168 ANDAMAN ISLANDS AND INHABITANTS 



past union of Sumatra and Burma, investigation proves that 

 this is far from being the case. For soundings in this part 

 of the ocean show that between the Nicobars and the group 

 of islands adjacent to the north-east point of Sumatra — entering 

 from the open sea to the west, and thence trending north between 

 the Andamans and Malay Peninsula almost as far as the latitude 

 of Narkondam — there runs a long tongue of depressed ocean bed 

 with depths everywhere over looo fathoms. This fact, together 

 with the shallowness of the sea-bottom around and connecting 

 the Andamans with the Arakan Yoma Peninsula, suggests 

 the inference that the former were at one time past the 

 termination of a seaward extension from Cape Negrais of the 

 Arakan Yoma Range — a conclusion that is in some degree 

 emphasized by the zoological and botanical conditions common 

 to the two. 



The principal islands are, Great and Little Andaman, 

 Rutland and the Labyrinths, the Archipelago, North Sentinel, 

 Interview Island, Landfall Island, and the Cocos, but there are 

 many smaller adjacent, while to the eastward are the off-lying 

 volcanic islets of Narkondam and Barren Island. The total 

 area of the group is 2508 square miles.* 



Great Andaman — in which may be included Landfall and 

 Rutland Islands, for the whole land mass is so compact and 

 divided up by such narrow shallow straits that it appears to be 

 one single island that has been broken up by subsidence and 

 adjoining volcanic action — is 142 miles long, and 17 miles broad 

 at its widest point. 



There are generally stated to be two straits, but as one of them 

 bifurcates, the Great Andaman proper is really cut into four parts. 



Austin Strait, which divides North from Middle Andaman, is 

 very narrow and intricate, and not to be traversed by boats at 

 low tide ; but the Andaman Strait, — generally 2 to 3 cables 

 wide — which separates South from Middle Andaman at a spot 

 where the hills are lower than elsewhere, although intricate, and 

 possessing a bar at its eastern mouth with a depth of 9 or 10 

 * This was the estimated area before Col. Hobday's survey of 1883-5. 



