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ged continent, or large Island. The highest is Mahe, and the 

 next Silhouette. The mountains of the former rise to an 

 elevation of 3,000 feet above the sea, and those of the latter 

 to 2,500 feet. In the other Islands no elevation exceeds 

 1,500 feet. 



" 6. The outline of each Island may be said to be a range 

 of hills in the centre, as in Mahe and Praslin, or one or more 

 peaks as in Curieuse and Silhouette, or a rock as Isle aux 

 Fregates and others, having many spurs and offsets and slopes 

 extending to the sea. 



" 7. These spurs often terminate in precipices of several 

 hundred feet in height, and are united by flat sandy beaches 

 of from three fourths of a mile to a few yards in width. The 

 largest of these beaches are in La Digue, the north-east and 

 south-west ends of Praslin, besides several in Mahe. Coral 

 generally underlies the beaches. 



" 8. There are sometimes lagoons between the base of the 

 mountains and the beaches. They exist in all the Islands, 

 but the largest is in La Digue. Crocodiles once abounded 

 in these lagoons. The last of them was killed within the 

 recolleciion of a few of the oldest inhabitants. 



" 9. The Geological formation of these Islands in granitic. 

 Veins of trap are freq.uently met with, especially in Mahe and 

 Silhouette. The granite of the latter Island is of a finer 

 gr^in than that of the other Islands. In Curieuse it is much 

 decomposed, Traces of iron, in some of its many forms, were 

 frequently seen ; especi.illy in Silhouette. Isle aux Fregates 

 contains a magnesian or bitter spring. Blocks of coral are 

 found on this Island at a considerable elevation above the sea. 



"10 Coral reefs abound but they rarely extend far into the 

 sea. Like the sandy beaches, they are most common in the 



