Ils étaient de passage. Leurs écrits sont restés. C?est à travers les yeux de six auteurs que «Travellers» nous invite à visiter Maurice. Ce «classic journals & accounts of travellers to Mauritiu» est publié ces jours-ci par Christian le Comte.

Balayant les diverses périodes de colonisation, les mentalités, le sens de l?humour et les intérêts de chacun, ce petit ouvrage rajuste Maurice sur la carte du monde. But de l?éditeur : mettre cette littérature de voyage à la portée du plus grand nombre. D?où son choix, après avoir publié des livres rares et luxueux, de sortir ce petit format en blanc et noir.

A aucun moment, ne nous laisse-t-on oublier que ce sont des Européens ? ou un Américain ? dans le cas de Mark Twain qui parlent. Leur regard sur Maurice est donc façonné par leur vécu, leur société.

Classés par ordre chronologique, les récits ou extraits de carnets de voyage nous promènent d?abord dans les forêts que voit François Leguat (1638 ? 1735). C?est un Huguenot obligé de fuir la France à cause de sa religion. A son arrivée à Maurice, il sera arrêté et mis en détention pendant plus de trois ans.

Dans ce Mauritius des premiers temps ? celui des Hollandais ? c?est la nature qui le frappe. Au détour d?une observation, il raconte comment, «One day as I was coming through a wood in my return from hunting, I chanced to break off a little branch of it, and without making any reflection, or having heard of this tree, I put a little bit of it in my mouth.

I threw it away that instant without swallowing my spittle, and yet I thought I should have died of it. For twenty four hours together, it seemed to me as if somebody was throttling me, and my throat was so swelled, I could hardly breathe».

Dans la sphère du naturel, mais dans un registre nettement plus scientifique, voici Charles Darwin. Naturaliste qui arriva à Maurice en avril 1836. Maurice est une étape de son tour du monde. Ce sont les prémices qui lui permettront de développer sa théorie de l?évolution. Tout l?intéresse. Des «various races of men walking in the street afford the most interesting spectacle in Port-Louis. Convicts from India are banished here for life?» à «the scenery may be described as intermediate in character between that of the Galapagos and of Tahiti».

L?ouvrage n?oublie pas le navigateur Matthew Flinders. L?extrait de Voyage to Tera Australis reproduit l?époque de son séjour au Garden Prison. Car il faut savoir que le navigateur, hydrographe et explorateur fut arrêté par le gouverneur Decaen et incarcéré pendant six ans et demi. Travellers reprend également deux lettres de Voyage to the Isle de France, signé Bernardin de Saint-Pierre. Un extrait de Sub-tropical rambles in the land of aphanapteryx de Nicholas Pike. Avant de s?achever sur le récit piquant, cynique mais non moins divertissant de Mark Twain, dans Following the Equator.

*disponible en librairie à Rs 150

EXTRAIT

> Heavenly ?

(?) « You wouldn?t expect a person to be proud of being a Mauritian, now would you ? But it is so. The most of them have never been out of the island, and haven?t read much or studied much, and they all think the world consists of three principal countries ? Judaea, France, and Mauritius; so they are very proud of belonging to one of the three grand divisions of the globe. They think that Russia and Germany are in England, and that England does not amount to much. They have heard vaguely about the United States and the Equator, but they think both of them are monarchies. They think Mount Pieter Both is the highest mountain in the world, and if you show one of them a picture of Milan cathedral he will swell up with satisfaction and say that the idea of that jungle of spires was stolen form the forest of peg-tops and toothpicks that makes the roofs of Curepipe look so fine and prickly.

"There is not much trade in books. The newspapers educate and entertain the people. Mainly the latter. They have two pages of large-print reading ? matter ? one of them English, the other French. The English page is a translation of the French one. The typography is super ? extra primitive : in this quality it has not its equal anywhere. There is no proof-reader now; he is dead.?

"Where do they get matter to fill up a page in this little island lost in the wastes of the Indian Ocean ? Oh, Madagascar. They discuss Madagascar and France. That is the bulk. Then they chock up the rest with advice to the Government. Also slur upon the English administration. The papers are all owned and edited by creoles ? French.?

"The language of the country is French. Everybody speaks it ? has to. You have to know French particularly mongrel French, the patois spoken by Tom, Dick, and Harry of the multiform complexions ? or you can?t get along ??

Mark Twain, ?Following the Equator?