624 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1816. 



upon Mahe and Praslin at present 

 is about 350 to 400 bales, each 

 bale weighing about 300 pountb, 

 and the islands are not capable of 

 producing muie than twenty per 

 cent, above this, nor are they ca- 

 pable of producing any thing else 

 as a matter of commerce. The 

 inhabitants have begun to plant 

 coffee, and will liave sufficient for 

 their own consumption in twelve 

 or eighteen months ; there it 

 must I'est, as it never can be an 

 article of exportation. Cloves and 

 cinnamon thrive here uncom- 

 monly well, and, were there are 

 any soil to plant them in, would 

 tui'n to account. 



There are no kitchen vegeta- 

 bles here of any kind, unless you 

 so call the sweet potatoes of 

 Mameck, or some bad French- 

 beans. There is no reason for 

 this, but the negligence of the 

 inhabitants, and the little inter- 

 course they have with the world, 

 which renders them extremely 

 indifferent about most comforts 

 of this kind. 



Fruit doei not appear to be 

 plentiful or good ; pine apples, 

 plantains, and bad mangoes seem 

 to be the principal; there are a 

 few giapes and a few melons : 

 this must be owing to the ex- 

 treme indolence of the inhabi- 

 tants. 



There is some very good wood 

 for furniture and different pur- 

 poses, such as have building, 

 sheathing for ships, and ship- 

 beams, 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. 



Tintle are all largCj in general 

 about live 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 tine land-tur- 

 tles, 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 marlvj there 

 are likewise sea-crabs here, very 

 large, but not very good. 



Tortoise-shell, there is a few 

 pounds to be picked up occasion- 

 ally, but not sufficient to consider 

 it as an article of commerce. 



These islands have been inha- 

 bited about forty years, and the 

 oldest inhabitant says, that he 

 does not remember a gale of 

 wind : it is a phenomenon un- 

 known 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 unconmionly well here, and 

 the climate, though necessarily 

 hot, from its proximity to tiie 

 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 car- 

 rying on in cotton, at so many 

 pounds to the dollar; conse- 

 quently. 



