That and because he was English.
"The population is very small; small to insignificance.

The majority is East Indian; then mongrels; then negroes (descendants of the slaves of the French times); then French; then English.

There was an American, but he is dead or mislaid.

The mongrels are the result of all kinds of mixtures; black and white, mulatto and white, quadroon and white, octoroon and white.

And so there is every shade of complexion; ebony, old mahogany, horsechestnut, sorrel, molasses-candy, clouded amber, clear amber, old-ivory white, new-ivory white, fish-belly white--this latter the leprous complexion frequent with the Anglo-Saxon long resident in tropical climates.
"You wouldn't expect a person to be proud of being a Mauritian, now would you?
But it is so.