216 Cruise of the "Alert" 



of the cocoa-nuts has led to a revival of the old spice industry, 

 which, under the early French settlers, was at one time deemed 

 likely to vie with that of the Moluccas. On looking over the 

 Blue Book Report, I find that in the year 1880 there were 

 1 2,000 acres of land planted with cocoa-nuts, which in spite of 

 the recent blight continue to be the staple product of the Group. 

 In the same year there were one hundred and fifty acres devoted 

 to the growth of vanilla ; a hundred acres were planted with 

 cacao bushes, and a hundred and fifty were producing cloves ; 

 besides a large extent of land bearing coffee plantations. Both the 

 Liberian and the common coffee plants have been introduced, and 

 found to grow remarkably well. Vanilla, in particular, seems to 

 find a congenial home in the Seychelle Islands, and, during our 

 short visit to the colony, we gathered that the future hopes of the 

 settlers were mainly centred upon the successful cultivation of this 

 plant. It grows rapidly, and although the flowers require to be 

 fertilized by hand, yet this process is so readily performed that 

 beans of large size and excellent quality are produced. It is as 

 yet only grown in a small way, most of the vanilleries, as these 

 plantations are called, covering only an extent of about five acres. 

 It is estimated that each plantation of this size represents an 

 annual produce of two hundred and fifty pounds' weight of vanilla 

 beans. We inspected some plants in the garden of Dr. Brookes, 

 an old resident, and noticed that the beans averaged eight inches 

 in length, and were otherwise well formed. He told us that he 

 had been most successful in the curing of these beans, and 

 expected that when they became well known they would com- 

 mand a large price in the European markets, and that eventually 

 vanilla would became the staple produce of the Seychelle Islands. 

 The method employed at Seychelles for the expression of the 

 oil from the internal white lining of the cocoa-nut struck me as 

 being novel and primitive ; and as it is said to be very efficient, 

 I shall try to give an intelligible description of a crushing mill 

 and its mode of construction. In principle it is a sort of gigantic 



