Crags and Craters: rambles in the Island of Réunion ... With illustrations and a map

Front matter

CEAGS AXD CEATEES WI Col_P_Sr THE VOLCANO, FROM THE PAS DE BELLECOMBE. Crags and Craters BAMB LES IN THE ISLaIND OF BE UNION BY WILLIAM DUDLEY OLIVER, M.A. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND A MAP LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. LONDON, NEW YORK, AND BOMBAY 189C All rights reserved TO COURTENAY WALTER BENNETT HEB BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S CONSUL AT R1.UKION THIS VOLUME IS GRATEFULLY AND SINCERELY DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR PREFATORY NOTE AVith the following exceptions the illustrations in this volume are from my own photographs. The view of the Cavern of the Pas de Bellecombe on p. 141 is from a drawing by Captain S. Pasfield Oliver, to whom my best thanks are due for permission to reproduce it. The frontispiece is from a painting kindly made for me by Air. Widgery from a series of photographs which I took on the spot. W. D. 0. PAGE CONTENTS

Chapter I

Reunion — Its position — Characteristics of the scenery — Geological divisions — Climate — Population — The Creoles — Government — Means of communication — Outline of its history — The Credit Agricole failure — Present state of the colony. ..... 1

Chapter II

Arrival at Pointe des Galets — The railway — Remarkable tunnel — St. Denis — The only monkey in Reunion — English monument — Landing cattle — Reunion beef — St. Denis to Hell-Bourg ... 19 CHAPTEE III Hell-Bourg — Mineral springs — Site of the old village — Climate — Reckless clearing of forests — Overcrowding and dirt — The Chalet Consulat — The mountains — Church and military hospital — The Reunion volunteers — Remarkable statement by a deserter — Quarantine — The value of Reunion as a health resort X

Chapter IV

r-AGK Guides— Walk from Hell-Bourg to St. Andre— St. Denis to the Brule — Projected railway — Through the forest — Camp des Marsouins — Circular bassin — Night in the cavern — View of the Cirque de Salazie — The Piton des Chicots — View — Descent from the Plaine des Chicots— The Abbe B.— St. Martin— The old schoolmaster — A reminiscence — Back to Hell- Bourg ......... 47 CH.\PTER V Start for the Piton des Neiges — The Cap Anglais — Origin of the name — .Awkward Rock — Fog and rain — Arrival at the Caverne du Four — Stormy weather — Give up the Piton — Return to Hell-Bourg — Our reward ........ 01 CHAPTEE VI Off to Cilaos — The Grand Sable — Landslip — Arrival at Marlat — Dining in public — Fenetre de la Riviere St. Etienne — Les Trois Salazes — Cilaos — The Cap Noir — ' Most unusual weather ' — Discontent among the guides — Monduc's devotion — Life at the hotel — A mystery and its solution — Snow — Fine at last . 69 CH.\PTER VII The baths at Cilaos — Scenery — The Eglise — Start for St. Pierre — Bridges — Arrival at St. Pierre — Aspect of the place — Mosquitoes — Back to Cilaos NT CONTENTS XI PAGE 100

CHAPTER VIII

Departure from Cilaos— Ascent of the Salazes— Patches of snow — A perfect afternoon — Dawn in the mountains—The Piton des Neiges— Carving names — The vicinity of the Piton — The descent to Hell-Bourg .

CHAPTER IX

Through the Forest of Belouve — Rain — We reach the Plaine des Palmistes — Hospitably received — Reading a MS. — To St. Benoit — Joseph Hubert — A Creole ally of the English— To St. Denis— St. Denis to Possession — Old Fort — Up the gorge of the Riviere des Galets — Mafate — Landslips — Sulphur springs — Mafate and Moffat — The noise of waters — Back to Hell-Bourg Ill

CHAPTER X

Waiting for fine weather — Monduc and the moon — To the Piton des Neiges for the second time — The Plaine des Salazes — Ice — The Coteau Maigre — Golden fern — The Plaine des Cafres — Monument on the Plaine des Eemparts — Wonderful view — The Plaine des Sables — Arrival at the Pas de Bellecombe — The Formica Leo — Unpleasant night — Fog and rain — Fine weather — The Grotte de Bosemond — The Grand Cratere — The Cratere Dolomieu — Eruptions — Superstitions connected with the volcano TAGK 150 CHAPTEE XI Start for the descent over the lava — Rain — Steep descent — Extraordinary conduct of guides — On once more — The road at last — To Bois Blanc — Arrival at the Villa Cratere — Vanilla culture — Interesting caverns — Lava flow of 1890 — To St. Rose — Monument to Captain Corbett — St. Rose to St. Benoit — Suspension bridge — St. Denis once more

CHAPTER XII

The dry district — An unbiassed opinion — St. Paul — The Bernica — Disillusion — A tragedy — Sugar and the Indian immigration question — Duties of the Protector and Syndics — Wages, &c, of coolies — Work on the estates — Camps — Courses open to Indian at the end of his engagement — Scandalous state of things — Compulsory engagement of Indian children — The drink question — Concluding remarks — The position of the British Consul . . . 162

CHAPTER XIII

Start for the Gros Morne — An awkward fix — The Roche-a-Vidot — Failure — Lost, more or less — A night in the forest — We reach the Grand Sable — Back to Hell-Bourg — Try again — Another failure — The descent of the Pavilion — Photography under difficulties — Thirteen hours' scrambling — A few remarks 185 CH.\PTER XIV Rain — Cyclonic weather — Phenomenal fog — Last days at Hell-Bourg — Start for St. Denis — Stopped by landslip — The Riviere des Pluies — How to take a special — Export duty — Au revoir . ... . 200 Index ... ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE The Volcano — from the Pas de Bellecombe Frontispiece English Monument, St. Denis 25 On the Road near Hell-Bourg 31 The Douche, Hell-Bourg :"5b' Hell-Bourg Mare a Poule d'eau 4!) Tree-Ferns . ... 51 Camp des Marsouins " Cascade, Riviere Fleurs Jaunes 71 The Baths, Cilaos ~'o View near Cilaos 71 The Eglise 8" On the way to St. Pierre 91 In the Gorge of the Riviere St. Etienne . . . 94 The Piton des Neiges from below Cilaos . . . . 102 The Piton des Neiges 105 Near the Piton des Neiges PAGK Old Fort, Possession 122 In the Gorge of the Riviere des Galets . . . . 123 Gorge of the Riviere des Galets ..... 125 Mafate . .......... 128 Cavern of the Pas de Bellecombe ..... 141 Lava Cliff 157 Monument at St. Rose . . . . . . . 159 Lower Part of the Bernica . . . . . . 164 The Bernica 167 The Gros Morne 195 Map of the Island of Reunion . ... at end

Chapter I

Reunion — Its position — Characteristics of the scenery — Geological divisions — Climate — Population — The Creoles — Government — Means of communication — Outline of its history — The Credit Agricole failure — Present state of the colony. To the majority of Englishmen Reunion is so little known, even by name, that a few introduc tory remarks may not be wholly superfluous. The ordinary atlas is content to mark its position merely by a dot, and it is called sometimes by one name, sometimes by another. And yet this despised island has been termed one of the most remarkable in the world, and that by no less an authority than Bory de St. Vincent.1 It contains scenery of the wildest and most magnificent 1 Voyage dans les quatre principales lies des mers d'Afrique, vol. i. p. 242. B character. For five years it belonged to the English, and the monuments of their occupation remain to this day.

It is resorted to by large numbers of British subjects from our own neighbouring island of Mauritius in search of health, and its importance in this respect can hardly be over-estimated. To almost every class it offers some special attraction : to the strong and active, vast mountain heights and a keen, bracing atmosphere ; to the invalid, restored health and strength in its mineral springs and pure breezes. To the man of science it offers a volcano in full working order ; to the painter, wonderful atmospheric effects and ever-changing glories ; while the coy muse has been wooed not unsuccessfully beneath the rocky heights of the Salazes. And yet the island is comparatively ' unknown, unnoticed ; ' not one traveller in a hundred has heard its name, not one in a thousand has roamed among its wild ravines or climbed its mountains.

In the course of its history the island has had several names. Its present title is in full LTle de la Reunion, called for brevity Reunion. Its older name of Bourbon has by no means died out and the people are known as Bourbonnais. It REUNION ISLAND 3 ,is an island in the Indian Ocean, situated 80 miles south-west of Mauritius, and nearly 400 miles east of Madagascar, and just within the Tropic of Capricorn. In shape it is an irregular oval, and has an area of rather more than 900 square miles. To say that Reunion is mountainous conveys no adequate impression of its real nature. It is a mass of mountains, broken up by innumerable ravines. With the exception of a narrow belt of land round the coast, and the elevated plateaux in the interior, there is hardly a square mile of level land in the island.

The highest point is the Piton des Neiges, 10,069 feet, and several mountains attain an elevation of over 8,000 feet. For its size Reunion has almost, if not quite, the highest mountain in the world. Geologically the island is divided into two formations, the old and the new. Both are entirely volcanic. The new formation contains the present active volcano, which is situated in the south-east part of the island. The old formation contains the three huge cirques or craters of Salazie, Cilaos, and Mafate. The Salazes, the highest range of mountains, of which the Piton des Neiges forms a part, are in l: this portion of the island, which is separated from the new formation by the elevated plateau called the Plaine des Cafres. The climate of the coast district of Reunion has of late years undergone a change for the worse, and its former reputation for healthiness must now be considered as at an end.

In the mountains it is extremely healthy, but on the coast malarial fevers abound. A particularly virulent form of fever occurs, known as the acchs jaune, which generally proves fatal in a few hours. The causes of this unfortunate change are difficult to trace. The people themselves attri bute it to the great influx of Indian coolies at the time when Indian immigration was in full swing. This may, to some extent, be true, and no doubt the crowding together of a large number of these coolies, and the neglect of sanitary precautions, had a good deal to do with it. But there are two other circumstances which seem to me to be largely responsible. The first is the reckless clearing of the forests, the second is the entire absence in every town of any drainage system. The authorities have at last seen the evil conse quences of wholesale clearing, and efforts are CLIM.ATE OF REUNION 5 being made to check the destruction of the forests.

As to the want of proper drainage nothing is being done, and the naturally filthy habits of the people do not encourage one to look for much improvement in that direction. Speaking generally, the climate on the coast is hot and unhealthy ; in the mountains it is cool and healthy, and well adapted for European constitutions. The highest temperature recorded at St. Denis is 97° Fahr., and there the ther mometer seldom, if ever, falls below 50° Fahr. The mean temperature of this part of the coast is 77° Fahr. At Hell-Bourg it is practically 10° lower, while at Cilaos it is still cooler, and slight frosts occur nightly during the winter months. Snow is rare, but it fell twice on the higher mountains while I was in Reunion. The rainfall varies greatly. The prevailing wind is south east, and on the windward side of the island the rainfall is naturally much the heaviest, and in places showers occur daily.

On the leeward side the rainfall is scanty. The annual rainfall of the windward side is stated to be 160 inches, that of the leeward 30 inches. In the mountains it is much more, but no reliable records have been kept. There are two seasons : the winter, which is the fair weather time, lasts from May to November ; the summer, the season of rains and hurricanes, from December to April. Reunion really offers a choice of climates suited to all constitutions. Part of the coast is hot and damp, part is hot and dry. The district of Salazie is cool and damp, that of Cilaos is cool and dry. Natives and strangers alike have only to decide what climate they want ; there is a large variety to select from. These varying conditions of climate enable vegetable productions of all kinds to be grown. Sugar, coffee, and vanilla, and all tropical fruits, flourish in the warm parts, while maize, beans, and potatoes do well in the temperate regions.

Tobacco is also cultivated, but not to any large extent, and it is of inferior quality. The population is about 170,000 ; of these 120,000 are Creoles and 20,000 Indians ; the re mainder is composed of Africans, Malegaches, and Chinese. It is rather a difficult task to do justice to the character of the average Creole. He is a curious mixture of civilization and savagery, possessing undoubted virtues and no less obvious vices. In the matter of money he is honest ; a twenty-franc THE CREOLES 7 note may be given to a Creole to change, and he will do it faithfully ; but entrust him with the care of a bottle of rum, and he yields to the temptation. Rum is the chief failing of the Creole. When he has no money he will work till he has earned enough to indulge in his favourite drink. He is a thorough spendthrift in that way.

I have paid a Creole sixty francs — a large sum in Reunion — on a Friday ; within a week he has come to borrow five francs. In the art of lying the Creole is an adept. Even the Oriental, the typical liar of the world, must give place to the superior talents of the Reunion Creole. The powers of endurance displayed by Creoles are often remarkable. I have known them come all the way from Cilaos to Hell-Bourg to sell a few peas, and they will frequently carry fish to Hell-Bourg from St. Rose. The following story was told me on excellent authority, and it shows what a Creole can do when he makes up his mind. A family staying at Cilaos had among their baggage a Saratoga trunk. As they were going from Cilaos to Hell-Bourg over the mountain, they determined to send this weighty article to St. Louis and round by rail to St. Andre, whence CRAGS .4.ND CRATERS it could be carted up to Hell-Bourg.

They en gaged a Creole to carry it to St. Louis, and went themselves to Hell-Bourg. A few days after their arrival there the Creole walked up to the house carrying the trunk. He had, it appeared, started for St. Louis, when the idea struck him that he might as well carry the thing all the way to Hell- Bourg himself. He accordingly did so, and a most wonderful feat it was. Any spasmodic labour, however hard, the Creoles will perform ; but regular work is dis tasteful to them, and they seem quite incapable of sticking to it. But with all their faults they are good fellows at bottom. My guides I know were, and I should never wish for a more cheerful and willing set of men than those who went with me in my expeditions. Reunion is a French colony, and is under the administration of a Governor who is nominated from France.

He is assisted in the government by the Conseil Prive, which is controlled by the Conseil General, an assembly of twenty-four mem bers elected by the various communes. Next to the Governor come the Directeur de VInterieur, who is responsible for the executive and financial part of the administration, and the Procureur COMMUNICATION WTITH REUNION 9 General, who deals with the judicial business. Then come the various heads of departments, all of whom, as well as the Directeur de Vhiterieur and the Procureur General, are nominated from France. The colony sends two deputies to the Lower Chamber in Paris, and one to the Upper Chamber. There is a railway round the greater part of the coast, but it does not penetrate into the interior. A good road runs entirely round the coast, another crosses the island from St. Benoit to St. Pierre, while a third runs up the gorge of the Riviere du Mat to Hell-Bourg.

There are also some minor roads. Communication with the outside world is maintained by the steamers of the Messageries Maritimes Company, which carry the mails. The steamers of the Havraise Peninsulaire line also call at regular intervals, as well as those of the Mauritius and Bombay Steamship Company. British India steamers call occasionally. There are also several small vessels, mostly sailing ships, engaged in trade between Reunion, Mauritius, and Madagascar. The statement that to Don Pedro de Masca rhenas, the famous Portuguese Admiral, belongs CRAGS AND CRATERS the honour of having discovered the group of islands which bears his name has, I think, never been called in question. At the same time there is no doubt that the existence of these islands, of which Reunion is the largest,1 was already known to the Arabs.

On one of their charts, reproduced by Ruysch in 1508, Reunion figures as Maroabyn or Margabin. This, however, is no proof that it was at that time known to European navigators. But if the name of the discoverer has remained unchallenged, the date of the discovery has proved a fertile subject for controversy. It has been as signed to various years of the period from 1506 to 1554. M. Guet, in his work ' Les Origines de l'He Bourbon,' argues strongly in favour of 1528, and states the day to have been February 9. The Portuguese seem to have made no use of their discovery, and either by accident or design suffered the fact to grow forgotten. During the remaining years of the sixteenth century the vaguest ideas prevailed as to the number and relative positions of these islands, while the belief in the existence of that purely mythical island, 1 The other Masearene islands are Mauritius and Rodrigues, both British colonies.

Rodrigues, a small and unimportant island is situated 350 miles to the east of Mauritius. Joan de Lisboa, supposed to lie to the south of Reunion, lingered till 1799. It is not till 1613 that any mention is made of Reunion. In that year an English ship, the ' Pearl,' touched there and gave the island the name of the English Forest.1 In 1638 the ■ St. Alexis,' belonging to a French company formed with the object of trading to those parts, arrived at Reunion, which was then uninhabited. In 1642 another company was formed, and in that year the ' St. Louis ' called there. Pronis was on board, voyaging to Madagascar to establish a trading station for the company. In 1646 he was imprisoned at Fort Dauphin, but soon regained his liberty and banished twelve of those who had conspired against him to Reunion.

They were brought back in 1649 by Flacourt, at that time in command at Fort Dauphin, and to him they furnished a description of the island. Masca rhenas had left some goats and pigs, and these had increased to a great number. There were many land-tortoises and turtle, the rivers swarmed with fish, the climate was good, there were no snakes, no mosquitoes. ' With good reason,' writes Flacourt, ' did they speak of it as an earthly para- Grant's History of Mauritius, i. 164 n. CRAGS jVS'D CR.-vTEBS dise.' In October of the same year Flacourt sent to take formal possession of the island, which he called Bourbon, ' because no other name might so well express its goodness and fertility.' In 1654 a batch of thirteen colonists, of whom seven were French and the rest Malegaches, crossed from Madagascar and settled near St. Paul, where they remained three years and eight months.

At the end of that time an English ship touched there, told them that Fort Dauphin had been abandoned, and offered to take them to India. It would seem that the colonists had received no news since their departure from Mada gascar, for they believed this statement, which was entirely false, and embarked in June 1658. On their arrival in India they had to give the Malegaches to the chief of the district, while the French themselves, in order to avoid starvation, were forced to become soldiers. Meanwhile Flacourt had returned to France. In 1660 he set out with colonists for Bourbon. On the way they were attacked by pirates, their ship caught fire and sank, and all on board perished. The formation in 1664 of the French East India Company introduces us to a new period in the history of the island.

The value of Bourbon as a sanatorium and a place where ships could obtain fresh provisions was immediately recog nised. Twenty colonists under the command of Regnault were landed at St. Paul in July 1665. Other settlements on the coast soon followed, and four years later St. Denis, the present capital, was founded. The year 1665, therefore, is the date of the first permanent occupation of Bourbon by the French. The new arrivals, however, did not find the island uninhabited. Two of their own nation were living there, and the name of one at least deserves to be rescued from oblivion. ' Louis Payen,' says M. Guet, ' was the first to introduce the fair sex into the island.' He had left Fort Dauphin three years before in company with another Frenchman and ten Malegaches, three of whom were women.

In 1671, De la Have, Viceroy of India, visited the island, drew up a rather stringent code of rules to be observed by the inhabitants, and traced on a stone a plan of a fort which was to be constructed. Many years afterwards this stone proved a veritable rock of offence to Hubert de Lisle, who was Governor from 1852 to 1858. With a view to its preservation this relic of the early days of the colony had been built into the wall of Government House. De Lisle, scandalised at the fleurs-de-lis on the stone, and not daring, by reason of its historical character, to destroy it, had it ingeniously concealed behind a mirror.1 The stone is still, I believe, at St. Denis, but no longer hidden. In 1672 the population was increased by a number of refugees from Fort Dauphin, who escaped when that place was sacked by the natives.

Until 1689 the affairs of the island had been administered by agents of the company ; but in that year Vauboulon was appointed Governor. The following year, as the result of a plot, he was deposed and put in prison, where he was found dead on August 18, 1692. During the period from 1715 to 1720 began the cultivation of coffee at Bourbon, which soon developed into a profitable trade. Slaves were introduced from Madagascar and Africa to work the estates, and under the successive administra tions of two of its most able and judicious Governors, Dumas and Labourdonnais, the Pajot, Sim}ilcs Rcnseignements sur Vile Bourbon, p. 13, wealth and prosperity of the colony increased greatly. In 1738 the seat of the Government was removed from St. Paul to St. Denis. On September 25, 1792, the Republic was pro claimed, and in 1793 the name of the island was changed to Reunion.

In 1806 its name was again changed, this time to lie Bonaparte. During the years 1806 and 1807 a succession of hurricanes destroyed the coffee plantations. It was then that the cultivation of sugar began, at first on a small scale, but rapidly increasing till it became, as it continues to be, the staple crop of the island. In the warlike times that now ensued Reunion obtained notoriety as the resort of privateers and French cruisers, which preyed on vessels bound to and from India. The capture of the island was accordingly determined on by the English. On August 16, 1809, a force landed at St. Rose and blew up the powder magazine, but eventually was obliged to retire to the ships. On Septem ber 21 of the same year a detachment of soldiers landed at the Pointe des Galets. They advanced on St. Paul and burned the warehouses, but, as in the case of the previous attack, did not reduce the island to submission.

On July 9, 1810, troops were landed both to the east and west of St. Denis, and, advancing on the town from both directions, took it after a slight resistance. A capitulation was signed, and the island passed into the hands of the English. In the same year the Isle of France (Mauritius) was captured by an English force. In 1815 Mauritius was retained by the English while Reunion was given back to the French. No satisfactory reasons have, I believe, been adduced for this step. Vague traditions still linger of ministerial uncertainty as to the whereabouts of Reunion and ignorance of its value. How far such deficiency in geographical knowledge is responsible it is impossible to say ; but, taking into consideration the relative posi tions of Reunion and Mauritius, and the im portant fact that each island is, as it were, the complement of the other, the one abounding in that which is lacking to her neighbour, it may, I think, be safely affirmed that the course of procedure with regard to the two islands was a mistake.

They should have been treated as a whole ; both should have been retained or both given back ; that power which held one should have held both. On its cession the island reassumed its old name of Bourbon, which in 1848 was finally changed to Reunion. In this latter year slavery was abolished in the colony. Since then the history of the island has been uneventful, save for those local decrees and undertakings which, although of great interest and importance to the colonists themselves, do not in any way concern the outside world. But during these years the prosperity of Reunion had begun to decline. Matters got worse and worse, and a crisis was reached in 1892, when the Credit Agricole failed. During the first years of its existence this bank had been ably administered. The success at tendant on its operations, and the confidence reposed in it, led to rash speculation, and the capital of the bank was employed in buying and working sugar and tapioca estates.

Getting gradually into difficulties, it was supported to the extent of nearly six million francs by pressure brought to bear on the Ban que de la Reunion, a semi-government bank of issue. In 1892 the inevitable crash came, and a large number of persons were absolutely ruined. In many ways the closing of this bank has been a decided loss to the colony. It was the only banking establishc ment which was worked on anything like sound banking principles. Since its failure there has been, properly speaking, no bank in the colony, and credit facilities even on good security have been very hard to obtain. The present condition of Reunion is, indeed, very unsatisfactory. Absentee landlords, and money spent in Paris that should go to benefit the starved estates of the colony — these things lie at the root of the evil.

Yearly the rate of ex change rises against the colony ; gold is practically never, silver rarely, to be obtained, and a paper currency prevails everywhere. In fact, as a mer chant of St. Denis said to me in words which derive additional force from their quaintness, ' the colony is very ill.' The golden age of Reunion has doubtless gone for good ; but is there no way to extricate the colony from its present troubles ? The remedy lies with the colonists themselves ; they alone can restore to Reunion some part of its ancient glory and prosperity.

Chapter II

.\rrival at Pointe des Galets — The railway — Remarkable tunnel — St. Denis — The only monkey in Reunion — English monument — Landing cattle — Reunion beef — St. Denis to Hell-Bourg. It was early in the morning of July 8, 1895, that I sighted Reunion for the first time. Three weeks before, on our course from Tamatave to Mauritius, we had tried to catch a glimpse of the island, but without success. That part of the sea was covered with clouds, and we only knew that somewhere in those clouds lay Reunion, Then had followed a pleasant time in Mauritius, and by the evening of July 7 I was on board the ' Ava,' steaming slowly out of Port Louis harbour. Early the next morning we were in sight of land, and by 7.30 we had cast anchor inside the harbour at the Pointe des Galets. The way in which a steamer enters the port is rather extraordinary.