Beachcomber Magazine 04

announced his marriage, a girl friend warned: “ You’re joining the Borgias! ” He struggled mightily and obstinately to get the Maison up and running again and turn it into a kind of family, creole museum-restaurant, an en- deavour which proved to be a barely believable saga that he recounts in an excited rush of words tempered by a distinguished accent. “ I’m afraid I might offend the writer but there are so many juicy stories that even he doesn’t know. ” Some of which tell of the many fortunes that were lost and found. The first Le Clézio in Mauritius, François Alexis, a pirate shipowner, lost his boat and fortune which his son, Alexis Jules Eugène, a skilled notary, rebuilt to the extent that he was able to purchase the Eurêka Estate in 1850. His sons were the sugar potentates, Sir Eugène and Sir Henry Le Clézio, two brothers who started out as allies then became enemies, masters of the colony that was British by then, with the first man appointed Chief Justice and the 11 - 12. The Mon Désert-Alma sugar estate, sold in 2007, became Vivéa Park , a prestigious business park, built around the old industrial chimney. 11 - 12. Le domaine sucrier Mon Désert-Alma , vendu en 2007, est devenu le Vivéa Park , un centre d’affaires très moderne, construit autour de l’ancienne cheminée de l’usine sucrière. 11 12 