358 Notice of the Nicobar Islands. [No. 173. 



wood, then fully dried up ; this being done, the planting could com- 

 mence. There is very little doubt, but the clearing of the jungle 

 will put an effectual stop to the Nicobar fever. When the English 

 took Arracan from the Burmese, that place was for some years 

 called the grave of the troops ; but the jungle having been cleared up to 

 a considerable distance from the station, it is at present as healthy a 

 place as any station in Bengal. 



Province Wellesley, on the western coast of the Malayan Peninsula, 

 was so unhealthy twenty years ago, that a European would not venture 

 in the interior without being almost certain of catching the jungly 

 fever ; but the province having been in part cleared of jungle, it is con- 

 sidered by Europeans to be as healthy as Penang Island. 



To colonize the Nicobars, a good manager is absolutely necessary, 

 and much money must be expended at the commencement, and as all 

 depends on the beginning, so the Government should be prepared to sup- 

 ply the settlement with means adequate to the undertaking. Should 

 the establishment be properly managed at first, there is no doubt but the 

 Malays and Chinese would go and settle there with their families, and 

 cultivate the ground on their own account, as they do in English settle- 

 ments ; but on the contrary, were the Danish Government to go on slowly 

 to the work, then the present settlement will be a failure, as was their 

 first one at Nancowry. Nothing is to be expected from the natives ; 

 they are too lazy ; they will never work except by compulsion. 



The Nicobarians are averse to Europeans settling in their islands ; 

 this I heard from the most respectable of the Islanders, and but lately 

 they gave a proof of it by making an attempt on the Government estab- 

 lishment. The natives being without courage, and not having among 

 them a person who could succeed in forming them into one compact 

 body and direct their united efforts, little fear is to be entertained about 

 their future desultory attacks. 



The sight of the south-west entrance to Nancowry harbour, affords a 

 magnificent spectacle, and inspires the soul with emotion and pleasure. 

 The passage which is about one hundred feet wide, has on each side a 

 bare and rugged rock, having in the centre an opening much resembling 

 the side gates of a citadel ; these rocks lie adjacent to the hills rising 

 from two to three hundred feet above the level of the sea, and are co- 

 vered with a fine and ever-green vegetation; on entering the harbour, 



