Identifier: britishempireske00bray (find matches)
Title: The British empire: a sketch of the geography, growth, natural and political features of the United Kingdom, its colonies and dependencies
Year: 1863 (1860s)
Authors: Bray, Caroline (Hennell)), Mrs., (from old catalog)
Subjects:
Publisher: London, Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, & Green
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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rocks andravines, with scarcely any level ground; but wild fruits andvegetables grow luxuriantly in the thin soil. Amongst thenatural productions are pine-apples, cocoa-nuts, and cucum-bers, and also a large nut of a singular kind, called coco-de-mar from its having once been supposed to grow at the bottomof the sea. It is an immense nut, weighing from 20 to 25pounds; and contains in its thick shell a white jelly-likesubstance, eatable but tasteless. Eice and maize are thegrains chiefly cultivated ; and cotton, coffee, tobacco, and thesugar-cane are also grown. Seychelles forms part of the diocese of Mauritius. Thecapital town is Mahe, on the north-east side of the island ofMahe, and the residence of the Government agent, who issubordinate to the Governor of Mauritius. The inhabitants ofthe whole group number about 7,000, of whom about 600 arewhites. As our trading intercourse increases with the eastcoast of Africa, it is believed that this possession will becomeof considerable value.
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359 PART VI.POSSESSIONS IN AMERICA. The British possessions in the western hemisphere are,British North America and the Bermudas; the West IndianColonies ; British Honduras ; British Guiana; and the Talk-land Isles. CHAPTER I. BRITISH NORTH AMERICA. The British possessions in North America comprise a terri-tory of about 4,000,000 square miles, extending from theUnited States on the south to the indefinite regions of ice inthe polar seas on the north; and from the Pacific Ocean andRussian America on the west, to the shores of the Atlanticon the east. Of this immense region, larger than the whole of Europe byat least 200,000 square miles, the greater portion is rather aland of promise for British enterprise than of actual Britishoccupation; our settlements at present being almost entirelyconfined to portions on the east and west. On the east areCanada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and the islands ofNewfoundland, Prince Edward, and Cape Breton ; on thewest are British Columbia and Vancouv

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