Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 2.djvu/438

1805.
September.

than six miles; the descent is therefore rapid, and is rendered more so from three-fourths of the space being flat, low land; in comparison with Le Tamarin, Vacouas is in fact an irregular plain upon the top of the mountains, to which there is almost no other access than by making a circuit of four or five miles round by the lower part of Wilhems Plains. Three rugged peaks called the Trois Mamelles, and another, the Montagne du Rempart, all of them conspicuous at sea, are the highest points of a ridge somewhat elevated above this irregular plain, and bounding it to the westward; arid the road forming the ordinary communication between the high and low land passes round them. My retreat, which very appropriately to the circumstances of my situation bore the name of The Refuge, lay two or three miles to the south-east of the Trois Mamelles.

The principal rivers in the neighbourhood are the R. du Tamarin and the R. du Rempart, each branching into two principal arms; these collect all the smaller streams in this portion of the island, and arriving by different routes at the same point, make their junction at the head of the Baye du Tamarin, where their waters are discharged into the sea. In wet weather these rivers run with great force, hut in ordinary times they do not contain much water; and their smaller branches are mostly dried up in October and November. Both arms of the R. du Rempart take their rise between one and two miles to the S. by E. of the Refuge, and within half a mile of the Mare aux Vacouas, from which it is thought their sources are derived; the western arm bears the name of R. des Papayes, probably from

 

mometer stands at 70° in both places; and therefore the approximate elevation of Vacouas above M. Pitot's house, should be 187¼ toises, or in French feet, - - 11 23 Correction for excess of thermometers above 70°, - - - + 25 Supposed elevation of M. Pitot's house above the sea, - - +40 Elevation of Vacouas in French feet, - 1 188 The English foot being to the French, as 12 is to 12,816, the height of Vacouas above the level of the sea should be nearly 1269 English feet.