On the morning of the 23rd of March the frigate again made sail and

steered along the west coast of Great Nicobar, while two boats' crews were

despatched with the requisite instruments to examine this quite unexplored

coast. This plan, however, proved only half successful. The tremendous

surf, into which the long swell setting in from the S.W. is broken

hereabouts, hurled the larger boat upon the beach with such violence that

it was capsized, by which a great portion of her freight was utterly lost,

and her crew could only escape to shore by swimming. The smaller, or

jolly-boat, returned to the ship with two of her crew to fetch assistance

for these woe-begone wights. One of the latter, who coolly spoke of the

accident as a "_piccola disgrazietta_,"[16] with the same breath informed

us that almost all the instruments, note-books, and implements of the

chase which had been taken on board, were irretrievably gone. Another

quarter-boat was despatched to bring off our shipwrecked companions, who

meanwhile remained on the shore in anything but enviable plight, soaked to

the skin, hungry and thirsty, and busily employed in fishing up some few

of the articles that had been overturned into the water. At last both

boats got safely back in company about midnight, but under such

circumstances that it was out of the question to think of prosecuting the

examination that had been commenced. We now lay a course for the southern

bay of Great Nicobar, where, shortly after 9 P.M. of the 24th March, we

cast anchor near the little stream called "Galatea" by the Danish

expedition. The midshipman intrusted with the commission of selecting the

most suitable spot to disembark, returned after several hours' absence,

with the little consolatory intelligence, that along the entire reach of

coast which he had examined, there was but one solitary spot at which it

was possible to land without danger from a boat of European construction.

In the course of the day we received numbers of natives on board; among

the rest, one man still young, with immense spectacles, which undoubtedly

were worn much more for personal adornment than for use. They brought off

for sale a few apes, parrots, hens, swine, cocoa-nuts, as also some rosin,

tortoise-shell, amber, and a few large eggs of a species of wood-pigeon,

called by the natives Mekeni, of which unfortunately we did not succeed in

seeing a single specimen, despite our utmost exertions.

The following morning, 26th March, amid occasional premonitory symptoms of

the approach of the rainy season, the naturalists and some officers

endeavoured to effect a landing at a place where alone it seemed possible

for the broad, clumsy boats of our western waters. In this we succeeded.

Again we were able, although drenched to the skin, to set foot on Nicobar

soil. It was for the last time we did so. Not a single vestige could be

discerned along the beach of any human habitations:--all was thick

tropical forest, fringed with enormous _Barringtoni[oe] Gigante[oe]_,

which in all their primeval weirdness flung their branches over the water,

interlaced in wild confusion. After half an hour's wandering along the hot

beach, we came unexpectedly, at a point somewhat south of our point of

disembarkation, upon a couple of wretched disconsolate-looking huts. Not a

human being was visible,--only a pair of hens and a pig, which were

parading about untended; the bamboo poles, which usually figure in front

of the native huts, had been carried away. However, in their absence it

did not cost us much trouble to penetrate into the interior. A few weapons

of war or the chase, a number of hollowed-out perfumed cocoa-nut shells

suspended above the fire-place, a pair of elegantly plaited baskets, a

boat's sail made of pandanus leaves, some straw mats, and a couple of

marvellously finished figures, formed the very miscellaneous inventory of

this Nicobar household. The figures (cut in wood) and a very

neatly-executed basket attracted to themselves our special attention as

interesting specimens of the industry and taste of the natives of Nicobar.

We could not resist possessing ourselves of these, at the same time

leaving in recompense a quantity of shining six-penny pieces, fully twenty

times the utmost possible value of what had been taken away, depositing

them in one of the baskets which was suspended in a conspicuous position

in the middle of the hut.

Adjoining this hamlet was a forest of cocoa-palms. We penetrated into it,

and suddenly found ourselves, to our great astonishment, on the track of a

well-worn footpath, which was probably, with the exception of the paths in

Great Nicobar and Pulo Milu, in better condition than any other we had

hitherto encountered in the Nicobar Islands. What more natural than to

suppose that a path so well worn must necessarily lead to an important

settlement? It passed first through an extensive and splendid

palm-plantation, and afterwards through a very beautiful clump of leafy

trees, fringing a little brook, whose channel, it being then the end of

the dry season, was quite dried up. Frequently we were obliged to clamber

over steep blocks of rock, with footsteps hewn in them by the hand of man,

for facilitating the passage, and at last, after a scramble of several

hours, highly interesting, but exceedingly fatiguing, we reached a cleared

spot on the sea-beach, but without being able to discern the remotest

trace of any human habitations. On the contrary, it seemed to admit of no

doubt that this path, as also some spots that had been cleared, were

nothing but the preparations for an intended settlement, which can only be

successfully carried out here where the cocoa-palm and screw-pine have

first struck root. Some of the sailors, who accompanied us as porters and

escort, went forward as far as the extreme point of the bay, but there

also they found no trace of any human abode. After a brief rest we

returned by the same track, to the spot at which we had disembarked, where

we were joined by some of the officers, who, more fortunate than

ourselves, had encountered some of the natives, and had even seen them in

their dwellings. They spoke of the interiors of the huts they visited as

being quite as wretched as those on the other islands, only the

inhabitants did not seem so shy or timorous. Far from this, they had

regaled our lucky companions with palm-wine, and had accompanied them till

they fell in with us. With this visit ended the thirty-second day of our

stay in the Nicobar Archipelago, only one half of that period having been

spent on land, the rest having been occupied in beating about against

unfavourable winds.

Before, however, we take our departure from this most interesting group of

islands, _en route_ for the Sunda Islands and China, we shall be excused

for briefly recapitulating the main results of our observations and

investigations, while referring the reader for a more detailed

specification of our labours to the various special divisions yet to

appear.

The Nicobar Islands, situated right in the most important highway of

commerce, which is destined to acquire yet greater importance, so soon as

the projected opening of the Suez Canal has been carried out, and

extending in their general direction from S.S.E. to N.N.W., seem like an

extension of the main central mountain-chain of Sumatra, which is

prolonged yet further to the northward through the Andaman group, and in

its crescent-shaped arrangement, with the convexity towards the westward,

corresponds with Cape Negrais in the peninsula of Malacca. If from this

Archipelago, as a centre, a circle be described of about 1200 nautical

miles of radius, it will include the most important commercial cities of

India, as well as Ceylon, the majority of the Sunda Islands, and Cochin

China. The winds usually prevalent here greatly facilitate the passage of

vessels from the adjoining islands and coasts of _terra firma_, and

proportionately enhance the importance of this Archipelago.

With but few exceptions, the shores of the whole group of islands consist

of coral sand, or are fringed with coral banks, which latter extend

seaward to a depth of thirty fathoms. In like manner almost all the bays

seem to be edged with coral reefs, if indeed they are not actually studded

with them. The promontories frequently present cliffs both above and below

the level of the ocean, extending a couple of miles into the sea, which,

what with the occasional rapid currents and light breezes, are not always

very easily weathered. The prevailing winds are the two monsoons, the N.E.

in the months of November, December, January, February, and March, the

S.W. in May, June, July, August, and September. During the months of April

and October, there are variable winds and calms, extending more or less

into the adjoining months. The currents vary in direction with the

passages between the islands, and depend upon the ebb and flow of the

tide, varying in force and direction with the tidal phenomena. Ordinarily

these make themselves felt during the making of the tide from S.W. to

N.E., and in a contrary direction during the ebb.

Due south of Kar-Nicobar, we found while lying at anchor a current running

3-1/2 miles an hour, two days after the full moon; north of Little

Nicobar, near the small island of Treis, where the current compelled us to

anchor, its velocity, as we experienced two days after new moon, is as

high as 4-1/2 miles an hour. These observations refer to a period when the

velocity of the current was at its maximum. In light winds, and when near

the coast, one must always let go the anchor, or at least lay out a kedge,

the latter however being barely sufficient at several spots immediately

after the full or the new moon. According to observations made during five

days about the period of full moon, the course of tide at Kar-Nicobar may

be assumed at 9h. 40m., and the difference in height between ebb and flood

at five feet.

In these waters, and in a still more marked degree in the latitude of

Sumatra, occurs a belt within which the wave-currents form what is known

to English navigators as "The Ripples." The sea here is ranged

zone-fashion, so to speak, as though in fact in a state of ebullition, and

makes a considerable noise, yet without there being anything to indicate

an increased strength of current; since, on the contrary, we found when

reaching these tracts, that the velocity of current was if anything rather

diminished. We conceive this phenomenon may be attributed to the agitation

caused by partial tidal currents, crossing each others' course, and

occasionally even running counter to each other, as also to certain

special conditions of ocean temperature at varying depths. The changes of

the tides at points of the coast, proportionally speaking so near each

other, are so widely different in point of time, and the height reached by

the waves is so little uniform, that any such phenomenon as the above must

naturally make itself perceptible at the surface in the open sea.

While the change of tide at Kar-Nicobar takes place every 9h. 40m., that

of Cape Diamond in Sumatra is laid down in the English chart at 12h., and

on the sand-banks in the Straits of Malacca at only 5h. 30m. The

difference in elevation assigned exhibits a similar discrepancy in the

estimates; that for Kar-Nicobar being stated at five feet, that for Cape

Diamond at 10 feet, and on the sand-banks already mentioned at 15 feet.

The hurricanes of the Bay of Bengal never visit the Nicobars; they seem to

originate part in or about the Andaman Islands, part from the west coast

of Sumatra, proceeding in the former case towards the northern portions of

the gulf, and in the latter towards the Coromandel coast and Ceylon.

During the S.W. monsoon, in which occurs the rainy season, frequent

thunder-storms and even gales of wind occur, especially in the vicinity of

Great Nicobar. The dry N.E. monsoon again brings fine weather, but

sometimes blows with considerable strength.

Kar-Nicobar has no regular harbour, but presents on its north side a

spacious land-locked bay nearly rectangular, the holding ground of which

is a coral sand of from 10 to 16 fathoms, and is thoroughly sheltered to

the S.W. and N.E. During the N.E. monsoon it is advisable to lie somewhat

closer in with the northern promontory of the island. At this season it is

difficult to find any spot at which small boats can disembark. However,

near the northern point it is possible to reach the shore in a small cove,

the western boundary of which presents an open space of coral sand, where

it is possible to lie to in deep water with even a good-sized boat. The

village of Saoui, which gives its name to the roadstead, is not readily

accessible during the N.E. monsoon in consequence of the surf, but the

very next indentation of the coast facing eastwards, which is protected

seaward by a coral reef, offers a well-sheltered point of disembarkation,

where the boats can be beached on the smooth coral sand, and thereafter

drawn up high and dry.

During the N.E. monsoon it is also practicable to avail oneself of the bay

on the S. side of Kar-Nicobar, or to anchor anywhere along the W. side of

the island, but such anchorages possess no other protection than is

afforded by long points of land projecting far into the ocean, and usually

protracted by coral reefs.

Both in the bay of Saoui, and on the south side of Kar-Nicobar, are found

small brooks, which run with water even during the dry season. It is

difficult however to water hereabouts, because these rivulets are blocked

up with sand-bars, not to speak of the obstacles interposed to the landing

of boats, by the tremendous surf and the low swampy shore at most periods

of the year. In cases of extreme necessity, however, the little rivulet

called the Areca might with some difficulty be made available.

Chowra, Kamorta, and Bampoka, have no regular anchorages; a vessel must be

content to ride to leeward of that coast, which will act as a shelter

against whichever monsoon happens to be blowing. Disembarkation by means

of boats is extremely difficult, and it is much better to make use of a

native canoe, which, after transporting the visitor through the surf to

the land, can be more easily drawn up on the beach.

Tillangschong possesses a beautiful harbour on the S. side, which however

is open to the S.E., but during the greater part of the year affords an

excellent anchorage. The most southerly point has numerous cliffs and

needles of rock where it projects into the sea, but it is possible to

approach within a few fathoms of the southernmost of these with vessels

of any size.

On the west side of the island, at the spot where its two halves may be

said to blend, the northernmost rugged, the more southerly flat, a pretty

good anchorage will be found, which seems to be sheltered towards the S.W.

by several solitary projecting rocks. Generally speaking, but more

especially to the N. and E., this island presents a steep precipitous

shore, so that, with the exception here and there of a few solitary rocks,

close in to the shore, there is nothing but clear deep water around almost

the entire island to within about 10 fathoms of the land.

The harbour of Nangkauri is rather roomy, but of very unequal though for

the most part considerable depth; the soundings in its midst giving

between 20 and 30 fathoms. The promontories are all more or less

low-lying, and thickly beset with coral reefs, and caution is the more

necessary, since it is far from unusual after working in from 20 to 16

fathoms, to find the water shoal suddenly to four or even three fathoms.

The anchorage formed by the two islands of Kamorta and Nangkauri has two

entrances, from the east and from the west, the navigation of which by

large ships demands the utmost vigilance. The western entrance is barely a

cable's length in width, while the island of Nangkauri has hardly any

fair-way for vessels along its exterior coast-line. In consequence of the

two islands trending towards each other at that point, the harbour near

its middle is greatly narrowed, so that there may almost be said to be

two harbours. In either of them a vessel is quite safe, being in fact so

thoroughly sheltered from all winds that the heat is occasionally

overpowering.

On the west side of Kamorta, six or seven miles north of the western

entrance of the harbour, will be found a large sheet of water, called

Ulala Bay, in the first half of which there is excellent anchorage; but

the vapours emanating from the abundant mangrove swamps render residence

here extremely unhealthy. As Ulala Cove runs for the most part parallel

with Nangkauri Harbour, and is separated from the latter only by a range

of low eminences, the near proximity of these mangrove swamps likewise

imparts their baleful influence to the air of Nangkauri Harbour. There is

absolutely no water here fit for drinking.

Katchal has large bays on both its west and its east sides, but they are

almost entirely silted up with coral sand. The channel between Katchal and

Kamorta is clear. Here we made short tacks in passing through, approaching

the shores on either side within half a mile.

Little Nicobar has a good harbour on the north side, formed by the island

of Pulo Milu and the N. coast of Little Nicobar, which is bent almost at a

right angle. This anchorage is accessible in all winds, and is well

sheltered, but a considerable portion adjoining the shore of Little

Nicobar is rendered useless by banks of coral.

Notwithstanding the most careful examination of this part of the coast,

we could not discover the spot, which in the Danish charts is marked as

furnishing water fit for drinking, but perceived nothing save mangrove

swamps, with numerous water-courses filled with brackish water, the two

largest of which we navigated in our gondola as far as was practicable.

The island of Kondul in St. George's Channel forms another very fair

anchorage; and similarly on the N. side of Great Nicobar, one finds

several suitable bays, the most easterly of which, called Ganges Harbour,

is fringed with coral banks, rendering it proportionately difficult of

access. The anchorage of Kondul may be selected for one reason, namely,

that it is land-locked towards both N.E. and S.W., besides having the

additional advantage of being airy, and distant from the mangrove swamps,

whereas in the bays on the N. coast of Great Nicobar these are of immense

extent. One of these mangrove swamps in the central cove was traversed by

one of the naturalists, the result of which was that he found a river

debouching into the sea through the very heart of the swamp, which,

however, so long as the sea-water could find entrance, was not of course

drinkable.

On the west side of Great Nicobar, along the whole length of which we

sailed, but which we could not visit more carefully, owing to want of time

and the heavy S.W. swell of the ocean, several other promontories and

coves are apparently available as harbours, and moreover may be supposed

to be the embouchures of rivers. At the south point of Great Nicobar there

is a large bay, which however being quite exposed from S.W. to S.E. must

be anything but a safe anchorage during the S.W. monsoon. During the

prevalence of the N.E. monsoon it seems tolerably well suited for an

anchorage, if the eastern promontory be kept S.E. by S., and the anchor be

cast in soundings of from 10 to 13 fathoms. Landing, however, is at all

times a matter of difficulty, as the surf is very boisterous and the swell

of the sea pretty heavy. Its most remote point is the mouth of the river

Galatea, which, however, is closed by a sand-bar, and for that reason

cannot be easily reached. This bay, owing to its configuration, is

excessively hot and sweltering, and with reference to its salubrity cannot

be recommended as a suitable abode.

The climate of the Archipelago, though tropical, is not nevertheless to be

ranked among the hottest, in consequence of its insular position, and of

the whole of the islands being thickly clothed with forest. Hence the

quantity of rain, which, as has been seen, is sufficient to keep the

rivers full even in the dry season. According to the meteorological

observations made on these islands by various observers at different

periods of the year, the average temperature does not exceed 77 deg. Fahr.,

much about the temperature of the fluid found in the fresh unripe

cocoa-nut. But during the months of April and October respectively, at

which period calms prevail in these islands, the maximum temperature of

86 deg. to 88 deg. Fahr. is reached.

Considering the violence with which rain falls, and that the dry season of

the N.E. monsoon from November to March, and the damp season of the S.W.

monsoon from April to October, are by no means so sharply defined on these

islands as on the adjoining coasts of the mainland, the quantity of annual

rainfall must be enormous. At certain times it is not much less than 100

or even 150 inches, and yet it probably is not so high as that presented

by other localities, which experience the regular changes of the monsoons,

as for instance, in the Straits of Malacca, where the annual rainfall is

208 inches, or Mahableshwur south of Bombay, where it amounts to no less

than 254 inches! March is the dryest month in the year. During the whole

of the month, which we spent on the islands or in their immediate

vicinity, we only had three sharp thunder-storms. These become more

frequent and severe during April, until about May or June the S.W. monsoon

sets in and envelopes the islands in rain-clouds. Where some special

physical configuration of the soil does not admit of the rapid carrying

off of the redundant deluge of rain, the island must necessarily be

unusually well off for water. Of the correctness of this theory we were

enabled thoroughly to satisfy ourselves, since the close of the dry season

is necessarily unfavourable to there being any water remaining in the

streams and brooks; notwithstanding which even the smallest of the

islands, Pulo Milu and Kondul, although their rivulets had ceased to flow,

possessed a sufficient supply of sweet drinkable water among the numerous

basin-shaped pools that occur in the beds of the various streams. From the

forest-covered slopes of Tillangschong also, small streams of fresh water

are continually trickling. The insignificant brooks and rivers of the

large well-wooded islands lying further to the south of Great and Little

Nicobar, are in like manner kept full the whole year by the blessed

abundance of the watery element. On the other hand, the northern islands,

so far at least as the marl-formation extends, seem to be but scantily

supplied with water, especially on Kamorta, Nangkauri, Tringkut, and

apparently Teressa and Bampoka as well. All the small streams on the two

first-named islands, which fall into the Nangkauri harbour, were found to

be very nearly dried up.

The principal beverage of the natives of these islands is the fluid

contents of the unripe cocoa-nut, while it should seem that they fetch the

water required for house purposes from the pools of sweet water, which

they find scattered here and there among the river-courses. Springs we saw

none, with the exception of the old ruined one of the Moravian Brethren

near the village of Malacca on the island of Nangkauri. Kar-Nicobar,

although likewise belonging to the same marl-formation as the

before-mentioned islands, has nevertheless no lack of drinkable water,

since the expanse of land raised from eight to twelve feet above the level

of the ocean constitutes the site of those singular springs, the sweet

water in which rises and falls with the ebb and flow of the tide. The

explanation of this singular phenomenon must not be sought for in the

filtration of the sea-water by the coral rock, but is simply due to the

rain-water, being the lighter, floating upon the surface of the

sea-water, which is heavier, while the porous coral rock prevents the

complete intermixture of the salt and fresh water. In the villages of

Moose and Saoui on Kar-Nicobar we saw several such cisterns, which always

had eight or ten feet good fresh water. Of rivers, properly so called, we

found but two, one falling into the northern Bay of Kar-Nicobar, the other

at the southern point of Great Nicobar. The former, which from the

luxuriant growth of the cabbage tree along its banks we named

"Areca-river," is navigable for flat-boats for about two miles from its

mouth, at which point further progress is arrested by some small rapids.

Here the water is quite sweet, holding but a very little chalk in

solution.

We found no mineral waters or warm springs. The hardened marl deposits of

Nangkauri harbour we perceived however to be encased in a crust an inch

thick of sulphate of magnesia, and fine silk-like glistening fibres; this

results from the clay-marl containing sulphate of magnesia, so that very

possibly by digging cistern-shaped cavities, a bitter saline solution

might be obtained similar to that at present obtained under similar

circumstances at Billin in Bohemia.

In consequence of the extraordinarily rich vegetation, the dampness of the

soil, and the numerous mangrove swamps all along the coast, the climate,

as may readily be conceived, is at present anything but salubrious. During

the changes of the monsoons especially, a fever breaks out of so malignant

a type that it is very frequently fatal to Europeans.

But, so long as dense forest, creeping plants, and swamps encumber the

soil, there can be no country within the tropics favourable to the health

of man, and all immigrants or other persons who make a sufficiently long

stay in such localities, prepare themselves for being visited by maladies

of the most formidable nature, among which fever and dysentery play the

most conspicuous part.

Similar conditions are occasionally met with in certain parts of Europe

where swamp and uncultivated land are exposed to the influences of a high

temperature, of which examples enough are furnished in the malaria of

Italy, and the marsh fever of the lagoons of Venice and along the coasts

of Istria. And if such visitations make less impression upon us in Europe,

it is not that there is little danger, but simply because, as habit is

second nature, the regularity of their return has ceased to attract

attention.

This is precisely what the English have experienced in the East Indies, it

is what the German emigrant is now going through on the banks of the

Mississippi and Ohio, in Brazil and in Peru, until the forests are cleared

and rendered productive, until, in short, advancing cultivation has

dispelled those miasmata, which are inevitably developed amid the

undisturbed voluptuousness of nature.

When at certain seasons of the year the vital principles of millions upon

millions of organisms begin to be active, they throw off oxygen into the

atmosphere, replacing it by absorbing carbonic acid; while, on the other

hand, different organisms, in conformity with known chemical laws, are

destroyed under similar conditions, and, under the influence of the

atmosphere co-operating with humidity, ferment and become decomposed. From

all which processes result products of emanation, which, caught up into

the atmosphere and whirled away by the wind, become in their turn the

means of nutriment and fertilization to other plants, thus imparting to

tropical vegetation that marvellous rankness and super-abundance so fatal

to the human frame. But the conditions which produce this tendency in the

atmosphere to generate fever are not peculiar to certain localities, or

strictly confined to these; they can be averted, and with them the vapours

so prejudicial to health may be removed. We have but to raise up a barrier

against that mighty all-devouring process of life and vegetation, which

imperils our own conditions of existence, we have but to withdraw from the

powerful agencies of chemical action the substances undergoing

decomposition, to constrain the waters of heaven to follow certain

definite directions, to drain every swamp, to clear the forest, to sweep

away the dense underwood in order that the wind may wander unchecked over

the now fertilized soil, and a wondrous alteration will take place in the

climatic conditions of the Nicobar Islands. Of what may be achieved under

such circumstances by energy and perseverance, the island of Penang, some

350 nautical miles distant, furnishes the most striking example, which

within a very few decades has, by dint of the progressive clearing and

cultivation of the soil, been converted from a den of fever and malaria,

a spot shunned by all men as a residence, into one of the most healthy

localities in the East, so much so indeed that it has been made a resort

for invalids!

Seduced by the attractive beauty of the harbour of Nangkauri, the various

attempts at founding a settlement have almost without exception been

confined to that site. Upon a more close examination however of the

precise spot selected for these settlements, it becomes at once apparent

that they were for the most part pitched upon the neck of land which

divides the land-locked ill-ventilated harbour of Nangkauri from the Bay

of Ulala, surrounded as it is on all sides by thick mangrove swamps.

On such a site did the settlers erect their huts, and there, often at but

a short interval after their arrival, did they find their grave; and if a

very few of their number resisted the deadly influence of the miasmatic

vapours, if even they were able for several years to drag along a

miserable existence in such a scene, these can only be regarded as

striking examples of an unusual vigour of constitution. It is true that

most of these missionaries who founded settlements here were by no means

properly housed and fed, which in such a climate is a matter of absolute

prime necessity for the preservation of health. Often when already

attacked with fever they toiled, spade in hand, delving the ground amid

the exhausting heat of a tropical day in order to secure the means of

subsistence, or gathered shell-fish along the beach, or hunted for

reptiles or birds through the swamps and forest, in order to provide

themselves, by the sale of these natural curiosities in Europe, with the

means of existence in those distant regions. Not without feelings of the

keenest emotion and deepest sympathy is it possible to peruse the

description given by one of these missionaries, Father Haensel, of his mode

of life on the island of Nangkauri, where he lived for seven years amidst

the greatest privations and hardships. "On my frequent excursions along

the sea-coast," says the noble, high-souled missionary, "it sometimes

happened that I was benighted, and I could not with convenience return to

our dwelling; but I was never at a loss for a bed. The greater part of the

beach consists of a remarkably fine white sand, which above high-water

mark is perfectly clean and dry. Into this I dug with ease a hole large

enough to contain my body, forming a mound as a pillow for my head; I then

lay down, and by collecting the sand over me buried myself in it up to the

neck. My faithful dog always laid across my body, ready to give the alarm

in case of disturbance from any quarter. However, I was under no

apprehensions from wild animals; crocodiles and caimans never haunt the

open coast, but keep in creeks and lagoons; and there are no other

ravenous beasts on the island. The only annoyance I suffered, was from the

nocturnal perambulations of an immense variety of crabs of all sizes, the

crackling noise of whose armour would sometimes keep me awake. But they

were well watched by my dog, and if any one ventured to approach too near,

he was sure to be suddenly seized and thrown to a more respectful

distance. Or if a crab of a more tremendous appearance would deter my dog

from exposing his nose to its claws, he would bark and frighten it away,

by which however I was sometimes more seriously alarmed than the occasion

required. Many a comfortable night's rest have I had in these sepulchral

dormitories when the nights were clear and dry, and the heavens spangled

with stars."[17]

After such a description, one cannot but feel astonished that any of these

men, jealous for the faith, should have been able to linger on for years

in such a plight, and assuredly no one will refuse to these heroes of

Christianity their meed of the deepest admiration and gratitude, which

they merit none the less that their labours among these natives were

almost entirely unattended by any permanent good results.

It seems specially worthy of remark that the crew of the Austrian ship

_Joseph and Theresa_, which spent as much as five months here, and that

too during the rainy season (April to September), almost entirely escaped

fever. This fact sufficiently proves that the rainy season is by no means

the most unhealthy, but that the periods of transition from the dry to the

wet season, and _vice versa_, must be considered as invariably

prejudicial. At these times light variable winds alternate with

thunder-showers, after which there is usually experienced great heat by

solar radiation, which at once liberates the noxious emanations of the

humid soil. Further on, during the actual rainy season, when the heavens

are almost continually veiled, and the condition of the atmosphere and the

soil is alike one of complete saturation, this phenomenon appears much

less marked, and becomes in a corresponding degree less dangerous to human

organization.

We are also of opinion that the time from the end of March to the end of

April, as also the months of September and October, are the most

insalubrious parts of the year, although on the Nicobars a man may be

struck down with fever at any season, so soon as those precautions have

been neglected, which are so necessary to observe in the uncultivated

regions of the tropics. An instance on this point is furnished in the case

of the crew of the Danish corvette _Galatea_. Of thirty individuals

engaged in an exploring expedition up what is known as the Galatea river,

in the southern Bay of Great Nicobar, and caught one night in a

thunder-storm, which compelled them to remain in the forest wringing wet,

no fewer than twenty-one fell ill of fever, which ultimately proved fatal

in four cases.

So far as our own experience goes, the state of health on board the

frigate during a stay of thirty-two days was highly satisfactory. During

that entire period, out of 350 men only six took ill with fever, which

number, however, at a later period during our passage to the straits of

Malacca, was increased to 21. Singular to say, those of the ship's

company, who during our stay had _never set foot_ on the Nicobar Islands,

furnished the largest contingent of cases of fever, while of both officers

and naturalists, who spent the whole day together among the swamps and the

forest, and were exposed to all manner of fatigue, only three got upon the

sick list. On the whole, however, even the few severer cases made an

excellent recovery, and by the time we had anchored in the harbour of

Singapore, all the fever patients were once more either quite well, or in

a fair way towards convalescence.

As the examination of this Archipelago was, in consequence of the all but

impenetrable forests, confined to the narrow strip of land along the

shore, we had almost said to the region of cocoa-palms exclusively, its

various geognostic features were very inadequately, yet withal

approximately, ascertained. If we admit that a covering of vegetation of

the utmost variety and primeval luxuriance, untouched by the hand of man,

and entirely unreclaimed by cultivation, may be considered as the

expressive feature by which an estimate could be arrived at of the

different geognostic conditions of soil beneath, we may succeed in our

attempt from the characteristics of this primeval vegetation, to come to

some definite conclusion as to the quality and the greater or lesser

productiveness of the ground. According to this method of computing, it

would seem that,

I. The forest, in the ordinary acceptation of the term, includes 70/100

of the entire surface of the island:--the soil being limestone, rich in

alkalies, spungy, with clay-sand, and exceedingly fertile.

II. On the other hand, the grass vegetation proper may be set down at

15/100 of the surface: a barren, clay soil.

III. The cocoa forest may be estimated at 5/100 of the entire area; upon a

fruitful soil of coral conglomerate, coral sand, and dried alluvium.

IV. In like manner the screw-pine forests cover 5/100 of the entire

insular surface, the soil marshy but well suited for cultivation, with

fresh-water bogs, and moist fresh-water alluvium.

V. Lastly, the mangrove forest in like manner may be roughly estimated at

5/100 of the superficial area, and is a swampy soil, unfitted for

cultivation, consisting of salt-water marshes, and alluvium, moistened by

salt-water.

The entire superficial area of the islands may be computed at about 627

square miles. Reckoning only 7/10 therefore of the surface as consisting

of soil suitable for culture, which may undoubtedly be assumed as a fair

approximation, we have a surface of 439 square miles capable of being made

productive. But even the very ground now exclusively covered with grass,

might be made productive with a more numerous population and a

corresponding improvement in cultivation, so that these islands, now the

abode of about 5000 savages, could easily support in comfort a population

of over 100,000 industrious men.

At present the chief product of the islands is the cocoa-nut palm, which

grows for the most part on the sea-shore, so far as the coral sand

reaches. Within the same limits is the existence of the inhabitants

confined, destitute as they are of industry or the capacity to cultivate

the soil. This invaluable plant seldom extends far into the interior, and

from this circumstance was named by a celebrated German traveller and

botanist, Martius, the "Sea-shore palm." It is, however, as yet undecided

whether the cocoa-palm is indigenous to the Nicobar Islands, or whether,

cast on these shores by the waves, it has, by virtue of its well-known

property of putting forth shoots even in salt-water, gradually propagated

itself without any assistance from man.

It is said that the profit realized by those engaged in the trade in these

nuts, amounts to from 20 to 40 per cent., and could greatly be increased,

if, as for example in Ceylon, oil-presses were erected, by means of which

the expense of transporting the heavy bulky loads of nuts would be

economised, the oil being exported direct. On the more northerly islands

the cocoa forest embraces proportionately a far larger area, those more to

the south being much less abundantly supplied, especially Greater Nicobar,

where there is hardly any. Accordingly the more northerly islands are much

the more densely peopled, and the cocoa-palms are there subdivided as

property, while on the southern islands they seem to be freely enjoyed in

common.

Next in importance to the cocoa-nut palm, as a means of subsistence to

the inhabitants, is the _Pandanus Melori_, of the family of the Pandaneae,

the fruit of which (Melori or Caldevia of the Portuguese, the Larohm of

the natives) supplies the place of rice and Indian corn, neither of which

are grown on the island, owing to the ignorance of the islanders of the

principles of cultivation, although the nature of the soil seems eminently

suited to the production of both. From the huge fruit of this Pandanus, a

species of bread is prepared, very similar to apple-marmalade, which is

eaten by the natives along with the soft white kernel of the ripe

cocoa-nut. The leaves are prepared as mats of every sort and description,

and are occasionally used for the manufacture of sails.

The Bread-fruit tree (_Podocarpus incisa_), which furnishes such excellent

nutriment, that, according to Cook,[18] three trees suffice to support a

man during eight months, is found on the islands in single individuals,

and we never happened to see its fruit used by the natives. The plantain

too seemed but sparingly planted, although the elegant leafy green canopy

of this the most important and nutritious plant, after the cocoa-nut,

requires but little care in cultivation. The sugar-cane, the muscat-nut

tree (_Myristia Moschatea_), and the _Cardamum Elettaria_,[19] grow and

flourish on most of the islands, and orange and lemon trees of the most

stupendous proportions may be met with, growing wild in the immediate

vicinity of the native dwellings.

Of tubers we only found the yam growing in considerable quantities, but it

seems to be cultivated by the natives more as an article of exchange with

the ships visiting the islands, than for their own use. So far however as

we could ascertain the capabilities of the soil, the Jucca (_Jakopha

Manihot_), the sweet potato (the _Camote_ of the Spanish colonies), and

other American tuberous roots, might flourish here at least as well as on

the hot damp coasts of the western continent.

The number of plants collected by our botanists throughout this group of

islands, amounts to 280 different species; however by a more thorough

exploration of the Archipelago, the _Phanerogamous_ species may be

increased one half in number.

There are also two plants, which, although they cannot be included among

the vegetable products suited for the sustenance of man, must nevertheless

be taken into account as contributing in an important degree to the

subsistence of the natives. These are the Areca palm, and the Betel shrub.

The nut of the _Areca Cateehu_, and the green leaf of the _Piper Betle_,

constitute as already mentioned, together with coral lime, the chief

ingredients of _Betel_, that singular salivatory compound, which has

become a prime luxury for the inhabitants of the Indies, and the adjacent

islands. The Areca palm, with its graceful straight stem and elegant tuft

of leaves, is indigenous to the entire group, and is found in considerable

quantities. With the enormous demand for it as a salivatory, as also as an

article of medicine, it might, had the natives the slightest turn for

cultivation, yield a large profit as an article of commerce. The Betel

shrub is also found in large quantities in these islands, and needs but

little looking after.

The wealth of the forest in ornamental timber, and wood fit for building

purposes, is so great that, if carefully surveyed and judiciously thinned,

they would not only furnish the settler with cleared soil suitable for

cultivation, but would likewise permit an immense profit to be

realized.[20]

The Nicobar Islands had been recommended by a learned member of the

Society of Physicians of Vienna, as a special subject of inquiry as to

whether this group were not by position, conditions of soil, and climate,

particularly suitable for the cultivation of the Peruvian bark tree, whose

importance for medical purposes is daily increasing. So far as our brief

stay admitted, we did not lose sight of this object, but the practical

observations we made in the course of our voyage led us to conclusions

widely different from those which, representing the quinquina tree as in

danger of being extirpated on its native soil, South America, by the

carelessness of the Indians, regarded its transplantation into other

countries as a question of the utmost importance for the interests of the

human race. The China tree, very far from becoming extinct, is carefully

cultivated in Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador. The bark is systematically

cropped in most of these localities, and consequently there is no occasion

to anticipate any considerable increase in price, or failure in the supply

of this precious drug. We shall have an opportunity, when describing our

stay at Java and at the west coast of America, to revert at length to this

question, and shall have only to add the remark, that the great expense of

such an attempt, and the extraordinary watchfulness and care which must be

bestowed on the China tree for a number of years before the slightest

profit can be derived from it, seem alone to render hopeless such an

undertaking as its introduction in the Nicobar Islands, even were the

climatic conditions better suited to such an experiment than we have

reason to believe that they are.

As for the zoology of these islands, it seems to be much less developed,

whether as regards numbers, or size, than might be expected, considering

the luxuriance of the vegetation. The forests are by their very nature

poor in living denizens, the majority of these consisting of various

species of birds. In like manner the sea is but little productive, and the

nets which we cast over the ship's side at Kar-Nicobar, Pulo Milu, and

Ganges Harbour, like the hook and line, brought up but few specimens, and

those hardly deserving of notice. The natives have no nets of any sort,

their mode of fishing consisting simply of raising a succession of weirs,

in which they can harpoon or take their prey.

Of domestic animals we saw only swine, hens, dogs, and cats, all of which

live upon cocoa-nut. The dog, a smooth-haired cur of a light

brownish-yellow colour, with pointed ears, is a sad coward, and his bark

rather resembles a prolonged howl. The cats and the hens are exactly like

those of Europe. Cattle for draught or the dairy, are as yet entirely

unknown to the natives; yet they might easily be introduced from the

adjoining shores of India. The zebra breed especially, already

acclimatized in the tropics, would be of conspicuous utility as beasts of

draught, supposing any attempt made at cultivation of the soil.

Judging by the experiments made at Pulo Milu, the introduction of goats

and sheep could only be accomplished with much difficulty. On the other

hand all manner of poultry would be found to thrive in these islands.

In passing from this very cursory consideration of the natural history of

these islands[21] to the race of man who inhabit them, we find ourselves

confronted with a people, who, on account of the primitive manner in which

they live, attract our interest in the highest degree. The natives of the

Nicobar group, whose entire number may be estimated at from 5000 to 6000

souls, are, as we have already remarked, large and well formed, the skin

of a dark brown, bronze-like hue, and owing to the prevailing custom of

anointing their bodies with cocoa-nut oil, usually presenting a glancing

appearance, and emitting a peculiar odour. This inunction is apparently

intended to obviate superabundant perspiration, as also any skin diseases,

just as the Indian races west of the Mississippi are accustomed to protect

their naked bodies against the direct influences of the cold, by rubbing

in the fat of animals. The practice of daubing the face does not seem to

be so extensively resorted to, as previous descriptions of the Nicobar

islanders had led us to believe. We saw only one solitary native, at the

village of Malacca in the island of Nangkauri, who had painted his

forehead and cheeks with the red pigment obtained from the seeds of the

_Bixa Orellana_ (the well-known Annatto dye). Instances of tattooing we

never fell in with, nor do these islanders seem to have any desire to

imitate the beautiful, sometimes absolutely artistic, designs punctured on

the hands and feet of the Malays and Burmese who occasionally visit them.

Moles and blotches on the breast and arms are of frequent occurrence. The

forehead of the Nicobar islander is slightly rounded, and in many cases

may even be said to be well formed, but it falls away somewhat suddenly;

the face is usually broad, and if we except the rather prominent zygomatic

process, approaches the oval type; the hinder portion of the head is flat

and seems as though crushed inwards, a circumstance of which Fontana, in

his well-known journal already mentioned, takes special notice, and which

deserves the more attention, that we think we are in a position, by means

of actual measurement, and inquiries made on the spot, to say with

certainty that this modification of the normal form of the skull is not

natural to this race, but is artificially produced. We especially rely

upon the circumstance, that among the natives of Nangkauri and others of

the islands, the custom prevails of pressing quite flat the head of the

newly-born infant, probably in conformity with Nicobar laws of taste and

beauty: in order to make the result more certain, they keep continually

repeating this experiment by a variety of different means during a

considerable time. The nose is of ordinary dimensions, but is always of

unusual breadth, and coarse of outline; we found a few individuals with

noses of exorbitant length. Owing to the incredible extent to which the

disgusting practice of chewing the betel-nut is carried, their mouth,

naturally large, is hideously distorted. On the island of Treis we saw an

aged native, whose tongue, in consequence of the incessant betel-chewing,

had been attacked in a similar manner as his teeth. The chin is for the

most part without any marked characteristic, and is usually rather

retreating. The maxillary bones are broad and projecting, and the zygoma

has a rather bold curve. The ears are small, but the flaps on the other

hand are so broad, that when pierced they are ornamented with a piece of

bamboo an inch thick.

Some of the natives make use of this broad aperture to store away cigars.

The thin eye-brows do not curve over the whole of the superior arch of the

eye. The hair for the most part is beautiful, thick, black, and soft, in

many instances depending low on both sides. The beard is universally very

thin, and instances of mustachios or goatees are very rarely encountered.

However a beard does not seem to be classed among those objects which add

to the Nicobar ideal of beauty. At least, as often as they found an

opportunity of seizing a pair of scissors from our dressing-cases, we used

always to see the natives eagerly setting about extirpating the few hairs,

which despite all their endeavours would persist in appearing upon the

upper lip on either side of the mouth. The expression of their face is

grave, tranquil, and rather _insouciant_. We never saw in their features

any expression of emotion, such for instance as might have been imparted

by delight at having obtained some coveted object, not even when they had

manifested the utmost eagerness to possess it. The only excitement which

their ordinarily impassive countenances were however many a time called on

to indicate, took the form of an expression of pain and anxiety, as often

as they saw a number of strangers make a descent upon their islands. The

singularly marked similarity of feature in each and every individual, may

safely be ascribed to the similarity of condition universally prevalent,

to the small scope given to the play of their affections, and to the

frequent intermarriage, which must necessarily be the case where, as in

these islands, a couple of hundred human beings form the whole population

of an island, and where intercommunication with the adjoining islands is

so confined.

The assertion by Fontana, that the natives never cut their nails, but on

the other hand shave off their eye-brows, we have never found confirmed in

any of the islands we visited, although very possibly some few

individuals, certainly so far as we could find very scanty in number, may

ape the customs of their Malay and Chinese visitors, by letting their

nails grow. Of cripples, or at all events of individuals stunted in their

growth, we saw but two, the first case being that of a native of

Kar-Nicobar, who in consequence of a dislocation of the _radius_ at the

wrist joint was entirely powerless of the left arm; while the second, a

sort of dwarf, who was likewise an inhabitant of that island, presented a

well-marked corpulence in the extremities, and fingers so swelled up and

short, that he was known among his neighbours by the nickname of

_Kiutakunti_ (short finger).

Hitherto the natives seem to have escaped the ravages of syphilitic

diseases. As to any instances of visitations of virulent though temporary

epidemics, we could not get any information of such having occurred; they

have however in their language a word (Mallok) for the small-pox, of the

existence of which we had convinced ourselves by personal demonstration

in the case of a Malay, whose face was frightfully disfigured by the marks

of this appalling disease.

Although in a climate the annual average of which is 81 deg. Fahr., clothes

are all but unnecessary, the natives nevertheless manifest an

extraordinary passion for European clothing, and when it seemed

impracticable by any other means to elicit an expression of pleasure on

their calm, indifferent, emotionless countenances, it was always possible

to succeed by presenting them with a shirt, a coat, or a black silk round

hat. As however the natives have seldom been presented with more than one

such article at a time, and many a year is apt to elapse ere he gets

another, by which he might succeed in gradually completing his dress, the

Nicobarian makes his appearance before strangers attired in the most

extraordinary fashion, almost entirely naked, sometimes with only a black

hat on his head, or pluming himself on being spruced up in a frock coat

(but without shirt, stockings, or head-gear), which on the plump naked

brown skin of this child of nature has far more the appearance of a

straight-waistcoat than a comfortable article of dress.

The natives show infinitely more vanity in the selection of a piece of

clothing, than calculation as to its real necessity or suitability. A

large low-crowned white hat with broad rim, which we presented to one

native, gained not the slightest approval, although both in form and

colour it was far better suited to protecting the wearer against the rays

of the tropical sun than a high, narrow-brimmed, fashionable black silk

hat, to the possession of which the natives of Kar-Nicobar and Nangkauri

attach quite an inordinate value. For such an article, in the course of

barter, they offer 1600 ripe cocoa-nuts, while for a long piece of wide

dark-coloured muslin, in which they are wont to envelope their dead, they

will give only 1200 such fruits. But the most characteristic head-gear of

the Nicobarians is a bandeau made of dried leaves of the cocoa-nut palm,

which gives them quite a picturesque appearance. We saw but few ornaments

worn, such as necklaces, bracelets, &c., only one or two of the younger

men having their hands and their necks adorned with massive rings of

silver and iron wire.

The dwellings of the natives are usually round, beehive-shaped huts,

resting on a number of stakes of from six to eight feet in height. Simple

as is the construction of these huts, it nevertheless, especially on the

island of Kar-Nicobar, possesses a certain degree of ornament, we might

almost say elegance, while the thatching of dried palm-leaves, as also the

beams and the walls constructed of reeds (_Calamus Rotang_), are a branch

of industry which would do honour even to civilized races of the world.

The natives usually cower or squat on the ground, or seat themselves upon

some cocoa-nut that has chanced to fall, while at night, stretched out

upon the flowers shed by the Areca palm, and with their heads elevated by

a piece of hard wood, they find anywhere a sufficiently comfortable couch.

The means of subsistence of the Nicobar islanders are anything but

abundant. As they are utterly ignorant of cultivation, they are entirely

indebted for the very first necessaries of life to the provision which a

bountiful nature has supplied to them, without the assistance of man's

labour. Their chief articles of food are the cocoa-nut and the pandanus

fruit. As with the natives of India, so among the natives of the Nicobar

group, the cocoa-palm is applied to the most various purposes, although it

would be difficult to make it fulfil all the ninety and nine useful

purposes which the Hindoo proverb assigns to this noble individual of the

royal race of palms. The cocoa-palm likewise constitutes the chief article

of export of the entire group, while the profit from the Trepang (Biche de

Mar of the English, a sort of cockle), edible swallows' nests,

tortoise-shell, amber, and so forth, is of the highest importance in the

interchange of commerce.

The betel shrub (_Piper Betle_), next to the cocoa-nut and pandanus fruit,

one of the most important necessities of the inhabitants of these islands,

is not indigenous, but has been introduced hither from the peninsula of

Malacca, and formed for a long time an article of commerce and exchange.

At present this creeper, which spreads with hardly any particular care, is

found in such quantities that only a small proportion of the leafy produce

can be consumed by the sparse population. It was always incomprehensible

to us in what could consist the great charm of betel-chewing, that a habit

so loathsome should be so extensively practised by the very lowest slaves

of the princes of India, by poor as well as rich, nay, should fling its

chains, as it actually does, even over women and children. A lucky chance,

however, threw in our way a Sanscrit poem (_Hytopedesa_) which celebrates

as follows the thirteen cardinal virtues of the betel-leaf:--"Betel is

pungent, bitter, aromatic, sweet, alkaline, astringent, a carminative, a

dispeller of phlegm, a vermifuge, a sweetener of the breath, an ornament

of the mouth, a remover of impurities, and a kindler of the flame of love!

O friend! these thirteen properties of betel are hard to be met with, even

in heaven!"[22]

It would be an inquiry of considerable interest to trace the influence

which the incessant betel-chewing exercises over the longevity of the

inhabitants, and the changes caused in the masticatory organs, which are

so constantly exposed to these pernicious practices.

That which most deeply struck us throughout the Nicobars, was the

frightful decomposition of the teeth, whereas in other betel-chewing races

these were stained only of the same deep crimson as the lips and the gums.

We at first ascribed this difference to some variation in the mixture of

the ingredients, but we repeatedly perceived afterwards that the betel

used on the Nicobar group consisted of nothing else than a small piece of

Areca-nut, which, sprinkled with a little chalk, was enveloped in a green

aromatic betel-leaf, and so was popped into the mouth. The Hindoos, on

the other hand, add to these ingredients, which they always carry about

with them in elegant cases, a certain astringent substance (formerly

called _Terra Japonica_, because it was long supposed to be a mineral

product) made out of the pith of the _Acacia Catechu_, a species of

Mimosa; or occasionally add to the usual masticatory composition a species

of resin obtained from the _Melaleuca Cajeputi_, as also a little tobacco.

The frightfully destructive effects of the betel on the teeth and lips of

the Nicobar natives, is apparently attributable only to some difference in

the proportions of the ingredients used, very probably to the use of a

larger quantity of coral lime. What is alleged of a custom the Nicobarians

have of filing down their teeth and rubbing them with some corrosive

substance, rests exclusively upon conjecture, and is confirmed neither by

personal observation nor by the account given by the natives themselves,

nor by the Malay traders who frequent Great Nicobar and Nangkauri.

In social as well as in religious matters, we must consider the

inhabitants of this Archipelago as among the child-races of the world.

They consider it a duty to marry very young and take but one wife, but

they age with uncommon rapidity. Of about 100 natives with whom during our

stay on the various islands we were in communication, hardly one was above

forty, and the majority may be roughly estimated at from twenty to thirty.

If, moreover, we set it down as improbable that all the aged men should

have taken to flight like the women and children, it should seem that

these natives never attain a very extended duration of life.

Of the therapeutic powers of various plants that are found in their

forests, the natives have but little knowledge. All that they have ever

had of drugs have been almost entirely supplied from Europe by captains of

English vessels. Although they attach the most extravagant importance to

the possession of these, these medicines are, if anything, more

prejudicial than beneficial to them, as they of course understand nothing

of their use, and often apply them in the most absurd manner. It seems

that once some ship captain in order to get quit of their importunities

made over to them all the articles he could most conveniently spare, such

as castor-oil, Epsom salts, spirit of camphor, turpentine, peppermint, eau

de Cologne, &c. &c., and ever since they pester each visitor for medicine!

A native once urgently begged us to give him a little spirit of

turpentine; on our asking him to what purpose he wished to apply it, he

answered that he wanted to rub himself with it, and take a few drops

internally, because he believed it was an excellent preservative against

ague and pain in the chest!

The maladies with which the natives are most commonly afflicted, are

intermittent fever, phthisis, and rheumatism. In some cases we remarked

_Elephantiasis Arabica_ (the Juzam of Arab writers), called by the

Nicobarians _Kelloidy_, attacking the bones, and several different forms

of cuticular eruption. The severity of these diseases must be ascribed

less to the insalubrity of the climate than to the unwholesome mode of

existence of the natives. Can we feel surprised that naked men, who do not

inhabit the more favourably situated spots ventilated by regular winds,

but live on the swampy coast, in the sandy bays that are fringed with a

forest belt, where they can grow their cocoa-palms with the least labour

to themselves, who leave their bodies exposed now to the violence of

tropical rains, now to the fiery rays of a tropical sun, and whose food

consists almost exclusively of cocoa-nuts and the fruit of the

_pandanus_,--can we wonder that they should be in an especial degree

subject to disease? It is a mistake to suppose that the food of

inhabitants of the tropics is that assigned by Nature herself, and

therefore the most beneficial and suitable. For, despite all theory, which

for residents in the tropics chiefly prescribes substances with plenty of

carbon and nitrogen as the proper articles of food, we see Europeans, more

especially Englishmen, in the hottest climate in the world, with a

thermometer that rarely falls below 86 deg. Fahr., devouring, just as in a

more northern climate, strong soups, gigantic beef-steaks, and mutton

cutlets to any extent, contemptuously turning up their noses at mere

vegetable diet, and barely touching marmalade or sweetmeats; yet there

they are blooming in the best of health, far better even than that of the

natives. Indeed, it is a fact full of interest, and confirmed by

observations carried on for years, that in the Presidency of Madras, for

example, the Hindoos and Mahmudas, so widely different in their customs

and mode of life, were much more seriously attacked by fever than the

Europeans resident there, in such entirely different conditions of climate

than they were accustomed to. On the other hand, so far as regards

sanitary measures, that portion of the aboriginal population presents the

most favourable results which is most intimately allied to the Europeans,

and applies in its own case the precepts of modern civilization.

So soon as the natives are attacked by fever with any severity, they

rapidly succumb. However, we have never heard tell of any of that

barbarous inhumanity which any medicine-man, whose treatment is

unsuccessful, is said to experience at the hands of the relatives and

friends of the patient, which indeed is all the more improbable as, were

such really the case, considering the small advantages and scrimp fees

likely to be picked up by a smart medicine-man among such an impoverished

race, there would hardly be met with one Manluena in the entire group! The

head-mark of a doctor in the southern islands is his unusually long

floating hair. On our inquiring of a native what qualifications were

requisite in order to become a doctor, he replied with the most charming

naivete: "One must be the son of a doctor!" From this reply we may gather

that in the Nicobar Islands medical skill and knowledge of the healing art

are confined to certain families! We afterwards found this information

confirmed, upon our discovering that the youthful Manluena of Great

Nicobar, who so severely kneaded and twisted the arm of one of the

associates of the Expedition, was the son of an aged doctor of the island

of Kondul, and owed his reputation solely to the circumstance of his

kindred. Besides cases of sickness, the advice, the adroitness, and the

zeal of the Manluena are held in special repute for the driving out of the

evil spirit or _Eewees_, by which, as already mentioned, the inhabitants

of the Nicobar Islands believe themselves to be incessantly surrounded.

Of idols proper, such as barbarous tribes construct and honour, and to

whom they dedicate temples, they have none; nor have they any object in

nature, as, for instance, a lofty tree, a huge rock or a hill, to which

they attach a certain charm, like some of the Central American tribes.

They have not even a word for the Divine idea in their language, nor for

Godhead, nor for any Beneficent Principle or Being, and the rudely carved

figures, which are found set up in all sorts of comical postures within

their huts, are intended to serve no higher purpose, than to frighten away

those evil spirits which even the Manluena has been unable to see, though

he sets himself forward as able to hold converse with them.

The notion of a Being, whose wisdom and whose love rule the world, is

quite as foreign to their minds as the conception of a spiritual life in

the future after death. We repeatedly asked one of their most intelligent

leaders, who also spoke a little English, whether he believed he should

ever again recognize his dead friends and relatives? But he replied

invariably with a cold, indifferent, "Never, never!" All that we told them

of the privileges of a believing Christian, of a Divine Being, of the

belief in a future state of existence after death, served only to fill

them with astonishment, but they seemed ready enough to listen to such

subjects. What little they had heard upon these truths from missionaries

and ship captains, appeared however to have left them with very confused

notions.

From all that came under our notice, the mode of life of these islanders

is singularly uniform and indolent, its most important events consisting

probably of the alterations necessary by the interchange of the seasons.

They know of no other method of computing time than the change of the moon

and of the monsoons. At the beginning of the wet season or S.W. monsoon,

and at the corresponding period of the dry season or N.E. monsoon, there

are certain festivals, which somewhat resemble the "sowing feasts" and

"harvest homes" of the American aboriginal stocks. They have however no

appointed day of rest, corresponding to the sabbath of the Christian

Church, nor indeed do they need such, seeing that in their mode of life

every day is a holiday! They have no measure for time, nor indeed for

anything else: not a single native could give us any idea of his own age,

nor could count above 20.[23] Time has for them not the slightest value:

the watchword "_Time is money!_" which first given by England, is at

present resounding throughout the world, falls voiceless and ineffectual

on their insensible ears. Their reckoning of time is as limited as their

capacity for recollecting by-gone occurrences. The presence of Christian

missionaries at various periods, as also the visit of the Danish corvette

_Galatea_ in 1847, had already almost entirely disappeared from their

memory. Only among a very few of their numbers have some of the names

clung to the recollection, such as _Galatea_, and _Steene Bille_ (which

they pronounced _Piller_).

We could not find anything that bore the least resemblance to any settled

form of government, to any distribution upon fixed principles of the

possessions of the general community, to any recognition of individual

right, to any tribunal for settling quarrels, &c. &c. They recognize the

relations of family and of property; on the other hand, the power of the

captain, one of whom the greater number of villages has each for itself,

and whom they call _Mah_ or _Umiaha_ (old), extends no further than giving

him the right to be the first to trade with such foreign ships as make

their appearance, and to inaugurate the barter-system. Indeed this very

institution of captainship, although much liked by the natives, does not

at all seem as though it were part of their own system, but to date from

the period when English merchant vessels began to visit these islands

regularly.

As to the social life of the natives, their family relations, and so

forth, we could get such scanty and uncertain data to go upon, what with

the cursory visits we paid to the various islands, and considering the

women and children had everywhere fled, while the men regarded us simply

as intruders, that we do not venture to publish any special information

upon this point. Be it however permitted to express our opinion, that,

judging by the tendency to a decent style of dress and the extreme

elegance of the decorations of the canoes and the huts of the islanders of

Kar-Nicobar, as contrasted with the destitution, nakedness, and wretched

condition of the natives of the southern islands of the group,

civilization seems to be advancing from north to south with slow but sure

steps. And it will probably interest the philologist to be informed that

both in Kar-Nicobar and Nangkauri, the most important settlement bears the

same name, Malacca, as the chief city on the adjoining Malay peninsula. As

the natives in this delicious _far niente_ existence live exclusively upon

the precious gifts of an all-bountiful Nature, which provides them at once

with food and drink, one naturally finds among them few implements of

labour, indeed only such as are indispensably necessary in erecting their

huts, in preparing their canoes, and in enabling them readily to open the

cocoa-nuts. And even these tools, as, for instance, hatchets, cutlasses,

files, &c., were first procured through intercourse with civilization.

Their weapons consist merely of lances or javelins with points of iron or

hardened wood, by the number of which, it is presumed, the wealth of a

Nicobar islander is estimated. A cross-bow, which we saw in the possession

of a native of Kar-Nicobar, although made on the island, was manifestly of

European design originally, and merely an imitation.

Of musical instruments we did not find a single specimen in Kar-Nicobar,

whereas on the southern islands there is a six, sometimes a seven-holed

flute in use, made of bamboo-cane, which, as we afterwards discovered, had

been brought hither by the Malays; and also a kind of guitar about two or

three feet in length, hollowed out, and with sound-holes in the side, and

made of thick bamboo and reed strings. On the whole, however, the

Nicobarians seem to be much too apathetic and indifferent a race to have

any special predilection for music, singing, or dancing. Accordingly at

their monsoon festivals and other holiday-times, their notion of dancing

is limited to hopping round in a circle with arms entwined, while they at

the same time keep up a listless humming noise.

In the case of such a race, which has no civilization or industry of its

own, it is out of the question to speak of their having any regular

industrial occupation in the strict sense of the word. The particular and

to them most beneficent plant, which supplies them at once with enough to

eat and to drink, at the same time brings them, very reluctantly, into

contact with civilization, and will yet become a main agent in introducing

a knowledge of those necessities and acquaintance with those articles

which are the product of a higher grade of civilization alone. The ripe

nuts of the cocoa-palm constitute the chief article of export of the

Nicobar Islands, and, what is even more important, supply the stimulus,

which already arouses the native to a certain degree of activity, although

most of the nuts that are put on ship-board are collected not by the

natives, but by the crews of the Malay vessels. All other articles of

export, such as _Biche de mar_, edible birds' nests, tortoise-shell,

amber, &c., are of very inferior importance, and are only taken as

by-freight. According to published documents the northern islands can

supply 10,000,000 cocoa-nuts, of which however, at present, not much more

than 5,000,000, to wit, 3,000,000 from Kar-Nicobar alone, and 2,000,000

from the rest of the islands, are exported in all. As this fruit is

one-sixth of the price it bears on the coasts of Bengal, the concourse of

English and Malay vessels, especially from Pulo Penang, increases every

year.[24] The trade is carried on by way of barter instead of money

payments, although silver is highly valued too; for here also, despite all

that is reported of the inordinate longing of the Nicobar natives for

tobacco, glass beads, and such like rubbish, the truth of the adage is

fully borne out that "Money is the most _universal merchandise_." Of

silver coins, the natives are only acquainted with rupees, Spanish

dollars, and English threepenny pieces, which latter they call "small

rupees." Gold is as yet unknown among the southern islands, and therefore

is valueless in the eyes of the natives.

So long as the relations of the natives with foreign nations were

exclusively confined to barter with some couple of dozen English and Malay

vessels, which latter visited the islands with the N.E. monsoon and left

with the S.W. monsoon, thus making but one voyage in the course of the

year, the natives of the various islands kept up among themselves quite a

frequent and regular communication. This favourable trait was undoubtedly

owing in great measure to the defectiveness of their otherwise very

elegant, but small, slight-built canoes, which are but ill adapted for

voyaging to any remote distance.

Respecting that other swarthy, crisp-haired, savage race, widely different

from that inhabiting the coasts of Nicobar, which, according to a legend,

dwells in the forests of Great Nicobar, and lives upon snakes, vermin,

roots, and leaves of plants, and in the Nicobar idiom called

_Baju-oal-Tschua_, we could only add to our stock of information by

recitals that obviously pertained to the domain of Fable-land. When,

however, we remember that not a single traveller or author who has

indulged such gossiping, nay, that not even the natives who tell such

stories of them, have ever seen one of this race, we shall be excused for

suggesting in reply to the numberless conjectures afloat respecting these

mysterious inhabitants, that the alleged denizens of the interior of Great

Nicobar are neither a widely different race of men from the coast-natives,

nor yet an offshoot of the crisp-haired swarthy race of Papuas from New

Guinea, but that, dispossessed and degraded by a conjuncture of various

hostile influences, they hold, with respect to the inhabitants of the

sea-board, a similar position to that occupied by the Bushmen of

Namaqualand to the Hottentots of Cape Colony.

In the circumstances in which the inhabitants of this group of islands at

present find themselves, without traditions, without proverbs, without

songs, without monuments, and especially without any characteristic

peculiarity in their habits and customs which could possibly throw a ray

of light upon the obscurity of their origin, it is a bold undertaking to

express any decided opinion as to the derivation and genealogy of this

people. By far the most probable theory, as is also admitted by Dr. Rink,

who visited these islands with the Danish Expedition, would represent them

as an offshoot from the north-westerly boundary of the Malay race, as a

people which, while possessing much in common with the Indo-Chinese stock,

nevertheless in its physical characteristics seems to hold a middle rank

between the Malay and the Burmese.

Considering the study _of language_ as a most important and reliable

source of information, the members of the Expedition made it their main

object to draw up, in conformity with what is known as Gallatin's method,

so extensively used by all American and English travellers, a vocabulary

of about 200 words in both languages, viz. that used by the inhabitants of

Nicobar, and that (widely different in all respects except the numerals)

in use among the natives of the more southern islands. As a Malay barque

from Pulo Penang was lying at anchor during our stay on the northern

shores of Great Nicobar, so favourable an opportunity was of course made

use of to prepare a similar vocabulary of the Malay idiom spoken at that

port, which will give the philologist the advantage of being able to judge

for himself as to the similarity existing between these two idioms, and

thence, by analogy, between the two races, and discriminate whether those

scholars, such as Vatu, come nearer the truth who maintain that the

Nicobar language is of Malay derivation with an admixture of foreign

words, principally European, or those other students of philology who, as

for instance Adelung, hold that the idiom used by these islanders is

identical with some of the languages of the Indo-Chinese peninsula.

At the same time the ethnographer of the Expedition had endeavoured to

ascertain by means of a new system of measurements of the human frame,

drawn up by himself in concert with Dr. Edward Schwarz, one of the

physicians of the Expedition, and with the co-operation and assistance of

the latter, various data, such as, when applied to the various races

inhabiting the earth, might justify many new and striking conclusions, and

ultimately result in definitely fixing the relation, resemblance, or

physical dissimilarity of the various races of man. Such a plan makes it

much more easy by means of figures, those most undeniable evidences of the

results of investigations, to get speedily and accurately at the required

results, than by all the most specious theories laid down in the less

certain domain of philosophic speculation.

These measurements, applied at three chief regions of the body, namely,

the head, the trunk, and the upper and lower extremities, are intended to

be scientifically discussed in a special memoir,[25] and we accordingly

confine ourselves here to remarking that the various points of

measurements were not only determined in an anthropological point of view,

but that among the 68 different categories, into which these measurements

are naturally distributed, there occur some which supply many curious

points of inquiry, as also considerable assistance not merely to national

economics, the result of the light thrown upon the subject of the average

of muscular strength of the various races as found by the dynamometer, but

also to the graphic art, with respect to a more accurate acquaintance with

the human skeleton as well as the entire figure.

In like manner we never omitted to collect some of the hair of the head

from as many as possible of the various individuals measured, since the

laborious researches of Peter Brown of Philadelphia on the human hair,

have elevated it into a very remarkable means of tracing the origin of the

various disparities of race.

It must also be considered as an especial boon for the science of

comparative anatomy, as well as universal ethnography, that we succeeded

in bringing away with us from the Nicobar Islands the skulls of two of the

natives.

Lastly, a small collection of twenty-three subjects of ethnographical

inquiry, collected from the various islands, will be found useful, partly

as illustrating the information already obtained, partly as affording

evidence of the amount of culture of the inhabitants of the Nicobar

Archipelago.

We are still called upon to answer the question already propounded,

whether the Nicobar Islands are suited as the site of a colony, and

whether the numerous attempts already made in this direction did not

probably fall through for other reasons than those of climate.

According to inquiries instituted by the members of the Austrian

Expedition, this insular group, by its geographical position in one of the

very chiefest commercial routes of the world, and by the richness and

abundance of the products of its soil, offers sufficient points of

attraction to interest any leading commercial or maritime power, in

securing possession of it. With regard to any colonization or cultivation

of the soil by free European immigrants, there is as little to be said as

of almost any other islands in the tropics. In order to make such spots

aids to the extension of civilization, the utmost certainty of rule is

imperatively necessary, such as was instituted with such marvellous

results by England in Pulo Penang, Singapore, Sydney, &c. The climate of

the Nicobars is very far from being so deadly, that mere residence upon

them must speedily prove fatal to Europeans, and it will undoubtedly be

signally ameliorated by a partial clearing of the forests, cultivation of

the soil, channelling of the rivers, and drainage of the swamps. All such

works however must be executed by Malay or Indian labourers, under the

superintendence of Europeans. From what we have learned by personal

observation of the surprising influence which the transportation system

has exercised in Australia upon the cultivation and development of the

soil, as also upon the social condition of the convicts themselves, we do

not hesitate, despite the distrust of experiments of such a nature which

prevails in certain philosophic circles of Europe, to express our opinion,

that with a little prudence and forbearance convict labourers in abundance

could be imported, who would be at once better off, more contented, and

more disposed to do honour to their man's estate than as at present

confined at home in their dreary prison cells.[26]

If the various experiments hitherto made have all fallen through, the

"effect defective" undoubtedly arises from the deficiency of means

requisite for such an undertaking, and in the limited number of men,

merely humanly speaking, who were engaged in such enterprises. The mere

prime cost of clearing and cultivation, so as to enable them to anticipate

a good return for their labour, must be set down as at the lowest

computation between L100,000 and L150,000; the number of labourers

employed in the undertaking at from 300 to 400; of whom all skilled

artisans, such as carpenters, joiners, locksmiths, blacksmiths,

bricklayers, masons, &c., must accompany the settlers from Europe.

The sums expended for the first outlay must not however be set down as

entirely thrown away, since the fertility of the islands in those

colonial products that are most valuable, and the enormous quantity of

cocoa-nut palms, must, under the impulse of cultivation and industrious

habits, speedily make returns in countless tides of prosperity. So far as

regards the aboriginal population, of whom there are not above 5000 or

6000 on all the islands, they would experience but little annoyance from

the carrying out of such an enterprise. In fact, morally and materially

they could only gain from the introduction of a foreign element. At

present they are confined to the narrow belt of shore, where grows the

cocoa-palm, their sole support. The interior of the island, so prolific in

natural wealth of the most varied description, and which would become

infinitely more valuable under a proper development of its capabilities,

is utterly unknown and valueless to the native.

Once a settlement were fairly set a-going on the above-mentioned

principles, the inhabitants of the Nicobar Archipelago would be placed

under the tutelage of European civilization, and in their transactions

would no longer be exposed to the knavery and caprices of ships' captains.

It would be necessary to watch over the natives as over minors, so as not

alone to secure for them material benefits, but by liberal sympathetic

treatment as the groundwork of their education, gradually to establish

that faith whose introduction hitherto, despite numerous praiseworthy

endeavours in the past as well as the present century, has been doomed to

be unsuccessful through a variety of extraneous circumstances. Moreover,

the Nicobar Archipelago would be a most convenient central station whence

to impart the blessings of Christianity to the pagans of the adjoining

groups of islands.

* * * * *

MEMORANDUM

Relating to those points of the Nicobar Archipelago whose geographical

position was ascertained by the _Novara_ Expedition.

+--------------+-----------------+-----------------+

| PLACE OF | Latitude North. | Longitude East |

| OBSERVATION. | | from Greenwich. |

+--------------+-----------------+-----------------+

| Saui Cove | 9 deg. 14' 8''| 92 deg. 44' 46'' |

| Komios | 9 7 32 | 92 43 42 |

| Morrock Bay | 8 32 30 | 93 34 10 |

| Kaulaha | 8 2 10 | 93 29 40 |

| Kondul | 7 12 17 | 93 39 57 |

| Galatea Cove | 6 48 26 | 93 49 51 |

+--------------+-----------------+-----------------+

A very careful measurement, made at the point of observation in Saui, of

the Moon's distance from Jupiter, gave 6 h. 11 min. 2 sec., or 92 deg. 45'

30'' East.

* * * * *

Our voyage from the south side of Great Nicobar to Singapore occupied

twenty days. This time the fine weather seemed to have entirely abandoned

us. Day and night, at almost all hours and from all parts of the sky, we

encountered severe thunder-storms, with water-spouts, lightning, thunder,

and the most tremendous rain-squalls. We could thoroughly realize that we

were in the tropics at the beginning of the rainy season. One day during

the prevalence of one of those floods, five tons during the first half

hour, and in the course of an hour and a half eight tons, or 32,000 pints

of water, were collected by the sailors in buckets and other similar

utensils. These storms came now from the coast of Sumatra, now from the

Malay peninsula, or yet again from the Straits of Malacca, and gave our

jolly tars not a moment of repose. These tempests alternated with calms

accompanied by a most oppressive sweltering hot temperature, and if by

chance a breeze sprang up, it was sure to come out of the straits dead

against us, and, coupled with the strong contrary current, fairly arrested

our progress. Thus tacking about for 14 days between the north shore of

Sumatra and Junk-Ceylon, we made as much way in that time as a fast

steamer would have done in as many hours, and it was but poor consolation

to us that several ships close to us, perhaps six or eight, shared the

same adverse destiny.

An incident of a very singular nature suddenly gave us all plenty of

excitement. As our deeply respected chaplain was sitting reading one

evening in his cabin, he became sensible of a peculiar pressure on his

foot; the servant being called, made his appearance with a candle, and on

examining the floor was horror-struck at perceiving a pretty large

sea-snake (_Chorsydrus fasciatus_), coiled round the foot of the priest.

In the same instant this gentleman instinctively rid himself of the

poisonous reptile by a vigorous kick, while the various persons who

hurried to the spot were resolved they would secure this dangerous

assailant dead or alive. Within the narrow limits of a ship's state-room,

a campaign is speedily brought to a close. His snakeship was forthwith

routed out of his asylum, and hacked into more pieces than was exactly

agreeable to the zoologists, who had been extremely anxious, and even

expected, to preserve this now doubly interesting reptile almost uninjured

in spirits of wine. It was a tolerably large specimen, one inch thick, and

about three feet long, and had apparently either wriggled up the cable, or

had been washed on board by a wave through the open sky-light of the

cabin.

At length on the 9th of April wind and weather changed, and, in company

with the entire squadron of companions in misfortune, we sailed gaily into

the Straits of Malacca, with all sail set, and dead before the wind. On

the 11th of April, early in the morning, we found Pulo Penang (also called

Areca, or Prince of Wales' Island) lying broad on our port beam. Its

chains of forest-clad mountains, gloomy, and overcast with dense masses of

cloud, prevented our realizing the charms of this possession of England,

such as they have been described by all who have visited it.

On the 12th of April we steered between the Sambelongs, or Nine Islands,

and the island of Djara, and caught a glimpse of the lofty well-wooded

mountains of the kingdom of Perah. The channel through these straits is

becoming more and more contracted owing to the _debouche_ at this point of

the river Perah. Shallow sand-banks and small rocky islands impede the

navigation, and it is a common precaution for ships to cast anchor at the

least approach of foul weather, an operation which is the more readily set

about that the water is nowhere above twenty fathoms, but good holding

ground throughout the straits. Moreover, the charts of these regions are

thoroughly reliable and accurate, while at the most dangerous spot, where

a sand-bank with only one fathom of water over it lies right in the tracks

of vessels, a light-ship is moored, which we passed on the 13th of April,

and continued our voyage through the night in perfect safety.

On the morning of the 14th April, the hill of Ophir (called also Ledang or

Pudang), 5700 feet high, lay fair before us. We now found ourselves

opposite the town of Malacca. The channel at this point approaches so

close to the mainland, that we could easily distinguish churches and

houses, and the frigate exchanged signals with the neighbouring semaphore.

Malacca, once the Malay capital, has at present altogether lost its former

importance, and of the three English colonies in the Straits of Malacca,

usually known as the _Straits Settlements_, is the least important in

either a political or a commercial sense. The entire region was, until

within these few years, in most evil repute for the atrocious piracies

perpetrated here. Natives used to lie in wait in small canoes filled with

merchandise of all sorts, with which they boarded the passing ships, and

while these were supplying themselves with fruit and fresh provisions, the

former were spying the number of crew, as also the means of defence of the

unfortunate vessel; after which it usually happened, that during the night

the more defenceless of them, while becalmed or lying at anchor, would be

attacked by an overwhelming force of pirates and ruthlessly plundered.

Captain Steen Bille relates, that even so late as 1846, he loaded his

cannon with shot, and maintained extra vigilance during the night.

We now sped along, still favoured by the wind, during the ensuing night,

and on the morning of the 15th April had the satisfaction of reaching the

entrance of the bay of Singapore, without once having to lie at anchor in

the straits. The landscape that lay outstretched before us was

splendid,--lofty wooded islands on the coast of Sumatra, and a whole

archipelago of islets lay around us, in the channels between which prahus

were sailing about, while Chinese junks, full-rigged ships and barques,

were working in or out as the case might be, all intimating the proximity

of a great mart of commerce. Equally fortunate as in the straits was our

passage through the labyrinth of islands, through which a vessel must wind

in order to reach Singapore. And this roadstead itself, what a contrast it

presented to the lovely beach of the Nicobar Islands! Here were thousands

of ships of all sizes and rigs, and the flags of nearly all sea-faring

nations in the world. We found at anchor the English frigate _Amethyst_,

and the screw corvette _Niger_; and having warped ourselves into their

vicinity, by 2 P.M. we had cast anchor in 13 fathoms water. Almost

immediately afterwards an officer came off from the _Amethyst_ to welcome

us, and to impart to us the unpleasant intelligence that cholera had been

raging in the city for some weeks past, and had also committed great havoc

among the shipping in harbour. Even the captain and one of the crew of an

English merchantman had succumbed but a few hours previously to this fell

scourge, and the vessel had her flag half-mast high as a signal of

mourning. This information at once deranged all our plans and projects

with respect to Singapore, and had we not been compelled to victual here,

we should at once have set sail. However, under the circumstances there

was nothing to do but to spend five or six days at Singapore, and this

breathing-space we availed ourselves of to obtain as much information as

possible both by eye and ear touching this very remarkable colony, and its

not less interesting inhabitants.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Anciennes relations des Indes et de la Chine de deux voyageurs

Mahometans, qui y allerent dans le IXeme siecle. Traduit de l'Arabe avec

des remarques par Eus. Renaudot. Paris, chez Coignard, 1718. 8vo.

[2] Journal of the Voyage of the I.R. Ship _Joseph and Theresa_ to the new

Austrian plantations in Asia and Africa, by Nicolas Fontana, ship-surgeon

to Mr. Brambilla, body physician to the Emperor, assistant surgeon in the

army. Translated from the Italian MS. by Joseph-Eyerle. Dessau and

Leipzig,--"_Buch-handlung der Gelehrten._"

[3] "I have drawn up these documents," writes Prince Kaunitz, in a state

paper addressed to the Empress, dated 27th March, 1776, "in such manner as

to advance the objects of your Majesty in establishing commercial

intercourse between Austria and the Indies, without incurring disagreeable

results, which might accrue from the conferring of unrestricted

authority."

[4] A piece of parchment, cut out of a book in zig-zag fashion, which in

former times was necessary in all commerce with barbarians, the captains

of privateers, when unable to read, being enabled, by comparing the

torn-out leaf (_scontrino_) with the counterfoil, which it was customary

to give to all trading persons, to determine to what nationality the

vessel belonged.

[5] A few years previous, in 1782, a certain C. F. von Brocktroff, of

Kiel, had addressed a memorial to the Emperor Joseph II., in the course of

which he warmly advocated the annexation, settlement, and reclamation of

the Nicobar Islands, and, on the strength of fifteen years' experience in

the East Indies, promised immense profits to the Austrian-German trade by

this method of procedure. This interesting treatise will be found among

the Government Archives at Vienna, and will be published in full in

another section.

[6] Bolts had several times come before the public as an author. In 1771

he issued in London a work in two volumes 4to, entitled, "Considerations

on Indian Affairs," which was also translated into French. Further, he

published a "_Recueil des pieces authentiques relatives aux affaires de la

ci-devant societe Imperiale-Asiatique de Trieste, gerees a Anvers_," which

appeared in 4to (116 pages) at Paris, in 1787.

[7] The results of this voyage of discovery are embodied partly in a work

in two volumes: "Steen Bille's account of the voyage of the corvette

_Galatea_, round the world" (Copenhagen, Leipzig, 1852), partly in a

Geographical sketch of the Nicobar Islands, with special remarks upon

Geology, by Dr. H. Rink (Copenhagen, 1847): there will be likewise found

in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, under the heading

"Nicobar Islands," and at p. 261 of the third volume of the "Journal of

the Indian Archipelago," under the title "Sketches at the Nicobars," a

variety of valuable contributions to our stock of knowledge respecting

this island group. In addition, Mr. A. E. Zhishmann, Professor in the

Imperial Royal Academy of Commerce and Navigation at Trieste, published,

in anticipation of the projected visit of the _Novara_ to this

Archipelago, a valuable historico-geographical sketch, entitled, "The

Nicobar Islands" (Trieste, Printing Office of the Austrian Lloyds, 1857),

which appeared at the same time in the Transactions of the Imp. Roy.

Geographical Society for 1857.

[8] Vide, "Indian Political Dispatches," of 1st February, 1848: also the

"Hamburger Correspondent," of 30th August, 1848, and "Friend of India,"

for 1853, p. 455.

[9] Thus, for example, we find on the island of Kar-Nicobar the following

specimens of barter:--

For Pair of ripe cocoa-nuts.

a sort of hunting-knife or

cutlass, worth about $1-1/2 300

a small knife-blade 100

six table knife-blades 300

an American knife 50

a hatchet 300

a musket 500

a double-barrelled gun 2500

a large spoon 150

thirty feet of silver-wire 2500

a small cask of rum 2500

a flask of arrack 10

three "sticks" of (negro-heads) tobacco 100

a flask of castor-oil 50

a cabin lamp 500

a sack of rice 300

a piece of blue calico (about 6 to 8 ells) 100

a neck-cloth 100

Epsom salts, turpentine, spirit of camphor, eau-de-Cologne, and

peppermint, are also much-prized articles of barter, and bring a large

profit, being exchanged for old clothes, salt meat, onions, and biscuit.

[10] Thus, for instance, there occurred in one of these documents:--"In

the village of Aurong, or Arrow, the best anchorage is opposite Capt.

Marshall's hut, in from 13 to 15 fathoms water. At many points the coast

is so dangerous, that one ship lost two of her men, who were endeavouring

to land in a boat." In another certificate it was announced that the

barque _Batavia_ of Rotterdam, freighted with rice, of 442 tons burthen,

while on her voyage from Rangoon to Europe, was wrecked in Danson's

passage, 7th April, 1857, and her crew was very hospitably treated by the

natives of Kar-Nicobar. Almost every one of these certificates concludes

with the remark that whoever wishes to be on friendly terms with the

natives must play no pranks with their women, nor shoot their fowls or

hogs in the forest.

[11] This place of interment is situated close to a small village on the

north-east side of the island, where the graves are visible in the shape

of a number of round stakes sunk about three or four feet into the earth,

which are adorned with all sorts of variegated cloths and ribbons.

[12] It is customary to call the liquid contents of the green, unripe

cocoa-nut by the name of _cocoa-nut milk_; but it is rather a clear,

delightfully palatable water, which neither in colour nor taste at all

resembles milk. This is obtained or pressed from the white, sweet, rather

hard kernel, which is itself extraordinarily nutritive, and forms the

daily food of the inhabitants. For an entire month, during which we could

procure neither cows' nor goats' milk, we experimented on the use of the

fluid obtained from the ripe cocoa-nut in our tea and coffee, and found it

so excellent that we hardly felt the privation of animal milk.

[13] See Vol. I., p. 240.

[14] This vocabulary, which probably will not be found altogether

valueless for the purposes of comparative philology, as also for the

assistance of future travellers, will appear at the end of this volume as

an Appendix.

[15] See Appendix.

[16] Most of the Austrian sailors are from the Adriatic coast, and

accordingly speak an Italian patois.

[17] "Letters on the Nicobar Islands, etc. Addressed by the Rev. I.

Gottfried Haensel, the only surviving missionary, to the Rev. C. J.

Latrobe. London, 1812." We are indebted for these rare pamphlets to the

kindness of Dr. Rosen of the community of the Moravian Brethren at

Genaadendal in South Africa, and do not think, despite its deep interest

in the history of missions, that it has ever been translated into another

language. Brown in his "History of Missions" has made a few brief extracts

from it.

[18] "If an inhabitant of the South Sea Islands have planted during his

life but ten bread-fruit trees," says Cook, "he has fulfilled his duties

towards his own and his grand-children as fully and effectually as the

denizen of our rougher clime, who during his life-long endures the

severity of winter, and exhausts his energies in the heats of summer, in

order to provide his household with bread, and to save up some trifle for

his family to inherit."

[19] From the Malabar word Elettari. This is the common seed so well known

in the pharmacopeia in the form of a carminative tincture, and is usually

known as Alpinia Cardamomia.

[20] With respect to the resemblance if not indeed identity of the

vegetation of the Nicobar Archipelago, with that of the surrounding

islands, and the mainland, we beg to refer here to the excellent work of

an Austrian naturalist, the learned Dr. Helfer, who, stricken in the

flower of his days by the poisoned arrow of a native of the Andaman

Islands, fell a victim to his zeal for travel. To the Imperial Royal

Geographical Society of Vienna, science is indebted for the German edition

of this important information, under the title of the Published and

Unpublished Works of Dr. J. W. Helfer upon the Tenasserm Provinces, the

Mergins Archipelago, and the Andaman Islands, in the third volume of its

Proceedings for 1859.

[21] An extensive description of the zoology of these islands is reserved

for the zoological part of the Novara publications, published at the

expense of the Austrian government, at the Imperial Printing-office in

Vienna.

[22] The Tagali maidens of Luzon regard it as a special proof of the

honourable intentions and eagerness of passion of their admirers, if these

latter take the betel quid from their mouths!

[23] We did fall in with some few individuals on these islands who by dint

of much exertion could count as high as 100.

[24] At Pulo Penang the _picul_ of ripe cocoa-nuts, 300, is worth 5-1/2

dollars.

[25] "On measurements as a diagnostic means for distinguishing the human

races, being a systematic plan established and investigated by Dr. Karl

Scherzer and Dr. Edward Schwarz, for the purpose of taking measurements on

individuals of different races, during the voyage of H. I. M.'s frigate

_Novara_ round the world." Vide Proceedings of the I.R. Geographical

Society of Vienna, vol. II. of 1859, p. 11.

[26] In the Sydney chapter the reader will find the Transportation

question pretty fully discussed.

[Illustration: A Forest Scene in Singapore.]

XI.

Singapore.

Stay from 15th to 21st April, 1858.

Position of the Island.--Its previous history.--Sir Stamford

Raffles' propositions to make it a port of the British

Government free to all sea-faring nations.--The Island becomes

part of the Crown property of England.--Extraordinary

development under the auspices of a Free Trade policy.--Our stay

shortened in consequence of the severity of the cholera.--

Description of the city.--Tigers.--Gambir.--The Betel

plantations.--Inhabitants.--Chinese and European labour.--

Climate.--Diamond merchants.--Preparation of Pearl Sago.--Opium

farms.--Opium manufacture.--Opium-smokers.--Intellectual

activity.--Journalism.--Logan's "Journal of the Indian

Archipelago."--School for Malay children.--Judicial procedure.--

Visit to the penal settlement for coloured criminals.--A Chinese

provision-merchant at business and at home.--Fatal accident on

board.--Departure from Singapore.--Difficulty in passing through

Caspar Straits.--Sporadic outbreak of cholera on board.--Death

of one of the ship's boys.--First burial at sea.--Sea-snakes.--

Arrival in the Roads of Batavia.

The island of Singapore or Singhapura[27] is situated at the southernmost

point of the peninsula of Malacca, from which it is only separated by a

strait nowhere above a mile in breadth. It is about 29-1/3 statute miles

in length from east to west, by 16-3/5 in breadth from north to south. The

superficial area of the island is estimated at 206 square geographical

miles, which will make it about one half larger than the Isle of Wight.

Up to the year 1819, Singapore was a howling wilderness, and the only

settlement upon its shores was a couple of wretched Malay fishermen's

huts; a lurking-place for the pirates, who at that period made it

dangerous to navigate those waters. After the rendition of the Dutch

colonies in the Indian Archipelago, which it will be remembered were the

property of England throughout the great continental war up to the year

1814, Sir Stamford Raffles, the former Governor of Java, was intrusted

with the office of founding on it, as the most suitable spot in all the

Malay seas, a free emporium where the general trade in those seas of all

the sea-faring nations of the world might be concentrated and exchanged.

England had further in view to leave not a single foot to stand on to the

Dutch, whose interests in those seas clashed with her own, to obtain an

emporium in which to collect all the more important products of the

Archipelago for exchange against the teas and silks of China; and, lastly,

to procure for the reception and repairs of the ships of war and

merchantmen, a suitable harbour, such as, being in the vicinity of the

teak-growing countries, would also have the advantage of supplying timber

for her ships at any period when there might be in England a deficient

supply of oak.

Sir Stamford, having previously examined several other localities,

ultimately selected Singapore, and on 6th February, 1819, the English flag

was hoisted on this solitary island, thus unsuspectedly inaugurating the

beginning of a new era for the sea-faring world! At last, in 1824, came

the Treaty of Cerum, by which Holland withdrew her pretensions in favour

of England, and Singapore became an inalienable possession of the British

Crown for a sum of 60,000 Spanish dollars paid over to its previous owner

the Sultan of Djohore, together with a life-rent of 24,000 dollars

annually payable to the same Malay chief. The slaves on the island were

set at liberty, slavery was entirely abolished, and Singapore proclaimed a

Free Port. The importance of Singapore as a site for a colony had already

been pointed out and justified a century since by Captain Alexander

Hamilton, who visited these seas at the beginning of the 18th century, and

in a work entitled "A New Account of the East Indies," describes most

circumstantially his stay at Djohore in 1703 on his voyage to China. In

that work Hamilton narrates how the Sultan of Djohore wished to make him a

present of the island, and how he declined this proposal with the remark

that this island could be of no use to a private man, but would be

eminently suitable for a colony and an emporium of trade,[28] because the

winds were at all seasons favourable for egress from and entrance into

these waters on every side. A hundred years later, the choice of Sir

Stamford Raffles, to whom this relation of Hamilton seems to have been

entirely unknown, fell upon the same locality, thus testifying alike to

the eligibility of its position, and to the wise forecast of the founder

of this British settlement.

Before the arrival of the Europeans in India round the Cape of Good Hope,

towards the commencement of the 16th century, the trade of these countries

was exclusively confined to the Arabs and Hindoos, who acted as a medium

between the far East and Europe. Every island in the Archipelago, in

proportion to the abundance and value of its vegetable produce and its

foreign intercourse, had one or more harbours, at which the products of

the surrounding districts and islands were gathered and heaped up until

the monsoon permitted the arrival of the merchant vessels from the West.

At the beginning of the fine season, Arabs and Indians entered these

harbours in their ships, and brought Indian and other manufactures and

merchandise, which they were in the habit of exchanging for gold, gum,

spices, tortoise-shell, rosin, jewels, and such like. Acheen in the north

of Sumatra, Bantam in Java, Goa in Celebes, Bruni in Borneo, and Malacca

in the peninsula of the same name, were the most important of these depots

for merchandise and centres of trade. At present the importance of all

these places has faded into history, whereas Singapore, from its

singularly favourable geographical position, and the liberality of its

political institutions, has made such a stride, as is entirely without

parallel in the history of the world's trade. From a desolate haunt of

piratical foes, the island has been converted into a flourishing emporium;

about 1000 foreign vessels, and fully 3000 Malay prahus and Chinese junks,

flit backwards and forwards annually with all sorts of merchandise and

produce, while the value of the goods annually exchanged here amounts to

about L11,000,000. Such is the change that has come over the old

unhealthy, ill-omened Malay pirate abode: thanks to a clearly defined Free

Trade policy! If a doubt should still obtrude itself as to these brilliant

results of the utmost freedom and absence of restriction upon trade, it

must give way before the spectacle presented to the view of the astonished

beholder in the harbour of Singapore, the Alexandria of the 19th century!

Unfortunately, however, our stay in this harbour, so interesting in a

scientific as well as in a commercial point of view, was sensibly

curtailed by the prevalence of such exceedingly unfavourable conditions of

the public health. Hardly had we cast anchor ere an officer of the English

frigate _Amethyst_ came on board to salute, and to inform us that for

several weeks past the cholera had been ravaging the city, especially what

is known as the Chinese quarter. In another war-ship then in the harbour,

the screw corvette _Niger_, several of the crew had already succumbed to

the pestilence; and even in our own immediate neighbourhood was anchored a

ship with flag half-mast high, a melancholy signal that the angel of death

was once more seeking victims. Our original plan of passing several weeks

at Singapore had of course to be abandoned, and we determined at once to

get under weigh, so soon as the ship had been re-victualled and sundry

other matters of imperative necessity carefully looked to. Meanwhile the

naturalist corps landed, and proceeded to see and examine as much as they

possibly could.

The town of Singapore, situated at the southern extremity of the island of

the same name, is divided by the river Singapore, on whose banks it is

built, into two parts, in the northernmost of which are the churches, the

law courts, the residences of the European settlers, and a little further

away the native dwellings, as also the Kampong-Klam or Bugis quarter, so

called from the number of Bugis from Celebes who congregate there to do

business; while on the south bank of the river, only a few feet above the

level of the sea, are the warehouses and offices of the various European

and Chinese merchants. Still farther to the southward and in another small

cove, called New Harbour, are the buildings and docks of the Peninsular

and Oriental Steam-Ship Company.