CHAPTER XI 



LITTLE NICOBAR AND PULO MILO 



A Tide-rip — Islets — A Cetacean — Pulo Milo — Timidity of the Natives— Little 

 Nicobar — Geology — Flora — Population — Site for a Colony— Jungle Life — 

 Banian Trees — The Houses and their Peculiarity — The Natives — Practices 

 and Beliefs — The Shorn Peii — The Harbour — We ascend a River — King- 

 fishers — Water — Caves — Bats and Swallows— Nests — A Jungle Path — 

 Menchal Island — Collections — Monkeys — Crabs. 



Sailing across the Sombrero Channel, some 30 miles wide, 

 between Kachal and Little Nicobar, we passed the islet of 

 Meroe. It is low-lying, and about i mile in length. A yellow 

 beach separates the dark crown of jungle and coconuts from 

 the sea, except at the southern end, which is slightly elevated 

 and rocky. 



On its western side, a tide-rip — to which the chart ascribes 

 a strength of 5 knots an hour at times — caught us, and we were 

 in some danger of being carried inshore, but that the breeze 

 was just strong enough to bear the schooner safely past. The 

 tides in the channel set strongly, and are said to attain in parts 

 a velocity of as much as 5 knots at springs. 



South of Meroe are the islets of Trak and Treis, and from 

 the deck the red sandstone cliffs of the latter could be seen 

 with much distinctness. Little Nicobar, rising 1400 feet, 

 showed broken and hilly, completely covered with dense jungle, 

 and beyond it Great Nicobar loomed faintly above the 

 horizon. 



During the afternoon, when in the vicinity of Meroe, we 

 were somewhat excited by a glimpse at what was perchance a 



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