L e s s e r A n d a m
a n .
C a r n N ic o b
a r .
B a r u s s je , INS.
A n t h r o p o p h .
N ic o b a r
I s l a n d s .
SlNDJE, INS.
A n t b r o p o p h ,
men moft favage in their appearance, quite black, and with?
woolly hair like the African Caffres; their nofes not fo flat, for
in feature they refemble the Malays; they go naked, have
canoes, and ufe one end o f their paddle as a how to ihoot
with.
A t a great diftance from the eaftern fide are the Barren I lie,,
and the ifle o f Narcondra, a vaft mountain rifing out o f the-
fea, a land-mark from which fhips take their departure.
A bout twelve leagues due fouth from the greater, is the?
lefler Andaman, in length twenty-fix miles, a place known?
only by name*
Cam Nicobar,is a flat ifland aihundred miles to the fouth o f the -
lefler Andaman, nearly five miles broad, and very fertile in all the
tropical fruits, rich in grafs, and has plenty o f cattle and hogsv
This ifland furniih.es Pegu with abundance of coco nuts, which'
are carried there by the Engli/h, French, and Portuguefe. The
Nicobar ifles extend,at no great diftances from each other, to the
fouth, with an inclination to the eaft.. The middle:group con-
fifis o f fine champaign land; and is called the Sombrera, from the1
refemblance o f a hill on one o f them to a fombFera or umbrella.
Carn Nicobar, lies in Lat. 9? id , the feuthern point o f the greatefk
Nicobar, the more fouthern o f the feries, is in Lat, 6’ 51'; this?
and the adjacent ifles are mountanous* This group was called:
by Ptolemy, Infuls Binds, and the Sombrera Barujfs we are-
made tolerably well acquainted with thefe iflands-by means-
of Dampier, who on difcovering the piratical defigns o f his
captain, one Read, prevaled to be fet on ihore, and with
two or three Acbenefe, who were landed after him, reiided
fided there fome time. He reprefents the natives as honeft,
civil, and harmlefs, huiband o f one wife, and, according to the
Fnglijh rule, till death doth them part. They are neither ad-
di&ed to quarrel, theft, or murder; in their perfons they are
tall and well-limbed, their vifages long, nofes well proportioned,
and their whole features agreeable, their hair lank and black,
their ikins a deep copper; the men go naked, excepting the
wrapper which pafles round their waiff, and from thence under
the thighs, and brought fo as to tuck before. The women wear
a ihort petticoat not reaching lower than the knee.
T h e s e people have neither an apparent government or religion;
each man is patriarchal, the ruler of his own family.
Their property confifts in the plantations o f coco palms, which
are along the fhores; the country inland feemed not cleared,
and impervious by any paths.
T h e y have another tree o f ufe, which they call the Melory;
it grows wild: Dampier,' who was very obfervant, fays he
never faw any in other parts o f his travels ; he adds, it'grows
to the fize of our larger apple trees; that the fruit is as
big as a penny loaf, o f the Ihape o f a pear, with a fmooth
greeniih rind; the infide is like that of an apple, but full
o f fmall firings: it is their chief food; they either eat it
boiled, or fcrape the pulp clear from the firings, and make it
into a cake as large as a Dutch cheefe., which will keep fix or
feven days, and has a good tafte; they have a few fmall hogs,
and fome poultry.
T he principal employ o f the natives is fffiling: their canoes
are iharp at each end; flat on one fide, and convex on
the
Coeo T r e e s .
M e l o r y .