92 "MANY ISLES AND STRANGE PLACES" 



other islands. It is about 4 miles long and about 

 half a mile broad, and it forms with the adjacent 

 islet of Cheria the eastern arc of an atoll, of which 

 the western arc is a submerged reef As on all the 

 Laccadives, the coconut palm is the staff of life, but 

 here we also saw little fields of rice and millet of 

 some sort, and small gardens in which grew plantains, 

 limes, papayas, pdn, and chilies. The w^ells were much 

 frequented by a pretty land-crab of the genus 

 Geograpstcs, and besides the common Calotes lizard, I 

 got a gecko and a skink. The people complained 

 much of the rats, which destroyed the young coconuts, 

 and asked me about a remedy : I recommended cats, 

 but they said that cats would not climb palm trees ; 

 then I advised them to import some owls, but they 

 declined to have any dealings with such ill-omened 

 fowl. 



On our way to the Bay, as we skirted the southern 

 coast of Ceylon, we dredged in 32 fathoms. The 

 bottom hereabouts consists of coral shingle, and this 

 is one of the best spots that I know of in these seas 

 for anyone who wants to collect solitary corals of all 

 sorts, and Polyzoa, and Crustacea. Among corals, you 

 will get here plenty of Flabellum and Eupsammia 

 and Rhodopsammia, and of crabs you may take thirty 

 or forty species in a single haul. Most of the latter 

 are small, and many of them combine a lethargic and 

 cataleptic habit with such a curious colouring and 



