Limited Animul Kingdom of the Nicohar Group. 105 



the majority of these consistmg of various species of birds. 

 In like manner the sea is but Httle productive, and the nets 

 which we cast over the ship's side at Kar-Nicobar, Pulo Milu, 

 and Ganges-harbour, like the hook and line, brought up but 

 few specimens, and those hardly deserving of notice. The 

 natives have no nets of any sort, their mode of fishing con- 

 sisting simply of raising a succession of weirs, in which they 

 can harpoon or take their prey. 



Of domestic animals we saw only swine, hens, dogs, and 

 cats, all of which live upon cocoa-nut. The dog, a smooth- 

 haired cur of a light brownish-yellow colour, with pointed ears, 

 is a sad coward, and his bark rather resembles a prolonged 

 howl. The cats and the hens are exactly like those of 

 Europe. Cattle for draught or the dairy, are as yet entirely 

 unknown to the natives ; yet they might easily be introduced 

 from the adjoining shores of India. The zebra breed especi- 

 ally, already acclimatized in the tropics, would be of con- 

 spicuous utility as beasts of draught, supposing any attempt 

 made at cultivation of the soil. 



Judging by the experiments made at Pulo Milu, the intro- 

 duction of goats and sheep could only be accomplished with 

 much difficulty. On the other hand all manner of poultry 

 would be found to thrive in these islands. 



In passing from this very cursory consideration of the 

 natural history of these islands* to the race of man who in- 



• An extensive description of the zoology of these islands is reserved for the 

 zoological part of the Novara publications, published at the expense of the Austrian 

 government, at the Imjierial Printing-office in Vienna. 



