In the list of books which have been written about Mauritius, this particular work takes a special place. It sheds new light on places which have stimulated the imagination and dreams of countless readers and gathers together previously unpublished material, to provide a fascinating and unusual picture of a fascinating and unusual part of the world. Seen from the air, it is surprising how different these familiar islands can be. Modern air travellers during take-off and landing sometimes catch an elusive glimpse of them. Free of earth bound constraints, reaching otherwise inaccessible places, aerial photography offers us suddenly metamorphosed views of well known landscapes, telling us a great deal about the inhabitants history, their surroundings and their faith in the future.