4. Chinese.
5. Hindús, from the continent of India; convicts being transported to the Mauritius for life, and worked on the roads of the colony.
6. Cingalese from Ceylon—the Kandian chiefs whose presence in their native country was thought likely to endanger the tranquillity of the island, were sent hither.
The whites of the Mauritius are chiefly French; though not wholly of pure blood. The first settlers took their wives from Madagascar. The English form the smallest part of the population.
Rodrigues—occupied by a few French colonists from the Mauritius.
The Seychelles—The same; the coloured population outnumbering the white in the proportion of ten to one. Here there is a Portuguese admixture. From Maha, the chief town of the Seychelles,[87] to Madagascar, is five hundred and seventy-six miles—a fact to be borne in mind when we speculate upon the origin of the population of that island.
The Africans of British America.—Honduras, Belize, the West India Islands, and Demerara.—The usual distribution of the population of these parts is—
WHITE.
1. European whites, born in Europe.