In the Andamans and Nicobars Part 9

The agent told us that in the group people were dying almost day by day; the cause, from his description, ague and malaria.[57] Beyond two or three slight cases of elephantiasis, we ourselves noticed no symptoms of disease amongst the adults, but the children nearly all seemed to be suffering from yaws.

The country around the settlement is very undulating, and covered with long gra.s.s growing on a sterile clay. It was almost lifeless, for we saw little more than wagtails, pipits, and an occasional b.u.t.ton-quail (_Turnix albiventris_ and _Excalfactoria_, sp. nov.); but in one of the numerous gullies between the hills we found a little _jheel_ where formerly paddy had been grown, and floating on its surface was a small flock of whistling teal (_Dendrocygna javanica_). A couple were dropped before they flew out of range, and next day we met in the same place a larger number, which all got off scot free; but a falcon (_F.

peregrinus_), that like ourselves had just made an unsuccessful attack, was soon reposing in a game-bag, in company with a chestnut heron (_A.

cinnomomea_), and a redshank.

On February 11th, when we left our anchorage, the breeze was very light, and bore the schooner slowly through the calm waters of the harbour as we steered for the western exit.

All around, the sh.o.r.es sloped downward, covered with dense forest, but now and again the inland hills rose gra.s.s-clad above the tree-tops; on either hand we pa.s.sed small villages, Itoe (six houses), and Pachoak (five houses), placed just above the edge of the water.

The western opening is bold and rocky, but very narrow; and among the boulders of the sh.o.r.e are several blow-holes, from which, when the sea rolls on the beach, spouts of water fly upwards and break into showers of spray.

Outside, the wind was still light, and we tacked along the coast for some hours before it strengthened. Much of this side of Kamorta consists of low broken hills with pointed summits looking like volcanic cones--a gra.s.sy country, varied by occasional small patches of forest--while along the sh.o.r.e low bluffs and stretches of coco palms succeed each other.

Soon we pa.s.sed the entrance of Expedition Harbour, a deep, land-locked bight, separated from Nankauri Harbour by a narrow strip of land; this was the reputed headquarters of the band of piratical savages who formerly committed so many depredations in this neighbourhood. Near by, Mount Edgecombe, of a very volcanic appearance, rises about 400 feet.

This sh.o.r.e seems but little inhabited, for until we reached our destination at 4 P.M., we saw only one small village of four or five houses.

The wind was off the land when we arrived at Dring Harbour, and since the entrance was narrowed by rocks and reefs projecting from either side, we lowered all sail and warped in.

The bay is about half a mile square, and the head, which is slightly wider than the mouth, is bordered by a long sandy beach, backed by a belt of scrub and palm trees, from a quarter to half a mile in depth.

The other sh.o.r.es are partially formed by small cliffs, with a thin fringe of jungle, bounding gra.s.sy hills and downs.

The village of Olta-moit (fifteen to twenty houses), "Captain John,"

headman, lies along the beach, which abuts at the southern end upon a fair-sized creek leading to a mangrove swamp at the back of the houses.

Several natives came on board at once, in expectation of a feed; none spoke English, but all understood Malay.

The patch of jungle about the village is rather small, and to reach more necessitated a walk of some miles; we succeeded, however, in adding to our collection a diminutive serpent-eagle (_Spilornis minimus_), and caught sight in the denser jungle of a fresh variety of a little forest hawk. Specimens were also obtained of a small bat which has since been named _Pipistrellus camortae_.

The neighbourhood of the harbour has for long been frequented by descendants of buffaloes, turned loose by the Danes when they abandoned their settlement at Nankauri. Formerly it is said that large herds were to be met with in the neighbourhood; but we learnt, both from the inhabitants and from the Port Register, that the animals are now becoming very scarce, and only a few have recently been killed by visitors from the station gunboat.

I was out after them on two consecutive days. Both had been preceded by nights of rain, through which tracking was much facilitated. The country round is very undulating, often broken by deep gullies, and covered here and there with small patches of jungle, while everywhere are scattered panda.n.u.s trees, either in clumps or singly. On both occasions I picked up fresh tracks in the red clayey soil when some distance from the village, and after following them for several miles lost them in distant jungle. There seemed to be only two animals in the neighbourhood--one very large indeed, and the other of much smaller size. This decline in numbers is not due to the natives, who, with their spears only, could cause little destruction, and who evince no eagerness to pursue.

Tracks of pig were innumerable, and every now and then a bunch of little quail whirled away from beneath my feet. Although out by 5 A.M., I was not early enough; at three o'clock on a moonlight night one would probably be more fortunate.

In 1870, chital and sambhar were turned out on Kamorta, but nothing is now seen of them, except by the natives, who state that from time to time a few have been perceived here, and at Trinkat, which they reached by swimming the narrow channel intervening.

One afternoon was devoted to the exploration of the creek, which is rather deep at the mouth, and navigable by boat for several miles; all this distance it is bordered by the usual wearisome mangrove forest, in which, however, we saw numbers of parrots, whimbrel, and pigeons.

The proportion of old men among the people of the village seemed even greater than was the case at Malacca. On the headman, John, we met with the only case of tattooing found in the islands--probably the work of some Burmese trader, for neither Nicobarese nor Shom Pe[.n] tattoo or scarify themselves.

A second junk joined that already in the harbour the day after our arrival, and everybody on sh.o.r.e was soon drunk. The inference is obvious. The authorities at Port Blair prohibit the supply of intoxicants to the natives, and whenever they are found on board trading vessels, spirits are confiscated, and a small fine levied, in cash or articles of barter to the value of about a hundred dollars. This, however, is not always a sufficient deterrent, and on a second conviction, the Chinese skipper is awarded six months' rigorous imprisonment in the jail at Viper Island, Port Blair. The spirit is invaluable to the traders in their dealings with the natives, and is so inexpensive, that they can afford to risk its loss, since the chance of discovery is about one in a hundred.

A small feast was held during our visit, for which a number of pigs were prepared. Torches, made by binding immense palm leaves together, were set fire to, and the bristles singed off by fanning the flame on to the animals as they lay on the ground.

"Captain John" was resplendent for the occasion in a _neng_ and dress-coat, and a friend of his looked very imposing in an officer's frogged and braided tunic.

The day before we left we were surprised by the appearance of Tanamara, who arrived with one companion in a small canoe. He had declined to come up in the schooner, on the excuse that fever-devils and other evil spirits were very active in this locality. He was, he a.s.sured us, very sorry for us alone up here, and had had a dream which resulted in his setting out. (I am uncharitable enough to think that that dream had something to do with rum!) He did not wish to be seen by the sh.o.r.e people, of whom he seemed afraid, for he stayed aboard all day, and in the evening, when some of them came off to the ship, left for a time in his canoe. Next morning he departed at daybreak, that he might not be observed from the village.

We ourselves made sail a few hours later, with the intention of visiting Teressa. We took in water at Dring, but the only supplies obtained were coconuts.

Kamorta is 15 miles long, and of a general width of 4 miles: it attains in the extreme south-west a height of 735 feet, and in the centre rises 435 feet, but the average elevation is about 200 feet. It is of the same geological structure as Nankauri, but is covered with far less forest, and its extensive gra.s.sy downs are dotted with patches of scrub, bracken, and pandani. The presence of casuarinas high up in the middle of the island is peculiar. This species as a rule is found only on the coasts, but here they were planted by the Settlement authorities at the Government cattle-stations (between 1869-88), as it was found that this tree delights in the polycistina clay. The neighbourhood of Dring Harbour is extremely well watered, as nearly each one of the many gullies has either a stream or pond in it. A stratum of a sandy nature underlies the surface clay of this district, and by washing away, causes the latter to fall in, with the result that a number of curious hollows are formed on the tops of the rolling hills. This tendency leads to parts of the downs becoming terraced as if by artificial agency. Some thirty villages are scattered along its coasts, and the population, according to the census, has increased, princ.i.p.ally by immigration from Chaura and other islands, from 359 in 1886 to 488 at the present day.

Of the central group of islands, Hamilton writes:--

"Ning and Goury are two fine, smooth islands, well inhabited, and plentifully furnished with several sorts of good fish, hogs, and poultry; but they have no horses, cows, sheep, nor goats, nor wild beasts of any sort but monkeys. They have no rice nor pulse, so that the kernels of coconuts, yams, and potatoes serve them for bread.

Along the north end of the easternmost of the two islands are good soundings, from 6 to 10 fathoms sand, about 2 miles offsh.o.r.e. The people come thronging on board in their canoes, and bring fowl, c.o.c.ks; fish, fresh, salted, and dried; yams, the best I ever tasted; potatoes, parrots, and monkeys, to barter for old hatchets, sword-blades, and pieces of iron hoops, to make defensive weapons against their common disturbers and implacable enemies the Andamaners; and tobacco they are very greedy for; for a leaf, if pretty large, they will give a c.o.c.k; for 3 feet of an iron hoop a large hog, and for 1 foot in length, a pig. They all speak a little broken Portuguese, but what religious worship they use I could not learn."[58]

CHAPTER X

KACHAL AND OTHER ISLANDS

Heavy Surf--Teressa--Bompoka--A Native Legend--Hamilton--Chaura-- Wizardry--Pottery--Kachal Typical of the Tropics--Nicobarese Dress--West Bay--Lagoon--Mangroves--Whimbrel--Formation of Kachal--Birds--Visitors to the Schooner--Fever--Chinese Junks-- Thatch--Relics--The Reef--Megapodes--Monkeys--Full-dressed Natives--Medicine--A Death Ceremony--Talismans--Fish and Fishing--Geology.

For some hours after we left Dring the breeze was very faint, but at midday a heavy squall with rain overtook us and carried us onward, so that we were soon sailing along the southern sh.o.r.e of Teressa.

The island of Bompoka, which lies but a short distance from its south-east end, is high, with a central tableland, whence the ground slopes gently downwards in every direction, and is covered with forest and gra.s.s.

Seen from a distance, Teressa looks like two islands, for it is elevated at either end: the northern part is covered with forest; the southern end is all gra.s.s-land, save for a fringe of scrub and large coco-palm groves along the coast. This portion of the sh.o.r.e is very rocky in places, and numerous points of off-lying reefs project from the water.

A heavy swell was running from the south-west, and rank on rank of breakers--10 feet or so in height--were rolling sh.o.r.ewards, throwing up clouds of smoke-like foam. It would have been impossible to land without danger of losing guns, camera, etc., so we decided not to make the attempt, and therefore put about for Kachal, with the less regret in that the locality did not seem to hold out much promise as a collecting ground.

There is no harbour on its coasts, for the sh.o.r.es of the island, which is crescent-shaped, are almost unbroken. We afterwards heard that, two or three months previously, a Chinese junk, whose crew all reached the sh.o.r.e, had been wrecked on the reefs fronting this part of the island.

In their customs, style of architecture, and in the more general absence of talismans and demon-exorcising regalia, the people of Teressa and Bompoka are said to resemble those of Kar Nicobar, but their language possesses great dialectical variation.

Teressa is 34 square miles in area, and rises in the north to nearly 900 feet. The bed rock is serpentine, covered with sandstone, and there is a fringe of recent coralline alluvium round the sh.o.r.e, while beds of coral on the high land of the interior indicate upheaval since the formation of the older alluvium.

The soil of the gra.s.s-lands is of an igneous clay formation--magnesian clay, formed by disintegration of the plutonic rocks, whose upheaval in two successive stages brought the Nicobars into existence. Overlying it in many places are the beds of coral, and to these formations the gra.s.sy downs of the island are confined--lallang, with occasional screw-pines, a bracken-like fern (_Gleichenia dichotoma_), delicate ground orchids, and various scrubby plants (_Kydia calycina_), which point to the occurrence of annual fires. The transition from gra.s.s-land to high forest, which appears on the sandstone, is very sudden.

The graceful Nicobar palm (_Ptychoraphis augusta_) is common in the jungle. Whole groves of this beautiful tree fill the moister ravines, and give a characteristic appearance to the forest. Nearly equally conspicuous are large numbers of _Sterculia campanulata_.

Fruit and vegetables are the same as are found on Kar Nicobar, with the addition of tobacco, of which several small fields have been raised from seed imported from the west coast of India.

The census returns of 1901 give the population of Teressa as 624, making the number of inhabitants 50 more than in 1886.

Bompoka, having the appearance of a truncated cone, and 634 feet high, is an oblong-shaped island, about 4 square miles in area, separated from Teressa by a channel 50 fathoms in depth, and scarcely more than 2 miles wide. Its inhabitants, who number less than a hundred, and the people of Teressa, have an interesting legend to account for the formation of the island. Once upon a time a vessel, having a prince for its captain, visited Teressa, where he, on landing, was murdered by the inhabitants.

His wife was taken on sh.o.r.e and treated with the greatest respect; but, since the spot on which her husband's blood was shed was always before her eyes, she was very miserable. One night, however, she was advised in a dream, by her mother, to remove the b.l.o.o.d.y spot from Teressa if she would be happy. This she did, and Bompoka was thus separated from that island.[59]

The geological formation and the vegetation are similar to those of Teressa. The inhabitants have good plantations of fruit-trees--papaya, plantains, and limes--neatly fenced to keep out the pigs. At Poahat, on the west coast, good water is to be obtained from a stream at the back of the village.

These two islands, with perhaps Chaura, seem those referred to by Hamilton as the Somerera Islands, so called because "on the south end of the largest island is a hill that resembles the top of an umbrella or somerera. They are fine champaign ground, and, all but one, well inhabited. The island Somerera lies about 8 leagues to the northward of Ning and Goury (the Nankauri group), and is well inhabited for the number of villages that show themselves as we sail along the sh.o.r.es. The people, like those of Ning and Goury, are very courteous, and bring the product of their island aboard of ships to exchange for commodities.

Silver nor gold they neither have nor care for, so the root of all evil can never send out branches of misery, or bear fruit to poison their happiness! The men's clothing is a bit of string round the middle, and about 1-1/2 feet of cloth, 6 inches broad, tucked before and behind, within that line. The women have a petticoat from the navel to the knee, and their hair close shaved; but the men have their hair left on the upper part of the head and below the crown, but cut so short that it hardly comes to their ears."