'The Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society. From January 1863 to December 1864. (Edited by the Secretary.) Volume XVII.' [‎28] (57/524)

XX y\li PROCEEDINGS OF THE
reputed indolent and good-natured, addicted to drink, especially rum ; 0 f
easy morals, and long-lived. Their staple of food is manioc and fish
which latter article there is abundance, though carelessly sought
They consume also poultry and rice, and occasionally turtle, which
are brought from the Amirante Isles, and preserved in salt-water ponds
drained and flooded by the ebb and flow of the tide.
Port Victoria is the chief town ot Mahe : a neat township phtm
resquely dotted among underwood immediately above the line of sea beach
and along the lowest swellings of a back ground of hills. It possesses
a creditable stone-masonry church, and the Government House peeps
out prettily from its English-looking grounds and shrubberies. A clear
boulder-strewn stream dashes dow A term adopted by British officials to refer to local sailing vessels in the western Indian Ocean. r n between the Commissioner’s lawn
and the main street of the town. The houses in general are built of
wood upon coral foundations, and have the high roofs, gables, and
general character of the little chateaus and farmsteads of the fallaise copse
of Normandie. Creole French is the language of common life, with
manners and customs to match. Here, as everywhere else in the east,
orientals adopt French modes more readily than they do those of any
other European nation ; and you may find a crisp-woolled minx of an
African, with thick lips, gesticulating about her civil rights and adjust
ing her headkerchief, her boddice, and her gaudy skirt, just as though
she were a pert little piquante grisette.
Considered as a port, Victoria offers sheltered anchorage during the
south-east trade and south-west monsoon ; but is open to the force of
that from the north-east. Mahe itself protects the harbour to the
westward, and a chain of islets to the eastward. The southernmost
link oi this chain is separated only by 7 a narrow and reef-strewn channel
from the main island. However, few square-rigged vessels visit Mahe:
occasionally one of the eruizers from the division of the east coast of
Africa calls in, and Port Victoria is considered, I believe, as one of the
best stations in that division for giving leave to the men. American
whalers sometimes put in for water or provisions ; but, on the whole,
the trade of the island is trifling, and is principally carried on in small
schooners running between Mauritius, the Amirante, and Seychelles.
Ihese bring supplies and miscellaneous goods from Mauritius, and turtle,
which are speared, froin the Amirante. They carry back cocoanut.
Estates of this nut yield good returns at Sevchelles, and I was informed