BOTANY OF THE LACCADIVES. 283 



is a particularly interesting addition to the Laccadive Flora ; all 

 three are very likely bird-introduced species. 



Two creepers, almost certainly wind-introduced, occur both inland 

 and along the shore, these are Leptadenia reticulata and Tylophora 

 asthmatica ; " a tall loose-flowering grass {Apluda aristata) fills 

 "all the outskirts of the jungle."* 



The weeds and escapes from cultivation that occur number 42 ; 

 some of these may perhaps be bird-introduced species ; probably, 

 however, most of them have been unintentionally introduced by 

 man, and the high total is obviously the result of the fact mentioned 

 by Mr. Robinson, that this is the island where the Ameni people 

 grow the greater part of what grain-crops they raise. The most 

 interesting of these weeds is the Mudar {Ccdotro'pis gigantea), " very 

 "common in the centre of the island near the huts" [Investigator 

 note), and therefore possibly, though not a cultivated species, one 

 originally deliberately introduced because of the excellent quality 

 of the fibre it yields, which is used, by the Mapilla population of the 

 mainland at least, for making fishing-lines. Another interesting 

 weed is a rather insignificant, but very rare sedge {Cyperus hyalinus). 

 The most interesting " escape" is undoubtedly the Indigo plant 

 which forms whole fields, broken only by patches of Ixora coccinea 

 (I. Bandhuca).-f 



A short distance to the south of Kadamum (Lon. 72° 43' E., Lat. 

 11° 8' N.) lies Ameni, the most important of the British Laccadives. 

 This island, about two miles long and three-quarters of a mile 

 across, is low, with a very uneven surface. Situated originally on 

 the eastern side of its atoll, the island has grown westward into the 

 lagoon, till now no lagoon-space isleft, and the island is consequently 

 so ill-protected from the sea that the soaking of coco-nut coir 

 among the sand, practised in all the other islands, is here impossible. 

 The soil in this island is naturally poorer, according to Mr. Robin- 

 son, who, as well as Mr. Hume, has visited and described it, than it is 

 in Kiltan or Kadamum, a fact which Mr. Robinson explains:|: by the 

 consumption in various ways, by its dense population, of the fallen 



* Hume, "Stray Feathers," vol. iv., p. 445. 

 t Hume, " Stray Feathers, " vol. iv., p. 445. 

 J RobingoD, " Madr. Journ.," vol. siv., p. 18. 



