36 PERCY SLADEN TRUST EXPEDITION. 
became obvious after a week’s collection that the variety of species was much less. The 
corals, among which so many of the free-living animals dwell, were the same, but the 
branching Stylophora was unusually common. Echiuroidea were not found, and in 
turning over and breaking up coral-masses, Crustacea, worms, and molluscs were 
comparatively scarce, and only a few specimens of Ptychodera were secured. To a 
certain degree this lack of variety was made up, it is true, by an creased abundance of 
certain forms, but it is obvious that the greater the variety of forms, the larger the 
number of sites that can be filled and the greater the total number of animals. We 
shall, however, only be able to see as publication proceeds how far there was really 
a lack of variety, and to what extent the Chagos Archipelago is of value in considering 
the distribution of marine animals. 
On June 17 we re-embarked on the Sealark, and the same day came to anchor off 
the settlement on Ile du Coin, at the south-west corner of Peros Banhos. Here we 
were welcomed by Mr. Leal and his amiable wife, with whom we stayed until the 25th, 
collecting in and exploring the south-western quarter of the atoll, while the Sealark 
returned to continue her survey round Salomon. ‘The establishment consists of drying- 
grounds with cement floors and sliding galvanised iron roofs, oil-presses, stores, &c. 
The ripe coconuts are collected as they fall from the trees and husked. They are then 
brought to the central establishment by boat, or in the island itself by donkey-carts. 
Next, the nuts are cracked and their kernels removed; sometimes they are damped with 
water, but are more often spread out at once on the drying-ground, where in 4 to 6 days 
the oil begins to exude. They are then placed in the mills, large iron or wooden pots, 
with a beam, which is caused to revolve by mules or donkeys harnessed to a shaft. The 
oil is drawn off from time to time and allowed to settle, when it is placed in tanks, 
ready to fill up the barrels brought three times yearly from Mauritius by the brig 
‘Wm. Turner. In the best mills about 64 per cent. of weight of the kernel is extracted 
as oil against 75 per cent. in steam mills; the remainder forms pooniac (in Europe when 
further pressed known as one form of oil-cake). It is used in the islands for feeding 
the donkeys, mules, chickens, and pigs, the latter regularly being killed and sold to the 
black labour. Each establishment has its own carpenter's, blacksmith’s, and shipwright’s 
shops; its own soap-boiling house—a coarse soap being manufactured from oil and 
carbonate of soda, obtained by burning the coconut-husks,—its piggeries and its donkey- 
yards. There is also a “ boutique” opened every evening, where ordinary negro goods can 
be bought, an office, and a small jail, the Administrator necessarily having some of the 
powers of a magistrate. 
The produce of Peros consists of about 2,800,000 nuts per annum, producing 65,000 
gallons of oil. About 120 green turtle (Chelone mydas) are caught annually for food, 
When they land to lay their eggs at night during the south-east monsoon. In addition 
about 35 shell-turtle (C. imbricata), worth over 2000 rupees, are obtained in the north- 
West monsoon ; they differ from the last in always depositing their eggs in the daytime. 
The establishment on Peros is a large one, having, in addition to Mr. Leal, a Sub- 
Administrator (M. Vendries) and an Accountant, each provided with a good bungalow, 
with their families 13 persons in all. ‘The labour consists of 85 men, 51 women, with 
