These islands were discovered at the beginning of the 16th century, but never occupied, by the Portuguese. In 1742 the French took possession of them, calling them at first Îles des Labourdonnais, but afterwards the Seychelles, from Count Hérault de Seychelles, an officer of the East Indian fleet. The first settlement was made in 1768 at Mahé, now Port Victoria. In 1794 the English wrested them from the French along with Mauritius, and they are now ruled by a board of six civil commissioners, as a dependency under the governor of Mauritius. In 1834 slavery was abolished, and since then the plantations have been in a declining state. In 1884 there were in the islands 20 primary schools aided by Government grants and attended by 1620 children. There are 16 churches belonging to the Roman Catholics (the dominant faith) and 11 to the Church of England. The main product is the cocoa-nut, but tobacco, coffee, rice, maize, sweet potatoes, and manioc are raised for homo consumption, while cotton, pepper, cinnamon, and other spices grow wild. Many of the trees display simultaneously blossoms and unripe and ripe fruit. The so-called sea or Maldive double cocoa-nut, “coco de mer,” the fruit of the palm-tree Lodoicea Sechellarum, is peculiar to certain of these islands. It was long known only from sea-borne specimens cast up on the Maidive and other coasts, was thought to grow on a submarine palm, and, being esteemed a sovereign antidote to poisons (Lusiad, x. 136), commanded exorbitant prices in the East. This palm will grow to a height of 100 feet, and shows fern-like leaves of enormous size. Sensitive plants from America spread like lawns over the soil and quake at every step taken over them. The cocoa-nut palm flourishes in the gardens, overtopping the houses and most other trees, lining the shore, climbing high up the mountains, and in many places forming extensive forests. There are no native mammals, and domestic animals are scarce. The birds comprise gannets, terns in great numbers, and white egrets. Tortoises are common,—among them the gigantic turtle and black turtle, whose flesh is exported. The sea abounds in fish, many of them distinguished by splendid colours, and yields the inhabitants not only a large part of their animal food but also material for building their houses,—a species of massive coral, Porites gaimardi, being hewn into square building blocks which at a distance glisten like white marble.

The principal harbour is Port Victoria, situated on Mahé island. The total value of imports here in 1884, including Rs. 27,097 specie, was Rs. 428,605, and of the exports, including Rs. 21,582 specie, Rs. 392,175. The chief imports were coffee and cotton manufactures; the chief exports, cocoa-nut, cocoa-nut oil, and sperm oil. The fiscal receipts for 1884 amounted to Rs.130,047. The cultivation of cocoa is progressing favourably, but the same cannot be said of the vanilla and clove plantations, which suffer from want of regular labour, attributable to the widespread share system, which the negroes prefer to regular work. The leaf disease affecting coffee has done great injury, and cocoa-nut plantations have suffered from the ravages of an insect, but no effort seems to have yet been made by weeding the plantations to stamp out the disease. Of the 34,749 acres of land making up Mahé, 12,000 acres are laid out in cocoa-nut, 500 in vanilla, coffee, and cloves, and 1500 are in forest; of the uncultivated land 8000 acres are well suited for vanilla, cocoa, and coffee plantations.