BOTANY OF THE LACCADIVES. 287 



Anderut, Lon. 73° 35' E. and Lat. 10° 45' N., is a large island 

 occupying the southern face of a very extensive reef of the usual 

 type. According to Lieut. Wood, who visited it in 1834, the island 

 presents a bold front to windward ; that front being, not a reef as is 

 usually the case, but one side of the island itself, while the coral- 

 reef on which it is based and the lagoon which the reef encloses 

 project to leeward. He describes it further* as *' low, well planted 

 '' with cocoanut trees, and tree from underwood. Its medium height 

 " above the sea is about 9 feet, but towards the centre of the island, 

 "and on its southei'n side, the surface is lower, and in no part does 

 "it exceed the height of 12 or 15 feet." 



" The northern side of the island is low, the centre gently undulat- 

 " ing and the south side one continuous sandy plain, with large 

 ''detached masses of coral -rock scattered over it. The little valleys 

 " formed by these clumps, of various figures, are under cultivation 

 "and produce, amongst other things, a plant not unlike our rhubarb, 

 " of a most acrid, pungent taste. It is reared as we do Jerusalem arti- 

 " chokes, set in rows, and covered with a manure of decayed vegeta- 

 " tion. They have also the Sweet-potato, but of such an inferior 

 "growth that we can scarcely recognise in it the root we meet in 

 ''•India. A small quantity of lice is grown in the rainy season ; not 

 "more than 1 5 or 20 days' consumption. The rhubarb-looking plant 

 " appears to prefer a damp moist soil, for on the more elevated parts 

 " of the island there was none to be seen." 



" Of the soil the most elevated is the richest. In the valleys the 

 " coarse sand which forms the lower stratum is but scantily covered 

 " with a thin coating of vegetable matter; sterile in many places, 

 " and presenting a similar appearance to a field on which a compost 

 "of lime has been partially- thrown ; but at the higher paints of the 

 "* island, where the cocoanut palm has flourished for ages, a deep 

 "soil is already formed, which every succeeding season must 

 "increase and render more fertile." 



" There are many wells on the island, and one small tank, but 

 "good fresh water is to be had all over Anderut by digging to 

 "a moderate depth. Firewood is rather a scarce article, but 



* Wood, " Journ. Roy. Geogr. See," vol. vi., p. 31. 

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