180 ANDAMAN ISLANDS AND INHABITANTS 



being Mohammedans, taught him their religion ; and he 

 remained in Sumatra, until, on the occasion of his master's 

 death, he was manumitted. 



He had now become very homesick, and so, obtaining a boat, 

 he set out during the fine season from the islands of Gomus 

 (Pulo Bras) and Pulo-weh. " From here the furthermost of the 

 Nicobars may be seen, and so one island may be seen from 

 another, from the southernmost of those to Chitty-Andeman 

 (Little xA-ndaman), which is southernmost of the Andamans, 

 distant from Acheen about a hundred leagues." Once home, 

 and made much of by his relatives, who recognised him although 

 he had long been considered dead, he acquainted them with his 

 knowledge of God, " and would have persuaded his countrymen 

 to learn of him how to adore God and to obey His laws, but 

 he could make no converts." 



After a month or so of the old life, he returned to Acheen 

 with a quantity of quicksilver, which, he said, abounded in some 

 of the Andamans ; and thereafter he made several other voyages, 

 always returning with a similar cargo. " Some Mohammedan 

 faquirs would have accompanied him, but he would not suffer 

 them, because, he said, he could not engage for their safety 

 among his countrymen. When I saw him he was in company 

 of a seid, whom I carried as a passenger to Surat, and from 

 whom I had this account of his adventures." 



Trustworthy history of the islands now begins ; for, at the 

 close of the eighteenth century, the Honourable East India 

 Company sent small expeditions, under Colonel Colebrooke and 

 Captain Blair, to report on the possibilities of the group. Their 

 accounts were so satisfactory, that, in 1789, the latter was sent to 

 establish a penal settlement in what was then called Port 

 Cornwallis — now Port Blair. 



All went well with IMair and his colony until 1792, when 

 orders were received from Calcutta to transfer the whole establish- 

 ment to the harbour in North Andaman, which, in turn, was 

 to be known as Port Cornwallis, The first place of that name 

 was henceforth for a time dubbed Old Harbour. 



