Hell-Bourg

Hell-Bourg is a small village in the Salazie commune (administrative division) of the French overseas department of Réunion. It is the main community in the island's Cirque de Salazie, and is named for the respected former admiral and island governor Anne Chrétien Louis de Hell. Previously the village had been named Bémaho. It is located 1344 m (4412 ft) above sea level.

Originally Bémaho/Hell-Bourg was founded as a small but prosperous spa town, and prospered as such for most of a century after the 1830 European discovery of a hot spring near the future village. Contrary to many accounts of the time, this spring had obviously been known to both slaves and other locals for some time, and one colonial administrator remarked that it would be difficult to transform the area into an official bona-fide spa if slaves afflicted with leprosy and ulcers were using it. However, the eventual transformation was not to be stopped, especially after construction of a hotel was ordered by colonial authorities in 1839, and a military hospital associated with the spring finished in 1857. A carriage road finally reached the village in 1890.

The spring had been discovered in the bed of the brook Bras Sec ('Dry arm'), a tributary of the Rivière du Mat. It had a flow of around 800-1,300 litres per hour, and a water temperature of 32°C, and its waters were iron-bearing, only mildly chlorinated and calcic and contained no sulphates. They were soon being recommended for children, weak and anaemic adults, as well as people suffering from gastritis. In 1852, the Société Anonyme de l'Etablissement Thermal de Salazie was founded, which built the spa, a casino and a director's house. Many creole-style villas of rich individuals followed.

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