HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
Description of the Commora Islands . 
The Commora Islands, which are situated to the north-north-west of Madagascar, 
are five in number; the largest gives its name to all the rest, although the other four 
have each a particular name, which are Mohilla, Angareja, Johanna and Mayotta. 
Though the Island of Commora is the largest, it is, nevertheless, in every other 
respect, the least remarkable ; it has no safe road for shipping, and the inhabitants 
are so barbarous and uncivilized, that Europeans have never ventured to make a 
long abode there: they are, in general, jealous of strangers, and have a particular 
aversion to the natives of Europe. It is said, that the cruelties which the Portu¬ 
guese exercised the first time they landed there, are the cause of this suspicious 
disposition. The Island of Mohilla is of as little consequence as that of Commora ; 
it is very seldom visited, not only on account of the inhospitable disposition of its 
people, but also from there not being any convenient spot for shipping. 
All the islands, however, are extremely fertile, well stocked with cattle, sheep, 
hogs, and birds of different kinds; they produce likewise sweet and sour oranges, 
citrons, bananas, honey, sugar-canes, rice, ginger, cocoa nuts. See . 
The Isle of Angareja is inhabited by Moors, who traffic with different parts of 
the continent, and several of the islands in the east, by means of their fruits and 
other productions of the island, bartering them for calicoes and other cotton manu¬ 
factures. The bread used in these islands is made of the kernel of cocoa nuts, boiled 
or broiled, and covered with honey ; their drink is palm wine, and a juice extracted 
from the sugar-cane, which they leave to ferment, or the milk of the cocoa-nut. 
They never let strangers see their women without a permission from their chiefs, 
or an order brought by the stranger himself; many of them speak and write the 
Arabic language with facility; and some even understand the Portuguese tongue; 
this advantage they derive from their trade in the Mozambique Straits, which they 
carry on in vessels of about forty tons. They build their houses with stone and 
lime, made from calcined oyster shells, with which they cover their walls and 
roofs: their windows are shaded hy the leaves of the palm-tree, which protect 
them at the same time from the violence of the rain, and the excessive heat of the 
sun. The government of this isle is aristocratical, and is conducted by ten of its' 
principal inhabitants- 
The island of Mohilla is subject to a sultan, whose children share his authority as 
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