726 



FISHING IN INDIAN WATERS. 



Paet IV. 



The Andaman Islands. 



By F. 0. Gadsden, R. I. M, 



{Bead before the Bomlay Natural Hlstor>i Society on \%tJi Sept., 1899). 



" 'Tis a, fill- «i'y to Lock Awe,'' is a well-known Highland proverb, and a far 

 cry it no doubt is, from Aden to Port Blair, from the spot which I last 

 iutroduced to the members of this Society, to that to which I would now 

 draw their attention. The one is also a complete contrast to the other. 

 While the ragged and barren outlines of the Aden rocks at first sight tend 

 to repel, the first -view that one gets of the Andamans, coming in from the 

 sea, is almost fairy-like in its fascination, A group of islands wooded down 

 to its water's edge (except when the settlement clearances have been 

 effected) with a luxuriant growth of tropical foliage, and set in a sea of 

 brilliant cperulean hue, they are indeed a picture of surpassing loveliness, 

 and besides that they give one the impression of perfect peace and calm. 

 Not that the sea liere is always calm j far from it, for these islands are the 

 cradle of those terrific cyclones, which often form and sweep with irre- 

 sistible violence up the Bay of Bengal, and breaking upon different parts 

 of the Indian and Burraan coasts, cause infinite devastation to the distiicts 

 over which they sweep. Curiously the islands do not always escape. In 

 November, 1891, a terrible cyclone swept over them, and the effects were 

 such, that many of the hill sides were swept bare of trees and vegetation, 

 and twfenty years will certainly not suffice to repair the damage done in less 

 than half as many hours. 



Lying as they do in the fair-way of the traffic up the Bay of Bengal, they 

 have of course been known for many centuries, and at one time were, to- 

 gether with the lesser group, the Nicobars, in the possession of the Danes, 

 who established certain Missionary settlements in them, but of these settle- 

 ments there are no traces, unless it be in the curious blue eyes and fair hair 

 which are occasionally seen in individuals of tlie Joruas, a negroid tribe who 

 run wild in the Nicobars, and also in the straiu of wild cattle which are to 

 be found there. Malays and Chinese have traded with these islands from 

 time immemorial, but the islands -tv ere never seriously taken in hand until 

 somewhere in the early fifties, when they were cho!^en by the Indian Govern- 

 ment as a lit and proper place in which to establish their penal settlement. 

 They are administered by a Chief Commissioner and a t-taff of settlement 

 officers, and rule and order is maintained by a body of about 800 Sikh Police, 

 a small number of European troops (two companies generally from the Regi- 

 ment stationed at Rangoon are detailed for this duty), and half a native 

 regiment of Madras Infantry, The criminal population is about 15,000, 

 Many of these latter, the better behaved ones, are allowed to marry and have 

 plots of ground allotted to them, and settle down on these clearances and 



