cellent oyfters. The people of the Andamans are as little civilized as
any in the world, and are probably cannibals, having at 'leaft a par-?
ticular antipathy againft ftrangers. They have woolly heads; ahd.perfectly
refenible negroes ; , being as'fomereport defcen'ded from a crew of
African flaves; but they ar& mentioned in* the ninth, century by the
Mahometan travellers with all their peculiarities, and it is difficult to
conceive how a cargo of flaves could at an early period-,-be fteered| in
that direction. The S. W. monfoonv may have driven, their canoes
from the coafts of Africa; and, opposed in civilized parts,-they may
have feized this defert ifle.* Their character is truly brutal,,^phdfous^ ■
and ferocious, and their canoes of the rudeft kind. On Barren ifle,
about 15 leagues to the eaft of the Andamans*-is, a -violent vplcanq
which emits fhowers of red hot ftones ; and. the whole iflarid has a
Angular and Volcanic appearance, A Britiffi fettlement has been re-'
cently formed on the Greater Andaman, and fome epnvidis fent thithe^
from Bengal. The natives, about 2000, have already profited ‘ by the
example ofEnglifh induftry.
The Nicobars are three; the largeft being about five leagues in circumference.
7 They produce cocoa and arcca trees, with7 yarns and
fweet potatoes; and the eatable bird’s nefts, fo. highly efteemed’ in
China, abound here as well as in the Andamans. ..The people; of
a copper colour, with fmall obliqtie eyes and other Tatar features.' In
their drefs a fmall ftripe of cloth hangs down behind; and hence the
ignorant tales of feamen which led even Linnaeus to infer thal.fome
kinds of men had tails. The only quadrupeds are Twine and' ddgs.
The traffic is in cocoa nuts, of which one hundred are given ibr a-yard
of blue cloth. The tree called by the natives Larum, by the:: Por-
tuguefe Mellon, produces an excellent bread fruit,- different from the
kind found in the interior parts of Africa, and ■ alfo ■ from that of
Otaheite. The fruit is faid to weigh 20 or 30 pounds.; and fome
plants have been brought to the botanical garden of the Eaft India Com*
pany near Calcutta.
* They are, after all, probably of the fame race with the other negroes o f the Afiatic Hies,
which fee.
S I A M.
CHAPTER' - ; .
H i s t o r i c a l (Geo g ra phy .
Name,— Extent.— Boundaries.— Original 'Popidation.— ProgreJ/ive Geography—
Hijfofical Epochs. "
T'ILL the recent texp2q%n of the Birman empire^ the rich and '
flourifliidg monarchy of Siam was>tq be regarded as the chief
ftate of exterior India.' , The brief connexion eftahlimed^ with France/
towards theqnd,of vthe feventeenth century, excited many writers to
give^ accounts of this kingdom, while only an JmjperfeQ: knowledge was
diffufed concerning the ftrrounding ftates. Thofe'of the jefuits arede-
fervedly difefteemed, when compared with.diaf oF La' Loubere, him-
felf envoy extra ordinary from Louis XIV to the Sianiefe court, which
remains -the chief guide concerning this ftate, thougli capable of oc-
cafional improvements from more recent information on particular
topics.
The name of this celebrated country is of uncertain origin, and in Name,
appearance firft delivered by the Portuguefe, in whofe orthography
Siam and Siao are the fame, fo that Sian, or Siang, might be preferable