CHAPTER XI 



A TWO months' cruise IN THE LACCADIVE SEA 



Ruins of a Stronghold of Mahratta Pirates. The Fauna of the 

 Depths of the Laccadive Sea. Illustrations of the Philosophy 

 of Thales. Cherbaniani Atoll. Byramgore Atoll and Chitlac 

 Island. Dredging off Calicut. Kiltan Island : Life Assur- 

 ance among Sea-urchins. Cardamum Island : The Feints 

 of Crabs : A very rough Bed of Pumice-stone. 



In the second week of October 1891, having been 

 relieved of my duties as Professor of Pathology and 

 Resident Physician at the Calcutta Medical College, 

 I rejoined the Investigator for my fourth and last 

 voyage, and on the evening of the 17th the ship left 

 Bombay to carry out her eleventh annual programme. 

 Captain R. F. Hoskyn, R.N., was in command, with 

 Lieutenants C. V. Smith, R.N., and W. G. Beau- 

 champ, F. Dobson, and C. G. Sinclair, R.I.M., as 

 assistants ; and we also carried with us a boat-party, 

 consisting of Lieutenants G. S. Gunn, R.N., and 

 W. B. Huddleston, R.I.M., and a native surveyor. 



We dropped the boat-party at Deoghur, or Deogad, 

 a picturesque little port about 180 miles south of 

 Bombay. This Deoghur was at one time one of the 



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