MOVAT 'S ROUGH NOTES ON BOURBON, MAURITIUS, AND CEYLON. *

THE freshness of the field, the objects of the author, together with considerable powers of observation and description, give a good deal of attraction to this volume from the Calcutta press. Of Mauritius and Bourbon, or, as it is called in this volume, "Re- union," we have heard little of late years, and only the cursory re- marks of superficial voyagers. Dr. Mouat's visit as well as his vocation turned his mind to the sanitary advantages of those islands, and to the comforts they offer to individuals, especially proceeding from the East Indies. A habit of inquiring and of re- cording his inquiries has enabled Dr. Monet to collect a variety of well-digested information respecting the social and industrial con- dition of those sugar islands, especially in regard to the still vexed question of Coolie immigration. He also picks up some facts, and offers some useful opinions on Colonial government or policy, at least as regards our own settlement, Mauritius.

The cause of Dr. Mount's trip was a severe illness, which in December 18.50 compelled him to seek "temporary change, after a nearly unbroken residence in Bengal of more than ten years." His predilections were in favour of the islands in the Southern In- dian Ocean; but he could find no certain information as to their health-restoring power. Thither, however, he determined to pro- ceed, after paying a visit en route to the highlands of Ceylon and the sanatarium there established; and his volume is the result of his experience.

The major part of the book consists of the condensed result of observation, illustrated by particular incidents. Narrative proper is limited to an account of a journey through the highlands of Ceylon, a voyage from Ceylon to Mauritius and from Mauritius to Bourbon, with an ascent to Salazie, the mineral springs of the French colony, and occasional occurrences at both islands. The report of Dr. Mouat both from deduction and experience is highly in favour of the climate of Mauritius and Bourbon, espe- cially the latter, for many of the complaints to which A.nglo-In- diens are liable. The cost, accommodation, and mode of living, he describes minutely ; and does not consider them so different from those at the Cape or Australia as to be worth consideration. In some things, indeed, he thinks the islands superior, and the voyage is shorter.

Climate and particular complaints are matter for medical judg- ment upon the case. In all that relates to an old and close in op- position to a new and scattered population,—as a town, its sup- plies and agremens ; bustle, life, and society ; roads, places for ex- cursions or picnics ; variety of scenery and of elevation, and all these in a small compass,—both the islands offer undoubted ad- vantages over the Cape and Australia, where there is little leisure or taste for what idlers and invalids call society. How long the social advantages might continue with a great influx of Anglo- Indian valetudinarians, may be a question ; for it must not be forgotten that Bourbon is wholly, and Mauritius to a great extent,

• Rough Notes of a Trip to Reunion, the Mauritius, and Ceylon; with Remarks en their Eligibility RS Sanataria for Indian Invalids. By Frederick J. Mouat, M.D., Bengal Medical staff. Published by Thacker, Spink, and Co., Calcutta; Thacker

and Co., London. „

French. With an active-minded man like Dr. Monet, whose vo- cation as a soldier-physician gave him everywhere twofold objects of professional interest—whose thirst for general information is great, who is cosmopolitan in taste, and probably master of the French language—the foreign characteristics were not a source of distastefulness but attraction. Unless residence in India very much changes national character, we should have some doubt whether the invalid Anglo-Indian would find himself so much at home as

at the Cape or one of the settlements in Australia. If he is ad-

dicted to active exercise, the rides in either island would soon be- come monotonous. So would the scenery of the mineral springs ; the accommodations would hardly be up to his mark ; the two capitals, Port Louis and St. Denis, might furnish accommodation and society : whether their heat would be so well suited for the

residence of an invalid, is a medical question. It is equally ques- tionable whether the reserve of john. Bull, raised into exclusive- ness by the dignity of either of the "services," would amalgamate with the Creole French, especially if he were not fluent in their speech.

Besides the sanitary question, the subjects of broadest interest are the French and English military systems compared, and the immigration of Coolies. The manner in which our military build- ings are erected in Tropical countries has long been a topic of complaint, fertile as it has been in waste of money and life. They manage these things better at Bourbon. This is the account of the Infantry Barracks at St. Denis.

"It is executed with a degree of consideration for the health, comfort, and efficiency of the soldiers lodged in it, that reflects much credit on the wisdom

and liberality of the French Government. It is scarcely possible to imagine how any other feeling should ever regulate arrangements for the wellbeing of such valuable and expensive agents as European troops, in distant and more especially Tropical colonies. The site being well chosen, the difference of a few additional cubic feet of fresh air for each man, with the compara- tively small proportional outlay in buildings, makes all the distinction be- tween a healthy and an unhealthy barrack. The ultimate cost of an error in the economical direction is not to be calculated in money alone—although the loss even in this sordid sense is enormous—but in the awful destruction of human life that has been so frequently and fatally witnessed in the East. The trained and acclimated soldier is not readily replaced by the raw recruit, nor can his needless sacrifice be justified by any argument of economy. * * * "The rooms are large, well-ventilated, and admirably arranged, each sol- dier having an abundance of space. His kit is upon a small shelf above his head, and the arm-racks are neatly arranged around central pillars. This is a superior means of disposing of them to the disfigurement of the walla along which they are usually placed in Indian barracks. The stands are arranged high above the ground, and each niche is marked with the name and num- ber of the soldier to whom the musket belongs. There are twenty-six beds in each room, and the dining-tables of the men run between them in the cen- tre of the apartment. Above the tables are suspended from the ceiling safes for provisions, and goblets of drinking water. The cleanliness, cheerful and airy appearance of the whole, are all that could be desired.

The Sergeant-Major and Colour-Sergeant of each company have separate rooms, on the doors of which their names and numbers are inscribed.

"The building contains, in addition, the offices of the staff of the corps, a magazine for clothing and accoutrements, and another for arms and ammuni- tions, both complete and as perfect as such departments can be made. There are, also, on the ground-floor a range of solitary cells, and above, the regi- mental school-room. This, with a salle d'escrime or fencing-room to the right of the great entrance, completes the details of the main building.

"Immediately opposite the 'main entrance of the barrack, and detached from it, is the regimental kitchen, constructed upon a simple and efficient plan, worthy of universal adoption. It is either a circular or polygonal building, I forget exactly which ; and around a central chimney are arranged the cooking-apparatus of every company in the regiment, each distinct from the other, and presided over by its special functionary. The cook is a soldier of the company, and exempt from all ordinary regimental duties. The culi- nary machinery consists of a large ion pan,—in which meat is stewed under a slight degree of pressure on the principle of a chemical digester,—and of

two or three saucepans. l'he stoves are on the same principle as the chulahe of a well furnished Anglo-Indian kitchen. The soup preparing for the men at the time of our visit was excellent, and as unlike as possible to the black broth of the republican soldiers of ancient Greece : seldom have I tasted it so well made in India, even in the houses of the great."

Public opinion of late years has compelled our authorities to improve the condition and character of the soldier • but we are not yet up to the French in point of education—even military education, beyond the mechanical part of it.

"The most interesting, probably, of all the departments are the school and fencing-rooms : both are under the chew of the same officer, Lieute- nant Valliare, the kind and accomplished individual who accompanied us in our visit. The extent of instruction to which the non-commissioned officers are carried in mathematical and general attainments is considerably beyond the standard recently adopted by the Horse Guards for the admission and

promotion of officers in the Queen's Army. Attendance in the school is com- pulsory both to privates and non-commissioned officers; so that there is not a

single individual in the corps unable to read and write, while many in the ranks are well read and highly-informed individuals. One of these I sub- sequently fell in with on sick-leave at a distance from his regiment, and it

was delightful to witness the extent and accuracy of his information on all subjects which form the ordinary staple of conversation in educated society. "It is this refinement and intellectuality which stamps its peculiar fea- tures on the French soldiery, and renders them such ready and effective

troops. The soldier and non-commissioned officer know as much as those

who are leading them ; the object and nature of every movement and ma- nceuvre are thoroughly understood by them. Thence, in the manner of exe- cution, much is left to the discretion and sense of the soldier. The result is, less mechanical perfection than obtains in armies where the men are mere animated machines, and entirely dependent on the superior knowledge of

their officers. But, in spite of what appears to us the careless and ill-dis-

ciplined manner in which the French soldier marches and manceuvres, there is, much to admire in him : he is perfectly acquainted with his duty, can take advantage of every cover and eminence afforded by the ground on which he is acting, and, if need be, march and wheel as steadily as even the Rus- sian regiments which struck the Duke of Wellington so much in the cele- brated review of the Emperor Alexander in 1816:

To the great necessity for labour in both islands (for the French slaves are emancipated as well as the British) Dr. Mount bears strong testimony, as well as to the benefit which results to the Coolies themselves from a trip to these islands, in a physical, pecuniary, and social sense. He does not, for obvious reasons, en- ter into politics as regards Bourbon ; nor would he have touched upon the Coolies there but for statements regarding their condition in the public prints, which he feels bound to correct; and to which he accordingly devotes an appendix. As respects Mauritius, he goes more freely and fully into the subject. His general conclu- sions are, that the colony requires more labour, that it would be for the advantage of India, as well as of the labourers, to encourage this supply, under improved regulations ; and that, so far from the labourer being under restriction or coercion, it is the master who is improperly interfered with. The Doctor perhaps is not devoid of that contempt for a coloured skin which prevails in India, with that liking for regularity which military discipline induces; but here he is on Coolie conduct.

"Wherever I went in the Mauritius I heard complaints of the inadequate power possessed by the planter over his labourers, and of the idleness, impu- dence, and gross insubordination of the Coolies. I had some opportunities of personally witnessing this, and of seeing the state of irritation and ill-feeling produced by it. It is true that the majority of them are the refuse of our Indian labouring population, and some, I suspect, are not altogether unac- quainted with gaol discipline. It is right that the Coolie at a distance from his home and country should be well shielded by the strong arm of the law ; but at the seine time he should be made to feel that he is not at liberty to have his own way in the disposal of his time and labour. A visitor from India, accustomed to the quiet demeanour and respectful behaviour of ser- vants and labourers in that country, is apt to be surprised at their cool im- pudence and nonchalance in the Mauritius. They do not hesitate openly to tell their masters that they dare not punish them, and to treat them with an amount of disrespect that would not be tolerated for a moment in their own country.

"I was very much tickled with the unblushing effrontery of a gardener in the Savanne district, who, when he heard I was from Hindustan, asked me if the Company's Raj was not knocked in the head. He had heard it said that we had taken the Punjab, but didn't believe it; 'infect,' he continued, 4 my Rajah intended to put down the Company ; and I dare say he has done so by this time.' He turned out to be a native of one of the petty states in the Nerbudda territory ; and I left him terribly crestfallen, by informing him, in the presence of an admiring gang of fellow Coolies, that his Rajah had been recently hanged for sheep-stealing! The fact is, that the Coolie is too well treated in the Mauritius : he is well paid, pampered, and all his complaints are listened to ; while his master appears to have little redress against the shortcomings of his immigrant labourers. It is nearly as much for the interest of India as it is for that of the Mauritius, that a more ex- tended immigration of a better class of tillers of the soil should be encouraged. By its means much wealth is brought by the Coolies to be expended in their own country. They come back more robust, manly, and less prejudiced than when they left their homes; and the influence of their acquired knowledge cannot fail to be useful to their own countrymen.

"The contrast between the lean hungry Cassius-looking Coolies who arrive at Port Louis, and the stout, muscular, well-fed fellows, with well-lined purses, who leave its shores, is very remarkable, and good proof both of the healthiness of the climate and the excellent treatment they receive."