A Historical Geography of the British Colonies Volume 1 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1906 Excerpt: ...Mauritius flourished greatly on account of the transit trade to and from Europe. Now, owing to the diversion of traffic to the Red Sea route, this passing trade has been lost.-Few ships visit the colony voL. I. M Sf.ction except those specially chartered to take in or deliver cargo at Port Louis. The result has been to throw the colony back on to its own resources and, as has already been seen, those resources can be summed up in the one word ' sugar'. The drawbacks and dangers of this state of affairs have been only too apparent in recent years, and Mauritius, like the sugar-producing colonies of the West Indies, though to a less extent, has had cause to regret its dependence on a single industry. BODBIGTJES Now that Seychelles has become a separate colony, the principal dependency of Mauritius is the beautiful island of Rodrigues, which lies about 350 miles distant from Mauritius a little to the North of East. Its shape is that of an irregular oval; its length from West to East is said to be about 12 miles, its breadth from 4 to 5,1 History, and its area between 40 and 50 square miles. It was discovered by the Portuguese2; and, during the Dutch occupation of Mauritius, a small party of eight Huguenots, among whom was Leguat, settled on the island, leaving it after two years' sojourn. Leguat records that he found the names of some Dutchmen inscribed on a tree, showing that the Dutch as well as the Portuguese had visited Rodrigues; and it is interesting to notice that the chief village of the island now bears the Huguenot name of Mathurin, although that name is not to be found in the list of Leguat's companions. During the latter part of the eighteenth century the French placed a Superintendant in the island, mainly to protect the land tortoises, which are ...