CHAPTER I 



INTRODUCTORY 



" Forasmuch as the main ocean is the Lord's alone, and by 

 nature left free for all men to deal withal, as very sufficient for 

 all men's use, and large enough for all men's industry." 



Drake s Voyage. 



Prolegomena. The Origin of the Marine Survey of India. Earlier 

 Marine Surveys in India. The Beginnings of the Exploration 

 of Eastern Seas ; Davis and Baffin ; Drake. Present and Past, 

 a Contrast. 



One of the figures dearest to human fancy is the 

 trilogy ; so that I hope to make a happy beginning by 

 saying that the seas of India, which I invite my 

 readers casually to explore with me, are three, namely, 

 the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal, and the Andaman 

 Sea. 



Some say that, ages ago, before the appearance of 

 man upon the earth, these seas were one with a great 

 inland ocean, of which the present Mediterranean is the 

 shrunken remains. Peninsular India and Ceylon then 

 formed a great island-continent, connected by a chain 

 of large islands — of some of which the Maldives and 

 Chagos and Seychelles are the tombstones — with 



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