<B>By Nicholas RAINER</B>

It?s probably one of the most oft-quoted phrases about Mauritius. For generations, it has been lovingly murmured by Mauritians ? both here and abroad ? to convey the peerless beauty of their island. It has also been used unceremoniously to hawk a plethora of products ranging from rum to hotels. I refer, of course, to Mark Twain?s description of Mauritius in his wonderfully evocative book, ?Following the Equator: A journey around the world?

?You gather the idea that Mauritius was made first, and then heaven; and that heaven was copied after Mauritius?, goes the paean that any Mauritian would recognize.

I hate to burst the collective bubble but someone has to set the record straight: the author?s celebrated sentence has been grossly and spuriously misused. He did indeed write those words but over the years some have deemed it fit to truncate the beginning of the phrase, the part that confers upon it its relevance and irony.

Mark Twain is best known for having penned "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", an American literary classic. "Following the Equator" is the great satirist?s fascinating account of his 1895-1896 lecture tour, which took him around the world, from Hawaii to Australia, India to South Africa, and, of course, Mauritius.

In this absorbing travel book, Mark Twain keeps his tongue firmly in his cheek as he blithely savages the pomp and protocol of the colonial officials, soberly records the living conditions and traditions of the people he encounters along the way, and vividly describes the landscapes and seascapes he travels through.

His ship arrived in Mauritius on April 15, 1896. His first impressions of the place are delightful: ?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?, ?Island under French control ? which means a community which depends upon quarantines, not sanitation, for its health?, and ?Went ashore in the forenoon at Port Louis, a little town, but with the largest variety of nationalities and complexions we have encountered yet?.

?This is the only country in the world where the stranger is not asked ?How do you like this place?? This is indeed a large distinction. Here the citizen does the talking about the country himself; the stranger is not asked to help. You get all sorts of information? begins the relevant paragraph.

And here comes the fateful phrase, ?From one citizen you gather idea that Mauritius was made first, and then heaven; and that heaven was copied after Mauritius.? What a monumental difference three small words can make!

This is not to say that the words as we have come to know them don?t contain an element of truth, for, insofar as we believe them, they are indeed true. But we do ourselves a great disservice by manipulating Twain?s observations. Surely the pride demonstrated by a local is more eminently relevant as the abbreviated musings of a great writer? Are we so desperate to inflate our sense of our worth? Any Mauritian will tell you that Mauritius is the most beautiful country in the world. We needn?t have recourse to intellectual dishonesty to prove it.

If he were alive to comment on the subterfuge, this great social critic would probably recite one of his Pudd?nhead Maxims,

?The main difference between a cat and a lie is that a cat only has nine lives". You can download "Following the Equator" free at www.gutenberg.org