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The rock>i of the whole of these islands are 



similar, and very remarkable. They are a formation 



of Granite of a reddish ground, studded with crystals. 



They are pretty to look at : crystals every where, 



firm and close, so much so that I have been told that 



no masonic tool can be employed upon these rocks. 



And yet the sea has done what man could not do. It 



has hollowed them out in every direction. They have 



all the appearance of very great age. From the 



immense blocks you behold on the tops and sides of 



the mountains, to those that lie half buried in the sea, 



all seem at some distant epoch to have been under 



water, and, as if the action of the ocean for centuries, 



had worn them away to their present forms. One can 



hardly resist a feeling of awe stealing over the mind 



in gazing upon geological formations like these, that 

 may have been old, even before man trode upon our 



globe. 



On the mountains of these islands pieces of coral, 

 and oyster shells have been found ; which would lead 

 to the supposition that at one time they, and perhaps 

 the entire archipelago, formed part of the ocean bed, 

 and that, the ocean receding from them, has left them 

 in their present state. 



That volcanic agency has at some remote period 

 been at work in this archipelago, is likewise evident. 

 The islands I recently visited were Mahe, l^-aslin, La 

 Digue, Curieuse, and He Cousiue. 



At the hist mentioned I found unmistakable ap- 



