CHAPTER IV 



THE CINQUES AND LITTLE ANDAMAN 



Position of the Cinques — Anchorage — Clear Water — The Forest — Beach 

 Formation — Native Hut — Little Andaman — Bumila Creek — Natives — Flies 

 — Personal Decoration — Dress and Modesty— Coats of Mud — Coiffure — 

 Absence of Scarification — Elephantiasis — A Visit to the Village — Peculiar 

 Huts — Canoe — Bows and Arrows — The Return Journey — A Slight contre- 

 tevips — Andamanese Pig — We leave the Andamans. 



The channel that separates Rutland Island from Little 

 Andaman is about 28 miles wide, and is everywhere less 

 than 50 fathoms in depth. Several small wooded islets rise 

 above its shallow waters, leaving in the centre, however, a 

 clear stretch of sea — the Duncan Passage — which is some- 

 times traversed by ships passing through the Archipelago. 



At the northernmost group of these islets, the Cinques, 

 we spent a day, before visiting the coast of Little Andaman. 

 The two islands, which are narrow and hilly, stretch for about 

 6 miles in an almost N. and S. direction, and are almost joined 

 by a reef of rocks awash at high tide ; they are only 3 miles 

 distant from the south-east end of Rutland Island, and 9 miles 

 from Macpherson Strait. We anchored between the islands, 



in a little bay in the shore of the northernmost, with the 



reef of rocks to the eastward. 



Here, as in all such islands where there are no streams or 



mangrove swamps, the water was excessively clear — so clear that 



we could perceive fish swimming amongst the coral, and the 



anchor lying on the bottom 10 fathoms below. 



The forest on the southern and western shores presents a 



30 



