CHARLES.  “I shall feel greatly obliged if Mr. Stanley will take the helm, and steer us across the Indian Ocean; for there are such hundreds, I might almost say thousands, of islands, that I feel convinced I shall run you all ashore, where none of you are disposed to go.”

MR. STANLEY.  “Come, then, I will relieve you for a while, because it would be most unpleasantly awkward for the ladies to be cast ashore on a desert island; and equally so on an inhabited one, if they possessed no letters of introduction to the natives.

“In crossing the Indian Ocean, we must sail by a great many islands; but I do not think it will be prudent to go ashore until we arrive at the Isle of Bourbon, and there we can pass a few days very comfortably before we sail for Madagascar.”

EMMA.  “Oh, yes!  Bourbon is quite a civilized island.  It belongs to the French, does it not, mamma?”

MRS. WILTON.  “Yes, my dear; but the discovery was not theirs.  Mascarenhas, a Portuguese navigator, claims the credit.  He discovered it in 1545, and it bore his name until the French took possession of it in the next century.  When they first occupied it, the sides of the mountains were covered with forests, which reached even to the shores.  The whole of the lower lands have since been cleared; but the centre of this island is still covered with its primitive vegetation, which affords forty-one different species of woods serviceable for arts and manufactures.  The coasts abound with fish and large turtles, and furnish also coral and ambergris.  Bourbon contains a college, and numerous schools, sixteen churches, two hospitals, two establishments for the relief of the poor, and two prisons.”

MR. BARRAUD.  “Why are we to take no notice of the fine colony of Mauritius, or Isle of France?  It is quite as large as Bourbon:  moreover it is a British possession.”

MR. STANLEY.  “I see no just cause or impediment why we should not land there.  Let us see, what is its size?”

CHARLES.  “Its circumference is about 140 miles.  Port Louis is its principal town, and is said to contain 30,000 inhabitants; it has an excellent harbor, capable of containing 50 large vessels; and it is well protected by nature from the violence of the weather, and from the attacks of enemies, by strong fortifications.”

GEORGE.  “Now to Madagascar.  I am longing to go there; for I know nothing about either country or people.”

MRS. WILTON.  “Madagascar is a large and beautiful island, with mountains, valleys, lakes and streams, diversifying its whole extent.  It is between 800 and 900 miles long, and between 200 and 300 broad.  The metals dug here, are gold, silver, copper, steel, and iron; and a great variety of precious stones are found in the rivers and brooks of Madagascar.  Civet is plentiful, and is taken from the civet cat; and the natives obtain musk from the crocodile, and call it tartave.  Tananarievo, the capital, stands on the summit of a lofty hill, and commands an extensive prospect of the surrounding country.  The principal houses are of wood, and the palace of the king is about the centre of the town, enclosed in a high palisading of strong poles.”