HARBOURS 171 



yellow sand or brilliant green mangroves, and the seas round 

 the islands are of the clearest water imaginable. 



The coast-line is everywhere deeply indented, and affords a 

 number — most unusual for such a small group — of deep-water 

 harbours and other anchorages, where complete shelter can be 

 found for large ships in all weathers and seasons. The most 

 known and the best — although Port Cornwallis is nearly as good, 

 and has the advantage of being some twelve hours' steaming 

 nearer to Calcutta and Rangoon — is Port Blair, where the 

 Settlement has been placed ; but on the same coast of Great 

 Andaman are many others, the more important being, Macpher- 

 son's Straits, Shoal Bay, Port Meadows, Colebrooke Passage, 

 and Stewart's Sound. On the west coast are situated, Port 

 Andaman, Kwang-tung Harbour, Ports Campbell and Mouat, 

 while in the Archipelago perfect anchorage is to be found either 

 in Outram Harbour or in Charka-Juru,* Kwang-tung Strait, or 

 Tadma-Juru. 



These are well distributed all along the coasts, and were the 

 Andamans situated in some position of greater political or 

 commercial importance, they would form an invaluable possession 

 for this reason. As it is, the islands are exploited merely as a 

 convict establishment — an Indian Botany Bay — and the only 

 industry of any magnitude appertaining to them is that of 

 timber, for which indeed the harbours are very convenient, as 

 the forests v/orked are all in the neighbourhood of the seashore, 

 or are so placed that after the trees are felled the logs can be 

 hauled b}- elephants to the many creeks, and floated down to 

 where the vessels engaged in the business are anchored. 



The geographical conditions, and more especially the Tertiary 

 sandstone of which the large area of the islands consists, point 

 to a former connection with Arakan, and, in accordance with 

 these indications, it is found that the bulk of the flora is 

 Burmese ; but the forest trees are finer, being very lofty and 

 straight, while not a few purely Malayan species find their 

 northern limit in the Andamans. The flora is not related to 

 * "Juru," Afida>na?icse=Se.a.. 



