Beete Jukes.)

LA POUCE MOUNTAIN.

On a former occasion I had made an excursion to the summit of La Pouce, a
remarkable knob-like peak on the sharp crateriform ridge behind Port
Louis. Following a path, leading from the town directly to Wilhelm's
Plains, one crosses a small stream and skirts the steep face of the hill
over rough ground covered with burnt up grass, and straggling bushes. To
this succeeds a region of evergreens (among which the wild mango is the
prevailing tree) where a species of monkey introduced many years ago into
the island has taken up its abode. I saw none, however, but occasionally
heard their chattering as they hurried along among the bushes. Where the
path crosses the ridge, it widens out into a succession of rounded
eminences, with the summit of La Pouce rising suddenly from its centre in
a thumb-like form. Its base is watered by a small gushing rill, and the
vegetation now is very luxuriant from the continual supply of moisture.
The most striking plants are the tree-ferns (Cyathea excelsa and C.
bourbonica) some of which attain a height of from fifteen to twenty feet.
From the eastern margin of the ridge the view is very fine; a sloping
precipice, several hundred feet in height, covered with stunted bushes,
overlooks Wilhelm's Plains, nearly all under cultivation and studded with
sugar plantations. The soil, when newly turned up, appeared of a dull red
colour. Numbers of tropic birds were flying along the face of the cliff
where they probably breed. Eight species of land shells were picked up
here, either creeping up the grass or under stones and logs; they were of
the genera Caracolla, Helix, and Pupa.

A narrow path, difficult to find among the long grass, leads to the
summit of the mountain, 2600 feet above the level of the sea. The view