The second highest mountain in Mauritius, peaking at 820 metres above the Indian Ocean, owes its name to Pieter Both (1568-1615) a Governor General of the Dutch East Indies who died in a shipwreck off the island. First conquered in 1790 by an intrepid French cutler named Claude Pellé, its access remains difficult because of its steep slopes – although iron bars sealed into the rock make the last part of the climb much easier. At the top, the breathtaking panorama encompasses Port Louis, the ocean and as far as the plain of Pamplemousses. THE LEGEND OF STONES Depending on which angle you see it from, the mountain looks almost human. You can almost imagine its head, resting on a basalt body, leaning slightly towards the sky. Like its neighbour Le Pouce, the silhouette of the Pieter Both, also known as Mouria Pahar, has long fed the imaginations of Mauritians and visitors. The most famous legend, with many variations, tells of a milkman from Crève Cœur named Shyantak. One evening, in a hurry to get home, he found a short-cut on the slopes of the Pieter Both. On the way he grew tired, and fell asleep in the forest. On awakening, he surprised a group of fairies dancing in the moonlight. In spite of the outrage, they allowed him to take this path every evening, on condition that he should never reveal their presence. The man promised, and kept his word, until one evening, having drunk too much, he revealed his secret to a few friends. The furious fairies petrified him on the spot into the huge rock on top of the mountain. Another legend dating back to the time of slavery tells that the English would leave Mauritius the day the enormous rock fell. The English left, but the rock is still hanging in the balance… A FULL CHARACTER The Pieter Both has also inspired writers and poets, fascinated by its extraordinary appearance. Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, who set up the little farming community where Paul and Virginie lived, the two young heroes of his famous novel, in the Vallée des Prêtres, at the foot of the cliffs beneath the Pieter Both. In a text published in 1927 in L’Essor, a literary journal in Port Louis, the writer and journalist Léoville L’Homme, said to be the “father of Mauritian literature”, saw in this stone totem “a monk dressed in a large habit, sitting on the edge of an abyss” who “was praying and meditating, his eyes fixed on the distant horizon.” Shortly before that, Jules Hermann from Reunion, who invented the myth of Lémurie, a submerged austral sub-continent of which Mauritius is said to be the emerged vestige, landed in Mauritius. Amazed by the supernatural shapes of its mountains, he thought he saw a “lama praying on the top of the Pieter Both.” For Malcolm de Chazal, in Mauritius “the mountain speaks, it is the mythical peak.” In his mythical cosmogony, the Pieter Both was Nourished by the legends of this magic mountain, the Mauritian artist Laval Ng adds colours to shape his visions : the governor Pieter Both – disappeared at sea – and his stone ghost, the dance of the vengeful fairies, the man with a stone head, the visionary poet Malcolm de Chazal in contemplation in front of the stone totem. L’artiste mauricien Laval Ng, bercé par les légendes de cette montagne magique, colorie les contours de ses visions : le gouverneur Pieter Both – disparu en mer – et son fantôme de pierre, le bal des fées vengeresses, l’homme à la tête en forme de pierre, le poète visionnaire Malcolm de Chazal en contemplation devant le totem de pierre.
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