474 
HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
CHAPTER XXVII. 
An Account of the Archipelagos and Sand-banks between the Maidive Islands 
and the Isles of France and Bourbon, by M. Rochon.—Description of the 
Commora Isles by Spilberg, &c. 
The Isles of France and Bourbon, &c. may be compared, for the beauty of the 
climate, and salubrity of the air,to the Fortunate Islands; but the former are sepa¬ 
rated from the Indian sea by an archipelago full of banks and rocks. 
The ships which, on leaving the Isle of France for India, were forced, during the 
two monsoons, to take a long and indirect course, in order to avoid the archipelago 
to the northward of it; and, until it had been explored, it was dangerous for a 
squadron to attempt a more direct route. To the south of the Equinoctial line, 
from the eighth to the twenty-eighth degree of latitude, the winds are south-easterly 
throughout the year. From the eighth degree to the Line, the south-east monsoon 
begins in April, and continues till October, when the west monsoon succeeds it. To 
the north of the Line this arrangement of nature is reversed. 
On leaving the Isle of France for India, in the fine season, the first place to be 
made is the most northerly point of Madagascar: and, proceeding from thence 
between the base of Patrum and the Amirantes, the Line is crossed in the fiftieth 
degree of longitude; and finding, on the northern side, the western monsoon, the 
Maldives are traversed between Kelloa and Shullepar, where the vessel changes its 
course for Cochin : the rest of its navigation is along the coast. 
Ships which set out from the Isle of France, in the bad season, for Pondicherry, 
are obliged to make a longer and much more indirect route; they bear away for 
the variable winds as far as the thirty-sixth degree of south latitude; and then 
direct their course so as to cross the Line in the eighty-fifth degree. 
The principal points that M. Rochon has determined, are the Secheyles Isles, 
the base of Corgados, Salha de Mala, Diego Garcia Isle, and the Adu Isles. 
Secheyles Isle has a very good harbour; it is situated in four degrees thirty-eight 
minutes south latitude, and fifty-three degrees fifteen minutes east longitude, from 
the meridian of Paris. 
