524 NOTES. 



The officer referred to (I had purposely abstained from naming 

 any one) has since written to me fvtlly on this subject, and has 

 convinced me that both in his public and private capacity he 

 is, personally, quite blameless in this matter. 



In the first place he was sent to the Nicobars w r ith strict 

 injunctions to make friends with all the people, no exception 

 being made in the case of Hung-hung-soo or any one else ; and 

 in accordance with these instructions he did make friends with 

 every one, Hung-hung-soo included, and his having done so 

 was reported to and approved by the then head of the settle- 

 ment. In the second place, he assures me on his honor that 

 knowing more about the Nicobarese (as he certainly does) than 

 any one else, he entirely disbelieves the official version of the 

 matter, and in his own heart has no doubt that Hung-hung-soo 

 is innocent of the murder of the European lady and her 

 daughters, and that the story of his supposed crimes was a false 

 one concocted by two well-known enemies of his, who were the 

 sole witnesses, and who are unquestionably altogether unreliable. 



Under these circumstances, I am very sorry that I said any- 

 thing imputing blame to this gentleman. I may not agree 

 with him in the view he takes of Hung-hung-soo's guilt, but 

 he is far more likely to be right than 1 am ; and whether he 

 be so or not it is clear that, holding the opinions he does on the 

 matter, not the smallest slur can rest upon him in connection with 

 it. I wish to express to him now my sincere regret at having, 

 in ignorance of his opinions, said anything that unjustly 

 reflected on him. 



I consider Hung-hung-soo guilty, and until now I did not 

 know that it was possible for any one to think otherwise ; the 

 gentleman referred to, who certainly knows more of the Nico- 

 barese than any one else living, believes Hung-hung-soo to be 

 innocent, and his dealings with him have therefore been, not 

 only in no way reprehensible, but on the contrary, so far as 

 he personally is concerned, just and consistent. 



I find in the Museum, Calcutta, a fine specimen of Cypselus 

 subfurcatus, Blyth, which was obtained north of Chanda. This 

 agrees exactly with the type specimens with which I have 

 compared it. 



Subfurcatus, though of the same type, is, as Blyth states, alto- 

 gether a larger and darker bird, with longer wings and con- 

 spicuously more powerful feet than C. afiinis ; the tail is more 

 appreciably furcate than in the general run of affinis , and 



