X.

The Nicobar Islands.

Stay from 23rd February to 26th March, 1858.

Historical details respecting this Archipelago.—Arrival at Kar-Nicobar.—Communication with the Aborigines.—Village of Sáoui and "Captain John."—Meet with two white men.—Journey to the south side of the island.—Village of Komios.—Forest Scenery.—Batte-Malve.—Tillangschong.—Arrival and stay at Nangkauri Harbour.—Village of Itoe.—Peak Mongkata on Kamorta.—Villages of Enuang and Malacca.—Tripjet, the first settlement of the Moravian Brothers.—Ulàla Cove.—Voyage through the Archipelago.—The Island of Treis.—Pulo Milù—Pandanus Forest.—St. George's Channel.—Island of Kondul.—Departure for the northern coast of Great Nicobar.—Mangrove Swamp.—Malay traders.—Remarks upon the natives of Great Nicobar.—Disaster to a boat dispatched to make Geodetical observations.—Visit to the Southern Bay of Great Nicobar.—General results obtained during the stay of the Expedition in this Archipelago.—Nautical, Climatic, and Geognostic observations.—Vegetation.—Animal Life.—Ethnography.—Prospects of this group of Islands in the way of settlement and cultivation.—Voyage to the Straits of Malacca.—Arrival at Singapore.

The earliest visitants of whom we have any certain information to this cluster of islands (situated in the Bay of Bengal, between 6° 50′ and 9° 10′ N., and 93° and 94° E.), appear to have been Arabian traders, who, on their voyages to Southern China, landed on these islands, then known as Megabalu and Legabalu, on the first occasion in 851, and on the second in 877 of the Christian era. Abu-Zeyd-Hassan, one of these adventurers, gave a circumstantial account of these voyages, which has been translated into French, and published by Eusebius Renaudot.[1]

After the Cape of Good Hope was doubled in 1497, the Nicobars were chiefly frequented by voyagers in East Indian seas, but without any such visits having in the least contributed to enlarge our information respecting a group so important by geographical position.

In 1602, Captain Lancaster, commander of an English ship, passed ten days on the Nicobars, during which he hardly visited the southern islands, Great and Little Nicobar, but kept to the small island of Sombrero, of the northern cluster, now called Bampoka. He there found trees of such circumference and height, as would serve for the construction of the largest ships. Towards the middle of the seventeenth century, Koeping, a Swede, made his appearance at the Nicobars. Happening to be on board a Dutch vessel, which touched in 1647 at one of the islands, he thought he perceived among the inhabitants certain men furnished with caudal appendages, whereas it was their peculiar clothing, which consists of a long narrow piece of woven stuff, wound round the body and then left to hang loosely, which gave rise to such a report. With the arrival in Indian waters of Dampier, that daring but most trustworthy of navigators, the information respecting these islands first becomes more definite. He landed in the north-western Bay of the largest of these, to which he assigned the latitude 7° 30′ N., and gave a most extensive narrative of his adventurous career from the moment he abandoned the corsair-craft he had brought from Europe to seek for assistance on the Nicobars, to the period when, after braving a tremendous storm in a canoe, along with seven of his companions in misfortune he landed half dead on the northernmost point of Sumatra about 1706.

In 1708, Captain Owen, another English shipmaster, paid an involuntary visit to this Archipelago, his ship having been stranded on the uninhabited island of Tillangschong, whence he escaped with his crew to the islands Ning and Souri, only four miles to the westward, apparently what is now known as Nangkauri. For the first time history now records an outrage of which the natives were guilty towards the strangers.

It would appear that the captain, after having experienced an exceedingly friendly reception, laid down his knife, upon which one of the islanders, very possibly out of curiosity, laid hold of it, pushed the owner aside, and ultimately possessed himself of the knife. On the following day, as Owen was taking his mid-day meal under a tree, he was set upon and killed by several of the natives, who shot him down with their arrows; on the other hand the crew, consisting of sixteen persons, were furnished with canoes and provisions, so that without experiencing any further ill-treatment they were so fortunate as to reach Junkseilan.

The first essay towards a settlement of the Nicobar Islands was made by the Jesuits in 1711, upon the most northerly island of the group, Kar-Nicobar. They succumbed however to the noxious influences of the climate, and the few neophytes speedily sank back into heathendom.

The second attempt at colonization by Europeans took place in 1756, when Lieutenant Tanck, a Dane, after taking possession of the entire group in the name of his sovereign, the King of Denmark, named the islands "Frederiks Oerne" (Frederick Islands), and founded the first colony on the northern side of Great Nicobar, or Sambellong. In the year 1760 this was transferred by the followers of Tanck to the island of Kamorta, but here too after a short time the experiment failed, owing to the unhealthiness of the climate.

In 1766, fourteen Moravian Brethren were settled on Nangkauri, with the view of extending the influence of the Danish East India Company. The want of information respecting the necessary conditions under which this colony was called into existence, was in all probability the cause of its speedy declension. Within less than two decades the majority of these settlers had fallen under the baneful influence of the climate.

On 1st April, 1778, the Austrian vessel Joseph and Theresa, commanded by Captain Bennet, landed on the N.E. side of Kar-Nicobar, or New Denmark. This vessel had been commissioned by the Imperial Government to select, in the name of H.M. Joseph II., Austrian plantations and commercial stations on the farther side of the Cape of Good Hope. Of this remarkable expedition nothing more has been handed down to us than is related by excellent Nicolas Fontana, who accompanied the expedition as surgeon, in his book of travels, which was published at Leipzig in 1782.[2]

Neither the libraries nor the archives of the empire seem capable of furnishing more definite information respecting this interesting undertaking. However, on the other hand, through the kind offices of H.I.H. the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian with the Government of H.M. the King of the Belgians, there have been found in the Royal Archives at Brussels several highly important documents, bearing upon this expedition, of which M. Gachard, keeper of the State Archives in that country, had the kindness to furnish us with copies; and while we propose in the following remarks to avail ourselves of the most interesting data, the more particular consideration of this circumstance, so interesting in the history of the development of our trade, will be deferred till the appearance of the commercial section of the Novara publications.

A Dutchman, named William Bolts, formerly in the service of the British East India Company, in the year 1774 made to Count Belgiojoso, at that period Ambassador in London of the Empress Maria Theresa, proposals for direct commercial intercourse between the Netherlands and Trieste and Persia, the East Indies, China, and Africa, with the object of supplying the harbours of the Austrian dominions with the products of India and China, without the costly intervention of other countries. This proposition having been brought under the notice of the Imperial Chancellor, Prince Kaunitz, at Vienna, was so cordially received by that minister, that Bolts received an invitation to present himself at the Empress's palace, in order to develope his plans more fully in person in that august presence. Bolts arrived in Vienna in April, 1775, and very shortly afterwards was invested by the Empress with all the requisite privileges for facilitating the prosecution of his great project. The imperial officials at Trieste were entrusted with the equipment and arming of the vessel, the supreme military council were required to provide the necessary pay for the soldiers and subaltern officers, and Bolts by special commission was formally empowered in the name of the Empress Queen, as also in that of her successors upon the throne, to take possession of all the territories which he might succeed in getting ceded by the princes of India, for the behoof of such of Her Imperial Majesty's subjects as should purpose trading with the Indies.

It was the wish of the Government that the first expedition should take its departure from Trieste; Bolts however opposed this, for the reason that his vessel must take part of its lading from London, but declared himself prepared to make the most strenuous efforts to found a mercantile house in Trieste, and to take such precautions as should result in the second and all future expeditions being dispatched from Trieste.

Bolts hereupon first proceeded to Amsterdam with his newly acquired privileges, and thence to London, as yet without being more fortunate in his attempt to set on foot the proposed association in the one locality than in the other. At last, at Antwerp in the Netherlands, he succeeded in interesting in his project a certain Baron von Proli, and two merchants, by the name of Borrekens and Nägeles, and with these three persons he entered into a contract of association, on 20th Sept. 1775. At the same time a fund of £90,000 was raised for the armament of a second trading vessel to the East Indies and China, and out of the same amount to establish a mercantile house in Trieste.

In possession of £25,000 sterling, which he had procured from his associates, Bolts proceeded to London, where he purchased a vessel, which he named the Joseph and Theresa, put a portion of her cargo on board, and on 14th March, 1776, set sail thence for Leghorn. Here certain articles were to be taken on board, which the Government had promised to have ready, and which consisted of copper, iron, steel, and tools. Before Bolts left harbour on his voyage to the Indies he was invested by the Empress with the grade of Lieutenant-Colonel in their service, and for the better prosecution of his objects was provided by the State Chancery with comprehensive powers,[3] and a pass for barbarous countries, called a "Scontrino."[4] The Empress at the same time provided the daring adventurer with letters of introduction under her own hand to the Emperor of China, the "King" of Persia, and the Indian satraps whose dominions he was to visit.

Baron Proli, one of the chief partners, went first of all to Vienna, and thence to Leghorn, and concluded an agreement with Bolts to dispatch a ship to the Indies in each of the years 1777, 1778, 1779, the cargoes of which should be worth at least £30,000 each, while Bolts, on his part, engaged to remain in the Indies three and a half years from the day of his departure, there to found factories, and to lay out to the best advantage the money realized by the sale of the merchandise consigned to him. The Empress Maria Theresa rewarded Proli for services already rendered, as also for those which he undertook to perform in the establishment of trading-exchanges in Trieste and Bruges, for the support of the oversea commerce of the Austrian and Belgian provinces, by raising him to the dignity of Count.

The ship Joseph and Theresa, bound for the east coast of Africa, as also for the shores of Malabar, Coromandel, and Bengal, set sail from Leghorn in September, 1776, with a crew of 155 men. Unfavourable winds compelled Bolts to make the Brazilian coast, in order to take in fresh stores. Thence he lay a course for Delagoa Bay, on the S.E. coast of Africa, opposite the island of Madagascar, on which, on 30th March, 1777, he was so unfortunate as to get stranded, when he was compelled to start a portion of his cargo overboard. Bolts, however, turned to excellent account his stay on this coast, having purchased from two African kings, named Mohaar Capell, and Chibauraan Matola, a site of ground on both banks of the river Masoûmo, and, at a total expenditure of 126,267 florins (about £12,600), in which was included the cost of constructing the necessary vessels, founded a factory, for whose protection he also erected two small forts, which he furnished with cannon, and named after his two illustrious patrons, Joseph and Theresa.

After a more protracted stay on the coast of Malabar, where he purchased from the Nabob, the celebrated Hyder Ali Khan, a number of plots of ground in the vicinity of Mangalore, Carwar, and Balliapatam, the very centre of the pepper trade, and erected a factory at an expense of 28,074 florins (£2800), this enterprising man set sail for the Coromandel Coast and the Bay of Bengal, and about the commencement of 1778 visited the Nicobar Islands, in order there also to found a factory. Unfortunately, of this visit there nowhere survive any detailed particulars, and the only document extant under Bolts' hand, which can throw any light on the subject, is a statement of the expenditure incurred in erecting a fort on the Nicobars, which, together with the purchase of a goëlette, and a snow, or two-masted vessel, for the coasting trade between Madras, Pegu, and the group of islands, amounted to 47,659 fl. 48 kr. (about £4760).

At the close of 1780 Bolts returned to Europe, and in May, 1781, cast anchor in the harbour of Leghorn. His exertions and his speculation had not been attended with the success anticipated, and despite fresh assistance afforded by the Austrian Government to the Association, which at first seemed to promise a more auspicious future for the undertaking, yet the political complications of the period, and especially the sudden, totally unlooked-for rupture of peace between France, England, and Holland, ere long entailed utter ruin on the trading company, which, in the year 1785, found itself compelled to stop payment.[5] Bolts died at Paris in April, 1808, in utter destitution, and Michaud, in his Biographie Universelle, dedicated an article to this hardy and enterprising, rather than shrewd and prudent, adventurer.[6]

About two years after the appearance of the Austrian ship in the Nicobar Archipelago, the Danes endeavoured to found there a missionary station of Moravian Brothers. Towards the close of 1778 the missionaries, Hänsel and Wangemann, sailed from Tranquebar to Nangkauri, where they arrived in January, 1779. In 1787 the mission at Nangkauri was once more abandoned, when the only surviving Moravian Brother returned to Tranquebar, and shortly after to Europe.

In 1795 an Englishman, Major Symes, touched at Kar-Nicobar, while on his voyage as Envoy to Ava and Burmah. His observations there may be found in the second volume of "Asiatic Researches," p. 344, in an article entitled "Description of Carnicobar."

In 1831, Denmark once more made an attempt to colonize, by means of a missionary enterprise, the group formerly known as New Denmark, and occasionally as Frederick Islands. Pastor Rosen landed in August of that year on the island of Kamorta, and first set up his establishment on the so-called Frederick Hill, then on the adjoining Mongkata Hill; somewhat later on the island of Trinkut, and lastly on the shore immediately beneath the Mongkata Hill. In December, 1834, after about a four years' stay, Pastor Rosen left the islands, and in 1839 published, at Copenhagen, his own experiences and personal observations, under the title: "Erindringen om mit Ophold paa de Nikobariske Oerne" (Recollections of my Residence on the Nicobar Islands).

In 1835, the Roman Catholic Bishop of the Straits of Malacca dispatched to Kar-Nicobar two French missionaries, the Fathers Chopard and Borie. But after a certain lapse of time, during which their missionary efforts gave promise of the most pleasing results, and when they had lived about a year on the island, the pious work fell through, owing to the credulity and prejudices of the natives, to whom the two missionaries were represented by the crew of a ship from the adjacent shores of the continent as English spies, whose object probably was to ascertain the products of the country, which thereupon would speedily be annexed by the English Government. The missionaries had to flee, and Borie expired in the arms of his companion before he could get off the island. Chopard afterwards, in the year 1849, published his adventures in this group of islands in the "Asiatic Journal of the Indian Archipelago," under the title, "A few Particulars respecting the Nicobar Islands."

In March, 1845, Mr. Mackey, Danish Consul in Calcutta, set on foot a small expedition to the Nicobar Archipelago. That gentleman hoped to find amongst the southern islands strata of coal, and made a voyage thither in prosecution of that object, on board the schooner Espiègle, commanded by an Englishman named Lewis, and accompanied by two Danes, Mr. Busch, the sole commander of the expedition, and a certain Mr. Lowert. By the end of May the adventurers were once more in Calcutta. With the exception of a few lumps they had not found coal-beds on any part of the island, while they lacked the physical strength requisite for founding the agricultural colony, which it had been intended to set on foot at the same time. The scientific results of this voyage are comprised in a small brochure, "H. Busch's Journal of a Cruise amongst the Nicobar Islands," (Calcutta, 1845).

A further scientific exploration of the Nicobar group was made by the naturalists attached to the Danish corvette Galatea in the course of their voyage round the world in the years 1845-7. A thorough examination of the Nicobars was one of the chief objects of the expedition set on foot under the auspices of the Danish Government. On the 25th January, 1846, at Nangkauri, Captain Steen Bille took formal possession of this group of islands in the name of H.M. the King of Denmark. Two natives, father and son, named respectively Luha and Angre, the former resident in Malacca, and the latter in Enuang, were on that occasion installed as chief magistrates; each being at the same time provided with a staff bearing the cypher of Christian VIII., and instructed, by means of a document drawn up in the English and Danish languages, on the subject of their duties, which consisted principally in hoisting the Danish Standard on the arrival of foreign ships in the harbour of Nangkauri.[7]

After the decease of Christian VIII., the Danish Government, in consequence of the violent political agitations of the period, did not show itself disposed to make practical use of their possession of the Nicobar Islands by any lasting colonization, but on the contrary in the year 1848 dispatched the royal corvette Valkyrien to the Archipelago, to bring away the flag and bâtons.[8]

In consequence of this, according to "Thornton's Gazetteer of India," the chiefs of the island of Kar-Nicobar hoisted the English flag, and through certain English merchants resident in Moulmein, expressed a wish to be permitted to place themselves under the protection of the British Crown. This information, however, seems to be inaccurate, in so far as it professes to describe the conduct of the native chiefs. The inhabitants, it is true, hoist any flag given to them, because they are fond of imitating European customs, and by so doing believe they secure themselves against the pretensions of other nations; but there is nothing they so much dread as a regular occupation of the islands, and on every appearance of a war-ship are forthwith filled with alarm lest they should be about to be deprived of their liberty, and—their cocoa-nuts. Indeed they have a saying widely diffused among them, probably through the craft of some smart chiefs, that whenever a European should settle among them all the cocoa-nuts will drop from the trees, and they will thus see themselves deprived for ever of their most important means of subsistence. It is, on the contrary, more probable that the English ship captains, who trade with these islands in order the better to secure their highly profitable trade in cocoa-nuts, made some propositions to the East Indian Government to take possession of this important group, by a similar procedure as that by which the Andaman islands were annexed somewhat later.

Since the unsuccessful attempt at the end of last century to extend Austrian commerce with the Indies and the coast of Africa, by founding a few colonies in those places, no vessel sailing under the Austrian flag had again visited the Nicobar Islands, and accordingly, on the dispatch of an Imperial ship-of-war to those waters, it was naturally wished that she should on her voyage to China visit this group, on whose shores the Austrian flag had once been unfurled as a symbol of possession. On this occasion, however, the object was rather scientific than political. It was intended, so far as the time allotted for visiting these islands and the appliances at hand admitted, to undertake inquiries as to the most important geodetical points, together with astronomical, magnetic, and meteorological observations, and at the same time to make investigations and collections of the various objects of natural science, and thus to complete as it were the valuable labours carried out in 1846 by the Danish Expedition to the Nicobar Islands. The following pages are simply limited to giving a popular narrative of our own stay on this interesting island group, while more circumstantial information of the various scientific results obtained there will be deferred till the appearance of the special works being drawn up by the members, each in his own special section.

On 25th February, at 10 A.M., the naturalists, accompanied by the officers in charge of the scientific apparatus, and the midshipmen, after very considerable difficulty, succeeded in effecting a landing on the island of Kar-Nicobar, in a bay protected by a coral reef (by observation 9° 14′ 8″ N., and 92° 44′ 46″ E.), between the villages of Moose and Sáoui. At this point the surf beats incessantly over the huge reefs of coral upon a waste of gleaming white sand, which stretches in graceful curves from one point of rock to that next adjoining. The few fruits which have been thrown up, or been carried hither, probably from some distant shore, have struck root in this coral sand, and a coronal of luxuriant palms, with their slim stems, and loaded with thousands of nuts, serves as food for man.

In the vicinity of the spot where we disembarked was anchored a barque from Moulmein, with a Malay crew, the majority of whom were tattooed on the thigh with extraordinary skill. They had been for a considerable period taking in a cargo of cocoa-nuts, which the natives had been exchanging against various merchandise. About thirty dusky natives, almost entirely naked, and for the most part without any head covering beyond the splendid raven locks which hung down over their shoulders, some carrying in their hands cutlasses, others long wooden lances tipped with bone, stood near the beach, and while we were yet a little distance off, called out to us in broken English, and with visible anxiety, "Good friend? No fear!" apparently anxious, in the first place, to have confirmation from us that we were really "good friends," and that they had nothing to dread, before they ventured quite close to us. When they were no more than twenty paces distant, they suddenly came to a halt, upon which some of their number, who appeared to be chiefs, gave their spears and cutlasses to those around, and advanced to us with a tolerably friendly air, at the same time stretching out their hands by way of salutation. They were for the most part large, well-proportioned men, of a dark bronze colour of skin.

The most disagreeable feature is the mouth, which, in consequence of the loathsome custom of incessantly chewing the betel-nut, seems to have become utterly distorted in shape. In a few cases this filthy habit had resulted in such deformity among the teeth, that these were barely visible between the thick swollen lips, like a malignant tumour! The apparel of the natives is pretty universally entirely primitive, consisting of nothing but a long very narrow strip of dark blue linen, which they wind round the body, bringing it from the front between the legs backwards, when it is made fast to the girdle, and the ends left to hang loosely down. Some of the natives make a very singular use of the different articles of old clothes which they receive in exchange from the ship captains, or have had given as a present, as they appear now in a black hat, now in a coat or a shirt, without a vestige of other clothing!

Almost every native we saw brought to us a soiled, crumpled-up testimonial, setting forth his good character, and his honesty in the cocoa-nut trade, which he had received from various ship captains, who bartered their merchandise for ripe cocoa-nuts, which they afterwards sold in the East Indies or Ceylon at an immense profit. The greater number of these testimonials were written in English; we found only one in German from the skipper of a Bremen ship, and one in Dutch. In these certificates are set forth the objects best worth enquiring for, as also a statement of the articles bartered in the course of exchange for cocoa-nuts, a practice which is not alone of the utmost utility for those who may afterwards visit the islands for purposes of commerce, but also throw a most interesting light upon the evidences of civilization among the natives.[9]

These testimonials also frequently contain very humorous remarks about the unsuspecting natives, who assuredly would be less eager in producing them if they were acquainted with the contents. One of the earliest to extend to us the hand of welcome was a native who called himself Captain Dickson, a handsome, slim, dark brown figure, with very long, fine, glossy hair hanging over his shoulders, and neatly gathered together with a bark ribbon. In the document presented to us, which was dated 15th January, and bore the signature of the captain of the ship Arracan, there was written beneath, "Dickson, though a shabby-looking fellow, is a man of substance." In a second testimonial, it was said of a native: "He will do honour to England when she comes!" a remark which leaves plainly apparent the hope of the ship captain that these islands will speedily be occupied by the English. These certificates likewise contain a variety of important hints, especially with reference to the method of dealing with the natives, the most commodious anchorage, the difficulty encountered in landing, &c.[10]

Thus the most cursory communication with the natives convinced us that they must already have repeatedly done business with English ship captains, who had imparted to them a slight knowledge of the English language, and a few of the simpler principles of humanity and religion. When we gave them to understand that we visited them as friends, they replied in their broken English: "Not merely friends—brothers! all brothers! all only one father and one mother!" Hereupon each proceeded to light one of the cigars that had been presented to them, while, for want of any other receptacle, they secreted the remainder in the wide holes transpiercing the lobes of the ears, after which they with the most frank munificence, and in token of their hospitality, pulled a number of young cocoa-nuts from the tree, and gave us their fluid contents to drink. Very singular was the method in which this was effected. They tie their feet together by the ankles with a loop of the same bast, or bark rope, which, when employed in fastening their long black locks, usually forms such a picturesque frontlet, and then clamber with the agility of cats to the summit of the palm, throw to the bottom the separated fruit, and slide swiftly down to the ground again. Holding in one hand a tolerably heavy young nut, in the other a sharp cutlass, they proceed at one sure blow to open the nut, in such manner that a small orifice is made, through which the refreshing liquid contents can be conveniently quaffed. When this has been evacuated the nut is usually split in half, in which form it serves as a most nutritious food for the fowls and hogs. Despite their hospitality, there was perceptible in all of them great anxiety, and the upshot of all their conversation always resolved itself into the stereotyped questions, "What did we really require? whether we wished to purchase cocoa-nuts, and would soon be leaving?"

Great and natural as our desire was to penetrate from the shore, thickly covered with its belt of cocoa-nut palms, into the rather flat interior, and thus obtain a nearer view of the hive-shaped, basket-formed huts which were visible under the forest trees, we judged it much the better course to endeavour first of all to make the natives more confiding, and for that purpose invited them to accompany us on board. Eight of their number were finally induced to follow us, and came alongside in their elegant canoes, formed of the wood of the Calophyllum inophyllum, one of the most splendid trees of the primeval forest of the islands. As soon as we reached the frigate, only a single one, Captain Dickson, could be induced to clamber up of the man-ropes; the rest did not venture to leave their canoes, and one, who called himself Captain Charlie, a short, lank little fellow of boyish appearance, who for all apparel wore a dirty cloth cap on his head, trembled with terror through his whole frame when he saw our big guns. Captain Dickson, too, did not seem to feel himself altogether comfortable while on board, and although there was much to excite his curiosity, he soon longed to get out of the large ship, back again into his own frail skiff. Quite peculiar was the impression made upon him by a pair of live cows; such large animals he gave us to understand were not found upon his island.

Meanwhile a number of natives had approached the frigate in their canoes, bringing swine, fowls, plantains, yams, and eggs in hollowed-out cocoa-nut shells, which they offered as presents, but at the same time inquired what we intended giving them in return. They greatly wished for biscuit, brandy, medicines, clothes, but above all else for black hats, which most probably results from their having occasionally seen the captains of English ships wearing round hats, whence they now seem to imagine that such a head-gear is the insignia of captain's rank, or of a chief.

Their knowledge of money was confined to Rupees, which they discriminated into two sorts, viz. the ordinary East Indian coin, and the English sixpenny-piece, which they called "small Rupees," covering with them, by way of ornament, the ends of the small bits of bamboo which they usually wear through the hole that transpierces the greatly distended lobe of the ear.

Of the two Catholic missionaries, Borie and Chopard, who in 1835 had remained a short time on the island, not one of the natives could give us any particulars; and likewise of the Danish corvette Galatea, which visited the group in 1846, they had but a dim remembrance, and even this of a far from complimentary character; the poor people having been overwhelmed with the apprehensions that their island was about to be taken possession of, and themselves exposed to a lingering death by hunger. "Danish bad people," they exclaimed, "wanted to take our island. Suppose I could come to your island and take it? Not good! no good people!"

We returned on shore with the natives, who, in consequence of their friendly reception on board, had already become somewhat more tranquil and trustful. Tents were now pitched, the astronomical and geodetical instruments, together with the barometer and thermometer, were adjusted, the tide-gauge fixed at the most suitable point, and the island traversed in all directions for scientific purposes, so far at least as the density of the forest and the mistrust of the natives would permit.

On the very same day we visited the Cove of Sáoui, on which is situated the village of the same name, whose chief is called "Captain John." This worthy had received by way of present an old cast-off blue uniform frock, and was now making strenuous exertions to squeeze his all too little flexible limbs into this tight thick cloth coat, and to button it, despite the tropical heat, round his naked body up to the very throat. He was anxious it should not be reported of him that he did not sufficiently value the distinction awarded him, or did not comprehend how to make a proper use of it. Unlike the rest of his compatriots, Captain John also wore shoes and pants, and in consequence openly claimed to belong to the privileged classes. He was surrounded by a considerable number of natives, who presented themselves to us, as Captain Morgan, Captain Douglas, Dr. Crisp, Lord Nelson, Lord Byron, Lord Wellington, and so forth, having been indebted to the singular whimsies of some English captains, who thought it a good joke to confer on these filthy brown people the illustrious names of the hereditary and intellectual aristocracy of Great Britain.

Captain John accompanied us along the coast to his own domicile by an exceedingly difficult and sunny path, having designedly concealed from us the existence of a much more commodious track through the forest to the village, which contains only seven houses. These are erected in a broad open space, and in consequence of the great humidity of the soil during the wet season, consist of eight or ten poles, from six to eight feet in height, so that a man can easily pass under them. They comprise but one large apartment, into which access is obtained by a neatly-carved ladder of bamboo-reed, which during the night, or when the occupants leave the hut, is usually taken away, so that, without using locks or bolts, it is pretty difficult to get in. The flooring is constructed of bamboo planks, bound together with Rotang (Calamus Rotang), in such a manner that the air from beneath can circulate freely through, and, in a similar way, the neat basket-work of the hive-shaped structure is vaulted. A dense straw thatch serves as well to keep out the sun's rays as the rain. The internal arrangements are very simple. In the rear is a sort of fire-place, a low block of wood hollowed out, and the cavity filled with sand and stones, upon which is placed a variety of utensils of clay, imported from the adjoining island of Chowry, the only island of the entire Archipelago where any industry is carried on. From the beams of the roof are suspended hollowed-out cocoa-nuts, strung together in pairs, and serving as water jars, as also elegantly plaited baskets and the few possessions of the family, and, lastly, some fruits, betel-leaves, and tobacco, as offerings to the Eewees, or evil spirits, in the event of their paying a visit, and having an appetite for such fare. Further forward, opposite the entrance of the hut, there are stuck on the side walls, as evidences of special prosperity, numerous cutlasses, spears, javelins, and paddles. Besides, there are laid on the floor plaited straw-mats, which, rolled up during the day, are stretched out at night and, together with a small wooden stool for a pillow, serve as couches on which to repose. The hut might furnish sleeping quarters for about ten men. As, moreover, all the cookery is carried on therein, and there is no means of ventilating from above, the interior is completely saturated with smoke, and all articles are soon begrimed with smoke and soot. The natives, however, apparently take no precautions to get rid of the smoke, because it contributes to keep them free of a far more subtle foe, the mosquito, who, especially during the rainy season, becomes a formidable torment for their naked bodies.

In the shady space beneath the hut, which sometimes serves as a workshop,—if one may venture so to designate the industry of the inhabitants of the Nicobars generally,—Captain John had suspended upon a transverse beam a sort of swing, in which he occasionally rocked himself, much to his own delight, while for his guests was provided a wooden arm-chair, which had evidently come into his possession in the course of some barter with the captain of a merchant vessel.

The old chief spoke with marked predilection of the captain of the barque Rochester of London, a gentleman named Green, who, by his humane and strictly conscientious dealings with the natives, seemed to stand in high respect, and afforded a striking example of what beneficial influence is exercised by individual English ship captains over the wild races with whom they come in contact in the way of trade, and how much they have it in their power to make their nation respected in all parts of the globe. We venture to assert that these English merchantmen, during their cursory visits, have done more towards paving the way for civilizing the Nicobars than the Danish and French missionaries during their residence of years. Not a single native understands one word of Danish or French, but almost every one speaks English, sufficient, at all events, to make himself understood in that language. The talkative old fellow next held forth an English Bible, which had been carefully stowed away on one of the cross-beams of his hut, and of which, as he told us, he had been made a present by Captain Green, on that gentleman's last visit. "This is my Jesus Christ," said Captain John, full of unquestioning faith in the marvellous power of Holy Writ:—"when I feel ill, I lay this little book under my head, and I get well again!" The worthy fellow could neither read nor, so far as we could perceive, did he precisely comprehend what was printed in the book, yet he seemed instinctively to feel that it was of no ordinary purport, and accordingly held his present in high honour, as a sort of talisman, whose power and efficacy one might confide in, without his being able precisely to account for such a belief. We turned over the leaves of the little volume, which had been issued by the renowned, wide-spread, and beneficent London Bible Society, and found on the fly-leaf some English verses in Green's handwriting, and some encomiums upon the inhabitants of Kar-Nicobar, "The most virtuous people that Captain Green had fallen in with during eight and thirty years' sea-faring;" closing with the remark, "What a pity they have no missionary!"

In truth, the inhabitants of Kar-Nicobar are among the most perfect of human-kind. In their commerce with us they showed themselves to be child-like and ignorant, yet virtuous, trustworthy people, without ambition or the thirst of knowledge, but also without jealousy or envy. If ever any breach between themselves and the Europeans has been pushed the length of violence, such has pretty certainly resulted rather from their being in a measure suddenly incited to self-defence than from any open predisposition to mischief. When we inquired of one of the natives in what manner breach of faith is punished on the island, he replied with the utmost naïveté;—"We never have such—we are all good;—but in your country there must be many evil men, else what for would you require so many guns?"

In company with some of the natives we had proceeded upon a stroll through the magnificent cocoa forest along the beach, in the course of which we reached several huts scattered at random through the thicket, the inhabitants of which received us in the most cordial manner. Their wives and children however had all retired in a body, and during our entire stay never once made their appearance. Indeed the natives, in the hope of hastening our departure, pretended that their families had in their panic fled into the forest, and must starve of hunger if we should remain long, and so prevent them from returning to their usual abodes. This however was but a hoax. The natives knew well enough where their families were lurking, and provided them with food and drink. This extreme shyness of the female portion of the population arises apparently from the incivilities of which the sailors of the merchant vessels were guilty towards the natives, whose moral feelings and delicacy of mind, considering their low state of civilization, becomes doubly extraordinary.

An attempt to penetrate deeper into the interior of the island was baffled through the obstacles which are interposed by the unchecked luxuriance of tropical nature. The vegetation grows densely down to the very sea, which is separated from the rich foliage above only by rocky reefs and narrow dunes of sand, washed by the furious surf. A broad belt of Rhizophoræ, gigantic Barringtonias, Pandanus, Areca, and cocoa-palms, encircles the island, to which succeeds a somewhat higher land grown with dense grass and interspersed with groups of trees, from which, lastly, spring a few thickly-wooded peaks of about 150 to 200 feet in height. Through this girdle it requires the most violent efforts to force one's way, while, on the other hand, it is wholly impossible, owing to the dense tangle of climbing plants and bamboo, to advance further into the forest over the grass flat, unless a path be previously cleared with hedge-knives, which, even could more time be devoted, would call for immense exertion. Our researches therefore were necessarily confined for the most part to the coast region.

After several hours of strolling about, collecting and examining as we went on, the naturalists found themselves collected once more on the open space facing Captain John's hut, where meanwhile a pig had been roasted by our sailors in the open air, which we had purchased for three shillings of our corpulent friend Dr. Crisp. The natives had at first protested against this improvised hearthstone, being apprehensive lest the fire should reach their huts, the roofs of which are thatched with dried palm-leaves. "It is as inflammable as gunpowder," remarked the old chief in an anxious tone, when our people had with great want of foresight lighted the fire too near the buildings. Captain John and his kindred did not need to be invited twice to partake of our meal, at which they proved themselves excellent trenchermen. The inhabitants of these islands generally eat vegetables only, the use of meat being for the most part restricted to festive occasions. The use of salt is as yet unknown to them. They only use sea-water for the purpose of seething their pigs and hens, by which process the flesh gets a slight flavour of salt. During our luncheon, which had made the natives yet more confiding than ever, we found an opportunity of hearing something about the various festivals of the Nicobar islanders.

When a native falls down from a tree, or is bitten by a snake, or is otherwise wounded or dies, the Nicobarians forthwith discontinue all work, and institute a fast, which they term Uraka. With the commencement of the S.W. monsoons or rainy season (when the wind comes from "yonder," quoth Dr. Crisp, and pointed with his finger to the southward), the inhabitants of Kar-Nicobar hold their chief festival, which lasts fourteen days, and is called Oïlere.

They have a similar festival at the end of the damp season, or N.E. monsoon, to which the pigs, which play quite a conspicuous part in it, impart an entirely peculiar character. Several weeks before the commencement of this fête, a large number of these unclean but useful animals are confined in small stalls, whence they are released on the feast-day, and set loose in a well-fenced space, where they are teased and pricked with lances by all the courageous, or rather mischievous, youth of the island. The Nicobarians seem to attach special importance to the swine being driven wild, and themselves engaged in a regular struggle with the infuriated animal, in the course of which severe wounds are by no means of rare occurrence. We ourselves saw several young natives, who a few days previously had been severely injured in a similar contest with some enraged pigs. When this anything but æsthetic spectacle has lasted some time, the pigs are killed, roasted on the fire, and devoured by the combatants and spectators.

A not less strange and even more barbarous festival is that which is held about the same time as the one just mentioned. This consists in exhuming the bones of all those who have died during the year elapsed since the last N.E. monsoon, and have been interred in a sort of cemetery called "Cuyucupa."[11] They next bring these bones into a hut, seat themselves in a circle around the ghastly mementos, and shriek and howl as at the day on which the relation died. While this scene of lamentation is going on, a lighted cigar is usually stuck into the bony mouth of the grisly skull, after which the latter is consigned to the grave again. The rest of the bones however are either thrown into the deep sea or hid far in the forest, while at the same moment, as a farther evidence of sorrow, a number of cocoa-palms are cut down, and their fruit scattered to the winds. By such symbols they apparently wish to express their overwhelming grief, their weariness of existence, and their indifference to the most valued gifts of nature, so that they would even deprive themselves of the most universally necessary of the means of subsistence—were it not that, owing to the readiness with which the sea-shore palm is propagated, the nuts thus scattered at random, in all the indifference to sublunary considerations incidental to a paroxysm of grief, speedily strike root, and after a few years lift up their heads again in the forest, at once ornamental and nutritious.

At all these festivals the natives assemble in the various villages, and at these seasons spend days and weeks with each other. Earlier visitors to Kar-Nicobar estimate the number of villages on the island at about six or seven only. The natives on the other hand gave us the names of the following thirteen: Arrong (or Arrow), Sáoui, Moose, Lapáte, Kinmai, Tapóimai, Chukchuitche, Kiukiuka, Tamalu, Páka, Malacca, Komios, and Kankéna, which all together would hardly number much above 100 huts, and about 800 or 900 inhabitants.

Southward of our anchorage we fell in with a small stream, which near its embouchure on the beach was lost in a sand-bank. Some of the members of the Expedition explored it in a very small flat-bottomed boat, a Venetian gondola, which was transported across the bar in order to admit of its being sculled up the river. At first it was found to be about 2 ¹⁄₂ feet deep, by about 12 to 14 yards in width; the general direction of its very sinuous course being towards E.S.E. All around the forest presented a scene to which perhaps only the fantastic whimsicality of certain theatrical forest sceneries might furnish a dim resemblance. Along the steep bank of the river rose to a height of nearly 100 feet the slender Nibong palm, adorned with blossoms and clusters of fruit, and close adjoining the graceful Catechu palm. Gigantic forest trees, with thick squat trunks, extended their shady masses of foliage far over the stream; screw-pines towering up from the scaffold-like arrangement of their numerous roots, were reflected from the glassy bosom of the water; clumps of bamboo, absolutely alive with butterflies; nymph-like aquatic plants, mossy green banks, and tree-ferns with indescribably graceful corollæ, all combined here to form a landscape of the most enchanting richness, in the water, on the shore, and in the air. Suspended over the whole scene, partly in leaf, partly in bloom, a gigantic garland of climbing and creeping plants, in living cords of every variety of thickness, rose in a lofty arch above the limpid element, interlaced and girt round with thousands of blooming and flourishing parasites! Then, too, from amid the mysterious gloom started forth the strangest voices and cries, without our being able to descry the animals themselves. In the water, which was perfectly sweet to the taste, swarmed multitudes of fish of from one to four inches in length. After rowing about one nautical mile and a half up the stream, some rapids and rocks prevented our further progress, the stream itself being but twelve feet wide. A little further to the east occurs a similar small river, which however had even less water, and at its mouth is yet more sanded up and inaccessible than that above described.

After we had lain for six days at anchor on the N.W. coast of Kar-Nicobar, and were once more casting about how to make out our long-desired excursion through its almost impermeable forests, we suddenly perceived in the distance upon the beach two men in European dress, with muskets upon their shoulders, who, conducted by some absolutely naked natives, speedily approached us. One, a fine-looking, well-formed young man of about 20, addressed us in French, saying he was supercargo of the Sardinian brig Giovannina of Singapore, and was occupied in taking in a cargo of cocoa-nuts upon the southern shore of the island. The natives had been so unsettled by the arrival of a war-ship, that they loudly affirmed a pirate ship had made its appearance, which would rob and destroy them all; whereupon the most anxious of their number entreated the few whites who fortunately happened to be among them to start immediately for the north side of the island, where the Colossus lay at anchor, so as at all events to ascertain what was to be their fate. In the course of the conversation which sprung up between ourselves and the two strangers, we found that the supercargo was a Frenchman, born at St. Denis in the island of Bourbon, and was named Auguste Tigard, while his companion was a Sardinian. They were both singularly pale and embarrassed on first falling in with us, apparently from surprise and delight at finding themselves so unexpectedly in the society of white men at so solitary a spot; ere long however they felt themselves more at their ease, visited the frigate, were provided with clothes, medicines, and wine, and at a later period were of much use to us in our intercourse with the natives. Tigard remarked that the sugar-cane, which at present grows wild on the island, could, judging by his own personal experience, be very profitably grown for the production of sugar, as also that tobacco, cotton, and rice thrive in the most conspicuous manner.

At present the cocoa-palm is the sole plant which is cultivated by the natives of Kar-Nicobar. It supplies them with all they require for food and lodging, for house-furniture, or for commerce with foreign peoples. The stem of this slender column, from 60 to 100 feet in height, by about 2 ¹⁄₂ in thickness, with its heavy green thatch of leaves, is very porous and slight looking, but is yet stiff and strong enough to furnish cross-beams, laths, and masts for huts and boats. The fibres of the bark and of the nut-shells (known in commerce as Coir) supply cordage and line; the immense fan-shaped leaf (3 feet wide by 12 to 14 in length) of the coronal serves as a covering for the roof, as also for plaited work and baskets. The juice of the nut, shaped like an egg, yet somewhat triangular, and about the size of the human head, prevents the native from feeling even in the slightest degree the absence of available spring water, and is the sole beverage which invigorates and refreshes the wayfarer through these forest solitudes. Frequently did we experience a glow of thankfulness to all-bounteous Nature, as often as some hospitable native handed to us for our refreshment, exhausted and thirsty as we were after our fatiguing wanderings, a green cocoa-nut, that vegetable spring of the tropical forest.[12] The kernel of the ripe nut, thoroughly dried and pressed, gives forth a strong, clear, tasteless oil, which is used by the natives for anointing their skin and hair, and at the same time forms so important an article in European commerce, that above 5,000,000 ripe cocoa-nuts are annually exported through foreign mercantile houses in exchange for European fabrics. The hard shell of the cocoa-nut is the sole drinking cup of the Nicobar islanders, and the cooling, refreshing juice, which is extracted by an incision in the sheath of the palm-blossom before the latter has expanded, is the sole fermented beverage of which they make use. When brought into a state of fermentation it possesses similar intoxicating effects with the Chicha of the American Indian. Here, as among other half-savage races, we had occasion to remark, that the chief food of the aborigines is also made available for supplying them with their favourite liquid stimulant, and just as the native of India effects this purpose with rice, the African from the Yucca, or the Yam, the South-Sea Islander with the Kawa, and the Mexican with the Maize or the Agave, so the inhabitant of the Nicobars avails himself of the cocoa-nut at once for the supply of the first necessities of his existence, and the excitement of his brain by artificial stimulant.

On 27th February, towards evening, after a stay of seven days on the north side of Kar-Nicobar, which had been spent in scientific operations of the most varied nature, we again set sail, and next morning cast anchor on the south side of the same island, close to the village of Komios. The current, which at this point sets to the E.S.E., runs about three miles an hour, so long as the flood-tide continues, but as soon as the ebb-tide sets in, it chops round, and runs with greatly diminished velocity. The landings on the south side, which, on leaving the northern promontory, shows a much richer vegetation, are somewhat difficult to discover, since at almost all points reefs and coral banks project from the shore far into the sea, so that after doubling the cape it is necessary to stop short a pretty considerable distance from the land.

While we were coasting along the eastern shore we could perceive through the telescope, at the village of Lapáte, consisting of some eight or ten huts, a great number of women and children, who were rushing to and fro among the huts in the utmost confusion, till suddenly all disappeared in the forest. These were evidently fugitives from the north side, who were now once more betaking themselves to the forest, accompanied by the native females of the east and south sides, when they saw the dreaded floating giant approaching them. A beach of dazzling white coral sand, sprinkled over with thousands of living mussels, low melancholy-looking mangrove swamps, and a superb forest of trees with lofty stems, through which lay a beaten footpath, was all that the flat shore offered to our view. The Frenchman already mentioned had indeed apprized the inhabitants of our arrival, and had endeavoured to explain to them our friendly intention, but it was in vain,—the greater portion of the population had taken to flight, and only dogs and armed men were left behind. Here also we could not see a single woman. However, we were informed by M. Tigard, who lived several weeks in the village of Kankéna, and had been treated by the natives as one of themselves, that the Nicobar women have their hair cut quite short, and simply wind round their dusky bodies, all smeared with oil, a piece of white or red calico at the loins. They are generally ugly, but strictly virtuous, and regard the Europeans as an inferior race, as compared with their native lords.

As we were making for the land in what is called Komios Bay, near the village of the same name (situate according to our observations in 9° 37′ 32″ N. Lat. and 92° 43′ 42″ E. Long.), a number of stalwart natives approached us from the forest, one of whom, who called himself Captain Wilkinson, proved to be the most intelligent and graceful of their number. He was extremely eager to give us a lot of information respecting the more southerly islands of the Nicobar Archipelago, with which the inhabitants of the southern coast appear to carry on more extensive commerce than those on the northern shore. During the N.E. monsoons, canoes occasionally start hence for the islands of Teressa, Bampoka, and Chowry. Wilkinson himself once visited these islands in the barque Cecilia of Moulmein, with the view of fetching cocoa-nuts. The natives of Teressa, however, showed such determined hostility to the captain of the vessel, that Wilkinson advised him to abandon the island without further delay, ere the intended shipment of cocoa-nuts was completed.

Another English captain, named Iselwood, seems once to have carried over some natives of Teressa to Kar-Nicobar, and afterwards taken them back again. There does not exist, however, any regular commercial intercourse between Kar-Nicobar and the remaining islands of the Archipelago. The boats of the natives are much too small, and unsuitable to admit of their undertaking voyages to any distance, unless for some very important purpose, such, for instance, as bringing pottery ware from the island of Chowry, or Chowra, where alone in the Archipelago that manufacture is carried on.

The Frenchman, Tigard, affirmed that the natives constantly spoke of another race of men inhabiting the interior, who have but one eye in the middle of the forehead, who possess no fixed habitation, but pass the night among the trees like wild beasts, and subsist upon fruits and roots dug up in the forest. This superstition meets with the more ready acceptance among the natives, as not one of them has ever penetrated into the interior. All their villages lie along the shore, as far as the tract of coral sand reaches and the cocoa-nut is thriving. Here the frugal native finds all that is necessary to satisfy his very limited requirements. The cocoa-palm and the screw-pine (Pandanus odoratissima), whose fruit forms his chief article of food, as also the betel shrub and the Areca palm, which furnish their cherished masticatory, grow here, and the coral sand, which can be worked into the most excellent lime for building purposes, is only used by them for the purpose of obtaining that ingredient so prejudicial to the teeth, which serves to impart to the betel the proper relish.

From a passing observation of Wilkinson's we gathered that occasionally, during the S.W. monsoons, earthquakes are experienced at Kar-Nicobar, and this volcanic indication is yet more strongly marked on the adjoining island of Bampoka. Despite the almost stifling heat, which raised the column of mercury to 99° in the shade, some of the members of the expedition endeavoured to penetrate, with indescribable toil, into the swampy forest tract along the shore, and eventually succeeded in bringing back several objects which, though few in number, were of the utmost importance, and well repaid their labour. Among the animals knocked over, there was a gigantic bat, or flying Maki (Pterops), the native name of which is Daiahm.

A foot-track led direct through the forest, cutting off the southern corner of the island towards the western side. The natives had in vain endeavoured, with their customary importunities, to deter us from following this path, assuring us that we should land ourselves in the thick of the jungle, which was full of poisonous serpents. However, nothing would serve us but to penetrate for once a little deeper into the forest. A youthful native, of the most elegant and symmetrical proportions, followed us at a long interval, but disappeared finally in the woods. We wandered along in deep shadow between lofty colossal banyan trees with hundreds of stems, and trunks interlaced with enormous branches of ivy, from whose summits hung down lianas of all sizes and dimensions, by which one might have clambered to the top as though by a rope, between trees with smooth and glossy, or scarred and rugged, bark, which were thickly overgrown with parasitical plants. Enormous crabs, with fiery red claws, and bodies of the most lovely blue-black, fled before us to their lurking-places in the depth of the forest. On right and left amid the parched foliage was heard the rustling of lizards, and from the summits of the imposing forest trees resounded the musical hum of swarms of cicadæ, while green and rose-coloured parrots flew shrieking from branch to branch, and from the boughs and tendrils was heard the call of the Mania, or the cooing, murmuring love-note of the great Nicobar wood-pigeon. Gradually the noise of the surf became once more audible, like distant thunder, just where a few cocoa-nut palms and screw-pines mingled with the laurel trees around. We had reached the beach again.

The same day, towards 4 P.M., the frigate quitted the south coast of Kar-Nicobar, and steered in a S.S.E. direction towards the little island of Batte-Malve, about twenty-one miles distant, in the neighbourhood of which we kept beating about the whole of the following day, without being able, in consequence of a stiff breeze and strong contrary current, to approach it sufficiently near for a boat to get to land, and thus enable us to make a more complete examination. Batte-Malve is a small, entirely uninhabited island, some two miles in length, and seems to be of a quadrangular form; the upper portion is thickly wooded; the highest elevation being from 150 to 200 feet. Towards the N.W. the island becomes somewhat flattened when approaching the coast, whereas on the west side, as also on the S. and S.E. shores, the rocks descend perpendicularly into the sea. According to our observations, instituted on the spot, there is in the longitude, as we ascertained it, when compared with that assigned by the officers of the Galatea, a discrepancy of ten nautical miles.

Early on the morning of the 3rd of March, while still to the N.W. of Batte-Malve, but steering a S.E. course, the islands of Teressa, Chowry, and Bampoka became visible at a distance of from eight to ten nautical miles. From the main-mast-head we could also descry further to the eastward the island of Tillangschong, to which we were now proceeding.

Next morning we found ourselves close in with its N.E. promontory. Both wind and weather were highly favourable, the look-out man was stationed upon the fore-top, the lead line on being hove overboard with forty fathoms found no bottom, and the water had the deep blue colour of the open ocean. We were therefore able to approach the shore fearlessly, and accordingly stood in till we were barely 100 feet distant from the steep octagonal-shaped cliff, which rises like a bastion at the north extremity of the island. We now edged off with the frigate and ran under the lee of the land, coasting along the west side from north to south, never above 150 or 200 feet distant from the shore; so close, in short, that, standing on the deck, it seemed almost possible to stretch out the hand and touch the beetling shore-cliffs, every stone and shrub being perfectly distinguishable. Only a narrow rocky belt overhanging the surf appeared barren of vegetation, the entire island with that exception being covered with dense forest to the very summits, from 400 to 600 feet in height, of the steep, projecting, knob-like eminences. It was a delightful, never-to-be-forgotten sail along this rock-bound coast, the romantic beauties of which passed before us like green dissolving views. The sea was so smooth and peaceful that we seemed to be sailing on a mill-pond. At last we opened a small sandy cove, in which we perceived a few cocoa-nut palms directly opposite. Here the lead promised us good holding ground, and the anchor was accordingly let go.

One of the side-boats conveyed to land the officers entrusted with the astronomical operations, as also the naturalists. Only with the utmost difficulty was it possible to make way through the surf, and get under the lee of a reef, whence it was requisite to make a spring to get ashore. At the spot at which we landed (named by us Morrock's Cove, and according to observation in 8° 32′ 30″ N. and 93° 34′ 10″ E.) the island was almost exclusively clothed with trees and brushwood. Only close to the shore did any cocoa-nut palms present themselves to the view. Although quite uninhabited at the period of our visit, it was evident, by the traces of abandoned fire-places, split cocoa-nuts, and so forth, that human beings occasionally make this island their abode, albeit the assertion repeated by several writers, that Tillangschong is the Siberia of Nicobar criminals, can only be set down to travellers' tales, or some utter misapprehension of the meaning of the natives. It would seem that the residents in Chowra and Bampoka come to this island from time to time, for the purpose of collecting cocoa-nuts, and the fruit of the pandanus. By dint of strenuous exertion we made our way along river-courses, which during the rainy season must rush down as most violent torrents, through a thick plantation of screw-pines, into the forest proper, which was overgrown with the most majestic representatives of tropical vegetation. To the botanist presented itself a great variety of interesting plants and timber; to the lovers of sport numerous descriptions of birds, and more especially pigeons, in such quantities that the various messes on board ship were amply provided with them.

Sundown saw us returned on board, when the anchor was once more weighed. During the night we got so close in with the north side of the island that, on the following morning, a boat well-manned and carefully equipped was detached with one of the officers, who was instructed to round the northernmost promontory, in order to examine the northern and eastern sides of the island, and rejoin us on its southern shore. One of the zoologists, conceiving this minor expedition would furnish him with an excellent opportunity for examining some of the lower orders of marine life, attached himself to it. The frigate now put about, and coasted down the west side southwards. Seen from a distance the vegetation seemed quite of a European character. The eminences varied in elevation from 250 to 300 feet. Judging from the direction of the foliage on the trees, the S.W. monsoon seems to commit great ravages. Everywhere along the coast, but more especially on the south side, serpentine cropped out—giving little promise of fertility. At many spots the cocoa-palms disappeared entirely; a circumstance which must ever interfere materially with the settlement of this island by a people to whom the most profuse natural treasures are worthless and unknown, beyond wealth in cocoa-nuts.

Near the southern point we were suddenly alarmed at noticing an alteration in the colour of the sea, which led us to suspect the proximity of a sand-bank. Nevertheless a boat, lowered to try for soundings, found no bottom at 45 fathoms. In fact, the water was found to be transfused with an enormous mass of crustaceæ, and small brownish filaments of ¹⁄₄₈ to ¹⁄₁₂ of an inch in length, occasionally collected into a knot, which rendered it cloudy and muddy, and at once explained a phenomenon at first sight so unexpected. Towards 5 P.M. we passed the southern point of the island, and somewhat later discovered a well-sheltered anchorage on the S.E. side of the island.

Considerable anxiety was felt as the sun went down, since the boat that had been dispatched not only had not rejoined us but was not yet even visible. As soon as darkness had fairly set in, blue lights were burnt on board the frigate, of which the third was at last responded to by the crew of the boat, which had been provided with port-fires for such a contingency. It seemed to be steering for the frigate. Hour after hour, however, flew by without its approaching us, and the rest of our signals remained unanswered. Thus morning broke, and still no boat was visible.

At length, about 7.30 A.M., the anxiously expected little wanderer hove in sight at a little distance, and half an hour later she came alongside all safe. The projected operations had been only partially successful, owing to the extreme difficulty in making a landing. Surprised by nightfall, it was no longer practicable to make out the ten nautical miles at least they were still distant from the frigate, and the scanty crew consequently saw nothing for it but to anchor close in with the shore, and await the light of dawn in the boat. The cause of our later blue lights not being answered, was partly the want of a sufficient supply of signal lights, part having been already expended, and the rest having got damp.

We now steered for Nangkauri harbour. Full in view lay the north shore of the island of Kamorta, and, as we glided smoothly thither over the glassy sea, it loomed gradually nearer; an island of flat-topped hills, which, despite its rank vegetation, had a park-like aspect, consequent on the alternations of forest and grass-slopes with the white coral beach, crowned with cocoa-palms. Gradually the island of Tringkut came into view, singularly level, and abounding in cocoa-palms and edible sea-slugs (Trepang), lying directly facing the entrance of the harbour-like channel, between Kamorta and Nangkauri. Our course, on which we were being propelled on a beautiful evening by a gentle soft wind which wafted us slowly but surely forwards, was indeed entrancingly delicious. Directly ahead lay the low strand of Tringkut, shimmering whitely under the dark green canopy of foliage, while the long swell, breaking on the coral reefs like glancing walls of foam, sunk away in the distance into the smooth mirror-like sea, which rose and fell almost imperceptibly, as though peacefully breathing. On the left lay Nangkauri, with its forests. On both sides of Kamorta and Nangkauri, huts and villages were visible sprinkled along the shore, from which numerous natives put off in their canoes to the frigate, but presently lay on their oars at a respectful distance, and followed us like a sort of squadron of observation. On the right was visible in mid-channel between Tringkut and Kamorta the solitary rocky island of Tillangschong; the shores of all these islands, and indeed the whole horizon, being lit up with a gorgeous Fata Morgana. The extreme southernmost cliffs of Tillangschong seemed to be suspended entirely in the air. The corners, at which jutted out the coast-lines of Tringkut and Kamorta, seen along the horizon of the ocean resembled wedge-shaped incisions into the domain of the atmosphere; while the tips of the waves, lashed into foam as they broke upon them, seemed as if dancing in the air. The canoes of the natives were reflected upside down, till the figures seated in them were so enormously lengthened that one could almost fancy they were gigantic 'genii' disporting on the surface of the sea.

As we were sailing along in front of the village of Malacca into the splendid harbour, and just as the lead had almost a moment before marked 23 fathoms, the look-out man suddenly descried a shoal. Notwithstanding the manœuvres that were at once put in execution, it was found impossible to get entirely clear, and the frigate grounded forward of the beam on the port-side. Although it was ebb-tide, yet deep water was observable both ahead and astern, and accordingly an effort was made, by running out the guns and laying out a spring for the frigate to haul upon, to get the ship once more afloat, which accordingly speedily proved successful, so that by sundown we were enabled to anchor in good holding ground, opposite the village of Itoe, in the island of Nangkauri.

Here we lay in a calm, tranquil sheet of water, such as we had not fallen in with throughout our voyage hitherto, surrounded by dense forest, from which were heard distinctly, on board ship, the disagreeable shrill sound of innumerable crickets, and the deep coo of the great Nicobar wood-pigeon. Except for these, the most profound stillness reigned. There was not the smallest movement either in sea or sky. Although on our excursion to Kar-Nicobar we had to endure great heat, it was here that for the first time we experienced in all its discomfort the oppressive, relaxing sultriness of the tropical atmosphere, when saturated with vapour. The thermometer stood pretty regularly at 84° to 86° Fahr., nor was it possible to find any relief by plunging into the water, which was if anything even warmer than the air. Hemmed in on all sides, and with the welcome beneficent sea-breeze frequently ceasing to blow for a week together, it was speedily pronounced a riddle, impossible to be solved, how this harbour came to be once and again selected by German and Danish Missionaries for the purposes of colonization, unless the key to the mystery be found in its secure situation, the exquisite beauty of the mountain landscape, and the numerous clear spots around.

The very morning after our arrival we set out on a small reconnoitring excursion to examine the ground, in order to decide, among so many objects claiming our attention at once, what, considering the brief time at our disposal, we might hope to undertake successfully, and what must once for all be abandoned. Our first visit was to the village of Itoe, which lay directly opposite our frigate's anchorage. The natives had all fled into the forest, only their dogs having remained behind, who saluted us with a tremendous howl. The huts, six or eight in number, had a poor, miserable appearance, and were built close to a cocoa forest, so that there was not the slightest space to move about in between the huts, the forest, and the luxuriant underwood, so that free circulation of air was entirely prevented. In front of the village a number of Bamboo poles, with large bunches of ribbons waving about from their upper end, were stuck into the water, for the purpose of frightening away the evil spirit or Eewee, and driving him into the sea! In the interior of these few huts built of stakes, and of much inferior construction to those in Kar-Nicobar, was a large number of rudely cut figures of all possible sizes, and every variety of position, suspended by strings, and supplying the most unmistakeable evidence of the superstitions of the natives. We had never seen these kinds of charms against the evil spirit at Kar-Nicobar, nor had even heard them spoken of. Quite close to the huts was the place of interment. At one grave, apparently quite lately used, a large pole was erected, which was adorned with innumerable white and blue stripes waving in the wind, and from which had also been suspended axes, piles, bars, nails, and other tools and implements of labour of the deceased, so that the whole scene much more resembled a rag-shop than a grave heap.

From Itoe we proceeded to the peak of Monghata, on the island of Kamorta, lying just opposite Nangkauri. It was here that, in 1831, Pastor Rosen wished to found the projected settlement. He could hardly have selected a more unsuitable site, since all around is either dense forest or mangrove swamp. The spots that had been cleared are now overgrown with Saccharum Konigii (Lalang grass), of the height of a man, which usually follows here upon spots that have been once cultivated and are afterwards abandoned, and which, if once taken root, can only with the utmost difficulty be eradicated. From this peak, barely 200 feet in height, it is practicable to descend by a small footpath to the cove of Ulàla, whose shores are entirely overrun with dense impassable mangrove swamp, and accordingly present a most dreary, gloomy aspect.

Our next excursion was to the village of Enuang or Enong, where lay at anchor, under the British flag, two Malay prahus from Pulo Penang, manned by Malay crews, and taking in cargoes of ripe cocoa-nuts, edible birds' nests, and sea-slugs, or Trepang. The captain of one of these prahus and the greater number of the crew were laid up with fever. The supercargo, a Chinese named Owi-Bing-Hong, spoke English fluently, and was of the utmost service to us in our communications with the natives. Enuang is larger than Itoe, and has about a dozen huts, but these are one and all half-ruinous, very filthy, and utterly neglected. In all the huts we found numbers of figures, cut in white wood in the very rudest style in various postures, mostly with a threatening, combative expression, intended to drive away the evil spirit, of whom the natives seem to stand in great dread; for it is the universal practice of these islanders to ascribe whatever happens to them to the influence of an evil spirit, and probably also the appearance of the Novara in the harbour of Nangkauri was laid to the account of the ill intentions of an Eewee. One constantly sees fruit, tobacco, or betel-leaves, prepared with pearl-lime, strewed in small portions at various spots in the interiors of the huts, or suspended on the bamboo ladders by which they are entered, the object being to propitiate the Eewee in the event of his being hungry on his arrival! In one of the abandoned huts we discovered a figure resembling a cat, rudely carved in wood, before which the natives had placed tobacco and cocoa-nuts; almost all these figures were besmeared with soot, and daubed with some red pigment, and their abdomens hung with long pendent dried palm-leaves.

Not one of the natives at Enuang understood English. Only a couple of old men spoke a few words of Portuguese, of which they were not a little conceited. The Portuguese, in the 17th and 18th centuries, seem to have been the first European nations that had any commercial dealings with the Nicobar islanders. A number of words of their language, all referring to objects of civilization, and but little corrupted from the Portuguese, such for instance as "pang" (for pan, the Portuguese for bread), "zapato" (shoe), "cuchillo" (knife), and so forth, are evidences of this. The natives here seemed to us yet more hideous than those of Kar-Nicobar, especially as the everlasting betel-chewing had disfigured their mouths in the most shocking manner. It is however incorrect to allege, as has been the case hitherto, that they avail themselves of a particular substance with which to discolour the teeth, and which it was supposed induced this frightful distortion of the mouth; it is unquestionably only the abuse of the betel (consisting of Areca-nut, betel-leaves, and coral chalk) which causes these disgusting disfigurements. At this settlement also the women and children had disappeared. Only one native woman, married to a Malay from Pulo Penang, who was at the moment officiating as cook on board one of the prahus lying at anchor in the bay, had the courage to present herself before us. She was, according to the custom of the Malays, dressed in silk, but bore on her body all the disagreeable traces of her Nicobar origin. She showed no reluctance to talk with us, and, in her somewhat scanty toilette, was the one solitary native woman with whom we found an opportunity of communicating during our entire stay at the various islands.

From Enuang we visited the first settlement of the Moravian Brothers, lying on the small neck of land between Enuang and Malacca, where apparently the amiable Father Hänsel seems to have lived, for whose interesting memoir, narrating his many years' residence upon the Nicobar Islands, we were indebted to the kindness of Dr. Rosen of the Moravian Mission at Genaadendal in South Africa.[13] At present all is once more thick majestic forest; a marvellous leafy dome, like a green pantheon, encircles and overshadows the scene of the once benevolent activity of the devoted missionary. Only a ruined well and a few brick fragments of what was the oven, lying about, remain to show that a dwelling once stood here. At the well there were a variety of beautiful flowers growing between the stones. The place is still called, as then, Tripjet, or the "Habitation of the Friends." Here in quick succession most of the Brethren died, (no fewer than eleven out of the thirteen,) upon which the mission was transferred to the opposite island of Kamorta, first of all to the clearing at Kalaha, and ultimately to Kamút. But all these sites were as ill-selected as the first. An abode located between swamp and forest, of which latter only a space of barely 1000 feet in circumference was cleared, could not but prove fatal in a very short space of time to the unfortunate colonists. At the village of Enuang too it would seem to be that the last attempt at founding a settlement was made in 1835 by the two French missionaries; at least we were informed by several natives, who seemed to be at present about 34 to 36 years of age, that they were themselves but boys when the last missionaries lived at Nangkauri. They also further recollected that the gigantic cocoa-palms, which at present skirt the forest, were at that time quite small saplings, and the only vegetation between the beach and the mission house. At present enormous roots are stretching over the foundations of the earlier settlement. The natives who accompanied us spoke with warm feeling of the missionaries, and seemed to regret their departure. Many professed themselves with much earnestness to be Christians, but they were so only in name. According to what they reported, many natives must at that period have been baptized in the islands of Chowra and Bampoka.

During this visit to Enuang and Malacca, it had been one of the objects aimed at by the members of the Expedition to draw up a small vocabulary of the language of the natives, when it speedily appeared that, despite the proximity of the two islands, the dialects used by the inhabitants were entirely different. Even for trees and plants, for the feathered inhabitants of the forests, as well as domestic animals, the inhabitants of the central groups of islands have different names. The cocoa-palm and its noble fruit, the betel and its ingredients, are here known by entirely different names. The accurate transcription of each individual word into German as pronounced by the native was hard work. It took us two days to make a vocabulary of one hundred words! And even this slight success would have been impossible but for our serviceable Chinese friend, Bing-Hong, who had gone to school for two years at Pulo Penang, and could read and write English with tolerable readiness and accuracy. The distortion of their mouths is one main reason why the natives pronounce the greater number of their words almost unintelligibly; it is more a lisping mutter than a language. Hence, apparently, their ability to follow out the concatenation of ideas is so slightly developed, that it is only with much difficulty they can be made to comprehend the particular subject respecting which the information was wanted. For example, if it was wished to know the word in their language which expressed "blue," and in order to make more intelligible what was required, a variety of objects of a blue colour were pointed out, they almost invariably named the object itself, and not the colour. Or again, one wanted to know what they called "leaf" in their language, and indicated the leaf of a tree standing near; the native, however, replies by giving the name of the tree itself, instead of the word expressing leaf. It seems to us not unimportant to call attention to this circumstance, in order more completely to lay before the reader the great and manifold obstacles which present themselves in drawing up vocabularies of the languages of half-savage races, and thus more readily secure indulgence for the discrepancies which are frequently to be met with in such works.[14]

Bing-Hong invited us to pay him a visit on board his vessel, which had already been lying for several months at anchor in Nangkauri harbour, taking in a cargo of ripe cocoa-nuts, of which a Picul, or 133 ¹⁄₃ pounds, is worth in the Pulo Penang market 5 ¹⁄₂ American dollars (£1 3s. sterling). This hospitable Chinese informed us it was at the period of our visit the least unhealthy season in Nangkauri harbour: that as soon as the S.W. monsoon sets in, all foreign ships hurry away, through dread of the illnesses that follow in its track. However, feverish attacks are of daily occurrence throughout the year. Of the thirteen men who formed the crew of the barque, ten were laid up with fever. The disorderly habits of life, however, of foreign visitors are much more to blame for these frequent attacks of disease than the unhealthiness of the climate. Constantly they are guilty of excesses in diet and general negligence of health, bathing during the utmost heat of the day without any covering to the head, exposing themselves to the burning rays of the noonday sun, drinking for the most part nothing but the fluid contents of the unripe cocoa-nut, eating quantities of juicy fruits, the constant use of which acts injuriously on the systems of strangers, and sleeping on the damp soil under the open air, exposed to all the noxious influences of the atmosphere of a tropical forest without the slightest shelter. Bing-Hong showed us the dried edible nests of the Hirundo esculenta (in Malay Salang, in Nicobar Hegái), and presented us with a small packet of about thirty nests. When properly dried, seventy-two of these tiny nests weigh one catty, or 1 ¹⁄₄ lb., and they are sold at two rupees (4s.) for three of the inferior sort. The best quality is far more expensive. We caused some of these Chinese dainties to be prepared exactly as prescribed by Bing-Hong, that is to say, they were boiled for one hour in hot water, but we found the gelatinous mass quite tasteless, and, in fact, resembling dissolved gum. The swallow which constructs these edible nests does not however seem to be a regular visitant of the Nicobar Islands, and the profits on this article of commerce, which is of such importance in Java and the rest of the Sunda Islands, are here scarcely worth naming.

It has been long disputed whence this industrious little warbler obtains the material for his nest, and it was in all probability the circumstance that it was generally believed to consist of particles of sea-weed, fish-roe, and marine animalculæ of the medusa class, which secured for these nests such a celebrity among Chinese gourmands. A German naturalist, Professor Troschel of Bonn, affirms however, on the strength of an analysis of these nests, that the notion hitherto prevalent as to the component parts of these nests is entirely erroneous, as they consist of nothing else than a thick, glutinous slime, secreted from the salivary glands, which, at the period when the Indian swallow builds its nest, swell out into large whitish masses. This slime, which is susceptible of being drawn out in long filaments from the bill of the animal, is quite analogous to gum Arabic. Whenever the bird is desirous of constructing its nest, it causes this salivary substance, which at that period is copiously secreted, to adhere to the crags, till its elegant nest is finished.

One of the days during which the frigate lay in Nangkauri harbour, the geologist of the Expedition made an excursion in a native canoe along the coasts of Kamorta and Tringkut, as these islands at the points where the shores are precipitous furnish the only possible geognostic facilities, the forest or the thick covering of vegetation in the interior of the island quite concealing the geological conformation. Our Chinese friend Bing-Hong aforesaid accompanied him in the capacity of interpreter. When the geologist had got some distance from the frigate, he found that the natives had not abandoned their villages, and to this one alone of our fellow-travellers, manned and rowed along by natives, did some of the women become visible. They were as tall as the men, and quite as loathsome in appearance, the mouth similarly disfigured by betel-chewing, but the hair cut short. Around the body they wore a petticoat of red or blue cloth, reaching from the loins to the knee.

Another excursion was made to Ulàla Cove, distant about four nautical miles from our anchorage on the W. side of the island of Kamorta, on which occasion our Venetian gondola, specially constructed for similar expeditions, was pressed into the service. The entrance to the cove is about ³⁄₄ of a mile in breadth, after which it expands in an easterly direction with varying width, at the same time sending off arms in every direction. The vegetation is exceedingly luxuriant and plentiful, and along the swampy shore consists mainly of mangrove bushes, which at most points make it almost impracticable to disembark, and impart to the entire bay a dreary, desolate appearance. At the few villages scattered along the shore, most of the natives had taken to flight. On this occasion, however, it was not child-like terror that had driven them away, but an evil conscience, for among the other inhabitants this bay enjoys the sad reputation of having on various occasions massacred the crews of small vessels, after having plundered them of everything. So strong is this feeling that the natives of the rest of the Nicobar group, according to their own report, refuse to have anything to do with this ferocious set, and could not by any means be induced to accompany us in their canoes as far as Ulàla Cove.

The frigate lay five days in Nangkauri harbour, until the soundings and general survey of this large bay with its numerous branches had been completed, when, on the morning of the 11th March, she sailed, with a fresh breeze from N.W., through the western entrance, which is scarcely a hundred fathoms wide, by fourteen in depth, and is marked by two rocky pinnacles. Directly opposite lies the island of Katchal, thickly wooded to the water-edge, and stretching out long and low, without any marked elevation above sea-level. We now sailed in between these islands of Katchal and Kamorta in a northerly direction towards the islands of Teressa and Bampoka. On the W. side of Kamorta a number of villages were visible; on the N.W. we perceived at several spots natural meadows, while hereabouts the land gradually culminated into the highest point of the island,—a conical hill, rising not very far from the shore, almost entirely without trees, except where near the summit a number of bushes and shrubs nestled in a sort of hollow. Three days were now lost in unsuccessful attempts to make head-way against wind and tide, so that for four mortal days we were tossed about in full view of Bampoka, Teressa, and Chowra, never indeed above twenty miles distant, yet utterly unable to make any one of them. As the time at our disposal for visiting these was exhausted in consequence of this unexpected difficulty, we were, very much to our regret, compelled to forego the satisfaction of setting foot on either of these islands, which, especially Chowra, would have presented a rare opportunity of examining the effect upon tropical races of men of an excess of population. That rather barren island possesses, it seems, more inhabitants than it has the means of subsisting, and appears to be the only spot of the entire Nicobar group where the natives follow industrial avocations. All manner of pottery ware comes from Chowra, so that it would almost seem as though the lamentable spectacle of a superabundant population had given the natives the first impulse towards active industry.

In the island of Teressa the Austrian Expedition had a more special interest, in so far as it is by no means improbable that the adventurous Bolts, who in 1778 visited the Nicobar Archipelago in the Austrian ship Joseph and Theresa, named this island, as he already had done in the case of a fort on the coast of Africa, after the renowned Austrian Empress, which, corrupted by the native dialect, had been gradually transformed into Teressa or Terassa.

At sunrise on the 17th March there loomed on the horizon in a S.E. direction, first the island of Meroe, then the two small islands of Treis and Track, and lastly the long mountain-chain of Little Nicobar, with the beautiful island of Pulo Milù. The breeze was light, and a current of a velocity of five miles an hour, which ran rushing and seething like a mill-race through the calm sea, so completely checked our progress that the anchor had to be let go. This procured us the very unexpected pleasure of visiting these two small wooded islands. Owing to the heavy surf, we only succeeded in effecting a landing by the assistance of some natives, whom we happened to fall in with in their canoes off these all but uninhabited islets. Treis is a veritable pigeon island, full of the most various and beautiful species of that bird; nevertheless we could only procure a single specimen of the exceedingly elegant Nicobar dove. Here too it was that the geologist found the first traces of brown coal, which however did not present itself in layers suitable for domestic use.

The same afternoon, with the turn of the tide the current set in our favour, and towards 10 P.M. we reached the roadstead protected to the eastward by the northernmost point of Little Nicobar, to the westward by the island of Pulo Milù, and southward by the mainland of Little Nicobar itself. It is not very large, but it has excellent holding ground, and would be available at all seasons as a harbour of refuge for vessels. As most of the villages of Little Nicobar lie on the N.W. and S. sides of the island, and were with difficulty accessible from our anchorage, it was thought preferable to select the small but beautiful island of Pulo Milù for our visit. Already, while we were lying at anchor in front of the island of Treis, a few natives had come on board the frigate, and had shown much confidence. They possessed all the characteristics of the residents of Nangkauri, and they also spoke, with but slight variations, the same idiom. Only for certain objects, and those, singular to say, articles of the very first necessity, such as cocoa-nut trees, palms, screw-pines, and the like, did they employ different expressions.

The island of Pulo Milù, with its variety of forest-vegetation, and its charming woodland-scenery, displays all the beauty and all the marvels of the tropics. The screw-pine (of the family of Pandaneæ), that peculiar tree which imparts to the forests of Asia a character so different from those of America, is seen here in exceptional size and majesty. Nowhere have we met with this marvellous tree growing in such luxuriance as on Pulo Milù, where it appears in such quantities as to resemble a forest, and leaves an impression of such lonely wildness as makes one almost imagine it a remnant of some earlier period of our earth. Wondering at the capricious vagaries of nature, the traveller contemplates these extraordinary trees, which have leaves arranged in spiral order like the dragon trees, trunks like those of palms, boughs like those trees presenting the ordinary characteristics of foliage, fruit-cones like the coniferœ, and yet have nothing in common with all these plants, so that they form a family by themselves. On Pulo Milù we saw some of these trees with slim smooth stems 40 or 50 feet in height, which are nourished by and supported upon a pile of roots of 10 to 12 feet high, resembling a neatly-finished conical piece of wicker-work, composed of spindle-shaped staves. Many of these roots do not reach the soil, and in this undeveloped state these atmospheric roots assume the most peculiar shapes. Higher up the same formation is repeated among the branches, from which depend beautiful massy fruit-cones, a foot and a half in length, by one in thickness, which, when ripe, are of a splendid orange hue.