446 THE LACCADIVES AND THE WEST COAST. 
compelled to send all their coir to the mainland in boats 
belonging to the people of Amini, which involved a freight 
charge of 20 per cent. of the coir sent. Now, I understand, they 
are to be allowed to send their own produce in their own 
boats. 
February 19th.—We landed early on Amini, the best and 
most populous of the British Islands. It is here that the 
Monéear and the Native Doctor reside, and here they have no 
less then six schools containing over 100 pupils of both sexes. 
This island has grown from east to west so as to have all but 
completely obliterated the original lagoon. 
It has a comparatively large population, 16 or 17 families 
of (for the islands) considerable wealth, and a good many 
people of better caste than any who inhabit the three islands pre- 
viously mentioned. Of course they have many more cocoa- 
nuts, many more large boats than any of these, but they have 
besides a large plot of land near the centre of the island far 
better suited for cultivation than any other spot in the group. 
Here in some long-forgotten past time the whole superficial 
stratum of dry sand, and the whole coral crust (to which I 
have already alluded in treating of the general structure of 
the islands), has been apparently removed. It must have been 
a work of enormous labour, and it occurs to me that it may 
possibly be a natural and not artificial depression. Anyhow 
throughout this Kot, as it is locally called, the cultivation is down 
on the moist sand stratum, and everything, including Cocoa- 
nut and Arecanut Palms, grows superbly on it. 
Here there are some 700 Bread-truit trees, numbers of Lime 
bushes, a good number of Betel-nut Palms, Plantains and 
Pomegranates. Castor oil plants, Papaya and Horse-radish 
trees are common. I saw also several Banyan ; some Tamarind, 
some Aonla (Embica officinalis), and a number of Poon trees 
(Callophyllum indophyllum, L.,) so valuable for masts and cross 
pieces of small vessels like those in use in these islands. A 
good many vegetables are also grown here, Yams, Sweet-pota- 
toes, Arooee’s (Collocasia antiquorum) and others. 
With the comparatively large trade of this island it is not 
surprising that many more wild plants are found here than in 
the other islands. We procured every species here, that I have 
already enumerated, except the Sedge found on Betra-Par and 
besides, saw many plants of the Datura or Stramonium, of the 
Winter Cherry (Physalis peruviana, L.) of a large Cowitch with 
bunches of deep blackish purple flowers (Mucuma capitata, 
W. and A.) looking like Hamburgh grapes, of the lovely blue 
flowered creeper so common in Indian gardens (Clitorea ter- 
natea) of two yellow blossomed Acanthads (Barleria prionitis, 
