
 worked all night to rescue the dead ; but they could not give life 
 to the eleven children and the one poor nun who were killed, 
 pulverised under the heap of stones. 
 
 ' Enough for the day. If thus in town, what will it be in the 
 districts ? They must be visited, for when the heart is full of 
 sorrow even the realisation of the worst dispels the apprehension 
 of a greater evil, and the means must be at once devised how 
 to help this generous and kindly people in their great hour of 
 distress. 
 
 ' The dead must be decently buried, the wounded properly 
 attended ; the people must be fed, clothed, housed, and Govern- 
 ment must not stint its help at this time, for this is an industrious 
 people and a trustful one ; the possessors of a soil so rich, 
 so recuperative that nature will return to it with interest what it 
 has taken, and at no distant time ; a people indeed who have 
 weathered many storms and many reverses, and who may still 
 live to find that He who ruled this frightful visitation will turn it 
 in all likelihood into a merciful dispensation. 
 
 ' Till then help is necessary ; they must be helped, and they 
 shall. 
 
 * Hubert E. H. Jeeningham, 
 
 Lieutenant-Governor.^ 
 
GOVERNORS OF MAURITIUS UNDER THE BUTCH 
 AND FRENCH. 
 
 First landing of Dutch in Mauritius under the orders of 
 
 Admiral Wybrandt Van Warwyck ... ... ... 20 September 1598 
 
 Sailing of the Squadron of Wybrandt Van Warwyck ... 2 October 1598 
 
 Landing of the Squadron of Hermansen at Morne Brabant... 28 September 1601 
 Meeting of Admirals Matelief de Jonge and Van der Hagen 
 
 at Port North West ... ... ... ... 1 January 1606 
 
 Wreck of ' Pieter Both ' of Amersfort ... ... ... February 1615 
 
 First Settlement of the Dutch in Mauritius. 
 
 List of Goveenors and Commanders. 
 
 Cornelius Simonsz Gooyer ... ... ... 
 
 Adrian Van der Stel 
 
 Jacob Van der Meersch 
 
 Keinier Por (Died on 7 January, 1653) 
 
 Maximiliaan de Jongh J . , . 
 
 Joost Van der Woutbeek I ^^^^^^ 
 
 Maximiliaan de Jongh .. . 
 
 Abraham Evertsz 
 
 First abandonment of the Island by the Dutch 
 
 Second Settlement. 
 
 Jacobus Nieuwland 
 
 Dirk Jansz Smient 
 
 George Frederick Wreeden (Died on 29 February, 1672) 
 
 Peter Wabrandt (Acting) 
 
 Swen Felleson (Acting) elected by the inhabitants 
 
 Philip Col (Acting) 
 
 Hubert Hugo (titular) ... 
 
 Issac Johannes Lamotius (suspended 22 October, 1692) 
 
 Eoelof Deodati 
 
 Abraham Member Van de Velde 
 
 Final abandonment of the Island by the Dutch ... 
 
 For the French East India Company. 
 
 M. Duronguet le Toullec, Major, nomm^ par le gouverneur 
 
 de Bourbon M. Beauvollier de Courchant en attendant 
 
 le titulaire, le Chevalier de Nyon 
 Le Chevalier de Nyon, Colonel d'Infanterie, Chevalier de 
 
 St. Louis... 
 M. de Brousse, Lieutenant du Roi (par interim) ... 
 M. Benoit Dumas, Directeur general du Commerce des deux 
 
 lies 
 
 M. de Maupin, Commandant de I'lle de France 
 
 M. de St. Martin, Directeur general du Commerce a I'lle de 
 
 France (p. i.) 
 
 7 May 
 
 1638 
 
 8 October 
 
 1639 
 
 20 May 
 
 1645 
 
 11 April 
 
 1648 
 
 7 January 
 
 1653 
 
 
 1654 
 
 August 
 
 1656 
 
 16 July 
 
 1658 
 
 27 July 
 
 1664 
 
 
 1664 
 
 31 December 
 
 1669 
 
 29 February 
 
 1672 
 
 5 March 
 
 1672 
 
 8 July 
 
 1672 
 
 13 February 
 
 1673 
 
 4 October 
 
 1677 
 
 22 October 
 
 1692 
 
 25 September 
 
 1703 
 
 17 February 
 
 1710 
 
 1 Decembre 
 
 1721 
 
 Janvier 
 Decembre 
 
 1722 
 1725 
 
 19 Aout 
 31 Aoiit 
 
 1727 
 1729 
 
 20 Octobre 
 
 1734 
 
294 
 
 ADDENDUM. 
 
 M. Mahe de Labourdonnais, Chevalier de St. Louis, Gouver- 
 
 neur general des lies de France et de Bourbon 
 M. Didier de St. Martin (par interim) 
 M. Mahe de Labourdonnais 
 M. Didier de St. Martin (par interim) 
 M. Barthelemy David, Gouverneur general des lies de France 
 
 et de Bourbon 
 M. de Lozier Bouvet, Chef d'Escadre, Chevalier de St. Louis, 
 
 Gouverneur General 
 M. Eene Magon de la Villebague, Gouverneur des lies de 
 
 France et de Bourbon 
 M. Desforges Boucher, Commandear de I'Ordre du Christ du 
 
 Portugal, Chevalier de St. Louis 
 
 For the King of Fbance. 
 
 M. Desforges Boucher ... ... ... 27 Juin 1767 
 
 M. Jean Daniel Dumas, Colonel, Gouverneur General des lies 
 
 de France et Bourbon 
 M. de Steinauer, Brigadier General (par interim) ... 
 Le Chevalier des Eoches, Chef d'Escadre, Gouverneur General 
 
 des lies de France et de Bourbon 
 Le Chevalier d'Arzac de Ternay, Chef d'Escadre, Chevalier 
 
 de St. Jean de Jerusalem, Chevalier de St. Louis 
 Le Chevalier Guiran de la Brillanne, Chef d'Escadre, Com- 
 mandant General des deux lies 
 Le Vicomte de Souillac, Capitaine de Vaisseau, Chevalier de 
 
 St. Louis (par interim) 
 Le Vicomte de Souillac, Gouverneur General 
 Le Vicomte de Souillac, Gouverneur General des Etablisse- 
 
 ments Fran^ais a I'Est du Cap de Bonne Esperance ... 
 Le Chevalier de Fresne, Colonel du Regiment de Bourbon 
 
 (par interim) 
 Le Chevalier de Fleury TeyssMre, Colonel du Regiment de 
 
 Pondichery (par interim) ... 
 Le Vicomte de Souillac, Gouverneur General, Chef d'Escadre 
 Le Chevalier Bruny d'Entrecasteaux, Capitaine de Vaisseau, 
 
 Gouverneur des lies de France et de Bourbon... 
 
 5 Juin 
 Fevrier 
 14 Aout 
 24 Mars 
 
 8 Octobre 
 
 10 Fevrier 
 
 3 Janvier 
 
 8 Novembre 
 
 a 13 Juillet 
 
 14 Juillet 
 
 27 Novembre 
 
 6 Juin 
 24 Aout 
 
 2 Decembre 
 
 3 Mai 
 
 4 Juillet 
 
 15 Fevrier 
 
 5 Avril 
 
 28 Juin 
 9 Novembre 
 
 The Republic. 
 
 Le Comte de Conway, Lieutenant General, Commandant 
 General des lies de France et de Bourbon 
 
 Le Chevalier de Chermont, Colonel du Regiment de I'lle de 
 France (par interim) 
 
 M. David Charpentier de Cossigny, Marechal de Camp (par 
 interim), Gouverneur General des Etablissements 
 Franpais a I'Est du Cap de Bonne Esperance... 
 
 Le Comte de Malartic, Lieutenant General, Chevalier de St. 
 Louis et de Cincinnatus, Gouverneur General des 
 Etabhssements Fran9ais a I'Est du Cap de Bonne 
 Esperance 
 
 Le Comte de Magallon de la Morli^re, General de Division 
 (par interim) 
 
 The Empire. 
 
 Le Comte Decaen, General de Division, Grand Officier de la 
 Legion d'honneur, Capitaine G^n^ral des Etablissements 
 Fran^ais h I'Est du Cap de Bonne Esperance ... 
 
 1735 
 1740 
 1741 
 1746 
 
 1746 
 
 1753 
 
 1756 
 
 1759 
 
 1767 
 
 1767 
 
 1768 
 
 1769 
 1772 
 1776 
 
 1779 
 
 1781 
 
 1785 
 
 1785 
 
 1785 
 1785 
 
 5 Novembre 1787 
 
 14 Novembre 
 29 Juillet 
 
 26 Aout 
 
 17 Juin 
 29 Juillet 
 
 1789 
 1790 
 
 1790 
 
 1792 
 1800 
 
 26 Septembre 1803 
 
GOVERNORS OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 295 
 
 Intend ANTS. 
 
 M. Poivre 
 
 M. Maillard du Mesle ... 
 
 M. de Foucault 
 
 M. Chevreau ... 
 
 M. Motais de Narbonne 
 
 M. Dupuy 
 
 M. Thibaud de Chauvallon 
 
 M. Leger, Prefet Colonial 
 
 17 Juillet 
 
 1767 
 
 22 Aoiit 
 
 1772 
 
 17 Novembre 
 
 1777 
 
 4 Juillet 
 
 1781 
 
 12 Octobre 
 
 1785 
 
 17 Aout 
 
 1789 
 
 6 Novembre 
 
 1798 
 
 26 Septembre 
 
 1806 
 
 GOYERNOIIS OF MAURITIUS UNDER THE BRITISH 
 ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 K. T. Farquhar 
 
 Major-Gencral H. Warde — acting ... 
 K. T. Farquhar 
 Major-General J. Gage Hall 
 Colonel Dalrymple 
 
 Major-General R. Darling — icting 
 Sir R. T. Farquhar, Bart. 
 
 Major-General Sir R. Darling — acting 
 Hon. Sir Lowry Cole ... 
 Hon, Sir Charles Colville, k.cb. 
 Major-General Sir W. Nicolay, c.b. 
 
 Colonel J. Power, e.a. — acting 
 Sir Lionel Smith, Bart., K.CB. ... 
 
 Colonel W. Stavely— acting 
 Lieut. -Colonel Sir W. Maynand Gomm, k.cb. 
 
 Lieut. -Colonel T. Blanchard — acting 
 
 Lleut.-Colonel H. L. Sweeting— ac^tw^r 
 Sir George William Anderson, c b, 
 
 Major-General W. Sutherland — acting 
 James Macaujay Higgin son, C.B. 
 
 Major-General W. Sutherland— acfm^f 
 
 Major-General CM. Hay — acting,.. 
 Sir J. M. Higginson, k.cb. 
 
 Major-General C. M. Hay — acting... 
 Sir William Stevenson, k.cb. ... 
 
 Major-General M. C, Johnson — aciiw^ 
 Sir Henry Barkly, k.cb. 
 
 Major-General E. S. Smyth — acting 
 Hon. Sir Arthur Hamilton Gordon, c.m.g. 
 
 Major-General E. S. Bmjih— acting 
 Hon. Sir Arthur Hamilton Gordon, k. c.m.g. 
 
 Edward Newton, CM. o.—ac/.mr; ... 
 Hon. Sir Arthur Hamilton Gordon, k. c.m.g. 
 
 Edward Newton, C.M.G — acting ... 
 Hon. Sir Arthur Hamilton Gordon, k. c.m.g. 
 
 Edward Newton, C.M.G. — acting ... 
 Lieut. -Colonel Sir Arthur Purves Phayre, k. c.m.g., k.c.s 
 
 C.B. 
 
 F. Napier Broome, Esq. — acting ... 
 Sir John Ferguson Bowen, K. C.M.G. 
 F. Napier Broome, Esq., cm.g., Lieut. -Governor ... 
 
 C. Bruce, Esq., c.m.g. — acting 
 
 3 December 
 
 1810 
 
 9 April 
 
 1811 
 
 12 July 
 
 1811 
 
 19 November 
 
 1817 
 
 10 December 
 
 1818 
 
 6 February 
 
 1819 
 
 6 July 
 
 1820 
 
 20 May 
 
 1823 
 
 12 June 
 
 1823 
 
 17 June 
 
 1828 
 
 31 January 
 
 1833 
 
 20 February 
 
 1840 
 
 16 July 
 
 1840 
 
 3 January 
 
 1842 
 
 21 November 
 
 1842 
 
 5 May 
 
 1849 
 
 21 May 
 
 1849 
 
 8 June 
 
 1849 
 
 19 October 
 
 1850 
 
 8 January 
 
 1851 
 
 14 April 
 
 1854 
 
 18 January 
 
 1855 
 
 12 June 
 
 1855 
 
 11 September 
 
 1857 
 
 21 September 
 
 1857 
 
 10 January 
 
 1863 
 
 22 August 
 
 1863 
 
 4 June 
 
 1870 
 
 21 February 
 
 1871 
 
 19 August 
 
 1871 
 
 29 September 
 
 1871 
 
 21 October 
 
 1872 
 
 28 October 
 
 1872 
 
 20 January 
 
 1873 
 
 20 October 
 
 1873 
 
 30 September 
 
 1874 
 
 21 November 
 
 1874 
 
 31 December 
 
 1878 
 
 4 April 
 
 1879 
 
 9 December 
 
 1880 
 
 5 May 
 
 1883 
 
296 
 
 ADDENDUM. 
 
 Sir John Pope Hennessy, k.c.m.g. 
 
 H. N. D. Beyts, cm.o.— acting ... 
 Sir John Pope Hennessy, k.c.m.g. 
 
 H. N. D. Beyts, c.m.g. — acting 
 Sir Hercules Kobinson, p. c, K.C.M.G. 
 
 Major-General W. H. Hawley — acting 
 
 Francis Fleming, Esq., c.m.g. — acting 
 Sir John Pope Hennessy, k.c.m.g. 
 
 Colonel Thomas Erskine Arthur Hall — acting 
 Sir Charles Cameron Lees, k.c.m.g. 
 
 Hubert E. H. Jerningham — acting 
 Sir Hubert E. H. Jerningham, k.c.m.g. ... 
 
 Charles Anthony King-Harman, c.m.g. — acting 
 Sir Hubett E. H. Jerningham, k.c.m.g. ... 
 
 Charles Anthony King-Harman, c.m.g. — acting 
 Sir Hubert E. H. Jerningham, k.c.m.g. ... 
 
 Charles Anthony King-Harman, c.m.g. — acting 
 Sir Charles Bruce, K.C.M.G. 
 
 Sir Graham John Bower, k.c.m.g.— acting ... 
 Sir Charles Bruce, K.C.M.G. 
 
 Sir Graham John Bower, k.c.m.g. — acting ... 
 Sir Cavendish Boyle, k.c.m.g. ... 
 
 Sir Graham John Bower, k.c.m.g. — acting ... 
 Sir Cavendish Boyle, K.C.M.G. ... 
 
 Sir Graham John Bower, k.c.m.g. — acting ... 
 Sir Cavendish Boyle, K.c M.G. ... 
 
 George Smith, c.m.g. — acting 
 Major John Eobert Chancellor, b.e., c.m.g., d.s.o. 
 
 John Middleton — acting ... 
 Sir Major John Kobert Chancellor, r.e., k.c.m.g., d.8;o. 
 Sir Henry Goudou Hesketh Bell, k.c.m.g. 
 
 1 June 
 
 1883 
 
 24 September 
 
 1884 
 
 15 October 
 
 1884 
 
 30 September 
 
 1886 
 
 15 December 
 
 1886 
 
 18 December 
 
 1886 
 
 2 July 
 
 1887 
 
 '22 December 
 
 1888 
 
 17 December 
 
 1889 
 
 21 December 
 
 1889 
 
 12 March 
 
 1892 
 
 21 June 
 
 1893 
 
 17 January 
 
 1894 
 
 24 July 
 
 1894 
 
 2 March 
 
 1896 
 
 19 September 
 
 1896 
 
 15 January 
 
 1897 
 
 11 May 
 
 1897 
 
 12 July 
 
 1900 
 
 11 May 
 
 1901 
 
 10 November 
 
 1903 
 
 20 August 
 
 1904 
 
 14 April 
 
 1906 
 
 14 September 
 
 1906 
 
 17 October 
 
 1908 
 
 23 April 
 
 1909 
 
 10 April 
 
 1911 
 
 13 November 
 
 1911 
 
 10 March 
 
 1914 
 
 22 September 
 
 1914 
 
 February 
 
 1915 
 
 * Commission suspended by Sir Hercules H. R. Robinson on 14 December, 1886. Reinstated 
 by Sir H. T. Holland, Secretary of State, on 12 July, 1887, and arrived in Mauritius on 
 22 December, 1888. 
 
LAUEEATES OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE FEOM 
 
 1818 TO 1914. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Names. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 1818 
 
 Bigot, A. 
 Faduilhe, Felix 
 
 
 1821 
 
 Barrister-at-Law, Procureur du Roi. 
 
 1822 
 
 Dupont, E. 
 
 Barrister-at-Law. 
 
 1823 
 
 Geffroy, H. 
 
 Barrister-at-Law. 
 
 1839 
 
 Soubrie, Joseph 
 
 
 1840 
 
 Koenig, Alfred 
 
 Barrister-at-Law. 
 
 1841 
 
 Garreau, V. 
 
 Barrister-at-Law and District Magistrate. 
 
 1842 
 
 Fressanges, H. F. 
 
 Doctor in Medicine. 
 
 1843 
 
 Meistre, A, 
 Longueville, A. 
 D'Emmerez de Charmoy, 
 
 Notary Public. 
 
 1844 
 
 Barrister-at-Law, was Registrar Supreme 
 
 
 P. F. 0. 
 
 Court. 
 
 1845 
 
 Colin, Jules 
 
 do. was Procureur General. 
 
 1846 
 
 Barbeau, A. 
 
 Doctor in Medicine. 
 
 1847 
 
 Tourrette, C. 
 
 do. 
 
 " 
 
 Dick, Charles 
 
 Joined the Army — Director of Prisons, 
 England. 
 
 1848 
 
 Dupuy, A. 
 
 Barrister-at-Law, 
 
 1849 
 
 Bardet, T. 
 
 Roman Catholic Priest. 
 
 1850 
 
 Leclezio, Eugene (Sir) 
 
 Barrister-at-Law, was Chief Judge of 
 Mauritius. 
 
 >> 
 
 Beaugeard, On^sipho 
 
 Doctor in Medicine. 
 
 1851 
 
 Alias, Leonce 
 
 do. 
 
 1852 
 
 Brunet, Fulcher 
 
 Barrister-at-Law. 
 
 1853 
 
 Rouillard, John 
 
 do. was Judge Supreme Court. 
 
 1854 
 
 Barraut, A. Rodrigues 
 
 Doctor in Medicine. 
 
 »» 
 
 Roger, Henry P. 
 
 do. 
 
 1855 
 
 Beaugeard, Horace 
 
 do. 
 
 1855 
 
 Mayer, George 
 
 Barrister-at-Law, was District Magistrate. 
 
 1856 
 
 Pellereau, Etienne (Sir) ... 
 
 do. was Procureur General. 
 
 »> 
 
 Laconfourque, N. 
 
 do. 
 
 1857 
 
 Cox, George 
 
 Doctor in Medicine. 
 
 M 
 
 Coignet, Charles 
 
 do. 
 
 1858 
 
 Leclezio, Henri (Sir) 
 
 Did not avail himself of the privilege — Is 
 Member for Moka. 
 
 ,^ 
 
 Rogers, William 
 
 Doctor in Medicine. 
 
 1859 
 
 Guibert, George 
 
 Barrister-at-Law. 
 
 1860 
 
 Didier, St. Amand 
 
 do. was Judge Supreme Court. 
 
 II 
 
 Chastellier, Evenor 
 
 Doctor in Medicine, was Director in Med. 
 and Health Dept. 
 
 1) 
 
 Newton, William (Sir) ... 
 
 Barrister-at-Law. 
 
 1861 
 
 Trouche, William 
 
 do. 
 
 11 
 
 Dick, George Royer 
 
 do. was Auditor General. 
 
298 
 
 ADDENDUM 
 
 Year. 
 
 Names. , 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 1861 
 
 Jenkins, T. L. 
 
 Barrister-at-Law. 
 
 1862 
 
 Co., Lionel (Sir) 
 
 do. is Chief Judge Straits 
 Settlements. 
 
 ,, 
 
 Legrand, Louis 
 
 Did not return to Mauritius. 
 
 1863 
 
 Galea, Henri 
 
 Barrister-at-Law. 
 
 ?> 
 
 Forder, Joshua 
 
 Doctor in Medicine. 
 
 1864 
 
 Hermans, Jean 
 
 Barrister-at-Law. 
 
 5) 
 
 Lemiere, Hippolyte 
 
 do. was District Magistrate. 
 
 
 Dubois, Victor 
 
 Doctor in Medicine. 
 
 J5 
 
 Anderson, Samuel H. 
 
 1st in Modern Department, Minister of 
 Congregational Church, Mauritius and 
 Paris. 
 
 1865 
 
 Hobbs, William 
 
 Was Professor at the Eoyal College. 
 
 5 J 
 
 Le Bobinnec, F. 
 
 Doctor in Medicine. 
 
 1866 
 
 Brown, Eichard Myles 
 
 Barrister-at-Law, was Judge SupremeCourt. 
 
 »> 
 
 Pellereau, Elie 
 
 Doctor in Medicin^' — practising in Paris. 
 
 1867 
 
 Forget, Arthur 
 
 Barrister-at-Law. 
 
 ,, 
 
 Thibaud, A. L. 
 
 do. was Judge Supreme Court. 
 
 1868 
 
 * Anderson, David J. 
 
 Superintendent of the Government Schools. 
 
 ,, 
 
 *Virieux, — 
 
 Lawyer. 
 
 1869 
 
 McDonald, Peter 
 
 Passed into the Civil Service of India. 
 
 1869 
 
 Hullard, Jean Arthur .... 
 
 Doctor in Medicine. 
 
 >> 
 
 Cretin, Eugene 
 
 do. was Lieut. -Colonel 1st 
 Bengal Infantry. 
 
 1871 
 
 Dick, Frederick C. V. de G. 
 
 Professor and Examiner, London. 
 
 >» 
 
 Boucliet, Louis V. Geo. ... 
 
 Doctor in Medicine, was Member for Flacq. 
 
 1872 
 
 * Joachim, — 
 
 Head of the Eailway Department. 
 
 »» 
 
 *Papillon, — 
 
 Professor in the Eoyal College. 
 
 1873 
 
 Paddle. James Issac 
 
 Doctor in Medicine in charge of Lunatic 
 Asylum. 
 
 >> 
 
 Anderson, Daniel Elie 
 
 Doctor, Scientist, Author and Traveller. 
 Lecturer in Medicine at Mansfield Col- 
 
 
 
 lege, Oxford, and to the Missionary 
 Board of Studies at King's College, 
 London. 
 
 J5 
 
 Jean Louis, Nemours 
 
 Doctor in Medicine. 
 
 J> 
 
 Cantin, Louis Alfred 
 
 do. 
 
 1875 
 
 Bell, Herbert Irving 
 
 Was Assistant Director of the Observatory. 
 
 ; J 
 
 Whornitz, Ferd. B. 
 
 Doctor in Medicine. 
 
 1876 
 
 Laurent, Eugene 
 
 do. Senior Member of Port 
 Louis. 
 Doctor in Medicine. 
 
 j> 
 
 Hullard, George 
 
 1877 
 
 K/Vern, Victor F. G. 
 
 Barrister-at-Law. 
 
 )i 
 
 Eohan, Virgile 
 
 Doctor in Medicine. 
 
 J5 
 
 Newton, Charles 
 
 Barrister-at-Law— Editor of newspaper. 
 
 1878 
 
 Boucherat, Julien 
 
 Professor, Eoyal College. 
 
 ;; 
 
 Suzor, Jean Kenaud 
 
 Doctor in Medicine — practising in Paris. 
 
 » J 
 
 Dumat, Frank C. 
 
 Barrister-at-Law, Natal. 
 
 1879 
 
 Bell, John Ackroyd 
 
 Dor-tor in Medicine, Hong Kong. 
 
 >j 
 
 Desple ssis, Louis Henri ... 
 
 Civil Engineer, South Africa. 
 
 No scholarship thrnup;h want of funds. 
 
LAUREATES OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE. 
 
 299 
 
 Year. 
 
 Names. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 1880 
 
 Bonnefin, Henri 
 
 Doctor in Medicine, Australia. 
 
 
 Laurent, Octave 
 
 Barrister-at-Law, 
 
 1881 
 
 Despleissis, Anthony 
 
 Civil Engineer, B.W.D. India. 
 
 J J 
 
 Kcenig, Etienne 
 
 Barrister-at-Law- Brocureur General. 
 
 1882 
 
 Bonnin, Louis 
 
 Agricultural Chemist. 
 
 j> 
 
 Croft, James 
 
 Died whilst studying at Cooper's Hill. 
 
 1883 
 
 Eouillard, John 
 
 Doctor in Medicine, Natal. 
 
 »> 
 
 Eouget, Auguste 
 
 do. Medical Supt.Civil Hospital. 
 
 1884 
 
 Serret, Eugene 
 
 Barrister-at-Law, Add. Substitute Bro- 
 cureur General. 
 
 »> 
 
 Bitot, L. Emile 
 
 Civil Engineer, General Manager of Mauri- 
 tius Eailways. 
 
 1885 
 
 Herchenroder, Alfred (Sir) 
 
 Barrister-at-Law, Chief Judge, Mauritius. 
 
 1885 
 
 Cocheme, A. E. 
 
 Civil Engineer, B. W. D. India. 
 
 1886 
 
 Standley, A. 
 
 Civil Engineer. 
 
 jj 
 
 Eouillard, Louis 
 
 Barrister-at-Law. 
 
 1887 
 
 Barbeau, Gabriel 
 
 Doctor in Medicine, Asst. Med. Director. 
 
 ,, 
 
 Lejuge de Segrais, Paul ... 
 
 Civil Engineer, Director of Public Works. 
 
 1888 
 
 Martin, Charles 
 
 Doctor in Medicine. 
 
 ,, 
 
 Jacques, L, V. 
 
 do. 
 
 1889 
 
 De Chazal, Eene 
 
 Civil Engineer, B. W. D. India. 
 
 I > 
 
 Chastellier, Gustave 
 
 Barrister-at-Law. 
 
 1890 
 
 Bitot, Ch. A. Eobert 
 
 Barrister-at-Law. 
 
 1890 
 
 Koenig, Paul 
 
 Agricultural Chemist, Director of Forests 
 and Gardens. 
 
 1891 . 
 
 Momple, E. Eobert 
 
 Doctor in Medicine, Sanitary Warden. 
 
 >» 
 
 Berdreau, J. A. 
 
 do. In Europe. 
 
 1892 
 
 Giraud, B. L. 
 
 Agricultural Chemist. 
 
 ,, 
 
 Duelos, Joseph A. 
 
 Barrister-at-Law, Member for Flacq. 
 
 1893 
 
 Melotte, J. B. D. 
 
 Barrister-at-Law. 
 
 1893 
 
 Eowell, Bercy Fitz Batrick... 
 
 Merchant's Clerk, London. 
 
 1894 
 
 Louis, Jean Leon 
 
 Doctor in Medicine. 
 
 ,, 
 
 D'Avray, Edouard Alfred ... 
 
 Civil Engineer, Brofessor at Eoyal College. 
 
 1895 
 
 Nairac, Edouard 
 
 Barrister-at-Law, Junior Member for Bort 
 Louis. 
 
 ,, 
 
 Desenne, Henri 
 
 Civil Engineer, B. W. D. India. 
 
 1896 
 
 Bolton, John Douglas 
 
 Doctor in Medicine, Mauritius. 
 
 ,, 
 
 Masson, Castnn 
 
 Doctor in Medicine. 
 
 1897 
 
 Galea, Bhilippe 
 
 Brofessor and Journalist, Mauritius. 
 
 ,j 
 
 Savrimootoo, N. 
 
 Civil Engineer, Mauritius. 
 
 1898 
 
 Ferriere, J. Anthony 
 
 Doctor in Medicine. 
 
 ^j 
 
 Felix, J. Eaoul 
 
 do. 
 
 1899 
 
 Esnouf, Auguste 
 
 Civil Engineer, Mauritius. 
 
 ,, 
 
 Cantin, B. Leon 
 
 Civil Engineer, B. W. D. India. 
 
 1900 
 
 Le Comte, Louis 
 
 Barrister-at-Law, Magistrate. 
 
 »» 
 
 Eampal, Maxime 
 
 Civil Engineer. 
 
 1901 
 
 Mayer, Cliford 
 
 Doctor in Medicine, in India. 
 
 ,, 
 
 Vandermefrch, A. 
 
 Civil Engineer. 
 
 1902 
 
 Thompson, Bercy 
 
 Civil Engineer, B. W. D. India. 
 
 >» 
 
 Baissac, Maurice 
 
 Civil Engineer. 
 
 1903 
 
 Giraud, George 
 
 Brofessor of Mathematics in England. 
 
 >? 
 
 Berdreau, Eene 
 
 Medicine. 
 
300 
 
 ADDENDUM. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Names. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 1904 
 
 Duvivier, Emile 
 
 Doctor in Medicine. 
 
 > ) 
 
 Catto, William Henry 
 
 do. 
 
 1905 
 
 Geneve, H. 
 
 Civil Engineer. 
 
 ) ) 
 
 Pezzani, Roger 
 
 Barrister-at-Law. 
 
 1906 
 
 Perdreau, Raoul 
 
 do. 
 
 5) 
 
 Geneve, Antoine 
 
 Civil Engineer. 
 
 1907 
 
 MaiDgard, Fernand 
 
 Barrister-at;Law. 
 
 ) J 
 
 Barnard, E.G. 
 
 Law Student. 
 
 
 Cure, Maurice 
 
 Student in Medicine. 
 
 1908 
 
 Mayer, Norman 
 
 Reading for the Civil Service. 
 
 >> 
 
 Morau, Jules 
 
 Engineer. 
 
 1909 
 
 D'Avray, Alex. D. 
 
 Medicine. 
 
 ,) 
 
 Leblanc, Gaston 
 
 do. 
 
 1910 
 
 Herchenroder, Philippe . . . 
 
 Law Student. Obtained the studentship 
 of 100 guineas a 3'ear tenable for three 
 years, at the General examination of 
 
 
 
 students at the Inns of Court, held in 
 December, 1913. 
 
 ,, 
 
 Bayliss, Joseph Anno 
 
 Engineering Student. 
 
 1911 
 
 Mayer, Frank Chazal 
 
 Croix de G- erre. Slain in France in the 
 prf sent War. 
 
 >> 
 
 Celestin, Louis Abel 
 
 Student in Medicine. 
 
 1912 
 
 Dyson, J. D. 
 
 do. 
 
 ) « 
 
 Leblanc, J. 
 
 do. 
 
 1913 
 
 Eavet, Raymond 
 
 
 ,, 
 
 Barnes, George 
 
 
 1914 
 
 Cantin 
 
 Medicine. 
 
 5» 
 
 Pitot. Maurice 
 
 Engineer. 
 
 CASES OF MALARIA, PLAGUE, AND ENTERIC FEVER 
 IN THE ISLAND, 1915-16. 
 
 Malaria 
 
 Plague 
 
 Enteric 
 
 1915. 
 
 3534 
 
 5 
 
 55 
 
 Deaths. 
 
 47 
 
 3 
 
 10 
 
 1916. Deaths 
 2463 25 
 8 5 
 85 19 
 
 
 POPULATION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ISLAND. 
 
 General 
 Indian 
 
 ... 
 
 1915. 
 
 84,538 
 260,882 
 
 1916. 
 122,801 
 261,452 
 
 345,420 
 
 384,253 
 
INDEX. 
 
 AcKROYD, Assistant Commissary-Gen- 
 eral, cholera in fannily of, in 1854, 
 149 
 
 death of, from cholera, 149 
 
 Adrenalin, in dengue fever, 218 
 Africa, natives of, introduced into 
 
 Mauritius for labour purposes, 42 
 Agriculture in Mauritius, promotion 
 
 of, by Mahe de la Bourdonnais, 42 
 Air, poison in, formerly believed cause 
 
 of cholera, 112 
 Alcohol in cholera, 134 
 Aloe industry in Mauritius, 31 
 Aloes, growth of. in Mauritius, 17 
 Amaurosis, quinine causing, 171 
 Amblyopia, quinine causing, 171 
 Ammonia, aromatic stimulants of, 
 as cardiac stimulant in plague, 248 
 Amyl, nitrate of, in beri-beri, 223 
 
 inhalation of, in beri-beri, 225 
 
 Anderson, John, biographical details 
 relating to, 79, 80 
 
 Descriptive Account of Mauritius, 
 
 16 
 
 educational work of, in Mauritius, 
 
 78, 79 
 Animals, domestic, liability of, to 
 
 pneumonic plague, 246 
 Anjouanese, beri-beri epidemic among, 
 
 235-237 
 Anophelinee and Culicinfe, difference 
 between, 165 
 
 drawings showing, 163 
 
 table indicating, 164 
 
 extermination in Panoma, effects, 
 
 165 
 
 season of infection by malarial 
 
 parasite, 165 
 Anophelines, infection by landing of 
 malaria-infected Coolies in Mauri- 
 tius, 176 
 — — in prevention of malaria, 187, 
 188 
 
 parasites carried by, description 
 
 of, 167 
 — — reduction of, cost of, 189 
 Antimony ointment, local application 
 
 to phagedsenic ulcer, 261 
 tartrate in phagedaenic ulcer, 260 
 
 Antiplague sera (Yersin's or Lud- 
 
 wig's), 248, 254 
 
 vaccine (Haffkine's), 248, 254 
 
 Antiserum in cholera, 134, 135 
 Arsenic in combination with quinine 
 
 in malarial fever, 171 
 Asiatic labour, substitution of African 
 
 labour for, in Mauritius, 55 
 Aspidiotus (sugar-cane), attacks of, 
 
 on sugar-cane, 27 
 
 control, 27 
 
 Aspirin, in dengue fever, 218 
 Atmospheric changes, formerly be- 
 lieved cause of cholera, 112 
 
 disturbance, spread of small-pox 
 
 attributed to, 155 
 
 Bacilli of diphtheria, 243 
 
 Bacillus diphtherice, long life of, 24,2 
 
 rapid propagation of, 242 
 
 Bardet, Abbe, exile of, for Protestant 
 views, 82 
 
 Barley sugar, manufacture of, 23 
 
 Bassin Blanc, 10 
 
 Baths, warm alcoholic and stimula- 
 ting, employed in cholera epidemic 
 (1819), 115 
 
 Beau Plan Estate, overgrowth of vege- 
 tation in, as cause of malaria, 193 
 
 Belladonna, glycerine of, for unbroken 
 buboes in plague, 248 
 
 Beri-beri, diagnosis, 225 
 
 epidemic at Diego Garcia (1901), 
 
 report on, 235 
 
 among Anjouanese (1901), 
 
 235-237 
 
 etiology, 222 
 
 in Mauritius, 228 
 
 divided opinions as to, 233 
 
 etiology, 230 
 
 fish-eating as factor in caus- 
 ation, 232 
 
 post-mortem appearances, 
 
 224, 280 
 
 spread by contagion, 230 
 
 symptoms, 229 
 
 treatment, 230 
 
 measures of disinfection, 224 
 
 mortality, 224 
 
302 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Beri-beri, pathology, 225 
 
 post-mortem appearances, 22 1 
 
 symptoms, 224 
 
 treatment, 223, 225 
 
 dietetic, 226, 230, 233 
 
 Besant, Sir Walter, educational work 
 of, in Mauritius, 69, 72, 73 
 
 influence of Mauritius on novels 
 
 of, 73 
 
 Bibliography of Works on Mauritius, 
 277 
 
 Blackburn, Eev. Charles, missionary 
 work of, in Mauritius, 284 
 
 Black Eiver, epidemic of cholera in 
 1856, 140 
 
 reasons of low mortality in epi- 
 demic of cholera in (1854), 124 
 
 Black Eiver district, 10 
 
 malaria endemic in, 11 
 
 Blackwater fever, quinine as preventa- 
 tive of, 170 
 
 Blindness in leprosy, 97 
 
 Blood, circulation, cerebral, how 
 blocked in malarial fever, 162 
 
 Blood-corpuscles, destruction by ma- 
 larial parasite, 162 
 
 Blue pill in dengue fever, 221 
 
 Bolton, Dr. J., on malarial fever in 
 Mauritius, 179, 193 
 
 report on beri-beri epidemic at 
 
 Diego Garcia (1901), 235 
 
 on pollution of rivers in 
 
 Mauritius, 208 
 
 Bonaparte, Prince Eoland, monograph, 
 quoted, 39 
 
 Botanic Gardens of Mauritius, estab- 
 lishment of, 44 
 
 British Administration, Governors of 
 Mauritius under, 298 
 
 conquest of Mauritius (1810), 
 
 8, 9 
 
 Bruce, Sir Charles, G.C.M.G., the 
 evolution of the Crown Colony of 
 Mauritius, 37-67 
 
 value of, as educationist, 68, 70 
 
 ' Bubo ' in bubonic plague, 247 
 
 Bucket system of drainage in Mau- 
 ritius, 85 
 
 night soil service in St. Louis, 86 
 
 Bugs, infected, phagedsenic ulcers 
 carried by, 259 
 
 Burke, Dr., treatment adopted by, in 
 cholera epidemic (1819), 114, 115 
 
 Cahagnet, Prof., educational work at 
 
 Mauritius, 75 
 Calcium, permanganate of, in cholera, 
 
 133 
 
 Calomel in epidemic of cholera at 
 
 Savanne (1854), 127 
 Camp Malabar and Camp Yoloff, sub- 
 urbs of St. Louis, 3 
 Camphor and sorrel leaves, powdered, 
 application to phagedasnic ulcer, 
 264 
 
 powdered, dressing of ulcer with, 
 
 in phagedasnic ulceration, 264 
 Cane fly, attacks of, on sugar cane, 27 
 
 control, 27 
 
 Caramel, manufacture of, 23 
 Carbolic acid, cauterisation of phage- 
 daenic ulcer with, 264 
 
 pure, Manson's cauterisation of 
 
 ulcer in phagedenic epidemic, 264 
 Carbon dioxide, application to phage- 
 
 dasnic ulcer, 261 
 Castor oil in epidemic of cholera at 
 
 Black Eiver (1854), 125 
 Ceratophyllus fasciatus (rat flea of 
 
 temperate climates), 250 
 Cerne, Portuguese name for Mauritius, 
 
 37 
 Cbaulmoogra oil in leprosy, 97, 105 
 de Chazal, Dr., views on etiology of 
 
 beri-beri in Mauritius, 232, 234 
 Children, diphtheritic, infectivity of, 
 long lasting, 242 
 
 periodical census of, on schools 
 
 and estates as preventive measure 
 against malaria, 189 
 
 with enlarged spleen in Port 
 
 Louis, 179 
 Chinese immigrants, beri-beri brought 
 by, to Mauritius, 228 
 
 in Mauritius, 60 
 
 plague among, 256 
 
 Cholera, appearance of, in country 
 districts (1854), 120, 121 
 
 capricious character of, 126 
 
 contagiousness of, want of belief 
 
 in, in epidemic of Mauritius of 1854, 
 130 
 
 diagnosis, 109 
 
 epidemic (1819), drugs employed 
 
 in, 115 
 
 prophylactic measures, 115 
 
 spread of, 114 
 
 treatment adopted, 114, 115 
 
 (1854) in Port Louis, 118 
 
 spread in gaol, 
 
 118 
 
 116 
 
 mode of introduction. 
 
 mortality among gar- 
 rison of Mauritius, 119 
 r spread of, 118 
 
INDEX. 
 
 303 
 
 Cholera epidemic at Plain es Wilhems 
 (1854-56), 14 
 
 in Mauritius of 1854 and 
 
 1856, comparison between, 141 
 
 of 1856, 138 
 
 1856, causes of, 138 
 
 comparative low mortality, 
 
 142 
 
 — ■ history of invasion, 139 
 
 of 1859, low mortality in, 
 
 145 
 
 of 1859, and 1862, 144 
 
 in 1862, coolies probable im- 
 porters of, 145 
 
 1862, virulence of, 145 
 
 epidemics, 1854, 1856, regions 
 
 affected by, 8 
 
 extracts from reports of medical 
 
 commission on (1819), 148 
 
 former beliefs as to cause of, 112, 
 
 113 
 
 former ignorance as to incidence 
 
 of, 111, 112 
 
 histology, 108 
 
 in Mauritius, 108 
 
 |strict quarantine laws for 
 
 prevention of, 146 
 
 1854, treatment, 129 
 
 period of quarantine for, in Mau- 
 ritius, 85 
 
 post-mortem examination, 110 
 
 prognosis, 110 
 
 reappearance of, in epidemic of 
 
 1854, 127 
 
 remedies for, 135 
 
 rules during prevalenceof, 135,136 
 
 symptoms, 108 
 
 varieties, 109 
 
 Christianity, influence of, in Mauritius, 
 59 
 
 Civil Hospital, escape of, in cholera 
 epidemics of 1854, 1856, 143 
 
 Clairfond, outbreak of malaria in, 191 
 
 Clayton's apparatus for disinfecting by 
 sulphur, need of, in Mauritius, 244 
 
 Climate of Curepipe, 33 
 
 of Port Louis, 33 
 
 Code Decaen, establishment in Mau- 
 ritius, 49 
 
 Coffee production in Mauritius, 32 
 
 Coffee-seeds, mouldy, gastritis pro- 
 duced by, 233 
 Colonial assembly of Mauritius, atti- 
 tude of, towards slavery, 47 
 Commander-in-Chief of Mauritius, 
 
 seat of, 45 
 Commission of inquiry on leprosy 
 report and resolutions, 101, 102 
 
 Conchology of Mauritius, 275 
 
 Constitution of Mauritius, 61 
 
 Coolie camps, sanitation of, 91 
 
 Coolies, Indian, dengue fever intro- 
 duced into Mauritius by, 218 
 
 immigration of, to Mauri- 
 tius, 55, 56 
 
 malarial, landing of, in Mau- 
 ritius, infection of anophelines by, 
 176 
 
 Cotton industry in Mauritius, 31 
 
 Cow pear, ploughing under crop of, 
 for production of nitrogen in soil, 22 
 
 Creoles in Mauritius, prevalence of 
 malaria among, 200 
 
 Crown, English, influence of, on 
 Mauritius, 66 
 
 Cryogenin, in dengue fever, 218 
 
 Culicinffi, 163, 164 
 See also Anophelina 
 
 Curepipe, climate of, 14, 33 
 
 Curtin, Abbe, 82 
 
 Cyclones in Mauritius, 33, 34 
 
 — (April 29, 1892) description of, 
 285-292 
 
 effects of, on cane production, 17 
 
 Decaen, General, influence of, upon 
 
 Mauritius, 48, 49 
 Deforestation in Mauritius, droughts 
 
 owing to, 20 
 Dengue fever, 217 
 
 diagnosis, 217 
 
 etiology, 219 
 
 introduced into Mauritius, by 
 
 Indian Coolies, 218 
 
 pain in, 219 
 
 question of propagation, 219 
 
 secondary fever and pruritus in, 
 
 220 
 sequelffi and complications (nil) 
 
 in, 221 
 
 symptoms, 217, 219 
 
 treatment, 218, 220 
 
 Diego Garcia, btri-beri epidemic at 
 
 (1901), report on, 235 
 Diet and beri-beri, relation between, 
 
 222 
 
 in ben-beri, 226, 230 
 
 in cholera, 134 
 
 Dietetic treatment in beri-beri, 223, 
 
 226, 230 
 Digue reservoir, contaminated with 
 
 enteric fever bacilli, 12 
 Diphtheria in Mauritius, epidemic of, 
 
 in 1878, 239 
 
 epidemic of 1878, symptoms, 246 
 
 epidemic of, in 1907, 246 
 
304 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Diphtheria in 1907, 1908 ; disinfectants 
 used in, 244 
 
 treatment by anti-diphtheritic 
 
 serum, 243 
 
 of 1908 and 1909, 241 
 
 Diphtheria, secret herbal i emedy for ; 
 success of, 238 
 
 suspected, bacteriological exami- 
 nation in, technique, 242 
 
 unaccompanied by fever ; neglect 
 
 of, in epidemic of 1878, 239 
 
 Disease flora of Mauritius, 271 
 
 Dispensaries of Mauritius, 93 
 
 Diuretics com>ined with iron in acute 
 anasmic dropsy (? beri-bcri) in 
 Mauritius, 227 
 
 Douche, cold-water, in cholera epi- 
 demic in Mauiitius in 1854, 129 
 
 Doyen, Professor, educational work of, 
 in Mauritius, 75 
 
 Drainage, underground, of Port Louis, 
 86 
 
 Drainage works in Mauritius for pre- 
 vention of malaria, cost of, 201 
 
 Drains in Mauritius, rats swarming in, 
 256 
 
 Dropsy, acute anaemic (beri-beri) epi- 
 demic of, in Mauritius, 226 
 
 (? beri-beri) in Mauritius ; symp- 
 toms, 226 
 
 ■ epidemic, and beri-beri, differen- 
 tiation between. 225 
 
 Drugs employed in cholera epidemic 
 (1819), 115 . 
 
 Dutch (The), annexation and coloni- 
 sation of Mauritius by, 38, 39 
 
 Educational work in Mauritius, 68-79 
 
 Egypt, measures for abolishing mos- 
 quitoes in, 166 
 
 Emetics and purgatives in cholera 
 epidemic in Mauritius (1854), 130 
 
 in epidemic of cholera at Black 
 
 Kiver(18o4), 125 
 
 English, small population of, in Mauri- 
 tius, 59 
 
 Enteric fever in Mauritius (1915-16), 
 cases and deaths, 302 
 
 bacilli contaminating water- 
 supply of Port Louis, 12 
 
 Fats, deficiency of, causing beri-beri, 
 
 222 
 Fauna of Mauritius, 5, 6, 269 
 Fear, cause of spread of cholera, 
 
 141, 142 
 Fertilisers for sugar-cane growing, 22 
 
 Fever, commencement of ' tubercular 
 
 leprosy,' 96 
 Financial crisis in Mauritius, 63 
 
 policy of Mauritius, 65 
 
 Fire in Mauritius (1893), 63 
 Fish of Mauritius, 271 
 
 off coast of Mauritius, 32 
 
 Fish-eating as factor. in causation of 
 
 beri-beri in Mauritius, 232 
 Flacq district, sanitary works neces- 
 sary in, to prevent malaria, 195, 196, 
 198 
 
 epidemic of cholera in (1854), 
 
 122; (1856), 140 
 
 reappearance in, of cholera 
 
 epidemic of 1854, 127 
 
 Keport of Commission of Inquiry 
 
 on, 129 
 
 soldiers stationed at, mortality 
 
 from cholera (1854), 119 
 
 surroundings of, 7 
 
 Fleas, entomology of, 249 
 
 liniment as protection against, 
 
 250 
 
 Flies of Mauritius, 270 
 
 Flora of Mauritius, 274 
 
 Food-stuffs, inspection of, in Port 
 Louis, 87 
 
 Fort Hendrik, construction of, by the 
 Dutch, 38, 39 
 
 France, Mauritius made a Crown 
 colony of (1766), 44 
 
 French in Mauritius, 41 
 
 French East India Company, Gover- 
 nors of Mauritius under, 295 
 
 bankruptcy of (1764), 43 
 
 grant of Mauritius by charter to 
 
 (1719), 41 
 
 French Empire, first Governor of 
 Mauritius under, 297 
 
 French Monarchy, Governors of Mau- 
 ritius under, 296 
 
 French Republic, first Governors of 
 Mauritius under, 296 
 
 Fruit production in Mauritius, 32 
 
 Fungi, attacks of, on sugar cane, 24 
 
 Gastritis, produced by mouldy coffee- 
 seeds, 233 
 
 General Board of Health and Sanitary 
 Staff in Mauritius previous to 1904, 
 84 
 
 Gentrac, simple herbal remedy of, for 
 diphtheria, 239 
 
 Geology of Mauritius, 1, 2, 10 
 
 Gin in acute ansemic dropsy (? beri- 
 beri) in Mauritius, 227 
 
INDEX. 
 
 305 
 
 Glucose in bilious remittent fever 
 
 (malarial), 171 
 Golden syrup, manufacture of, 23 
 Grand Bassin lake, 9, 10 
 Grand Port, 8 
 low mortality from plague in 
 
 epidemic of 1856, 140 
 
 malarial fever endemic at, 9 
 
 Grand Kiver S.E., 8 
 
 Grand Kiver district, scenery of, 
 
 11, 12 
 Grasshopper, attacks of, on sugar 
 
 cane, 27 
 
 control, 28 
 
 Great Britain, capitulation of Mau- 
 ritius to, 50 
 naval and military service of 
 
 Mauritius to, 51 
 Great Port, epidemic of cholera in 
 
 (1854), 125 
 Gumming Disease, sugar cane attacked 
 
 by, 28 
 Gunny-bags, spread of plague by, in 
 
 Mauritius, 257 
 
 Hayti, influences of French Revolu- 
 tion upon, 47 
 Heart failure in bubonic plague, 253 
 Hectine, injection into phagedsenic 
 
 ulcer, 260 
 Hennessy, Sir John Pope, Governor of 
 
 Mauritius, indiscretions of, 81 
 Hophopsijllus anomalus (ground squirrel 
 
 flea), 250 
 Hospitals, estate, in Mauritius, 93 
 
 public, of Mauritius, 93 
 
 Houses, diphtheritic infection of, after 
 
 eight years, 241 
 Hurricane, destructive, in Mauritius, 
 
 1892, 62 
 Hyperpyrexia in cholera, copious iced- 
 
 water rectal saline injections in, 133 
 
 Ile de la Passe, naval battle of, 1810, 
 
 49 
 Indian community in Mauritius, 60 
 
 labourers in agriculture and 
 
 commerce in Mauritius, 57 
 
 natives of Mauritius, idea as to 
 
 cause of small-pox epidemic (1891- 
 92), 155 
 
 Indians, acute anaemic dropsy (? beri- 
 beri) among, in Mauritius, 228 
 
 in Mauritius, prevalence of 
 
 malaria among, 200 
 
 Infectious disease, medical men as 
 carriers of, 242 
 
 Insects, attacks of, on sugar cane, 24 
 Insomnia, quinine causing, 172 
 Iodine, tincture of, injection of, in 
 
 neighbourhood of buboes in plague, 
 
 248 
 Isle of France, French name for 
 
 Mauritius, 41 
 
 Jacobin Clubs in Mauritius in 1787- 
 
 1797, 46 
 Jerningham, Sir Hubert, description 
 
 of cyclone in Mauritius (1892), 285- 
 
 292 
 
 Koch's comma bacillus, cause of 
 cholera. 111 
 
 Labouk, supply of, in Mauritius, how 
 
 promoted by Mahe de la Bourdon- 
 
 nais, 42 
 Labouring population, imported by 
 
 Dutch into Mauritius, trouble caused 
 
 by, 40 
 Lafont, Dr., director of laboratory in 
 
 Mauritius, 240 
 Laureates of the Royal College, 297 
 of Royal College of Mauritius, 
 
 professions followed by, 297 
 Laval, M., devotion of, to black lower 
 
 classes in Mauritius, 81 
 
 fatal mistake of, 81 
 
 Le Brun, Rev. Jean (senior), religious 
 
 work of, in Mauritius, 80 
 Leishman parasites, 260 
 Lepers in Mauritius, 38, 111 
 Leprosy, ' anaesthetic,' 96 
 
 diagnosis, 97 
 
 symptoms at onset of, 97 
 
 causes of death in, 97 
 
 contagiousness of, 103 
 
 diagnosis of, 95 
 
 exciting causes of, 95 
 
 heredity, 104 
 
 history, 98 
 
 in Mauritius, commission of in- 
 quiry, 100, 101 
 
 statistics, 99-103 
 
 ' mixed,' 96 
 
 treatment, 97, 104 
 
 , ' tubercular,' 96 
 
 diagnosis, 96 
 
 ' Leroy, purgative,' in epidemic of 
 
 cholera in Savanne (1854), 127 
 L'Homme, L6oville, litterateur and 
 
 journalist of Mauritius, 282 
 
 poem of, quoted, 282 
 
 Local Government in Mauritius, 62 
 
306 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Loeftler's bacilli, absence of, in some 
 false membranes, 243 
 
 McIrvine, Eev. George, Presbyterian 
 divine in Mauritius, 80 
 
 Madagascar, plague introduced into 
 Mauritius from, 1899, 251 
 
 Mahe de la Bourdonnais, labours as 
 governor of Mauritius, 41, 42 
 
 Maison Blanche, malaria at, 195 
 
 Malaria, endemic at Grand Port, 9 
 
 at Savanne. 10 
 
 in Black Kiver district, 11 
 
 epidemic (1866), regions affected 
 
 by, 8 
 
 of (1866-68), 13 
 
 of, in Mauritius, in 1866, 14 
 
 in Mauritius, cost of, to com- 
 munity, 188 
 
 means of prevention, 187, 189 
 
 prevention of, expenditure 
 
 on, 188 
 
 summary of facts regarding 
 
 amount of, from report of Sir Eonald 
 Boss, 185 
 
 Malarial fever, 160 
 
 at Maison Blanche, 195 
 
 cachexia, cause of, 162 
 
 chronic, prescription for, 171 
 
 comparative freedom of Moka 
 
 district from, 196, 199 
 
 condition of spleen in, 162 
 
 epidemic in Mauritius (1865), in- 
 troduction, 173 
 
 etiology, 160, 164 
 
 in Mauritius, 1915-16, cases and 
 
 deaths, 300 
 
 deaths from, 202, 203 
 
 peculiar type of, 173 
 
 ravages of, 173 
 
 reduction of population 
 
 caused by, 173, 178, 179 
 
 treatment, 183 
 
 works for prevention of, exe- 
 cution and cost, 199 
 
 length of time of inoculation, 167 
 
 parasite of, 160, 162 
 
 destruction of red blood cor- 
 puscles by, 162 
 
 table of differences between, 
 
 167 
 
 pathology, 162 
 
 precautions against, 172 
 
 prevalence among Indians and 
 
 Creoles in Mauritius, 200 
 
 in Savanne district, 196 
 
 quartan, 160 
 
 parasite of, 167 
 
 Malarial fever, subtertian, cause of de- 
 lirium and coma in, 162 
 
 malignant, 160 
 
 symptoms, 160 
 
 temperature in, 162 
 
 tertian, benign, 160 
 
 parasite of, 167 
 
 malii^nant, parasite of, life 
 
 history, 169 
 
 treatment, 170 
 
 by quinine injection, effect 
 
 on blocked circulation of blood, 162 
 
 Malleson, Colonel, on the loss of Mau- 
 ritius to France, 50 
 
 Mare aux Vacoas waterworks, 14 
 
 ' Marmite' in beri-beri, 225 
 
 Maroon population of Mauritius, 40, 
 42 
 
 Marshes, drainage of, in prevention of 
 malaria, 191-199 
 
 in Mauritius, cost of, 200 
 
 in Mauritius and propagation of 
 
 parasite of malarial fever, connec- 
 tion between, 176 
 
 Mauritius, annexation and colonisa- 
 tion by the Dutch, 38, 39 
 
 an unit in the French Empire, 49 
 
 blue-book of, giving statistics as 
 
 to epidemics, 206, 207 
 
 British conquest of (1810), 8, 9 
 
 capitulation of, to Great Britain, 
 
 50 
 
 — — cause of transfer to British 
 dominion, 52 
 
 characteristics of Old France in, 
 
 45 
 
 cholera epidemic (1819;, 114; 
 
 (1854), 116 
 
 conchology of, 275 
 
 constitution of, 61 
 
 Crown colony of, evolution (Sir 
 
 C. Bruce), 37-67 
 
 cyclones in, 33, 34 
 
 dengue fever, epidemic in (1873), 
 
 218 
 disease flora of, 271 
 
 elements of disorder in, in 1787- 
 
 ■ 1797, 45 
 
 of order in 1787-1797, 45 
 
 fauna of, 5, 6, 269 
 
 favourable site in, for habitat of 
 
 Pyrotopliorus costalis, 178 
 
 fish of, 271 
 
 flies of, 270 
 
 flora of, 274 
 
 freedom from outbreak of epi- 
 demic disease (1819-54), 116 
 
 geographical description, 1 
 
INDEX. 
 
 307 
 
 Mauritius, geology, 1, 2, 10 
 
 Governor of, under the Dutch, 
 
 293 
 
 under the French East India 
 
 Company, 293 
 
 under the French Monarchy, 
 
 294 
 
 under the First French Ke- 
 
 public, 294 
 
 under the First French Em- 
 pire, 295 
 
 under British Administra- 
 tion, 296 
 
 grant by charter to French East 
 
 India Company (1719), 41 
 
 influences of French Kevolution 
 
 upon, 47, 48 
 
 leading personages of, 82, 83 
 
 made a Crown colony of France 
 
 (1766), 44 
 
 malarial fever in, 172 
 
 mountain ranges of, 1, 4 
 
 naval and military services of, to 
 
 Great Britain, 51 
 
 plague in, 251 
 
 population, 1915 and 1916, 302 
 
 reduction due to malarial 
 
 fever, 173, 178, 179 
 
 Portuguese in, 37 
 
 Portuguese name for, 37 
 
 protozoa of, 270 
 
 resemblance to West Indian 
 
 islands, 1 
 
 revenue in, from sugar cane pro- 
 
 • ducticn, 16 
 
 river systems of, in relation to 
 
 cultivation of sugar cane, 17, 18 
 
 rivers of, 8, 9 
 
 small-pox epidemic in 1856 and 
 
 1891-92, 154 
 
 transport system of, 54 
 
 tribute to beauty of, 100 years ago, 
 
 284, 285 
 typho-malarial fever in, 183 
 
 unanimity of races composing 
 
 population of, 35 
 
 volcanic origin, 1, 2 
 
 Mealy-bug, grey sugar-cane ; attacks 
 of, on sugar cane, 27 
 
 control, 27 
 
 pink ; attacks of on sugar cane, 
 
 27 
 
 control, 27 
 
 Medical practitioners carriers of in- 
 fectious disease, 242 
 
 Meldrum, Dr. Charles, F.R.S., on in- 
 troduction of malarial fever into 
 Mauritius, 173 
 
 Meldrum, Dr. Charles, F.R.S., work 
 
 at Royal Alfred Observatory, Mauri- 
 tius, 52 
 Mercury, intramuscular injections of, 
 
 in leprosy, 98 
 Meurin, Archbishop ; attempt of, to 
 
 bring education in Mauritius under 
 
 control of Roman Catholic Church, 
 
 81 
 Military services of Mauritius to Great 
 
 Britain, 51 
 Moka, 11 
 district, comparative freedom 
 
 from malaria, 196, 199 
 
 epidemic of cholera in (1854), 123 
 
 of plague in 1856 
 
 swiftness of rivers in preventing 
 
 severe epidemic of cholera ^1854), 
 
 124 
 
 (1856), 140 
 
 Molasses (treacle) ; constituents of, 23 
 Morphia, as hypnotic and cardiac 
 
 stimulant in plague, 248 
 Mortality in dengue fever nil, 220 
 Mosquito, Anopheline, carrier, of ma- 
 larial fever, 164 
 
 female, alone bites, 165 
 
 Mosquitoes, breeding places of, 165 
 measures for abolition of, in West 
 
 Indies, Egypt, and Siam, 166 
 measures for extermination of, in 
 
 Mauritius, 180 
 smoking-out method adopted by 
 
 natives, 180, 181 
 Moth-borer, attacks of, on sugar cane, 
 
 24 
 
 control, 25 
 
 larger, attacks of on sugar cane, 
 
 25 
 
 control, 25 
 
 Mountain ranges of Mauritius, 1, 4 
 Music, vocal, in Mauritius, influence 
 
 of Sir Walter Besant upon, 73 
 Mus Norvegiciis, or plague rat, 246 
 Mus rattus, or plague rat, 246 
 Mustard foot-baths (hot) in dengue 
 
 fever, 221 
 sinapisms in beri-beri, 223 
 
 Naphthalene to keep away fleas in 
 
 plague, 248 
 Nastin, intramuscular injections of, in 
 
 leprosy, 98 
 Natives, ignorance, superstition, and 
 
 stubbornness of, cause of spread of 
 
 small-pox in Mauritius (1891-92), 
 
 155 
 
308 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Naval services of Mauritius to Great 
 
 Britain, 51 
 Navigation, uses of Koyal Alfred Ob- 
 servatory, Mauritius, for, 62, 53 
 Neosalvarsan, intravenous injections 
 
 in treatment of phagedaenic ulcer, 
 
 260 
 Nerves, affection of, in anaesthetic 
 
 leprosy, 97 
 Night blindness, quinine causing, 171 
 Nitrogen, method of production in 
 
 fertilisation of soil for sugar-cane 
 
 production, 22 
 Nitro-glycerine in beri-beri, 223 
 inhalation of, in beri-beri, 225 
 
 Observator-x of Mauritius, uses of, for 
 navigation, 52, 53 
 
 Ointments, application to phagedenic 
 ulcer, 261 
 
 Opium, employment in cholera epi- 
 demic (1819), 115 
 
 in cholera epidemic in Mauritius 
 
 (1854), 130, 131 
 
 Over-crowding and beri-beri, relation 
 between, 222 
 
 Pacitic Ocean, islands of, poisonous 
 
 properties of potato in, 239 
 Pamplemousses, epidemic of cholera in 
 (1854), 121 ; (1856), 140 
 
 district, drainage works necessary 
 
 at, 193, 197 
 
 overgrowth of vegetation in, 
 
 as cause of malaria, 193 
 
 river, breeding ground of malaria, 
 
 208 
 
 unsanitary condition of, 209 
 
 necessity for clearance of, 
 
 209 
 
 reserves of, dangers of, 210 
 
 Panama, extermination of anophelinee 
 and Stegomyia fasciata in, good 
 effects from, 165 
 Pangola, SS., introduction of small- 
 pox into Mauritius by (1891-92), 155 
 Parasite, malarial, season of infection 
 of anophelinse by, 165 
 
 of malarial fever, 160, 164 
 
 carried by anophelines ; de- 
 scription of, 167 
 
 carrier of, 164 
 
 development of, 168 
 
 segmentation of (schizo- 
 gony), 168 
 Pesteriue to keep away fleas in plague, 
 
 248 
 Phagedeenic ulcer, diagnosis, 260 
 
 Phagedffinic ulcer epidemic in Mauri- 
 tius, 259 
 
 bacteriology discussed, 264, 
 
 265 
 
 origin, 262 
 
 prophylaxis, 261 
 
 spread of, 262 
 
 statistics, 263 
 
 symptoms, 262 
 
 treatment, 264 
 
 histology, 259 
 
 in Mauritius, etiology discussed, 
 
 264-266 
 
 period of incubation, 259 
 
 treatment, 260, 264 
 
 by local applications, 260, 
 
 261 
 Phenacetin, in dengue fever, 218 
 Phlebotomus midge, parasite of 
 phagedaenic ulcers carried by, 259 
 
 transmission of dengue fever by, 
 
 221 
 Pinta in Mauritius, 107 
 Pituitary extract to raise blood 
 
 pressure in cholera, 133, 134 
 Plague bacilli, 249 
 
 bubonic, commonest form in 
 
 Mauritius, 253 
 
 • conveyed by Xenopsylla 
 
 cheopis (rat flea), 246 
 
 rats, carriers of, 38 
 
 symptoms, 247 
 
 diagnosis, 248 
 
 in Mauritius, 63 
 
 (1915-16) cases and deaths, 
 
 300 
 
 criticism concerning, 253 
 
 difficulty of carrying out 
 
 preventive measures, 255 
 
 factors in furthering spread 
 
 of, 252 
 
 statistics, 253 
 
 treatment, preventive and 
 
 curative, 254 
 
 types of, 253 
 
 morbid anatomy, 248 
 
 period of isolation in, 249 
 
 of quarantine for, in Mauri- 
 tius, 85 
 
 pneumonic, conveyed by Xeno- 
 
 ])sylla cheopis (rat flea), 246 
 
 symptoms, 247 
 
 - — septic, 246 
 
 septicaemic, fatality of, 247 
 
 symptoms, 247 
 
 symptoms, 247 
 
 treatment, 248 
 
 Plaines Wilhems, 11 
 
INDEX. 
 
 309 
 
 •Plaines Wilhems, cholera epidemic at 
 
 (1854-56), 14 
 epidemic of cholera (1854), 121 ; 
 
 (1856), 140 
 
 healthiness of, no prevention of 
 
 cholera epidemic (1854), 121 
 
 Planters, Indian, of Mauritius, non- 
 chalance of, as regards sugar-cane 
 production, 19 
 
 resources of, 19 
 
 Plants, different properties of, accord- 
 ing to soil, 239 
 
 economic, extensive growth of, in 
 
 Mauritius, 54 
 
 Population of Mauritius in 1901, 57, 58 
 
 in 1915 and 1916, 302 
 
 Port Louis, children with enlarged 
 spleen in, 179 
 
 cholera epidemic in (1854), 118 
 
 mortalit}' from, 120 
 
 prevalence among civilians, 
 
 120 
 
 climate of, 33 
 
 death rate of, increase due to 
 
 malarial fever, 179 
 
 deficiencies of water-pipes in, 88 
 
 description of, 3 
 
 dilapidated tenements of, 88, 90 
 
 founding of, 42, 43 
 
 greatest number of lepers in, 103 
 
 history of outbreak of cholera in 
 
 (1856), 139 
 
 inspection of food-stuffs in, 87 
 
 lighting of, 88 
 
 malaria in, preventive mea- 
 sures, 189 
 
 malarial fever in, causes, 174 
 
 markets of, 87 
 
 nuisances in, 88, 89 
 
 old sewers of, 89 
 
 rats in, suggested means of de- 
 struction, 255 
 
 rats in Avooden houses of, 255, 
 
 256 
 
 sanitary works of, 85, 90 
 
 sewerage of, antiquated, 89 
 
 small-pox epidemic (1891-92), 
 
 cause of abatement, 156, 157 
 
 spread of, in, 156 
 
 system of drainage in, 86 
 
 water supply of, 87 
 
 cause of impurity, 87-89 
 
 ■ contaminated, 12 
 
 Portuguese in Cerne (Mauritius), 37 
 Potassium, permanganate, dusting on 
 phagedenic sore, 261 
 
 use of, in wells during 
 
 cholera epidemics, 135 
 
 Potassium, permanganate, in cholera, 
 
 133 
 Potato, poisonous properties of, in 
 
 islands of Pacific Ocean, 239 
 Poupinel, Dr., Report of, on leprosy, 
 
 1882, 102 
 
 treatment of leprosy, 106 
 
 Privateers, refuge lor, in Mauritius, 50 
 Professors, French, of Eoyal College 
 
 in Mauritius, 75 
 Proteids, deficiency of, resulting in 
 
 beri-beri, 222 
 Protozoa of Mauritius, 270 
 Pruritus in dengue fever, 220 
 Pulex irritans (human flea), 250 
 Pulv. jalapffi CO., in acute anemic 
 
 dropsy (? beri-beri) in Mauritius, 227 
 Purgatives, employment in cholera 
 
 epidemic (1819), 114, 115 
 
 in malarial fever, 183 
 
 Pijrotophorus costalis, abounding on 
 
 coast of Mauritius, 175 
 
 Quarantine Stations of Mauritius, 84 
 Quinine, administration of. followed 
 
 by visual disturbances, 171 
 as preventative of blackwater 
 
 fever, 170 
 bihydrochloride of , intramuscular 
 
 injections of, in malarial fever, 170, 
 
 171 
 injection by infected needles 
 
 causing tetanus, 183, 184 
 in malarial fever, effect on 
 
 blocked circulation of blood, 162 
 pills for children in Port Louis 
 
 in prevention of malaria, 190 
 sulphate of, in malarial fever, 170 
 
 symptoms following treatment 
 
 by, 171 
 
 Radium treatment of phagedasnic ulcer, 
 
 261 
 Rainfall, excessive, ill-effects on sugar 
 
 cane production in Mauritius., 20 
 
 temperature and number of cases, 
 
 chart showing relation between, in 
 small-pox epidemic (1891-92), 158 
 
 Raspail's treatment in dengue fever, 
 
 221 
 Rats, carriers of bubonic plague, 38 
 
 Mauritius infested with, 255 
 
 mischief done by, in Mauritius, 38 
 
 suggested means of destruction 
 
 of, in Port Louis, 255 
 swarming in drains in Mauritius, 
 
 256 
 Reddle, Mr., failure of, as rector of 
 
 Royal College of Mauritius, 68 
 
310 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Eetluit, situation and scenery of, 13 
 Keligious instruction in Mauritius, in- 
 fluence of Sir Walter Besant upon, 
 74 
 Eice, decorticateJ; ealing of, resulting 
 in beri-b ri, 223 
 
 Indian, spread of beri-beri in 
 
 Mauritius not due to, 231 
 
 poisonous metabolism in, as 
 
 cause of beri-beri, 233 
 polishings, extract of, in beri- 
 beri, 225 
 
 superabundance of, resulting in 
 
 beri-beri, 222 
 Kiver reserves of Mauritius cause of 
 malaria, 213, 214 
 
 destruction within certain 
 
 limits advocated, 215 
 
 question of, 211 
 
 systems of Mauritius, in relation 
 
 to cultivatiou of sugar cane, 17, 18 
 Elvers of Mauritius, 8, 9 
 pollution of, in Mauritius, Go- 
 vernment report on, 208 
 Eiviere du Eempart, epidemic of 
 cholera in (1854), 123 
 
 (1856), 140 
 
 Eiviere du Eempart District, drainage 
 works in, in prevention of malaria, 
 194, 197 
 Eogers, Sir L. , discoverer of efiScacious 
 treatment of cholera, 132 
 
 preparation of, in cholera, 132 
 
 Eoot-borer, attacks of, on sugar cane, 
 26 
 
 control, 26 
 
 Eoss, Sir Eonald, F.E.S., decrease in 
 population of Mauritius due to ma- 
 larial fever, 178, 179 
 report on river reserves of Mau- 
 ritius, 210-216 
 Eouget, Dr., phagedaenic ulcers, 264 
 report on phagedronio ulcer epi- 
 demic in Mauritius, 262-266 
 Eoyal Alfred Observatory, 52 
 Eoyal College of Mauritius, Laureates, 
 
 297 
 Eum industry in Mauritius, 30 
 
 process of manufacture, 30 
 
 Eyan, Bishop, work of, 80 
 
 St. Louts, bucket system of night soil 
 
 service in, 86 
 Salicylic acid; gargles of, in diphtheria, 
 
 244 
 Saline (iced- water), rectal injections 
 
 of, in hyperpyrexia in cholera, J 33 
 
 Saline (isotonic), rectal injections of,' 
 in uraemia in cholera, 133 
 
 solution, normal intravenous in- 
 jection of in malarial fever, 171 
 
 Salvarsan, intravenous injections, in 
 treatment of phagedsenic ulcer, 260 
 
 Sanitary works, Mauritius, 91, 93 
 
 of Port Louis, 90 
 
 principal, of Mauritius, 85 
 
 Sanitation in Mauritius, 84 
 
 Savanne, 9 
 
 epidemic of cholera in (1854), 
 
 126 ; (1856), 140 
 
 malaria endemic at, 10 
 
 Savanne district, drainage and clear- 
 ance of vegetation necessary in, 198 
 
 malaria prevalent in, 196 
 
 Schizont, physiology of, 168 
 
 Scurvy, resemblance to beri-beri, 225 
 
 Septicaemia, death from, in severe cases 
 of leprosy, 96 
 
 Serism in diphtheria ; accidents in, 
 244 
 
 rarity of, 244 
 
 Serum, anti-diphtheritic ; mortality 
 rare in diphtheria after injection of, 
 240 
 
 Sewers, old, of Port Louis, 89 
 
 Ships, disinfection of, in plague, 249 
 
 Shot-borer, attacks of on sugar cane, 
 27 
 
 — - control, 27 
 
 Siam, measures for abolishing mos- 
 quitoes in, 166 
 
 Simpson, Prof. W. J., C.M.G., pre- 
 face, V 
 
 Slavery, abolition of, ill-effects in 
 Hayti, 47 
 
 in Mauritius, 1835, 55 
 
 Small-pox epidemic in Mauritius, 
 (1866), 154 ; (1891-92), 155 
 
 cause of outbreak, 155 
 
 — chart showing relation be- 
 tween temperature, rainfall, number 
 of cases, and number of deaths, 158 
 
 — curve showing percentage of 
 
 liability according to age periods, 
 159 
 
 factors operating in spread 
 
 of, 155 
 
 stamping-out measures 
 
 adopted, 156, 157 
 
 period of quarantine for, in Mau- 
 ritius, 85 
 
 spread of, in Port Louis (1891- 
 
 92), 156 
 
 wrong ideas as to cause of, 
 
 among natives of Mauritms, 155 
 
INDEX 
 
 311 
 
 Sraoking-out method, for riddance of 
 mosquitoes, adopted by natives, 180, 
 181 
 Sodium bromide, intravenous injection 
 of, in cerebral cases of malarial 
 fever, 171 
 Soils suitable for sugar-cane growing, 
 
 21 
 Soldiers garrisoned in Mauritius, 
 mortality in cholera epidemic 
 (1854), 119 
 South African War, V.C.'s gained by 
 
 Mauritian soldiers in, 83 
 Spiritualism in Mauritius, 75, 76 
 Spleen, condition, in malarial fever, 
 162 
 
 enlarged, children in Port Louis 
 
 with, 379 
 
 treatment of children with, 
 
 in prevention of malaria, 189 
 
 rates in Mauritius, according to 
 
 altitude, 205 
 
 summary, 204, 213 
 
 Stanley, Jacob, ghost story relating to, 
 77 
 
 reminiscences of, 76 
 
 Stegomyia fasciata, extermination in 
 
 Panama, 165 
 Stevenson, Sir William, sanitary 
 
 measures of, in Mauritius, 144 
 Stimulants and diuretics in cholera, 
 
 133 
 Streams, canalisation of, as preven- 
 tive against malaria, 190 
 clearing and improving, in pre- 
 vention of malaria in Mauritius, 
 cost of, 200 
 Strophantus as cardiac stimulant in 
 
 plague, 248 
 Strychnine and iron in acute anasmic 
 dropsy (? beri-beri) in Mauritius, 
 227 
 
 as cardiac stimulant in plague, 
 
 248 
 
 in beri-beri, 225, 230 
 
 Suez Canal, opening of, effect on 
 
 trade of Mauritius, 53 
 Sugar in Mauritius, great export of, 53 
 
 manufacture of, from cane, 22, 
 
 23 
 Sugar cane, best soils for, 21 
 
 cultivation of, in Mauritius, 16 
 
 description, 21 
 
 diseases of, 24 
 
 in West Indies, 21 
 
 production in Mauritius, effect 
 
 of cyclone on, 17 
 revenue from, 16 
 
 Sugar cane, varieties in Mauritius, 28 
 Sugar estates in Mauritius, suppression 
 
 of plague on, 256 
 Sugar factories in Mauritius, 18, 28 
 Suicidal mania, temporary, large doses 
 
 of quinine causing, 171 
 Sulphuric acid and calomel combined 
 
 with opium in cholera epidemic in 
 
 Mauritius (1854), 130 
 (dilute) in epidemic of cholera at 
 
 Black River (1854), 125 
 Sultany, immigrant ship, introduction 
 
 of cholera into Mauritius by (1854), 
 
 116, 117 
 Surra in Mauritius, 1902, 64 
 
 Tabes doksalis, resemblance of, to 
 beri-beri, 225 
 
 Tannin, glycerine of, in diphtheria, 
 244 
 
 Tartar emetic, intravenous injection, 
 in treatment of phagedeenic ulcer, 
 260 
 
 Tea production in Mauritius, 32 
 
 Temperature, rainfall, and number of 
 cases, chart showing relation be- 
 tween in small-pox epidemic (1891- 
 92), 158 
 
 Termites (white ants), attacks of, on 
 sugar cane, 28 
 
 control, 28 
 
 Tetanus, following injection of quinine, 
 by infected needles, 183, 184 
 
 Tobacco industry in Mauritius, 31 
 
 Towns of Mauritius, sanitation of, 91 
 
 Trees, discrimination in destruction 
 of, as anti-mosquito measure, 181, 
 182 
 
 fanatical reverence for, in district 
 
 of Pamplemousses, 209 
 
 removal of, round houses in pre- 
 vention of malaria, 192 
 
 Tricresol powder to keep away fleas in 
 plague, 248 
 
 ' Trou aux Cerfs,' 15 
 
 extinct crater west of Curepipe, 
 
 15 
 
 Typho-malarial fever in Mauritius, 183 
 
 Union Vale Estate, sanitary works re- 
 quired on, to prevent malaria, 195 
 
 Uraemia in cholera : rectal isotonic 
 saline injections, 133 
 
 Vaccination, wholesale adoption, effect 
 on small-pox epidemic in Port Louis 
 and Mauritius (1891-92), 156, 15? 
 
312 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Vaccine, anti-choleraic, length of im- 
 munity conferred by, 134 
 
 length of time of immunity 
 
 from cholera after inoculation .with, 
 134 
 
 preparation of, 134 
 
 insufficiency of, cause of spread 
 
 of small-pox in Mauritius (1891-92), 
 155, 156 
 
 Vanilla industry in Mauritius, 31 
 
 Villages, country, of Mauritius, sani- 
 tation of, 90, 91 
 
 Vision, disturbance of, following ad- 
 ministration of quinine, 171 
 
 Volcanic origin of Mauritius, 1, 2 
 
 War, the Mauritian soldiers in, 83 
 Water-pipes, deficiencies of, in Port 
 
 Louis, 88 
 Water-supply of Port Louis, 87 
 cause of impurity, 87-89 
 
 Water-supply contaminated, 12 
 Waterworks at Mare aux Vacoas, 14 
 Weevil-borer, attacks of, on sugar 
 cane, 25 
 
 control, 26 
 
 West Indian Islands, resemblance of 
 
 Mauritius to, 1 
 West Indies, measures for abolishing 
 
 mosquitoes in, 166 
 sugar cane in, 21 
 
 Xenopsylla cheopis (rat-flea), conveyer 
 of plague to man, 246 
 
 (tropical rat-flea), 250 
 
 Yeast, appearance of, on diphtheritic 
 throats in Mauritius, 244 
 
 desiccated, in beri-beri, 225 
 
 Yellow fever, abolition in Panama, 
 how effected, 165 
 
 PRINTED BY STRANGEWAVS AND SONS, TOWER STREET, CAMBRIDGE CIRCUS, W.C.2.