Grand tours: Pigeons in the roof, ducks under the bed

Adventures in literature. This week, Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre stays in eccentric lodgings on Mauritius

The 18th-century novelist Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre spent more than two years in the French colony of Ile de France (now Mauritius) writing "Paul et Virginie". This story of adolescent love set in the Indian Ocean was an instant success, but his travelogue, "Voyage à L'Ile de France", among the earliest examples of a walking guide, has endured as one of the era's most explicit accounts of colonial society. Here, Saint-Pierre depicts the realities of plantation life and slavery with as much indignation as he has appreciation of Mauritius's beauty.

At two in the afternoon I left, taking care how I walked. I was going to cross more than twenty leagues of the island that were deserted, with only two plantations. This is where the runaway slaves hide. I forbade my men to disperse; even my dog which always went ahead, had to follow a few paces behind me; at the slightest sound he would lift his ears and stop: he could smell if there were men about. We walked thus in good order following the shore, which forms many pretty bays. On the left we skirted woods where the most profound solitude reigns. They back on to a low chain of mountains whose summit we could see: this land is not very good. We saw polché trees, imported from India, and further evidence that man had settled here before. I had taken the precaution of bringing some bottles of water and I was right, as all the streams here had dried out.

I was worried about my black's wound, which bled profusely; I walked slowly, and we stopped at four o'clock. As night was approaching, I did not want to walk round the Morne, so I took a short cut through a wood across the isthmus joining the two mountains. This isthmus is nothing more than a small hill. Standing on this hillock, I met a black belonging to M. Le Normand, whose house I was on my way down to, and which was about a quarter of a league away. This man went ahead while I stopped and looked with delight at the prospect of the two seas. A house built in this place would be in a charming situation; but there is no water. As I walked down the hill, a black ran up to me with a jug of cool fresh water and announced that I was awaited at the house. I arrived. It was a long hut in the form of a palisade, covered with latan leaves. The whole plantation consisted of eight slaves, with nine members of the family: master and mistress, five children, a young cousin and a friend. The husband was away. That is what I learned as I entered.

The whole house was a single room; in the middle, a kitchen; at one end, the stores and the bedding of the servants; at the other end, the matrimonial bed, covered with a bedspread on which a hen was brooding its eggs; under the bed, ducks; pigeons in the leaves of the roof, and three huge dogs at the door. On the wall all the instruments used in the home and in the fields were hanging on hooks. I was truly shocked to find a very pretty woman in this miserable dwelling. She was French, born into a good family, as was her husband. They had come here several years before, to seek their fortune; they had abandoned their relations, their friends, their country to spend their days in a wild place, where one saw only the sea and the frightening cliffs of the Morne Brabant. But the air of contentment and the good nature of this young mother of a family seemed to make all who got close to her happy. She was breastfeeding one of her infants; the four others stood round her, playful and content.

When night fell, we were served all that this house could offer in the most proper way possible. Dinner was extremely agreeable. I did not tire of watching the pigeons flying around the table, the goats playing with the children and so many animals mingling around this charming family. Their peaceful games, the seclusion of the place, the noise of the sea, gave me an image of the early times when Noah's children, on first touching new land, could still share their roof, table and bed with the gentle and affectionate animals.

After dinner I was led to bed in a wooden hut that had just been built some two hundred paces away. The door had still not been hung and I closed the gap with recently cut planks. I loaded my weapons, as this place is surrounded by runaway blacks. A few years back, 40 maroons escaped to the Morne where they planted their food. They were attacked and rather than surrender threw themselves into the sea.

Readers can buy copies of "Journey to Mauritius", by Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, (Signal Books, £12.99) for the special price of £11 including free p&p (UK only) by calling 01865 724856

Follow in the footsteps

Sugar and sand

The island of Mauritius is almost entirely surrounded by one of the largest coral reefs in the world. Long white beaches stretch into warm lagoon waters, sheltered by this huge belt of coral. At the centre of the island, vast volcanic sculptures and mountain ridges are surrounded by forests and seas of sugar cane.

Similarly diverse, the population has been influenced by waves of migrants from Africa, China, Europe and India. The main religion is Hindu, although there are also practising Christians and Muslims on the island. The official language is English, but French is widely spoken, too.

The capital, Port Louis, on the west coast of the island, contains some interesting examples of colonial architecture. Curepipe is the island's main urban centre these days, and while it lacks the character of Port Louis, it has good bars and restaurants.

Dead as a dodo

The dodo inhabited Mauritius up until the late 17th century. Their numbers decreased dramatically with the arrival of Portuguese spice traders and sailors who discovered that the winged but flightless bird was easy to hunt. The dodo became extinct not long after the island was colonised by the Dutch in 1644. Rats brought over on the Dutch ships are believed to have prevented the few remaining creatures from reproducing. The dodo is now a symbol of the potential harm man can inflict on the environment.

Getting there

The weather in Mauritius is warm and dry from May to October and hot and wet from November to April. Expressions Holidays (020-7435 8484; www.expressionsholidays.co.uk) offers a 14-night package from £1,590 per person, based on two sharing, including return flights, half-board accommodation at Les Pavillons and taxi transfers.

Trailfinders (020-7938 3939; www.trailfinders.com) offers a 14-day package including return flights and half-board accommodation at the Sugar Beach Resort from £2,146 per person, based on two sharing. Alternatively, the same package at Le St Geran hotel costs from £4,701 per person, based on two sharing. Both offers apply from 4 January to 31 March.

Tom Mackenzie