CHAPTER VI 



TILANCHONG 



Batti Malv — Tilanchong — Novara Bay — Terrapin Bay — Form and Area of 

 Tilanchong — Birds — Megapodes — A Swamp — Crocodile — Megapode 

 Mound — Wreck and Death of Captain Owen, 1708 — We leave Tilanchong 

 — Foul Ground — Kamorta. 



On our course to Tilanchong, we passed, after leaving the south 

 end of Kar Nicobar, within a few miles of the little island of 

 Batti Malv. It is scarcely more than a mile in length, and 

 except towards the N.W., where it is somewhat flattened, falls 

 steeply to the sea from a height of 150 feet. It is uninhabited, 

 but the low jungle with which it is covered is the abode of 

 countless numbers of pigeons — principally of the Nicobar variety 

 — which are said to be so tame and fearless that they can be 

 killed with sticks. 



A little later Teressa hove in sight, a grey cloud on the 

 horizon, and soon after we caught sight of our destination right 

 ahead. It was midnight before the island was reached, and 

 not caring to find an anchorage in the dark, we drifted gently 

 northward under jib and mainsail, until at daybreak we were 

 opposite the extreme point, where we turned and ran slowly 

 south, keeping close inshore. 



All the way along until the centre is reached, the island, 500 

 feet high and nowhere more than a mile and a half broad, rises in 

 almost precipitous cliffs of serpentine, with deep water at their 

 feet, while the principal vegetation consists of thickets of pandanus 

 in the gullies, and here and there, in spite of the rocky ground, 



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