THE LACCADIVES AND THE WEST COAST. 453 
seen, and by the time we reached Aucuttee, there was a tidy 
sea up, and we got intoa terrible race round the north-west 
corner of the island, and we not only found it impossible to 
land, but had the greatest difficulty in getting out of the 
mess. For at least a quarter of an hour it was a very near 
thing—twice the engines ceased to revolve, when, with every 
care in steering, we took heavy seas aboard—each time every 
one held their breath, as, had we lost way, we must have in- 
stantly rolled over, and to say nothing of sharks, of whom we 
had seen several, no one probably could ever have made head 
against such a seething jumble of waters; but each time the 
dear little engines were click-clacking again in less than a 
minute, their mite of a pump rapidly baling out the water, and 
just after dark we got alongside the old “ Clyde’’ all safe and 
none the worse for the prolonged shower-bath to which we had 
been exposed. 
February 22nd.—During the night we came on to the Pitti 
or Pootti sand-bank, which is the extreme southernmost point 
of an enormous sunken bank over 20 miles in length, which 
stretches up northwards almost to Amini. All the rest of the 
bank is from 6 to 20 fathoms below low water; this one patch, 
nearly square, perhaps 200 by 300 yards, of pure sand, rises 
about 6 or 7 feet above high-water mark. This island stands 
on the extreme verge of the shoal which is there semicircular, 
so that, while on the greater part of three sides there is only from 
10 to 12 fathoms water round it, on the fourth there is more than 
100 fathoms very close to it. It must clearly rest on rock or 
coral, for while it shelves very steeply, more steeply than I 
should have thought it possible for sand to stand, for a short 
distance, it then goes sheer down in the way that only rock or 
coral can go. 
On this sand bank, we learned at Amini, that in April incredi- 
ble numbers of sea birds now breed—the main portion probably 
of the vast colony that in years prior to 1830 frequented Betra- 
Par for this purpose. Towards the end of March they begin, 
it is said, to congregate there, but at present there is not a sign 
of one. Yearly the boats of Amini, on their way back from 
Cowrattee or Cabrutee, touch at this shoal (as far as we could 
make out in the latter half of April) and bring thence as many 
eggs as they can stow away. The birds are said to be so close- 
packed that one has to kick thei up to get across the bank, 
and so tame that they may be taken by the hand. Several 
species seem to breed here, some white and as large as geese, 
(? Sula piscator) some grey, some dark, some big, and some little, 
but naturally one could get no satisfactory particulars, such as 
would enable one to fix the species, out of the islanders. 
