P A U L AND V I R G I N I A . 135
Port, on the southeastern side of the island, is sufficiently oapacious, and is
more convenient for shipping the sugar, of which large quantities are grown
in the neighborhood; hut apart from the intricacies of its entrance, it is
open to the southeast, from which quarter the hurricanes blow most
furiously.
It is not to he supposed that, among those who read at all, there are
many who are unacquainted with the beautiful story of Paul and Virginia,
by Bernardin St. Pierre. The accomplished author was an officer of the
garrison of Mauritius in 1744, and at that time a melancholy catastrophe,
which happened on one of the coral reefs surrounding the island, furnished a
basis of facts on which he reared his interesting fiction.
One is rather reluctant to destroy the illusion produced by the romantic
narrative of St. Pierre; but, in sober truth, he was indebted to his imagination
for the pioture of the storm, and the brave and generous Paul is but a
myth. The facts are these: On the night of the 18th of August, 1744,
the French ship St. G-dvan was wrecked on one of the reefs on the northeastern
coast of the island. On board the ship were two young ladies, by
name Mallet and Caillon, (who were returning as passengers from France,
whither they had been sent for education,) both of whom were lost. The
depositions taken at the time by the French officials, and from which these
facts are gathered, state that Mademoiselle Caillon was last seen upon the
top-gallant forecastle of the wrecked vessel, with a gentleman, Monsieur
Longchamps de Montendre, who was at the time endeavoring to persuade
her to trust herself to his efforts to save her. To enable him, however, to
accomplish the object, it was necessary for her to disencumber herself of
some portion of her clothing, and this, from a sense of modesty, she declined
doing, and so perished with Monsieur Montendre and the larger part of the
crew of the ill-fated vessel. I t was conjectured that Monsieur Montendre
was the lover of Mademoiselle Caillon, as, after lowering himself down the
ship’s side to throw himself into the sea, he returned and earnestly endeavored
to prevail on the young lady to leave the vessel with him, and on her
refusal would not again leave her.
Mademoiselle Mallet was on the quarter deck with Monsieur de Peramont,
who never left her for a moment. On these facts as a basis St. Pierre framed
his story. The celebrity given to it has always awakened the interest of
strangers visiting the island, who have naturally desired to look upon scenes
consecrated by the pen of genius, and associated in their minds with incidents
which, if not literally true, have at least deeply touched their sensibilities.
The officers of the ship were, therefore, glad to land, and among
other objects visited, strange to say, they were conducted to what the
islanders are pleased to call the graves of Paul and Virginia. The history of
these resting places of the imaginary dead is th is: An eccentric French
gentleman having a country residence about eight miles from St. Louis, and