SITE FOR A COLONY 121 



fact, with the exception of Kondul, the inhabitants are fewer 

 than those of any other island of the group. Its people 

 speak, with some variations, the dialect of Nankauri : only for 

 certain objects, and these, singular to say, of first necessity — 

 coconuts, palms, pandanus, etc. — do they employ different ex- 

 pressions.* The same language is spoken by the people of 

 Great Nicobar. According to Hamilton, they all partook, 

 two hundred years ago, of the unpolished nature of their 

 mountainous islands, and were more uncivil and surly than 

 those of the northward ! 



Should the group again receive a European settlement, I 

 know of no spot more suited to the purpose than this : in 

 accommodation for shipping only is it excelled by the splendid 

 harbour at Nankauri ; in all else it is far superior — in the forma- 

 tion and greater area of ground, in fertility of soil, and in the 

 presence of water. 



We landed first on Little Nicobar near some ruined huts 

 which once formed the village of Makachiah, deserted since 1898, 

 when the few remaining people either died or removed else- 

 where ; and after passing through a belt of coco palms, found 

 ourselves in the jungle. 



Much of the surface was level ; but here and there little 

 chains of sandstone hills, rising two or three hundred feet, 

 wound about. The trees were of immense height, and in many 

 places beneath them one moved about as freely as in an English 

 forest. 



Although this open vegetation is much more pleasant to 

 traverse, it is not half so satisfactory for collecting purposes 

 as the denser jungle, for it contains far less, both in variety 

 and numbers, of birds and animals. 



Megapodes, singly, in pairs, or in little flocks, ran about 

 and sought busily for food, calling to each other meanwhile, 

 until, alarmed by the sight of such unwonted intruders as white 

 men, they scurried swiftly away. Overhead, so high as to be 

 almost out of shot, pigeons, grackles, and parrots fluttered and 



* Dr K. Scherzer. 



