2o8 
THE SEYCHELLES 
is the cocoa-nut palm, the produce of which is exported 
in the shape of copra and forms the most important 
source of income in the islands. The owner of a hun¬ 
dred palms is considered prosperous enough to live 
without labour. Latterly the cultivation of vanilla has 
gained some importance. Bananas, tobacco, coffee, rice, 
manioc, sugar-canes are not extensively cultivated, but 
enough is produced for the wants of the inhabitants. 
The inhabitants of the Seychelles are Creoles from 
the Mascarenes, and their customs and language bear 
the stamp of their origin. The first settlement took 
place towards the middle of last century, but the colony 
did not make any great progress till Mahe de Labour- 
donnais had incorporated it with the French possessions. 
The number of the population amounted at the begin¬ 
ning of this century to some 6000 souls, of whom the 
majority were slaves. By 1861 this had increased to some 
7500; though on the chief island, Mahe, it is said to have 
been only 1327. By the year 1894 the number of in¬ 
habitants of the Seychelles had risen to 17,600 souls. 
The population is a mixture of European, African, 
Indian, Malay and Chinese elements, to which must be 
added numerous Mulattoes of all shades of colour. The 
central point of the population is the island of Mahe, 
where ships call at the picturesque harbour of Port 
Victoria. Creole-French with its peculiar turns of ex¬ 
pression has maintained itself as the predominant 
language. 
The inhabitants are considered hospitable and possess 
the amiable sociality of the Creoles in. a high degree. 
The ladies, as Baron Decken remarks, exhibit a grace 
of deportment such as one would hardly expect to find 
in such a remote spot of the earth. 
These colonies will only thrive, however, if they have 
immigrants of more businesslike character, less enervated, 
and less addicted to pleasure. 
