page_title: Du battant des lames au sommet des montagnes
section_title: New units of measurement appear
hierarchical_section_title: Du battant des lames au sommet des montagnes / Consequences / New units of measurement appear
caption_attribution_description: English: Dracaena reflexa traditionally planted for making boundary lines between properties in the sugar cane fields of Réunion island (here near Saint-Benoît). These plants have been pulled up in january 2008 for the field to be smoothed away. Français&#160;: Bois de chandelle (Dracaena reflexa) en plantation d'alignement traditionnelle pour marquer les limites de propriétés agricoles à La Réunion, ici dans des champs de canne à sucre près de Saint-Benoît. Cet alignement a été arraché en janvier 2008 pour aplanir les champs.
context_page_description: Du battant des lames au sommet des montagnes is a French expression that formerly served to define the geographic concessions accorded by the French East India Company to the colonists of the island of Réunion when it was still called île Bourbon. Since then, the expression has become a common phrase, indeed a "fixed formula". In its strictest meaning, it acts grammatically as an answer to the question "how?" and explains the way in which the land was cut into straight bands that stretch from the shore to the highest points without ever stretching horizontally. On the other hand, considered in its broader meaning, the expression substitutes for an adverb of place, being a synonym for "everywhere".
context_section_description: The relatively simple system of land distribution, made possible by applying the expression of the East India Company, allowed the landowners to dispose with legal measurement units: each owner could guess the extent of his property by looking at nature. Thus they only needed to plant distinctive species, such as Dracaena reflexa, to make the boundaries visible and make them known to the neighbours.
  The arpent (58.464 m), the unit of measurement employed in the first years of colonisation, fell out of use in several decades. In this context, new standards were ripe for appearance. Among these were the geometric footstep and above all the gaulette (4.872 m), an agrarian unit that continued to be used on a daily basis through the end of the 20th century.
caption: This 2006 photograph shows how Dracaena reflexa could be used to show the concessions' limits.
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