ABSOLUTE

SEYCHELLES

and the settlers facing starvation as their

commanders lost control. The grandly named

Jardin du Roi spice garden project ended

in fiasco. In May 1780, a ship was sighted

from Mahé. Believing it to be English and

not wanting the garden to fall into enemy

hands, the gardens were burnt to the ground.

When the ship sailed closer it was discovered

to be French after all. But by then it was

too late: the gardens and the spices, save

a cinnamon tree or two, were completely

destroyed. Other man-made destructions

occurred in those early years: the tortoise

population on Mahé was decimated with

many hundreds of tortoises shipped to

Isle de France or eaten by the settlers. By

1778 they were almost completely wiped

out on Mahé. The endemic Seychelles

crocodile was also hunted to extinction

as were several species of birds.

The colonies saw

some very hard

times over the first

few years, with

harvests failing

and the settlers

facing starvation as

their commanders

lost control.