98 Voyage of the Novara. 



period during our passage to the straits of Malacca, was in- 

 creased to 21. Singular to say, those of the ship's company, 

 who during our stay had never set foot on the Nicobar Islands, 

 furnished the largest contingent of cases of fever, while of 

 both officers and naturalists, who spent the whole day together 

 among the swamps and the forest, and were exposed to all 

 manner of fatigue, only three got upon the sick list. On the 

 whole, however, even the few severer cases made an excellent 

 recovery, and by the time we had anchored in the harbour of 

 Singapore, all the fever patients were once more either quite 

 well, or in a fair way towards convalescence. 



As the examination of this Archipelago was, in consequence 

 of the all but impenetrable forests, confined to the narrow 

 strip of land along the shore, we had almost said to the 

 region of cocoa-palms exclusively, its various geognostic fea- 

 tures were very inadequately, yet withal approximately, ascer- 

 tained. If we admit that a covering of vegetation of the ut- 

 most variety and primeval luxuriance, untouched by the hand 

 of man, and entirely unreclaimed by cultivation, may be con- 

 sidered as the expressive feature by which an estimate could 

 be arrived at of the different geognostic conditions of soil be- 

 neath, we may succeed in our attempt from the characteristics 

 of this primeval vegetation, to come to some definite conclu- 

 sion as to the quality and the greater or lesser productiveness 

 of the ground. According to this method of computing, it 

 would seem that, 



I. The forest, in the ordinar}^ acceptation of the term, in- 



