struggling under the far from ariel weight of madame, whilst the cries of poor little Adèle were faintly heard to issue, amidst the crash of plates, dishes, and tin trays, from beneath the portly form of the corpulent doctor of the Clémentine.

The whole scene was ludicrous in the extreme. We arose more frightened than hurt, and found that the " flirting" shark had been the cause of all this commotion. Like many a gay Lothario before him, whilst nibbling at the bait, he had, in an unguarded moment, swallowed it, hook and all; the noose (in this instance not of matrimony, but that of a strong cable) had been slipped over his head, and as he was dragged in triumph along the deck, struggling in vain against his fate, a loose coil of the rope caught by a fillip from his tail, had produced the above revolution in our little party.

Although now out of his own element, and apparently completely within the power of his captors, still he was an enemy not to be despised, and the reverberating blows of his tail, as they fell heavily, and in rapid succession on the deck, easily led one to conclude what would be their effect on the persons of any of the jolly tars surrounding him, and who were already feasting in imagination on his huge carcase. At last the boat-swain, a swarthy, dark-whiskered fellow, stepped manfully forth, and, seizing his opportunity, with a single blow of a sharp axe separated the quivering tail from the now powerless trunk. The change thus effected was instantaneous: the tremulous movement of the muscles and occasional distention of the terrific jaws still showed manifest signs of life, but it was life without power-that unerring stroke appeared to have destroyed its main-spring, and paralyzed its source.

Those who had before kept aloof at a respectful distance, now approached to behold the last pangs of the monster of the deep, which was upwards of ten feet in length, and a huge prototype of the dog-fish so common on our own coasts: at every convulsive opening of the mouth he displayed the most formidable array of teeth, which, disposed in three distinct ranks, appeared to be controlled by a muscular power, as they at will were either in a recumbent or erect position, in the same manner as we behold the claws of a cat, which, when uncalled for, lie slumbering and unseen, but which dart forth like lightning to seize a victim or an enemy. Adhering tenaciously, even in death, to his back and flanks were numerous small fishes of between four and six inches in length; these, which were with difficulty detached, are called "suckers." The little "pilot-fish" was, however, not forthcom

The Echeneis Remora or sucking-fish, adheres not only to the shark, but to the bodies of other large fishes, and to the sides of ships. The ancients entertained many fabulous ideas of the extraordinary powers of this little animal; Pliny re. lating that it could stop a galley with four hundred rowers, or a ship in full sail. Buffon says, what this fish has peculiar to itself is, that the crown of the head is flat and of an oval form, with a ridge running lengthways and crossways, to this sixteen ridges, with hollow furrows between, by which structure it can fix itself to any animal or other substance, &c. The same author says of the shark, "The teeth are the most formidable part of his composition; they consist of six rows,

ing; he had abandoned his craft, and was now probably cruising on his own account.

Most of us were so intently engaged in witnessing the dissection of this piratical rover of the seas, that the increasing gloom which overspread the horizon had hitherto escaped our notice; but there was at least one watchful eye who kept a bright, though nervous look out over the elements-that was the skipper's, who startled us by the hoarse tones in which he issued the sudden and unexpected orders to take in all sail.

The air was still perfectly calm, and the ship rolled heavily on the black and heaving billows of the main, the motion of whose bosom resembled the condensed and concentrated breathing of some great monster lying in wait for his prey. The Captain's orders had no sooner issued from his lips than a crash as of ten thousand avalanches burst in deafening peals over-head; large and single drops of rain stained, at intervals, the shining decks, and a feathery line of white foam proclaimed the approach of the squall, which scarcely gave us time to secure our upper gear as we cowering ran before its furious blast. The rain now descended as if the very sluice gates of heaven were opened; this probably in some measure kept down the rising billows, but far as eye could stretch through the drifting torrents and salt spray, the broad surface of the deep presented an universal appearance of white and bubbling foam, through which we were now madly flying under a close-reefed fore-sail; and as the ricketty old Clémentine quivered again to her very centre even under this scanty show of canvas, our only remaining consolation, as we turned in for the night, was that of having plenty of sea room, on which to run our headlong race with the angry children of Æolus, whose wrath we had,-by our protracted delay on the coast, so rashly and inadvertently provoked.

Next morning, after making my toilet as well as the violent motion of the vessel and the "dead-light" state of my cabin would admit of, I went on deck to ascertain the condition of affairs, which still bore a most gloomy aspect. We were yet under scanty canvas, and still without our upper sticks, scudding before the gale, which, although partially decreased, had so ruffled the bosom of the deep, that the straining of the old ship, as she painfully laboured over the mountain billows, fearfully increased the water in the hold, and it was impossible any longer to conceal that she was in a decidedly leaky state; the wätäer pomps were in constant requisition, and the skipper, "bad luck to him," looked the very picture of despair. But to shorten a long tale: we fled before the enemy until he gave up the pursuit, and left us somewhere very near the Nicobar Islands, and then painfully retracing the way we had lost, until, just as we hailed with delight a distant view of the perfumed shores of Ceylon, another broadside from the monsoon sent us once more flying across the Bay, when the Captain--au désespoir, from the amounting to 144 in number, hard, sharp-pointed, and wedge-like in their form; and the creature is possessed of the singular power of erecting or depressing them at pleasure."

state of the weather, that of his gallant craft, and of the commissariat department, which now began to fail at last made up his mind to take refuge at the Mauritius, where we arrived about the middle of July, after thus assiduously ploughing the Bay of Bengal for upwards of three months in a cranky old hulk, and during the utmost severity of the south-west monsoon..

So much for the Clémentine!* And as I stepped ashore at Port Louis I registered a vow in heaven never again to tread her decks, nor to sail if possible under any other colours save the British union Jack.

THE sun with its last rays was gilding the lofty peak of the Peterbotte Mountain as we came to an anchor at the floating bellbuoy in the harbour of Port Louis. To every one on board it was a glad moment, and more particularly so to me, as I once more beheld Old England's proud banner floating in the breeze; and my ears were rejoiced by the well-known sound of the "retreat," its echoes faintly dying away on the still waters of the bay. It was not possible to get ashore that night, but the short twilight, fast verging into darkness, still beheld me on deck feasting my eyes with the enlivening scene: and the long remembered "tattoo" had subsided into silence, and the gay landscape had been some time veiled in darknes, ere, leaving the poop, I descended to my cot, not to sleep, but to pass a restless night in the pleasing anticipation of being next day once more amongst my fellow-countrymen.

The "mountain of night," as we say in the East, weighed heavily during the hours of darkness, which to an impatient feeling seemed almost an age;-at last, like some heavy fog-bank, it fled at the magic touch of the sun: I then lost no time in getting ashore, and was soon hastily traversing the streets of Port Louis, my first destination being, of course, the "Barracks," I here found quartered the 29th, 99th, and 87th Regiments: amongst which

* On undergoing some very necessary repairs at the Mauritius, she returned to Columbo and the Malabar coast, and reached Bordeaux, (as the author was afterwards informed,) after a passage of only fourteen months from Calcutta, the old ship in a sad state, and her crew eaten up with scurvy!

corps I found several old friends, and was instantly overwhelmed with hospitable offers, that I gladly accepted, and which were kindly continued during the eight or ten days I remained in the Island.

As a quarter, the Mauritius appeared to be generally liked: although within the Tropics, the climate is uncommonly temperate and healthy, the colonial allowances good, and until the late disturbances amongst the French inhabitants, brought on by the Revolution of 1830,-which had caused rather a bad feeling against the military, the society was described as having been pleasant, and on the most friendly footing. This bad feeling was of late increased by the arrival of Mr. Jeremie, who had been sent out by the British government to rectify many abuses which were prevalent in the colony, and, amongst other things, to cause some amelioration in the state of the slaves. Both the Envoy and his mission were considered in so unpopular a light, that on one or two occasions violence had been used against him by the French colonists, and the military had been obliged to act in his defence.

All this had caused a general coolness to arise, put a stop to the friendly intercourse which previously existed, and had frozen the genial smiles of the interesting and in many instances fair and beautiful Creoles, which were wont of yore to beam on the scarletcoated sons of Mars, oft igniting flames in their dauntless breasts requiring on many occasions, to be extinguished by the cooling dose of matrimony.*

The Sportsman had likewise the wherewithal to keep rust and dust from off his fowling piece-perhaps not on so large a scale as in the plains of Hindostan or the wilds at the Cape; yet, although he might not be here able to bag royal tigers, and eat elephant steaks for breakfast,-still, a short sail of a few days to the Island of Rodriguez would enable him to have a slice of beef steak from off the numerous wild bullocks with which that isolated spot is said to abound: with a little fagging on the hills of Maurice itself he might stalk his deer-shoot (not spear) his wild hog; and there was, moreover, to be had a tolerable sprinkling of quail and Guineafowl, with hares and partridges in abundance. If to this be added good boating, sea-fishing and racing, it will be allowed by the votary of Nimrod, that the Isle of France as a quarter, is a place not to be sneezed at.

Like its sister jim of the sea, green Erin, this favoured "Eastern Isle" is also under the protection of St. Patrick, as far as goes a total exemption from the presence of snakes, reptiles, and other creeping things. Even that most useful of the latter class of animals, the "leech," will not, it is averred, live in its waters; and thousands are every year imported from India, and kept alive during the voyage, by being rolled up in balls made of kneaded and moistened clay.

Many of our officers offered these sacrifices at the altar of Hymen, and the interesting Creoles with whom they thus indissolubly linked their fate, are said, in most cases, to have made truly exemplary wives.

3

In this small green oasis-a mere speck on the world of waters in the midst of the vast Indian and Pacific Oceans are to be met with people indiscriminately thrown together from every part of the world, although at its discovery by the Dutch in the fifteenth century, it was, I believe, perfectly uninhabited by either man or beast. At the present day, the swarthy Arab, the dark Indian Mussulman, the darker Bengal and Malabar Cooly, the black Madagascan, the yellow Malay, the sallow French Creole, and the red and jolly round phiz of Old England, are here all commingled in the most animated and pleasing variety.

The animal world appears also to consist entirely of extraneous importations-bullocks from Madagascar, sheep from Africa, mules from South America, horses from India and the Cape, ponies from Java;-many of the very birds of the air are said not to be aboriginal; and I have heard that the minah was imported from India to destroy the numerous caterpillars which infested the Island, and did so much good by exterminating immense numbers of this mischievous insect, that an edict was passed to protect the lives of these birds.

The mules, which are generally brought from Rio Janeiro, are magnificent animals, and the Cape horses large, well shaped, and very good, fetching usually about 500 rupees, or nearly treble their Zoriginal price.

As I never for a moment entertained the idea of trying a second time my fortunes on board the Clémentine, I endeavoured to make the skipper disgorge some part of the fifteen hundred rupees passage-money; but I might as well have tried to draw water from a flint as cash from the Frenchman-he was "au désespoir" *"désolé”—but he could not act without his partner; hoped I would not leave the ship, but firmly clenched his fist on the rupees. Seeing I could get nothing out of the "crappo," I sent him to the devil, and took my passage for Liverpool on board a little barque of a couple of hundred tons, heavily laden with sugar, rejoicing in the name of the Iris, and commanded by Captain Mackwood, who "proved to be a capital fellow, and a considerably better seaman than my late skipper of wätäer pomp celebrity.

Immortal shade of St. Pierre! I blush whilst I avow it; but the sad truth must out-that I was ten full days on the scene immortalized by thy pen, and never once made a pilgrimage to the tomb of the poetic children of thy imagination-the resting-place of Paul and Virginia! Neither did my curiosity take me to the "Trou de Fanfaron," the watery mirror in which the famous Du Perrel used to see the future so legibly written, as to be able to foretell, days before their arrival, the approach of vessels bound for the Mauritius.

He used daily, with fishing-rod in hand, to take his station near this pool, on the margin of the sea; and it is related that by intently contemplating its surface, he could distinctly behold, as if in a mir

The minah is a species of starling very common in India, where it is often encaged and taught to repeat words and sentences.