April 15 Wednesday – At 2 a.m. the S.S. Wardha arrived and anchored off Port Louis. Sam wrote:

Rugged clusters of crags and peaks, green to their summits; from their bases to the sea a green plain with just tilt enough to it to make the water drain off. I believe it is in 56° E. and 22° S. — a hot tropical country. The green plain has an inviting look; has scattered dwellings nestling among the greenery. Some of the sentimental adventure of Paul and Virginia.

Island under French control — which means a community which depends on quarantines, not sanitation, for its health [FE ch LXII 617].

Parsons notes that the Port Louis temperatures at that time were 65 to 82 degrees in the shade and 128 to 146 in the sun, which made Sam prefer the mountain village of Curepipe [“Traveler in S.A.” 3].