Page:Victoria, with a description of its principal cities, Melbourne and Geelong.djvu/215

 captain could scarcely knock his ship under any conceivable circumstances. The Mauritius, too, stands high out of the sea, and is easily to be made out at any hour. At Diego Garcia there is no lighthouse—at the Mauritius there are lighthouses in plenty. At Diego Garcia, it is said by the partisans of the Mauritius route, the water is of most dubious quality, and certainly there are no culinary vegetables grown. At the Mauritius coals are brought alongside of a steamer immediately upon her arrival, in great abundance, and hence one great cause of delay is avoided. Every facility for the repair of shipping and machinery is there also to be found; whereas, if a steamer were disabled at Diego Garcia, or upon the Diego Garcia line, she would be compelled to bear up under canvass for the Mauritius. At this island, too, in case of accident to the machinery of a steamer, a sailing vessel may always be chartered for Melbourne, to which port she would convey passengers in an average passage of 35 days. At Diego Garcia, in case of accident, there would be no remedy for the passengers but to await the arrival of the next steamer from Aden. There are regular harbour attendants at the Mauritius—magistrates, police, labourers, &c.; at Diego Garcia all this organization has to be created—establishments must be formed, and labour imported. We now come to that which, in our opinion, and according to the present state of information, is the turning-point of the question. As far as we have