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[handwritten part is unobscured on p. 187]

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NOTES FROM THE [[SEYCHELLES ARCHIPELAGO]].

FROM [[SEYCHELLES]] you recently received one of the monarchs
of "[[Chelonia]]," the big [[Aldabra]] tortoise and his mate, now
added to the collection at the [[Royal Zoological Gardens]] at [[Regent's
Park]]. We have other and greater wonders yet left behind, of one
of which I am about to write, viz., the [[Coco de Mer]] ravine in the
[[Island of Praslin]]. The wondrous palm that bears the coco de
mer, or sea cocoanut, is unique. It is not met with in any other
part of the known world in its natural state, although one or two
sickly specimens have been reared with great care and expense in
[[Mauritius]] and the neighboring islands. And this palm tree
is so singular of its kind that it is well worth a journey of
a thousand miles to see it. Previous to the discovery of these
islands, scientific men were greatly puzzled to account for the origin
of the coco de mer. Specimens of this extraordinary cocoanut
were occasionally washed ashore upon the inhospitable coasts of
[[East Africa]] and [[Madagascar]], from whence they found their way
through the hands of Arab traders to [[India]], where they are highly
prized, and sometimes to [[England]], where they are still comparatively
scarce. Being unknown as a product of [italics] terra firma [end italics], upon which
they were never met with, they were set down as a product of the
sea, from which they were always taken. Hence the name they
hear- coco de mer, or sea cocoanut. The noble tree that bears
this monster fruit is worthy of its offspring. As I have already
observed, it is not found outside the limits of this archipelago, and,
though solitary specimens are scattered among several isands of the
group, it never attains perfection except in the [[Island of Praslin]],
and only there in one or two localities.

I recently crossed from [[Mahe]] to [[Praslin]], in one of Her Majesty's
cruisers, for the purpose of inspecting the celebrated habitat of the
coco de mer, which, the [[Linnaean Society]] will be glad to learn, is at
last to be conserved by the Government. Nature smiles upon the
stranger as he approaches the island. The luxuriant vegetation
of the tropics fairly struggles with the blue sea for mastery of the
snowy beach that divides the two. Unlike many tropical countries,
there is here an abundant rainfall at regular intervals all the year
round, and in whatever direction one's eyes are turned they rest
upon rich foliage, from deep [[Brunswick]] to pale green, intermingled
with a profusion of other tints and colours only met with in
equatorial regions. The habits of the [[Praslinians]] are of a primitive
character. It is a simple-minded race, and the few rare visitors
who venture among them are sure to receive a hearty welcome. It
is not much the people possess, but a stranger may share it with
them. But although they have little to give beyond a welcome,
they are conscious that nowhere else in the world can be seen that
which they have to show ; and, when the rites of hospitality have
been duly performed, the stranger is led to view one of the marvels
of creation.

The principal habitiat of the coco de mer palm is a ravine, open at
one end to the full force of the south-west monsoon, which here
blows half a gale for days together. From this opening it rises
wild and rugged between two ranges of mountains to a height of
between 1500 and 2000 feet above the sea. The sides of these
mountains are strewn with granite boulders of immense size, some
of which lie half buried in the soil, and thousands are poised upon
others in the most fantastic fashion, so insecure that the touch of a
child might seemingly suffice to send them thundering down into the
almost impenetrable gorges below. Along the ridges of the moun-
tains, which unite two miles from the sea and form the head of the
ravine, down their steep and rugged sides, deep in the gorges at
the bottom, the coco de mer palms luxuriate in countless thousands.
From the ancient patriarch that rears its clump of leaves, which at
that height look like a tuft of feathers, upon a trunk 100ft. [feet]
high, as straight as an arrow, to the young tree of a year old,
there cannot be less than one million in number, notwithstanding
the vandalism that has been doing its best for the last fifty years
to destroy the species. The ages of the full-grown trees cannot
be estimated, for there are no known rules of computation that can
be applied to them. They may be 1000 years old ; they may
be 5000 ; they may be antediluvian ; it is impossible to guess,
and they are just as likely to be one as the other. There is a coco
de mer tree that was planted in [[Government House Gardens]] thirty-
five years since. It does not yet show any perceptible trunk ; the
leaves appear to spring out of the ground. It budded last year ; it
is now in flower, and in seven years' time, if no untoward accident
befal that flower, it will have developed into a full-grown fruit, a
veritable coco de mer. These trees are said to produce one leaf a
year ; but they in reality produce less, for they are occasionally
known to go fifteen months between leaf and leaf. But then just
consider the size of it before accusing the tree of sluggishness-
18ft. [feet] in width, 25ft. [feet] in length, and from half to three-quarters of an
inch in thickness.

Mr. [[Horne]], F.L.S., of the [[Royal Botanical Gardens]], [[Mauritius]],
who visited these islands last year on behalf of his Government,
thus speaks of the Coco de Mer ravine in his published report :
"A sight of this ravine vividly reminds one of the descriptions and
pictures of vegetation in [[Louis Figuier]]'s 'World before the Flood.'
The average height of the trees in the ravine, in which most of
them are growing, is from 88ft. [feet] to 90ft. [feet]. The leaves are from
14ft. [feet] to 18ft. [feet] in width ; I have seen them 20ft. [feet] to 25ft. [feet] long. I can
conceive no more antediluvian place existing in the world than that
ravine. The destruction of the trees in it would be an outrage on
science, and a disgrace to civilization."

Those who for the first time enter the ravine when the south-
west monsoon is blowing hard are sometimes terrified. As they
penetrate further and further the daylight gradually diminishes,
until everything is enveloped in a semi-darkness resembling a
waning twilight in [[England]] on a summer evening. The enormous
leaves of the trees are clashing and crashing overhead. The wind
howls and roars around them. The daring explorer with difficulty
maintains his footing aided by an alpenstock, and gazes around
him with astonishment. The noise and uproar is deafening, and
resembles an avalanche of rocks and water sweeping down from
the heights above more nearly than anything else I know of. The
man who, entering the ravine for the first time, can, with unshaken
nerves, gaze upon the immense boulders, upwards of a hundred tons
weight each, which seem to hang upon nothing above him, is a
hero who would not blench before the mouth of a cannon. There are
many strange sights, and many wonders of nature within the wide
bounds of Her Majesty's possessions ; but in the whole world there
is nothing more weird and peculiar than the Coco de Mer ravine
in the [[Island of Praslin]], in the [[Indian Ocean]] ; it is only 1000 miles
from [[Aden]], and is easily accessible by the [[Messageries Maritimes]]
mail steamers, which call at [[Seychelles]] once every month.

G.B.

Notes and Questions

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lindsey.s.schwartz

handwritten part is unobscured on p. 187