 The walls, likewise, were often whitewashed, giving the island a faux snowcover if seen from a distance, though American author Mark Twain preferred to liken it to cake icing, "the white of marble...modest and retiring [in comparison]".French botanist André Michaux, on the other hand, found the reflective glare of the roofs fatiguing.A common alternative to the whitewash was a simple lime plaster made — much like the wash — of lime, red clay and turtle or whale oil.