EARLY SETTLEMENTS 213 



convert the natives, although missionaries of the same denomina- 

 tion were well acquainted with the group. 



In 1756 Tanck took possession of the Archipelago in the 

 name of Denmark, and under the designation of " Frederiks 

 Oerne," and founded a colony on the north coast of Great 

 Nicobar, which in 1760 was transferred to Kamorta, and there 

 came to an end owing to the unhealthy climate. 



In 1766 fourteen Moravians were installed on Nankauri, with 

 a view to extending the influence of the Danish East India 

 Company, but in a dozen years nearly every member of the 

 settlement was dead. They are said to have made no con- 

 versions. 



A Dane, named Koenig, who was a doctor of the same 

 religious body, voyaging from India to Siam in 1778, spent 

 several hours on Kar Nicobar, and in his diary left some account 

 of his visit ; and almost contemporaneously a vessel under the 

 Austrian flag, the Joseph and Theresa, Captain Bennet, anchored 

 off the northern island : her voyage was made to obtain planta- 

 tions and trading stations in the East for the Austrian Empire. 

 This was the scheme of a Dutchman, named Bolts, who entered 

 the Austrian service in 1775, and who accompanied the ship, a 

 chartered English vessel with an English crew. The expedition 

 spent five months in the group : a fort was erected on the 

 island, and ships purchased to trade between Madras, Pegu, and 

 the Nicobars. War in Europe ruined the company, and it 

 was suspended after an existence of seven years. 



In 1779 two more Moravians settled on Nankauri, in an 

 attempt to found a fresh Danish Mission, but eight years later 

 this was abandoned, and the survivor returned to Europe. 



With the commencement of the nineteenth century, English 

 traders from India began to visit the islands for coconuts, and, 

 through contact with their crews, the custom and life of the 

 natives seems to have undergone much growth and alteration. 



In 1 83 1 Denmark made a last attempt to colonise the group 

 by missionary enterprise, and Pastor Rosen was sent out. He 

 dwelt on Nankauri, in the middle of the north side of the 



