Two large isolated coral banks occur--one near Chaura, with only 1-1/2 fathoms of water; and another, far more extensive, in the Sombrero Channel, with 11 fathoms of water above it.

Although the Nicobar Islands are scarcely ever heard of, the China Mail boats and other great ocean steamers pa.s.s almost in sight of them nearly every day, and they possess in the central group one of the finest harbours in the eastern seas. Nankauri Harbour has not only entrances on the east and west, that make it practicable for any sort of vessel in both monsoons, but these are further protected by the islands of Trinkat and Kachal respectively, which give sheltered anchorage outside the mouth of the harbour itself.

By any other nation than the British it would be highly valued at the present time as a coaling station, but, owing to its proximity to the Straits Settlements, and the failure of the small islands around to produce anything more valuable than coconuts, it is completely neglected by its possessors, from both commercial and strategical standpoints.

The natives of the group number at present a few short of 6000 (to which should be added a possible 300-400 Shom Pe[.n]), and there are generally some 200 foreigners resident in the north during the trading monsoon.

The islands increase in size as they are pa.s.sed towards the south, but the contrary is the case with regard to population, which decreases regularly, island by island, with one or two exceptions, from Kar Nicobar in the north with 3451 inhabitants, to Great Nicobar with only 87.[110]

"The Nicobar Islands belong to an area of elevation which can be traced from the Bay of Bengal far into the southern seas,[111] and is characterised by two phenomena: first, the activity of the interior of the earth, showing itself in volcanic action; and secondly, the activity of the coralline animals, disclosing itself in the formation of that kind of coral reefs known as fringing or coast reefs. The islands occupy a gap without volcanoes between the volcanic ranges of Sumatra, and Barren and Narkondam Islands, and the occurrence of young volcanic rock in them is improbable. They are distinctly characterised as a portion of the chain of oceanic elevation which began in former geological periods and still continues, by the upheaved coral banks, and by the continuous formation of coral reefs. The synclinals and anticlinals in the geological structure of the islands are coincident with the direction of the great geological line of elevation which connects the northern part of Sumatra with the Andamans.

"Among the geological formations of the Nicobars, three are the most important:--(1) An eruptive serpentine, with gabbro formation. (2) Marine deposits, probably of a younger Tertiary age, consisting of sandstone, slates, clay marls, and plastic clay. (3) Recent coral-reef formations.

"The serpentine and gabbro formation is characteristically of an eruptive nature. The Tertiary sandstones, slates, and clay marls appear forcibly broken through; their strata is partly inclined, partly bent in flat, parallel, wave-like undulations. These rocks are accompanied by coa.r.s.er and finer breccias, composed of angular fragments of these same rocks, and they can partly be regarded as friction breccias, partly as sedimentary tufas, in which beds of an argillaceous marl are interstratified. The eruption of these plutonic ma.s.ses appears therefore to fall in a time when the formation of the marine deposits was partially completed, partially still in progress. They broke through on lines of fracture, of which the princ.i.p.al strike from S.S.E. to N.N.W.

agrees with the longitudinal extension of the islands. On the middle islands the serpentine and gabbro attain their greatest development: on Tilanchong, Teressa, Bompoka, Kamorta, and Nankauri, they form bare hill ranges of 200-500 feet, and their configuration often marvellously resembles that of younger volcanic formations. The elevatory power has, however, acted most strongly on the southern islands, and has here upheaved sandstones and slates to heights of 1500-2000 feet above sea-level; on the northern islands the same power was, on the contrary, weakest.

"The clay marls of the northern and central islands (Kar Nicobar, Teressa, Bompoka, Kamorta, Trinkat, and Nankauri) and the sandstones and slates of the southern (Kachal, Little and Great Nicobar) appear to be only petrologically different products of one and the same period of deposition. There are, at the same time, very few materials from which the age of the marine formation could be determined, as the only fossil remains which have been found in their strata are fragments of _driftwood_ changed to brown coal, plants resembling _Fucoids, Foraminifera_, and _Polycistinae_. All these indicate more or less distinctly a young Tertiary age.

"We find a repet.i.tion of the geological condition of the Nicobars on the southern coast of Java and the south-west coast of Sumatra.

"The third princ.i.p.al formation of the Nicobars are coral formations belonging to the most recent or the present period. Coral banks of great thickness are found on Kar Nicobar, Bompoka, Trinkat, and other islands.

They consist partly of compact coral limestone, partly of a coral and sh.e.l.l conglomerate upheaved 30 or 40 feet above the present level of the sea. On all the islands the original area is to be observed enlarged by coral land which is only separated by the higher sand-dunes along the sh.o.r.es from the still continuing formation of the coral reefs surrounding all the islands in the character of fringing reefs. Although these raised coral banks are decided evidence of the long-continued upheaval of the islands--that, in connection with the eruption of the serpentines and gabbros--the formation of the flat coral lands elevated a few feet only above the sea, can, on the other hand, be explained by the acc.u.mulation of coral fragments, of sand and sh.e.l.ls, by the waves and breakers on the shallow surface of the fringing reefs."[112]

Coal of a brown variety has been found in Little Nicobar, Treis, Milo, and Kondul, but everywhere in isolated ma.s.ses and single fragments, showing traces of rolling, met with here and there without order, in sandstone and slate, and evidently derived from driftwood.

The only traces of minerals discovered have been ores of copper and iron pyrites, finely disseminated through dioritic and serpentine rocks.

The possibility of the occurrence of copper ores in the eruptive formation cannot be denied, but no discovery has yet been made which would indicate it. On the other hand, the islands are rich in useful building materials. The sandstone of the southern islands must give excellent working stones; the plastic clays of the north could, doubtless, be worked into bricks or pottery; the natives of Chaura largely employ it in their earthenware manufactures.

Although the islands are generally beyond the sphere of cyclonic disturbances, they have more than once experienced the effect of earthquakes. One of the most remarkable of these is said to have occurred from October 31 to December 5, 1847, when fire is reported to have been seen on one of the mountains of Great Nicobar. Part of the northern coast of the latter, especially in the vicinity of Ganges Harbour, sank beneath the sea, and for long the locality was deserted by the aborigines.[113]

On December 1881, an earthquake, felt also at the Andamans and throughout the Bengal Sea generally, caused extensive damage in Kar Nicobar to the coconut groves and huts of the natives. Vents were opened in the sandy soil; inland, trees were overthrown; sea-waves broke on the island, and at the village of M[=u]s, water rose into the houses of the Burmese traders, which stood on platforms 2-1/2 feet high.

There was another earthquake at Kar Nicobar in November 1899, when strong, but not alarming, shocks, lasting ten minutes, were experienced.

The last occurred on September 18, 1900, when two heavy and severe shocks, each lasting five minutes, were felt throughout the island, but caused no damage.

The climate of the Nicobars is more uniform than that of the Andamans, for it is less diversified by wet and dry seasons, heat and cold, and in this respect resembles that of the Malay Peninsula at the same lat.i.tude.

The prevalence of malaria renders the group unhealthy alike for foreigners and, in certain localities, for the natives, and all the attempts at settlement have resulted in great mortality from this cause, although where jungle exists an improvement is said to have taken place when the land has been cleared.

The average mean annual temperature is about 82.5, the maximum in the shade between 93 and 94 and the minimum 73. March and April are the hottest months, with means of 82 and 83 and a maximum of 89, while August to December--when the mean temperature is 79--is the coolest part of the year. The mean annual temperature at Nankauri is 80, and while the highest reading recorded is 99, the lowest is 70. The mean diurnal range there varies between 9 and 11 only.

Although the seasons of the monsoons are the same, they are not so well defined among the Nicobars as on the coast of the Bay of Bengal generally; but heavy rains occur in May, June and July--when the south-west monsoon is at its height--and rains rarely cease until December. March is the driest month, and while from May to December there is an average monthly rainfall of 12 inches, with twenty wet days per month, for the rest of the year the monthly average is only 2.9 inches, with showers on twenty-six days only.

At Nankauri the mean humidity is 79 per cent, and the annual rainfall 110 inches; while, as regards the southern group of islands, there is good ground for the belief that much more rain falls, probably not less than an average of 150 inches annually; this is doubtless attributable to the forest-clad mountains of Great and Little Nicobar.

The prevailing winds are the monsoons--the south-west from the beginning of May till mid-October, followed by variable winds to the end of the year; the north-east monsoon from January until April, with an interval of more variable winds before the other sets in. Hurricanes seldom visit the islands, but in March 1892 the central group was subjected to a cyclone which caused much destruction in the forest. During the south-west monsoon frequent thunderstorms and gales of wind occur, especially in the vicinity of Great Nicobar. The north-east monsoon brings fine weather, but sometimes blows with considerable strength.

A remarkable feature of the Nicobars is the manner in which the general botanical appearance of the islands coincides with the geological division, for, while the southern group (Great and Little Nicobar with Kachal) are wooded from beach to summit, the forests of the other islands are restricted to the plutonic rocks and the slopes and dells of the older alluvium, while the hilly plateaux and ridges are covered with park-like gra.s.s heaths.

The most prominent features of the flora are, perhaps, the quant.i.ties of _Barringtonia speciosa_, which, with their large shiny leaves and beautiful crimson-tipped ta.s.sel-like blossoms, grow all along the coasts; the tall screw-pines (_Panda.n.u.s larum_), bearing the immense fruits that provide the main food of the natives; and the graceful Nicobar palms (_Ptychoraphis augusta_), which occur in all the forests.

Giant bamboos are extremely scarce, but the climbing species (_Dinachloa_) is common everywhere in the jungle, and beautiful tree ferns (_Alsophila albo-setacea_) grow in the forest and along the river banks of the south.

A mangosteen (_Garcinia_, sp.) and a cinnamon (_Cinnamomum obtusifolium_) grow wild, as do the pepper vine (_Piper betel_) that supplies the sireh leaf, and the betel palm (_Areca catechu_). These two are also cultivated, and it is said that the latter is not indigenous.

The large numbers of milky climbers leads to the hope that some rubber-yielding varieties may be discovered capable of supplying a sufficient quant.i.ty of raw material for export. The vanilla orchid occurs, and the southern forests produce quant.i.ties of rattan, both as a small variety that is exported, and a large cane two inches or so in diameter, which the natives use for the horizontal rafters in the circular framework of their houses.

_Semecarpus heterophyllus_, _Morinda citrifolia_, _Artocarpus lakoocha_, and _A. chaplasha_, _Cordia mixa_, _Mallotus philipenensis_, and _Amomum fenzlii_, may be mentioned specially as species capable of yielding commercial products; but their spa.r.s.eness, coupled with the fact that it is easier and cheaper to cover the soil with coconuts and areca palms, puts out of the question the possibility of utilising the species to any profit.

The Nicobars produce few trees of any commercial value as timber, and those probably not in large quant.i.ties: the best of these are _Myristica irya_ and _Terminalia bialata_, and of secondary value in this respect are _Mimusops littoralis_, _Hopea odorata_, _Artocarpus chaplasha_ and _lakoocha_, _Calophyllum spectabile_, _Terminalia procera_ and species of _Garcinias_.

Evergreen forest predominates, and mixed forest appears only occasionally, but pure leaf-shedding forest is not met with; and as regards species, there is a marked absence of Dipterocarpus trees.

It is in the writings of Ptolemy that we find the first probable reference to the Nicobars, for after the Andamans, the next group mentioned by him is the "Barussae," which seems to be the Lankha _Balus_ of the older Arab navigators, since these are certainly the Nicobars.[114] The islands were also known to the same voyagers under the names of Megabalu and Legabalu.

The Chinese, another race of great navigators in these seas, have records of the Nicobars for a thousand years and more.

The next reference of any importance is that of an Arab trader who came into contact with the group during a voyage to Southern China in 851 A.D.[115] "Nagabalus, which are pretty well peopled: both the men and women there go naked, except that the women conceal their private parts with leaves of trees. When shipping is among these islands, the inhabitants come off in embarkations, and bring with them ambergris and coconuts, which they truck for iron, for they want no clothing, being free from the inconveniences of heat or cold."

Rashuddin writes of the islands in nearly the same terms, under the name of Lakvarem, opposite Lamuri (a kingdom of Sumatra), and the very imaginatively-minded author, Friar Oderic,[116] compiled a chapter on Nicoveran which is a ma.s.s of the wildest fable, utterly unworthy of credence, containing, as it does, details of people with faces like dogs, who are stout in battle (not a characteristic of the modern Nicobarese) and worshippers of the ox, while their king possessed strings of pearls, and the largest ruby in the world.

"Concerning the island of Necuveran, when you leave the island of Java the less (Sumatra) and the kingdom of Lambri, you sail north almost 150 miles and then you come to two islands, one of which (Great Nicobar) is called Necuveran. In this island they have no king nor chief, but live like beasts. And I tell you they all go naked, both men and women, and do not use the slightest covering of any kind. They are idolaters. Their woods are all of n.o.ble and valuable kinds of trees; such as Red Sanders, and Indian-nut, and Cloves, and Brazil, and sundry other good spices. There is nothing else worth relating," says Marco Polo, who probably only pa.s.sed near the islands in or about the year 1293, but who gathered fairly accurate information about them.

After the Cape of Good Hope was doubled in 1497, the islands were frequented by voyagers, as expeditions to the East became more numerous.

"It was the Nicobar custom in 1566," says Master Caesar Frederike, that "if any ship come near to that place or coast as they pa.s.s that way, as in my voyage it happened, as I came from Malacca through the channel of Sombrero, there came two of their barques near our ship, laden with fruit, as with _monces_ (which we call Adam's apples, which fruit is like to our turnips, but is very sweet and good to eat). They would not come into the ship for anything we could do, neither would they take any money for their fruit, but they would truck for old shirts or old linen breeches.

These rags we let down with a rope into their barque unto them, and look what they thought their things to be worth; so much fruit they would make fast to the rope, and let us hale it in: and it was told me that sometimes a man shall have for an old shirt a good piece of amber."[117]

In his _East Africa and Malabar_,[118] Barbosa refers shortly to the Nicobars. "In front of Sumatra, across the Gulf of the Ganges, are five or six small islands, which have very good water and ports for ships: they are inhabited by Gentiles, poor people, they are called Niconbar; and they find in them very good amber, which they carry thence to Malacca and other ports."

Captain John Davis, of Arctic fame, the inventor of the "back-staff,"

the earliest form of quadrant, piloted a Dutch ship to the East Indies, and touched, in 1599, at the Central Nicobars. He wrote that "... the people brought in great store of hens, oranges, lemons, and other fruit, and some ambergris which we bought for pieces of linen cloth and table napkins. These isles are pleasant and fruitful, lowland, and have good road for ships. The people are most base, only living upon fruits and fish, not manuring the ground, and therefore having no rice."[119]

During the reign of Elizabeth, Sir James Lancaster made several voyages to the East Indies, and touched at the Nicobars. Two of his officers, Barker and May, have chronicled a visit to the islands in 1592, in a description that would apply more accurately to the Pulo Wai group. "The islands of Nicobar," says Barker, "we found inhabited with Moors, and after we came to an anchor, the people came aboard us in their canoes with hens, cocos, plantains, and other fruits, and in two days they brought to us royals of plate, giving us them for calicut cloth, which royals they find by diving for them in the sea, which were lost not long before by two Portugal ships which were bound for China and were cast away there. They call in their language the coco, _calambe_ (Malay, _klapa_); the plantain, _pison_ (Mal., _pisang_); a hen, _iam_ (Mal., _ayam_); a fish, _iccan_ (Mal., _ikan_); and a hog, _babi_ (Mal., _babi_)"; and May, the other writer, says that the natives were in religion Mohammedans.

Lancaster's own account of the "Islands of Nicobar" is more interesting, and is based on his experiences there in 1602. Of either Pulo Milo or Kondul he writes:--

"Here we had fresh water and some coconuts, other refreshing had we none. Yet the people came aboard our ships in long canoes which would hold twenty men in one of them, and brought gums to sell instead of amber, and therewithal deceived divers of our men: for these people of the east are wholly given to deceit. They brought us hens and coconuts to sell, but held them very dear, so that we bought few of them. We stayed here ten days....

"We were forced to go to the island of Sombrero (the Portuguese name for Chaura) some 10 or 12 leagues to the northward of Little Nicobar. Here we lost an anchor, for the ground is foul and groweth full of counterfeit coral and some rocks, which cut our cable asunder.

"The people of these islands go naked, having only the privities bound up in a piece of linen cloth, which cometh about their middles like a girdle and so between their twist. They are all of a tawny colour, and anoint their faces with divers colours: they are well limbed, but very fearful: for none of them would come aboard our ships, or enter our boats.

"The General reported that he had seen some of their priests all apparelled, but close to their bodies, as if they had been sewed in it; and upon their heads a pair of horns turning backwards (_ta-chokla_), with their faces painted green, black, and yellow, and their horns also painted the same colour. And behind them, upon their b.u.t.tocks, a tail hanging down very much like in the manner as in some painted clothes we paint the devil in our country. He demanding wherefore they went in that attire, answer was made him, that in such form the devil appeared to them in their sacrifices, and therefore the priests, his servants, were so apparelled. In this island grow trees which for their tallness, greatness, and straightness will serve the biggest ships in all our fleet for a mainmast, and the island is full of these trees." This description of the island cannot be said to be applicable at the present day.

"Here likewise we found upon the sand by the seaside a small twig (_Virgularia mirabilis?_) growing up to a grand tree, and offering to pluck the same, it shrunk down into the ground, and sinketh unless you hold very hard. And being plucked up, a great worm is at the root of it: and look how the tree groweth in greatness the worm diminisheth. Now as soon as the worm is wholly turned into the tree it rooteth in the ground, and so groweth to be great. This transformation is one of the strangest wonders I saw in all my travels. For the tree being plucked up little, the leaves stripped off, and the pill by that time it was dry, turned into an hard stone, much like to white coral; so that the worm was twice transformed with different natures: of these we gathered and brought home many."[120]