READING LIST ST HELENA, ASCENSION AND TRISTAN DA CUNHA ANONYMOUS. A Description of the Island of St Helena. London, P. Phillips, 1805. AUBRY, Octave. St Helena. London, Galloncz, 1937. BARNES, CAPTAIN JOHN, RN. A Tour through St Helena. London, J. M. BLAKESTON, OSWELL, Isle of St Helena. London, Sidgwick and Jackson, BROOK, T. H. A History of the Island of St Helena. 2nd edition. Publishers DARWIN, CHARLES. The Voyage of a Naturalist Round the World in H.M.S. GOSSE, PHILIP. St Helena, 1502-1938. London, Cassell, 1938. HUGHES, CLEDWYN. Report of an enquiry into conditions on the Island of KORNGOLD, RALPH. The Last Years of Napoleon: his captivity on St MARTINEAU, Gilbert. Napoleon's St Helena. London, John Murray, 1968. TAYLOR, MARGARET STEWART. St Helena, Ocean Roadhouse. Robert Hale, THOMPSON, J. A. K. Report on a visit to Ascension Island. St Helena TRISTAN DA CUNHA BOOY, D. M. Rock of Exile: a narrative of Tristan da Cunha. London, CHRISTOPHERSON, ERLING and others. Tristan da Cunha (translated by CHRISTOPHERSON, ERLING (editor). Results of the Norwegian Scientific GANE, DOUGLAS M. Tristan da Cunha. London, Allen and Unwin, 1932. T SEYCHELLES HE Seychelles archipelago consists of a scattered group of 40 granitic and 45 coralline islands in the Western Indian Ocean. The islands take their name from the Vicomte Moreau de Séchelles, Controller General of Finance in the reign of Louis XV. The group also includes numerous rocks and small cays. The revised estimate of the land area of Seychelles is 107 square miles. The largest of the islands is Mahé, named after a former French Governor of Mauritius, which has an area of about 55 square miles and is approximately 17 miles long from north to south. Mahé lies 940 miles due east of Mombasa, 1,750 miles south-east of Bombay, and rather more than 600 miles north of Madagascar. Victoria, the capital of Seychelles and the only port of the archipelago, is on Mahé. It is the only town in Seychelles of any size and has a population of about 14,000. The granitic islands, which are all of great beauty, rise fairly steeply from the sea and Mahé has a long central ridge which at its highest point, Morne Seychellois, reaches nearly 3,000 feet. Praslin, second largest island in the group is 27 miles from Mahé and the other granitic islands are within a radius of 35 miles. The coral islands are reefs in different stages of formation, rising only a few feet above sea level. For islands so close to the Equator, the climate is tropical but not unpleasant. Maximum shade temperature at sea level averages 29°C (85°F) and during the coolest months, the average minimum temperature drops to 24°C (75°F). At higher levels temperatures are rather lower and the air fresher. There are two seasons, hot from December to May and cooler from June to November while the south-east monsoon is blowing. Rainfall varies over the group; the greater part falls in the hot months during the northwest monsoon and the climate then tends to be humid and somewhat enervating. The mean annual rainfall in Victoria taken over the past 67 years is 93 inches and the mean average temperature 27°C (80°F). All the granitic group lie outside the cyclone belt. High winds and thunderstorms are rare. The total population of Seychelles on 30th June 1969 was estimated at 51,396. In 1969 there were 1,715 births and 561 deaths. The basis of the school system is a free, non-compulsory, six-year primary school education available to all children between the ages of six and twelve. At the age of twelve those children who do not gain admission to the Secondary Grammar Schools by competition are eligible to go to the Junior Seconadry Schools (ages 12-14). At the end of the Junior Secondary course, pupils may apply for places in the vocational and prevocational training centres. Government controls and directs educational policy and is responsible for financing the educational system. The official language is English and state education at primary and secondary levels is in English. The family language is Creole, a patois of French. In all there are 35 primary schools with an enrolment figure for 1969 of 8,781, of whom 4,424 were boys and 4,357 were girls. In addition there are approximately twenty pre-primary infant and organised kindergarten schools. There are eleven junior secondary and two secondary grammar schools with a total enrolment of 1,062 boys and 1,115 girls. There are four technical and vocational training centres, whose enrolment in 1969 was 229 trainees (181 girls and 48 boys) and one teacher training college. The Seychellois are almost all Roman Catholics (more than 90 per cent of the population); there are small minorities adhering to the Anglican and other sects. Seychelles has very few of the diseases usually associated with tropical climates. There are no anopheline mosquitos and consequently no malaria. No cases of yellow fever or dengue have ever been reported although there are aedes mosquitos on most of the islands. Tuberculosis is now under control and there is a decline in the number of notified cases. The Public Health Service is organised under the Medical Officer of Health and the staff consists of one Chief Health Inspector and seven Health Inspectors. A senior Public Health Sister was appointed at the beginning of 1965 and has thirteen Public Health Nurses in her charge. The main islands are reasonably well provided with hospitals and clinics. Mahé has the main hospital (135 beds) and the Bishop Maradan Sanatorium (82 beds) at Victoria, a small hospital (17 beds) at Anse Royale in the south of the island, and two clinics situated on the west coast. Praslin has a cottage hospital (28 beds) and two clinics; while at La Digue there is a small hospital with 6 beds. The main diet in the islands is rice, fish and lentils. Meat is eaten occasionally and local vegetables are available. The Port of Victoria has about one square mile of deep water roadstead for ships of all sizes and an inner harbour of about half that area for small craft. A project to reclaim 56 acres of Victoria harbour, extending the present shoreline of Victoria seawards and establishing a separate and new port area, was approved by the British Government in 1970. Reclamation, using sand and coral cut from the shallow parts of the harbour, began on 1st June. The whole harbour area is protected by a chain of small islands and the number of ocean-going ships which can be accommodated at any one time is four. The number of vessels entered and cleared from Victoria in 1969 was 356. Tonnage handled in 1969 was 11,758 loaded and 66,713 unloaded. There is at present no airport in Seychelles but an international airport is under construction with completion expected by mid-1971. An interim air service, using light aircraft, has been introduced between Mombasa and Mahé. Mahé has an extensive road system of which 56 miles are now surfaced. On the island of Praslin the trans-island road from Grand 'Anse to Baie Ste Anne is also surfaced. Radio Seychelles, a Government-owned and equipped broadcasting station, opened in July 1965 and broadcasts in the medium wave band (225.4 metres, 1,331 kilocycles) for four and a half hours daily. The Seychelles fishing industry is for the most part undeveloped, the local fishermen relying solely on traditional methods and equipment for their livelihood. Fish being a staple food of the islanders, virtually the entire catch goes for local consumption, although a few tons of salted fish are exported every year, mostly to Tanzania. Local fishermen have received help in various ways-including the acquisition of deep-freezers for keeping bait-from grants provided by the United Kingdom Committee of the Freedom from Hunger Campaign. The main crops for export are coconuts, cinnamon, patchouli and vanilla; tea also is now being produced but so far only for local consumption. The Seychelles Tea Company has some 375 acres of tea planted of which 200 acres has been planted on behalf of the Seychelles Government for allocation in plots of about 5 acres to settlers. In early 1970 the first nine settlers were installed on their plots and others will follow in the future. The tea factory which started production on a small scale in August 1966 is expected to produce 50,000 lbs. of tea in 1970 which will satisfy about three-quarters of total local consumption. Total exports in 1968 were valued at Rs.16,308,254 and imports at Rs.33,875,243. Britain is the most important supplier of imports, and exports go principally to the U.S.A. (cinnamon bark) and India (copra). For the first time since the turn of the century, copra was displaced by cinnamon bark as the most valuable export item. The full 1969 trade statistics are not available at the time of writing but imports undoubtedly increased substantially whereas exports fell to about Rs.13,500,000 as the result of a decrease in the quantity of cinnamon bark exported and a fall in the average price obtained for copra. Some of the main items imported in 1968 by quantity and value were: rice, 4,047 tons, Rs.3,993,725 (£299,529); flour, 1,369 tons, Rs.856,521 (£64,239); sugar 1,611 tons, Rs.795,776 (£59,683); other foodstuffs, Rs.5,071,718 (£380,379); petroleum products, 11,628,065 litres, Rs.4,417,786 (£331,334); cotton fabric, 823,584 yards, Rs.1,972,413 (£147,931); road motor vehicles (including parts) Rs.1,962,277 (£147,171); other articles Rs.14,805,027 (£1,110,377); total imports, Rs.33,875,243 (£2,540,643). The principal form of direct taxation is income tax. This is chargeable on all earned or investment income arising in or derived from the territory. In addition tax is payable by residents on investment income arising in Seychelles or on earned income remitted thereto, the basis of assessment being income arising in the calendar year preceding the year of assessment. Rates of tax, after deduction of allowances, are: 5 per cent on first Rs. 1,000 of chargeable income Companies, partnerships, etc, pay a flat rate of 35 per cent. Earned income: Personal (single): One-eighth (maximum Rs. 2,000). Personal (married): Rs. 3,500. Children: Rs. 800 for the first child; Rs.700 for each child thereafter (maximum Rs. 3,000). Additional allowance of Rs. 3,500 may be claimed for child studying abroad (maximum Rs. 7,000). Dependent relative: Rs. 500 (limited to one relative) if relative is infirm, maintained by claimant and not in receipt of any income exceeding Rs. 500. In addition, allowances may be claimed in respect of life insurance, superannuation, alimony and deduction against plant and machinery owned and operated by the assessee. A land tax of 40 cents per acre is charged. The principal sources of indirect taxation are customs duties at varying rates. Licensing exists for most trades and professions. There is also a succession duty at a graduated scale. The territory's recurrent revenue for 1968 was £1,458,374, which included £334,500 from grants-in-aid and £24,149 from the Overseas Service Aid Scheme. The capital revenue was £768,360 which consisted of grants from the U.K. of £205,863, U.K. Exchequer Loans of £372,500 and a local loan of £189,997. The total revenue was therefore £2,226,734; the total expenditure in 1968 was £1,993,209. HISTORY There is some evidence to suggest that the Seychelles Islands were known and visited in the Middle Ages by traders from Arabia and the Persian Gulf sailing to and from ports in East Africa with the monsoons; they are clearly associated with the great Portuguese voyages in the Indian Ocean. The Amirantes group was sighted by Vasco da Gama on his second voyage to India in 1502. The first map showing what is thought to be the main group of islands was drawn at about the same time. However, the first well-documented voyage of discovery to the archipelago was made by the English seaman Alexander Sharpeigh. Commissioned by the East Indian Company, Sharpeigh's expedition visited the main granitic group, including Mahé and nearby islands, in 1609, ante-dating the first French visit, with an expedition under Lazare Picault, by almost a century and a half. A circumstantial account of Sharpeigh's voyage is to be found in the Journal of John Jourdain, published by the Hakluyt Society. It was that greatest of all French Governors of Mauritius, the Vicomte Mahé de Labourdonnais, who briefed Picault in 1741 to explore Seychelles. Had Labourdonnais not fallen victim to base intrigues, it is possible, even probable, that he would have turned Mahé into a formidable naval base against Britain at a time when French and British interests were clashing in India. For fifteen years Seychelles remained forgotten and then, on intelligence that the British were seeking uninhabited islands in the Indian Ocean, France decided to annex Mahé and seven other islands of the group. To that end Captain C. N. Morphey was despatched with orders to set up on Mahé a ‘Stone of Possession' engraved with the arms of France. He did so at an impressive ceremony at sunrise on 1st November 1756, whereafter he set sail leaving the islands still uninhabited. By 1763 the French East India Company, owing to mismanagement, had lost most of its possessions in India and disrupted the economy of Mauritius. It was wound up and its remaining assets, including Mauritius and its dependencies, lapsed to the King of France. The transfer was not completed till 1767 when two official Administrators were sent to Mauritius-Jean Dumas in charge of naval and political affairs, and Pierre Poivre in charge of finance and agriculture-to develop the islands and prepare for further hostilities with Britain in the East. Both men soon turned their eyes to Seychelles. Dumas' interests were to find a cheap and reliable source of timber for his naval dockyards, and he despatched an expedition in 1768. Poivre, who had already introduced into Mauritius the cultivation of spices on a considerable scale to offset the Dutch monopoly in the Far East, extended this operation to Seychelles, and a garden was started, as well as a small settlement on St Anne's Island in 1770. Both operations were unsuccessful. After the first failure, the Administrators of Mauritius repeatedly urged that the King should take over Seychelles. The plan they put forward was to station on Mahé a small garrison and to accept the offer of a number of inhabitants of Mauritius and Réunion to settle there with their slaves. The function of the settlers was to grow food for the garrison and passing ships. Two years later Lieutenant Romainville with 15 soldiers and 12 slaves were sent to set up an Administrative Headquarters on the site around which Victoria was later to arise. Thereafter settlers with parties of slaves began to arrive. These settlers in the main came of previously well-to-do families who had fled France in face of financial disaster and threatening revolution, or had quit India after the collapse of French supremacy there in 1761. All were faced with the |