RODRIGUEZ an island in the Indian Ocean in 19° 41' S. lat. and 63° 23' E. long., which, after the Seychelles, forms since 1814 the most important dependency of the British colony of Mauritius, from which it is distant 344 nautical miles. It is the easternmost of all the islands considered as belonging to Africa. "With a length of 13 miles east and west and a breadth of 3 to 6 north and south it has an area estimated at 42∣ square miles. On all sides it is surrounded by a coral reef, which on the north and south forms a large flat area partly dry at low water. The island proper was long believed to consist of granite overlaid with limestone and other modern formations, and thus it was regarded as a striking exception to the rule that all mid-ocean islands are of volcanic origin, and served in the hands of Peschel and others as a proof of the former existence in the Indian Ocean of the hypothetical continent of Lemuria. The investigations of the Transit of Venus Expedition have shown that it is built up of “doleritic lavas which have been poured out at a considerable number of orifices,” now difficult to identify, at successive periods of uncertain date. The lavas are rich in olivine. In some places, as in the Cascade Valley, the disintegration of the rocks has produced beds of earthy clays varying in colour from a dull brick red to a liver brown, and forming a prominent feature in the landscape. A central ridge of considerable elevation (Grande Montagne, 1140 feet) runs through the island from east to west, sending off a variety of spurs (Le Piton, 1160 feet). Deep-cut river valleys, often interrupted by cascades, run down in all directions to the sea. On the south-west there is a large plain of coralline limestone, remarkable for the caves of all sizes (some ...beautifully stalactitic) with which it is riddled.
Along the north and west coast there are on the reef a number of islands of volcanic origin; those on the southeast are all of coralline limestone or sand. There are only two passages through the reef available for large vessels, —these leading respectively to Port Mathurin and to Port South-East. Rodriguez is comparatively arid; and the streams are as short-lived for the most part as they are beautiful. The climate is like that of Mauritius, but more subject to hurricanes during the north-west monsoon (November to April).
About 1845 the population of Rodriguez was about 250 persons. The original nucleus consisted of slaves from Mauritius, and recruits arrived from Madagascar and the African continent. By 1871 they had increased to 1108 and by 1881 to 1436. The island is governed by a civil commissioner, who is also a police magistrate. Capitalists from Mauritius are beginning to pay attention to the natural advantages of the island. A carriage road has been constructed from Mathurin to Gabriel, the only other village, where the Roman Catholic priests have their chapel and residence.
When originally discovered and down into the 17th century Rodriguez was clothed with fine timber trees; but goats, cattle, and bush-fires have combined to destroy the great bulk of the old vegetation, and the indigenous plants have in many cases been ousted by intrusive foreigners. When the island was in French possession many settlers cultivated large estates, and fortunes were realized; but with the liberation of the slaves the area of cultivation decreased, and it is now of very limited extent. The staple crop is the sweet potato; and manioc, maize, millet, and rice grow well, but are not much cultivated. Wheat is seldom seen, mainly because of the parakeets and the Java sparrows. Beans (Fhaseolus lunatus'), lentils, gram (C⅛cer «rieiinwn),dholl (Cajaηus indicus), and ground-nuts are all grown to a certain extent in spite of the ravages of the rats (Balfour). Mangoes, bananas, guavas, pine-apples, custard-apples, and especially oranges, citrons, and limes, are the fruits that flourish best. Of the timber trees the most common are Elaeoden-dron orientale, much used in carpentry and for pirogues, and Latania Verschaffelti (Leguat’s plantane). At least two species of screw-pine {Paηdanus heteroearpus, Balf. fil. and Ρ. teηuifolius) occur freely throughout the island. The total number of known species, according to Professor I. B. Balfour, is 470, belonging to 8δ families and 293 genera; and of these 297 are phanerogamous and 173 cryptogamous. The families represented by the greatest number of species are Gramineae {21 indigenous, 6 introduced), Leguminosae (14 ind., 15 intr.), Convolvulaeeae (11 ind., 4 intr.), Malveoeeae (9 ind.), Rubiaceae (8 ind.), Cyperaceae (8 ind.), Euphorbiaceae (8 ind.), Liliaeeae (6 ind. ), Compositae (5 ind., 6 intr. ). Μathurina pcndulifiora ( Tur-neraceae} is interesting, as its nearest congener is in Central America, and the family has not hitherto been found in the Mascarenes. Of 33 species of mosses 17 are peculiar. Variability of species and heterophylly are characteristic of the flora to quite an unusual degree. To the naturalist Rodriguez is as interesting as it is to the botanist. At present the only indigenous mammal is a species of fruit-eating bat (Pteropus rodericensis'), and the introduced species are such familiar creatures as the pig, rabbit, rat, mouse, &c.; but down to a recent period the island was the home of a very large land-tortoise ( Testudo Vοsmaeri or rodericensis), and its limestone caves have yielded a large number of skeletons of the dodo-like solitaire Hezophaps solitaries), which still built its mound-like nest in the island in the close of the 17th century, but is now extinct (see vol. iii. p. 732). Of indigenous birds 13 species have been registered. The guinea-fowl (introduced) has become exceedingly abundant, partly owing to a protective game-law; and a francolin {F. ponticerianus), popularly a “partridge,” is also common. The marine fish-fauna does not differ from that of Mauritius, and the freshwater species, with the exception of Mugil rodericensis and Myxus caecuticus, are common to all the Mascarenes. Thirty-five species of crustaceans are known. The insects (probably very imperfectly registered) comprise 60 species of Coleoptera, 15 Hymxno-ρtera, 21 Lepidoptera, 15 Orthoptera, and 20 Hemiptera. Forty-nine species of coral have been collected, showing a close affinity to those of Mauritius, Madagascar, and the Seychelles.
Rodriguez or Diego Ruy’s Island was discovered by the Portuguese in 1645. In 1690 Duquesne prevailed on the Dutch Government to send a body of French refugees to the Island of Bourbon, at that time, he believed, abandoned by the French authorities. As the refugees, however, found the French in possession they proceeded to Rodriguez, and there eight of their number were landed on 30th April 1691 with a promise that they should be visited by their compatriots within two years. The two years were spent without misadventure, but, instead of waiting for the arrival of their friends, the seven colonists (for one had meanwhile died) rashly left the island on 8th May 1693 and made their way to Mauritius, where they were treated with great cruelty by the governor. The account of the enterprise left us by Francis Leguat— Voyages et Aventures (London, 1708), or, as it is called in the English translation, A New Voyage to the East Indies (London, 1708)—is a most garrulous and amusing narrative, and was for a long time almost the only source of information about Rodriguez. His description of the solitaire is of course unique.
See Charles Grant, Hist, of Mauritius and the Neighbouring Islands, 1801; Higgin, in Jour. KG. Soc., London, 1849; the Reports of the results of the Transit of Venus Expedition, 1874-75, published as an extra volume of The Philosophical Transact ions (clxviii.), London 1879 (Botany, by I. B. Balfour; Petrology, by N. S. Maskelyne, &c.); Behm, in Peterrnann's Mittheilungen, 1880; Colonial Office List, 1884, 1885.
[1,324 words — estimated reading time: 8 minutes]