106 KACHAL AND OTHER ISLANDS 



6 inches broad, tucked before and behind, within that Hne. The 

 women have a petticoat from the navel to the knee, and their 

 hair close shaved ; but the men have their hair left on the upper 

 part of the head and below the crown, but cut so short that it 

 hardly comes to their ears." 



Chaura, which lies 7 miles north-westward of Teressa, has 

 an area of about 3 square miles only. It is generally low, and 

 the only jungle it possesses is a little at the south end, where 

 it rises almost perpendicularly in a rocky pinnacle to a height 

 of about 350 feet, having the appearance, with the contiguous 

 low portion, of a broad-brimmed hat. It was on this account 

 termed Sombrero by the Portuguese navigators of the seventeenth 

 and eighteenth centuries, who were probably the first Europeans 

 to have any commercial dealings with the Nicobarese. 



The people are very well off, on account of their trade in 

 canoes and pottery : but to obtain the articles imported by 

 the traders, canoe voyages are made to other islands, as the 

 anchorage at Chaura is exceedingly precarious, and after the native 

 requirements are provided for there are but few nuts to spare for 

 trade, so that vessels are hardly ever known to call. The island 

 is the best cultivated in the group, and besides abounding in 

 oranges, limes, and other fruit, is covered with coconuts ; and 

 toddy being common, drunkenness is fairly prevalent. One 

 of the institutions of the place is the door mat ; for a large flat 

 sponge, which is found in numbers on the reefs, is placed at 

 the bottom of every house-ladder, for the natives to wipe their 

 feet on ! 



Although the smallest, it is at the same time the most 

 densely populated of the islands, for, in spite of decreasing 

 numbers, which may perhaps be due to emigration, the 

 people of Chaura number (January 1901) some 522 in all; 

 in 1886 the population fell only a few short of 700. We were 

 told that they are taller, more powerful, and darker-skinned 

 than the other Nicobarese, and also dolichocephalic. 



Through an exaggerated reputation for magic, they are 

 greatly feared throughout the group, and have for this reason 



