Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-08-15
Geographic News
Bulletins BY the
National Geographic Society
THE SEYCHELLES, AN EDEN
FOR EXILES

Entertaining royal exiles IL an
ins,eent in the annals OF st. Helen
and Madeira; 4: is beginning 20 be-
an industry in the Seychelles Is
ANS. where Zash' ouI Pasl,a is de-
tanned while certain factions in Egypt
are agitating for his return says
a bulletin from the Washington, D.
e., headquart,r bra OF the National
Geographic Society.
First the dethroned king of Ash
anti was sent there and later the
monarchs of Uganda and Unyoro
were domiciled there for Joining
forces with mutinous troops in the
Sudan.
Noted for Coral and Coconuts
Besides exiles, the Seychelles are
noteworthy for coral and coconuts.
Approaching vessels steam through
coral reefs to approach Port VIC
toria, chief town of the group on
the main island. Maize. And the
town itself lies g%listening In the gun
are used in building the neat, COM
pact houses.
"Coconut products form the prin-
cipai commodity of export but the
coconut which made the island FAM
u is the coco-de-mer, which weighs
forty pounds or so, requires seven
years to ripen, and grows on trees
that take thirty-five years to bear
leaves. This 'coconut of the sea
was known before the islands were
discovered. because the great double
coconuts were cast up by the waves
uEon the shorts OF East Africa
marine origin and the native medi-
cine men made much Of them.
Island Gems OF Indian Ocean
The Seychelles are the island
gems of the Indian Ocean; an early
British resident nicknamed them as
an Oceanic Garden Of Eden. There
are thirty or more Of them. depend
ing upon whether n cares to
small reefs and rocks. With their
dependencies. the Amirantes and
many others, their administrative
area comprises nearly 100 small
islands.
THE Seychelles proper lie $50
miles directly northeast of the north
ern tip of Madagascar and almost
1000 miles northeast of Zanzibar.
The m of the individual ISLANDS
frequently denote their outstanding
quality which appealed to early ex-
plorers, such as Silhouette, C%uriease
(curious), La Digne (the damn. and
group, however. Is not a variation
of sea shells as might be suspected,
but vas given in honor of the finance
minister under Louis XIV.
Its dense jungles, curious plant
great trees festo0ned
with trailers, its orchids and ferns
and begonias, green coral reefs AMI
eGuable climate all make the Sey-
chelles group altogether as delight
full as the South Sea Islands which
been sought after and often de-
in recent years. One rea
sou they have not registered with
is that they lack the pictur-
natives Of Tahiti or the MAJ
quesas.
Unique in Being Uninhabited
when the Portuguese found
them about the time America was
discovered they were uninhabiled-
a unique condition for land
units of their size and nab!ta bility
foot on Plymouth Rock an English
vessel stopped there; but 1t was
nearly a century and a half after
that the French settled there ana
them.
Their population to lay consists
| largely of French CreoIes. freed
imported from Africa and
from M.uritius. a few In
dians from Malabar ard s. few
Chinese. Beginning with secret spice
groves to combat the existing Dutch
their economic Develop
ment turned IN recent years to van
49, ->~A-~ ~vIl~l. Ak.Y1 t. /
principal product. end within the
present century experiments were
begun with yubber. On some OF the
smaller islands the natives eke out
a living by hunting birds eggs and
scraping guano off the granite to sell
to the plantations of Maize. The ISL
ands now support about 20.000 peo-
pie. among whom fewer than 1000
white"