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I s iïs .
Maldives.
Lacadives.
ifles p r o p e r l y .belong to exterior India, where a fliort account of them
may Be found,'after the peniafula of Malaga» to which cqaft they are
the moft approximated. It may here fuffice to obferve that in the
Hindoo language dive implies an ifle ; and Ptolemy computes thofe
which mariners faw before they reached.. .Ceylon, that is the Maldives,
at rnore- than thirteen-hundrodv They form as- it wgre an qhhmg W7
clofure of fmall low regular ifles, around a clear .fpace of fea, with very
fhallow water between each. They are -governed by a chief called
Atoll, ami the trade is in cowrie fliells, with cocoa nuts ,and fith, The
language is Singalefe;' and there are feme Mahometans,' The Paca*
dive iflands form a more extended groupe, though only thirty ip number.
They alfo trade in cocoa nuts, aud fifh j and ambergris is ^ te n
found floating in the vicinity,
11 Pennant, i. 51.'
mm
