Mauritius

 is an island nation in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar. It had an estimated population of 1,265,475 in 2019.

Quotes

 * Mauritius is a very small island, a rock cast out in the vast ocean, so that when one begins to find oneself, one is inevitably overcome by a feeling of constriction, both way, the branches draw your eyes outward and away, beyond the outermost leaves. This constant toing-and-froing of the eye conditions what many call the soul but for which I have no name. No matter, everything overflows and reaches out..."
 * Mauritian poet Edouard J. Maunick (1931-2021), quoted in Edouard J. Maunick talks to Jasmina Sopova, UNESDOC digital library, 1994