A SHORT ACCOUNT 



OF A 



VISIT TO THE ANDAMAN ISLANDS 



BY 



E. W. PREVOST, ESQ., Ph.D. 



The Andaman Islands, concerning which the general 

 public seems only to be aware that they are a convict 

 station, He in the Bay of Bengal, between 1 1^25' and 13^35' 

 N. latitude, and just West of the 93rd meridian. Mea- 

 suring about 140 miles long, with an average width of 10 

 miles, they form two groups, the Great and Little Anda- 

 mans, and the former is again divided into the North, 

 Middle, and South Islands ; in addition there is a group 

 on the Eastern coast, called the Archipelago, of which the 

 individual islets bear the names of many of the heroes of 

 the Indian Mutiny — Havelock, Outram, &c. On the 

 Western coast He the Labyrinth Islands, all uninhabited. 

 The inhabitants of the Great Andaman are all friendly, 

 except one tribe, the Jarawas; but it is only of late years, and 

 after much patient toil, that Col. Cadell has succeeded in 

 making friends with those who live on the Little 

 Andaman. The size of this Island is 27 miles by 15. 

 The Andamans form part of a chain which, starting with the 

 Preparis and Cocos on the North, extends to Sumatra 

 and the Sundas on the South, but with the exception of 

 Barren Island, which is passed on the passage from 

 Rangoon to Port Blair, there are now no signs of active 

 volcanic action in the Northern section of the chain. 



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