COASTS OF AUSTRALIA. 113 ing. The principal attention of the/u?/? ap- 1?1. peared to be given to the cultivation of the mugs, s?'. ?/.' cane and maize, both of which had begun to produce an abundant return to the planters; the mnnihot is also generally cultivated: but the dreadftd effects of the hurricanes,. to whi& this island is exposed? render property of so preca- rious and doubtful a tenure, that nothing is se- cure until the season for these destructive visi- tations is over; they last [from the beg/nn/ng of December to the end of April, and generally occur about the full of the moon, being. inva- riably preceded by an unsteady motion of the mercury in the barometer. They are not always so violent as to be termed hurricanes: the last experienced before our visit, was merely a "coup & vent," by which very little damage was sus- ta/ned *. The town of Port Louis, which is at the north. west, or leeward, side of the island, is built at the extremity of an amphitheatre of low land, . backed in by a high and precipitous range, upon �In the month of January, 18?, this unfortunate id?nd a?aln visited and laid wa?tz by �tremendous hurtlease tht did very eondderable damage, and hm in a great measure destroyed the prosperous state which the idand wa? beginning to"arrive ?t? from the previous 1on?'absence of this dreadful visitation. VOL. II. I
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