CHAPTER XVIII 
THE SEYCHELLES 
The Seychelles Islands may be called fragments of 
the old continent “ Lemuria ” which was submerged at 
the formation of the Indian Ocean. They form an archi¬ 
pelago of twenty-nine variously sized islands, whose 
formation was apparently coeval with the terrestrial mass 
of Madagascar. These islands were not upheaved by 
volcanic power, for their nucleus consists of primitive 
rocks, masses of granite which are either exposed, or, 
in the case of the lowest lying islands, cased with recent 
coral formations. Apparently we have to do with small 
pinnacles of rock which remained above water when the 
mighty ocean bed was formed. All of them, and this 
seems to support the above hypothesis, stand on the 
mighty submarine plinth which extends from the south 
of Madagascar to the equator, at a depth of only 900 
fathoms, and upon which rests also the colossal island 
of Madagascar. Next to this last lie the uninhabited 
Farquhar Isles; then follow to the north the small island 
of Providence, the Amirante coral islands, and then, as 
far as the 3rd parallel, the Seychelles in the narrower 
sense. These last take the foremost place, in consider¬ 
ation of their extent, for they have a surface of 103 
square miles, while the Amirante Isles only cover an 
area of 32 square miles. Mahe, the most extensive of 
all the Seychelles, lying between the 4th and 5th parallels, 
has a coast-line of 15 miles with a surface of 46 square 
miles; then comes Praslin which is to the north-east of 
Mahe and easily visible from it, with 16 square miles 
