The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1922-08-26
PAGE s
The Seychelles: An Eden for
Exiies.

The Seychelles: An Eden for
Exiies.
Entertaining royal exiles IS an
incident in the annals of st. He
lena and Madeira; it is beginning
to BE an industry in the Seychelles
Islands, where Zaghleul. Pasha is
detained while certain factions in
Egypt are agitating fofs his re-
turn, says a bulletin from the
Washington, D. c., headquarters Of !.
the National Geographic Society.
First the dethroned king Of
Ashanti was sent there and later
the monarchs of Uganda and Tn-
yero were domiciled there for
joining forces with munitions troops
in the Sudan.
Noted for Coral and Coconuts
Besides exiles, the Seychelles
are noteworthy for coral and CO.
cont1ts. Approaching vessels steam
| through coral reefs to approach
Port Victoria, chief town OF the
group on the main island, Mahe.
And the town itself lies glistening
! in the sun like a city OF marble,
for coral rocks are used in build
| ing the neat, compact houses.
.coconut products form the
| principal commodity of export but
/! the coconut which made the is
i;land famous is the coco-de-ner,
which weighs forty pounds or $50,
requires seven years to Gpen. and
grows ON trees sbat take thirty
/ FIVE years to bear leaves. This Cos
conut Of the sea was known before
/ the Islands were discovered, be-
! cause the great double coeonurs
were cast up by The waves upon
/ the shores Of East Africa. They
were believed to be of submarine
origin and the native medicine
men made much of them.
Island Gems Of Indian Ocean
The Seychelles are the island
4 gems Of the Indian Ocean; an early
British resident nicknamed then
i an oceanic Garden Of Eden. There
i are thirty or more of them, de-
pending upon whether one cares to-
] enumerate as islands numerous
/ snan reefs and rocks. With their
dependencies. the Amirantes and
many others, their administrative
| area comprises nearly 700 small is
/ lands.
! The Seychelles proper lie $50.
miles directly northeast Of the
! northern tip OF Madagascar and
almost 1900 miles northeast OF
Zanzibar. The names of the indi-
i vidual islands frequently denote
Their outstanding quality which ap-
peafed to early explorers, such as
(, Silhouette. Curieusa tcuricus5, La
Digne fthe dam and Feheite
/ (blessed}. The name OF the group
however, is not a variation of sea,
shells, as night be suspected,
but was given IN honor OF the
finance minister under Louis XIV.
SITS dense jungles. curious plant
. specimens. great trees festooned
with trailers. its orchids and ferns,
4 and begonias, green coral reefs and
4 eauabie climate all make the
3Seyehelles group altogether as: de-
lghtful as the South Sea Islands
which have been sought after and
often Described in recent years One
reason they have not registered
with globe trotters and adyentur-
Gus spirits is that they lack The pic
/ turesque natives of Tahiti or the
1 sMarquesas.
Unique in Being Uninbabited
I. When the Portuguese found
them about the time Anerica was
! discovered they were uninhabited
! lmost unique condition for
(. land units Of their size and habit
ability Eleven years before the
| Pilgrims SET foot on plymouth
Rock an English vessel stopned
there: but it was nearly century
| ana a half after that the French
settled there and claimed them.
Their population today consists
4 largely Of French Creoles, freed
/ slaves imported from Africa and
Settlers froE4 Mauritius, a few M
dians from Malabar and a few
A;chinese. Beginning with secret
I spice groves to combat the existing
/ Dutch monopoly, their economic
! development turned IN recent years
to. vanilla, then to ceeonues,
!! which sim is the principal product,
] and within the present century ex-
I perirnnets were begun with rub-
Der. On some OF the smaller Is
/ lands the natives exc out q living
4. by hunting birds eggs and scrap
/ ing guano off the granite to seii
to the plantations OF Mahe. The
/ islands now support about 20. 0.ee0
! people, among whom fewer than
600 are white. =
-ls.4e-se---
Coming Events.
! Extract from Editorial II Bos-
ton Transcript. Aug. I'D.
Nothing is to be gained by ignor-
/ ing the fact that the failure OF the