MUS VILLAGE 47 



American schooner — or still more heinous, laden with a cargo 

 of spirits — he offered every assistance in his power, and put 

 the schoolhouse at our disposal, should we care to live 

 ashore. 



A flight of broad stairs, built against the cliff, led to its 

 top, and then, after traversing two or three hundred yards of 

 broad road, the agent's bungalow — "Temple Villa" — and the 

 schoolhouse, both standing on an open piece of land purchased 

 from the natives, were reached. 



In the clearing were sheds for the meteorological instruments, 

 a very deep well, the only one in Kar Nicobar, and enclosures 

 for several Indian cows that were kept by the agent. The 

 Nicobarese do not use milk, and a herd of cattle given to 

 them when the settlement at Nankauri was abolished, are now 

 roaming over Trinkat in a semi - wild state, very occasionally 

 losing one or two of their numbers by the spears of the 

 natives, to whom, at times, they afford a welcome supply of 

 food. The common pigeon was introduced into Kar Nicobar 

 in 1898, and numbers of them were to be seen in the vicinity of 

 the bungalow. 



The village lay just beyond, on the eastern shore, for this 

 part of the island is merely a narrow arm projecting from the 

 main portion in a northern direction. 



]\Iiis has a population of 530, and covers about half a 

 square mile of ground, the various groups of houses being 

 scattered irregularly about in picturesque disorder amongst 

 thickets of fruit-trees and fenced-in gardens. 



All the buildings stand on thick piles,* about 7 feet high, 

 but vary in architectural type. The living - houses {pati), 

 roughly about 20 feet in diameter, and 15-20 feet in height 

 from floor to apex, are in shape something between an inverted 

 basin and a pie-dish, covered with a heavy thatch of lallang 

 grass. Without windows or visible entrance, the interior is 

 reached by a neatly -made ladder of bamboo, or notched pole, 

 through a trapdoor in the floor, which works on hinges and 

 * Oi Barringtonia speciosa^ Eugenia javanica^ and Calophylluin itiophvlluni. 



