THE SEYCHELLES - ISLANDS OF THE GIANT PALMS 



47 



Transhipping one of the giant tortoises at Colombo. 



Approaching Praslin from the west we saw the coconut palms growing 

 along the coast behind the white sandy beach, and beyond this towered 

 high hills overgrown to the summit with palms and scattered deciduous 

 trees. A Negro policeman was placed at our disposal as a guide, and, fol- 

 lowing a beautiful path past well-kept native huts, we made our way 

 southward along the coast. Soon the path turned inland and ascended 

 alongside a mountain stream. Then the bed-rock began to potrude, the 

 coconut palms came to an end, and the first screw pines appeared, with 

 their strange prop roots several metres long. Following the steep ascent, 

 we passed a small plantation of vanilla, which is a climbing orchid. The 

 most aromatic \'anilla in the world is said to come from Praslin and this, 

 with copra and oil of cinnamon, is the principal export product of the 

 Seychelles. 



The vegetation grew denser as the rain forest closed in over our heads, 

 the forest here consisting of a few deciduous trees and screw pines and 

 many palms of different species. To the right of the path we would get 

 occasional views of a valley and beyond it of a steep, rock)' incline, several 

 hundred metres high, where rounded granite formations would stand 

 out like bastions among palms and scrub, and where on the crown grew 



