202 NICOBAR ISLANDS AND ABORIGINES 



the central group one of the finest harbours in the eastern seas. 

 Nankauri Harbour has not only entrances on the east and west, 

 that make it practicable for any sort of vessel in both mon- 

 soons, but these are further protected by the islands of Trinkat 

 and Kachal respectively, which give sheltered anchorage out- 

 side the mouth of the harbour itself. 



By any other nation than the British it would be highly 

 valued at the present time as a coaling station, but, owing to 

 its proximity to the Straits Settlements, and the failure of the 

 small islands around to produce anything more valuable than 

 coconuts, it is completely neglected by its possessors, from both 

 commercial and strategical standpoints. 



The natives of the group number at present a few short 

 of 6000 (to which should be added a possible 300-400 Shom Peri), 

 and there are generally some 200 foreigners resident in the 

 north during the trading monsoon. The islands increase in size as 

 they are passed towards the south, but the contrary is the 

 case with regard to population, which decreases regularly, island 

 by island, with one or two exceptions, from Kar Nicobar in 

 the north with 345 1 inhabitants, to Great Nicobar with only Sy* 



" The Nicobar Islands belong to an area of elevation which 

 can be traced from the Bay of Bengal far into the southern 

 seas,f and is characterised by two phenomena : first, the activity 

 of the interior of the earth, showing itself in volcanic action ; 

 and secondly, the activity of the coralline animals, disclosing 



* y/de Appendix H. 



t " All along this great line of volcanoes are to be found more or less 

 palpable signs of upheaval and depression of land . . . ; upraised coral-rock, 

 exactly corresponding to that now forming in adjacent seas . . . ; unaltered 

 surfaces of the elevated reefs, with great masses of coral standing up in their 

 natural position, and hundreds of shells, so fresh-looking that it was hard 

 to believe that they had been more than a few years out of the 

 water. 



" The width of the volcanic belts is about 50 miles ; but, for a space of 

 200 on each side of them, evidences of subterranean action are to be found 

 in recently elevated coral rock or in barrier coral reefs, indicating recent 

 submergence." — C/. "Andamans," T/te Malay Archipelago^ A. R. Wallace, 

 pp. 5, 6. 



