Three only of the islands are inhabited, Mahé, Praslin, and La Digue. Mahé, named after Monsieur Mahé de la Bourdonnais, is the largest, most populous, and of course best cultivated of the whole; it is sixteen or seventeen To give an idea of the present state of the population and cultivation of these islands, at one view, I transcribe a general return for the last year :— White Population.—Men, 97; Women 59; Boys, 107; Girls, 77 miles in length, and generally Free People of Colour.— about four broad. It has two good harbours; that of Mahé on the N. E. side of the island, where is the principal, indeed, the only village, and the residence of the commandant; and another on the S. W. side, both perfectly secure. Its population amounts to about 2,648 persons. Praslin (from the minister of that name), is the next island, in size and population, to that of Mahé; and it has an excellent harbour on its north side, sheltered by the Isle Curieuse. The population of this island amounts to 261 persons. La Digue, so called from a ship of that name, has only seventy-one inhabitants. These three islands are high and rocky, and, generally speaking, poor, steril, and barren, save only where a small valley or sheltered glen may have secured the soil from being washed down its steep declivities, by the heavy rains, in the wet season. There are about six decked vessels belonging to the inhabitants of these islands; the largest about eighty, and the smallest about twenty tons; by means of which they exchange their productions with the inhabitants of the Isles of France and Bourbon, and trade to Madagascar and the Mozambique coast, and occasionally to either coast of India. Men, 18; Women, 39; 340 141 6,066 Total... 6,547 Cultivation.-Acres in provisions, 2,432; ditto in cotton, 2,720; ditto in sugar canes, 220; total, 5,372.-Feet in coffee, 4,000; ditto in cloves, 3,000; total, 7,000. cattle, Cattle, &c.-Horned 300; sheep, 200; goats, 150; hogs, 800; total, 1,450. Besides turkeys, geese, ducks, fowls, pigeons, vegetables and fruit in great abundance. You may purchase stock at the following prices:-four fowls a Spanish dollar; two ducks a Spanish dollar; eight turkeys for twelve dollars; a sheep for four to six dollars. Good beef was killed and sold, ten pounds, for one Spanish dollar. These islands do not appear fit for the cultivation of any article of export but cotton, and but for very little of that. There is not an acre of level ground upon the whole island, and hardly any soil; it is all mountainous, full of rocks and trees, and the heavy rains wash down the mountains the principal part of the mould. The annual produce of cotton upon upon Mahé and Praslin at present is about 350 to 400 bales, each bale weighing about 300 pounds, and the islands are not capable of producing more than twenty per cent. above this, nor are they capable of producing any thing else as a matter of commerce. The inhabitants have begun to plant coffee, and will have sufficient for their own consumption in twelve or eighteen months; there it must rest, as it never can be an article of exportation. Cloves and cinnamon thrive here uncommonly well, and, were there are any soil to plant them in, would turn to account. There are no kitchen vegetables here of any kind, unless you so call the sweet potatoes of Mameck, or some bad Frenchbeans. There is no reason for this, but the negligence of the inhabitants, and the little intercourse they have with the world, which renders them extremely indifferent about most comforts of this kind. Fruit does not appear to be plentiful or good; pine apples, plantains, and bad mangoes seem to be the principal; there are a few grapes and a few melons: this must be owing to the extreme indolence of the inhabitants. There is some very good wood for furniture and different purposes, such as have building, sheathing for ships, and shipbeams, all of which would be at a very moderate price, but for the difficulty of transporting it out amongst the rocks to the water side. Turtle are all large, in general about five to six hundred weight; the price of these is five dollars each, smaller ones three each, but there is no demand for them; were they wanted in quantity, you would have occasion to give them some days notice to catch them. The inhabitants say, that they used to have very fine land-turtles, in great abundance, but that they are nearly all consumed, and only now and then can be got, two or three at a time. Oysters are here in abundance, and the inhabitants say they are very wholesome, but they are too small to take the trouble to eat them; they are picked off small trees within the flood mark; there are likewise sea-crabs here, very large, but not very good. Tortoise-shell, there is a few pounds to be picked up occasionally, but not sufficient to consider it as an article of commerce. These islands have been inhabited about forty years, and the oldest inhabitant says, that he does not remember a gale of wind; it is a phenomenon unknown to them; they therefore afford security, at a particular season of the year, to vessels that might be otherwise exposed to the destructive hurricanes off the Isles of France and Bourbon. Cuts and even gun-shot wounds heal uncommonly well here, and the climate, though necessarily hot, from its proximity to the equator, may be reckoned very healthy. The inhabitants have very few wants, and are in general very poor; they have no money, and the little traffic they have is carrying on in cotton, at so many pounds to the dollar; consequently, quently, they do not care about selling it, and there are only two or three inhabitants that can collect it in any quantity, and they are the only people that ever can realize property upon these is lands. It seems of little consequence to them, as I do not think there are any five men of the whole who have an idea of ever quitting the island. The principal people here say, their only reason for coming to settle at these islands was, to live retired from the world, and gain a bare existence; some of them had been unfortunate, and had lost all their property, and were disgusted with the world. After remaining some time, they found the cotton-plant grow very luxuriant, and have carried on the cultivation of it to a certain extent; and some of them now have from 150 to 200 slaves at work, and will be soon men of fortune. The climate is such that they have little occasion for clothes; their principal wants are some white cloth and some blue dungaree, or blue cloth (Pondicherry). The slaves wear nothing but a small piece of blue cloth; I should think one yard would serve them a year; they pay no kind of respect to dress; you will see the most respectable amongst them going without shoes, and some of them with half-shoes tied on their feet with strings: all this is from custom, and having no communication with the world. Notwithstanding, the people in general live very well, are rather hospitable, and have abundance at their tables; but it is chiefly the produce of their own plantations. VOL. LVIII. That these islands were of great importance to France, while that power possessed those of France and Bourbon, there cannot be the least doubt, not only as affording facilities for the annoyance of our trade in the East, but, also, as being admirably placed to keep up a constant communication between those islands and the Court of Persia, if the latter should, at any time, have entered into the hostile views of our enemy, against the British power. But, that any material advantages are likely to accrue, either to the colony of the Isle of France, or to Great Britain in general, from intercourse with or possession of the Seychelle Islands, other than that of keeping the enemy out of them, I cannot possibly foresee. ADMIRALTY ISLANDS. Before I close, I shall beg leave to call your attention to the Admiralty Islands, lying a small distance to the S. W. of Seychelle Islands. This group is so exceedingly ill placed in all charts, both with respect to longitude, and their bearings from each other, that no vessel can navigate the sea with safety in that neighbourhood; whereas, if a couple of small schooners were employed by Government a few months, in surveying them, their actual position would be easily ascertained; and, if an European vessel, in consequence of such survey, be preserved from shipwreck, more than the expense of the survey (independent of preserving men's lives) will have been saved. Live Cattle. There are about 2S two two hundred head of bullocks and about one hundred sheep; the inhabitants could spare, to ships in distress, about twenty bullocks, and about sixty sheep; it would take some years to replace the lat:er. Poultry. One hundred dozen of ducks, fowls, and turkeys might be procured here. There are no other animals of any kind upon these islands, but rats, which are in abundance; there is no game of any kind, and but few birds; pigeons, doves and perroquets, seem the principal. There is no wheat grows in these islands; they raise Indian corn, cassadaroot, and a sufficient quantity of rice, just to supply their own wants, and feed their slaves; but I do not think at any time you could purchase ten bags of rice: the whole of the inhabitants might collect ten thousand pounds weight in grain, out of their different stores, to ships in distress. There is a great variety of fish at all these islands, and seemingly very fine; salt is very scarce, consequently they are only for immediate use. FRINCE OF WALES'S ISLAND. (From the same) Prince of Wales's Island, called by the natives Pulo or Poolo Penang, from a Malay word signifying Areca-nut and Betel, lies on the fifth parallel of north latitude, and in 100 deg. 20 min. 15 sec. (George-town) of east longitude, at the entrance of the straits of Malacca. It is somewhat in the shape of an oblong square, about sixteen miles in length, and from six to eight in breadto, distant between two and three miles from the Malay shore. It was given to Capt. Light by the King of Queda, and first settled in 1786. The greater part of the island is occupied by a lofty irregular ridge of mountains (running in the direction of the island, north and south), the northern extremity of which, is by far the highest; and here they have a signal house, and several bungalows erected. The whole of this ridge is covered with a forest of trees of immense size, and between its eastern base and the sea, facing the coast of Queda, there is a level slip of land, from two to four miles in breadth, and ten or twelve miles long. This is well cultivated and laid out in gardens, plantations of pepper, betel, areca, cocoa-nut trees, &c. intersected in all directions with pleasant carriage roads, whose sides are lined with a variety of shrubs and trees that are in perpetual verdure. The whole of this space is interspersed with villas and bungalows, where the Europeans occasionally retire to enjoy the country air, as a relaxation after business in town. On the north-eastern point of this slip of land are situated Fort Cornwallis and George-town, called by the natives Tanjong Painaique. This island may contain European settlers and their dependants, Malays, Sumatrans, Chinese, &c......... Of itinerants 11,000 souls, 1.000 do. of excellent fish are caught in every direction round the island, which, from the salubrity of its air, is justly eeteemed the Montpelier of India. Coups de soleil are seldom experienced in this settlement, although the Europeans walk and ride about at all times of the day, completely exposed to a vertical sun. In short, as soon as the wet docks are established on Poolo Jaraja (a small island between Penang and the main), this will be the most beautiful, healthy, and flourishing settlement in the East Indies. From the dawn of day, until the sun has emerged above the high mountains of Queda, and even for some time after this period, Penang rivals any thing that has been fabled of the Elysian fields. The dews which have fallen in the course of the night, and by remaining on the trees, shrubs, and flowers, have become impregnated with their odours, early in the morning begin to exhale, and fill the air with the most delightful perfumes; while the European inhabitants, taking advantage of this pleasant season for exercise, crowd the roads (some in carriages, some on horseback, and others on foot), till the sun getting to some height above the mountains of Queda, becomes so powerful as to drive them into their hungalows, to enjoy a good breakfast with a keen appetite. A small party of us having obtained permission to occupy the Convalescent Bungalow on the mountain, for the purpose of breathing a cooler and purer 1 air, we repaired thither early in March. The distance from the town to that part of the base of the mountain where the path commences, is about five miles, and from thence to the summit, better than three. The pathway, which is not more than eight or ten feet wide, is cut with incredible labour, through a forest of immensely tall trees, whose umbrageous foliage uniting above, excludes, except at some particular turnings, the least glimpse of the heavens, involving one, all the way up, in pensive gloom. It frequently winds along the brinks of yawning and frightful precipices, at the bottoms of which one shudders to behold huge trunks of trees rived and fractured, while precipitating themselves down the craggy and steep descent. Steep and rugged as this path is, the little Sumatran horses mount it with great safety; the ladies, however, are generally carried up in a kind of sedan chair, borne on the shoulders of some stout Malays. After a tiresome ascent of two or three hours, we gained the summit; and were amply rewarded for our labour by the most extensive and beautifully variegated prospect we had ever seen in India. The eye ranges over a beautiful plain, laid out in pepper plantations, gardens, groves of the cocoa-nut, betel, areca, and various other trees, checkered throughout with handsome villas and bungalows, intersected by pleasant carriage-roads, and 252 watered |