22 



INDIA BEYOND THE GANGES. 



the other, and have fome flight outriggers. Thefe veflels go 

 either with a fail or paddle, and hold from nine to thirty 



men. 

 •^ Pigeon-. The Nicobar iflands produce the beautiful and lingular pigeon, 



to which they give name ; the feathers on the head are purple, 

 thofe of the neck, long, narrow, and fharp-pointed like the hac- 

 cle of a cock, and refleaing various glofTes of purple, red, gold, 

 blue, and copper; the back a changeable green ; the primaries 

 a fine blue ; the tail and its coverts white. 

 Island of I NOW crofs from the greater or more fouthern Nicobar to the 



JuNKsEitoN. jfiand of Junkfeilon, about two hundred and fixty miles diftant. 

 It lies north-eaft of th€ former, between Lat. 7° 30' and 8° 24, is 

 of a long form, the coaft extremely indented with bays, and 

 very falient promontories ; the chief port is Popra, the Tacola 

 emporium oi Ptolemy. Hamilton'* fays it produces good m.afts, 

 and that it has plenty of tin ; about five hundred tons are an- 

 nually exported, according to the account given by Captain For- 

 reji, who was there in 1784. The ifland, fubje<5t to Siam, is 

 governed by a viceroy and three affiifants, and contains about 

 twelve thoufand inhabitants. The northern end is divided from 

 the continent by a channel not exceeding a mile in breadth. 

 Betw"ecn the eaftern fide and the main land, is a great bay filled 

 -with numbers of fmall ifles, and in the middle Pulo Panjang^ 

 M-hich from north to fouth is in length twenty-three miles t. 



The kingdom of lower ^Smw, bounds the northern and eaitern 

 fides of the bay; within the laft is comprehended the narrow 

 ifthmus of the peninfula of Malacca^ which does not exceed in 

 breadth fifty miles. 



* Vol. ii. 68. -j- Forrcftj p. 30. 



> At 



