THE HARBOUR 21 



the word, is impossible. There are no shops, and the wants of 

 the community are supplied by a co-operative store, at which, 

 it is reported, in more than one year recently, articles have 

 been sold at a price considerably under cost. Besides this, there 

 is only the native bazaar, which is, of course, ubiquitous in 

 the East. 



Before visiting the Nicobars, it is necessary for all vessels 

 to obtain a permit, so, in duty bound, we called one morning 

 on the Chief Commissioner, and to him we are indebted for much 

 information that became valuable in the next few months. 



Colonel Temple, who takes much interest in the natives of 

 his district, particularly from a philological standpoint, possesses 

 a very complete ethnological collection of Andamanese and 

 Nicobarese articles, and an aviary containing a great number of 

 the birds inhabiting the two groups of islands. All these objects 

 we were fortunate enough to see, and so gained at the outset 

 a very good idea of those things we were so anxious to obtain 

 specimens of for ourselves. 



One morning, in the company of Mr P. Vaux, acting port 

 officer, we made a delightful tour round the harbour in one 

 of the Government launches. 



Port Blair is a long, ragged indentation, about seven miles 

 from head to mouth, broken and diversified by numerous little 

 bays and promontories. The shores — intersected by numerous 

 roads — are almost entirely cleared from jungle, and since they 

 have been in this condition, fever has been practically unknown 

 amongst the European community. 



Passing first close by the suburb of Aberdeen, which is on 

 the mainland just opposite Ross, we obtained a good view of 

 the Cellular Jail, a huge building of red-brown bricks, with long 

 arms — three storeys in height — stretching from a common centre 

 like the rays of a starfish. It has been built almost entirely 

 from local resources, and with local establishment and labour, 

 and holds 663 cells and the accompanying jail buildings. Here 

 each newcomer is incarcerated in solitude for six months, with 

 the double intention of such confinement acting both as a 



