CARDAMUM 173 



south of Kiltdn. Though it is the largest island of 

 the whole archipelago, if Miniiikoy be excluded, yet 

 it is — or at any rate was — singular in being very little 

 inhabited. The northern half of the island, instead of 

 being covered with coconut trees, was a waste of coarse 

 high grass, scrub jungle, and thickets of screw-pine, 

 tenanted only by the inevitable hermit-crabs. As the 

 soil is quite as good as that of any of the other islands, 

 and as there is the usual abundant supply of fresh water 

 a few feet below the surface, I could not account for 

 this appearance of neglect ; but Mr A. O. Hume, who 

 explored the island in 1875, seems to think it is the 

 result of an oppressive influence exercised by the 

 capitalists of the adjacent small but thickly-populated 

 island of Ameni. At the southern end of the island, 

 sequestered in a grove of coconuts, we found a small 

 village of very second-rate huts, built for the most 

 part of palm-leaf matting. Here, too, there were fine 

 lime-trees growing, and bearing fruit such as one seldom 

 sees in India ; so that I began to think that with such 

 trees and such suitable soil, and with the markets of 

 India so close at hand, the Cardamum Islanders were 

 sinfully neglectful of their opportunities. However, 

 these tranquil folk are probably the best judges of 

 their own affairs : they are few ; there are coconuts 

 enough and fish more than enough, and the climate 

 if not always afternoon, is always balmy ; and perhaps 

 they are vaguely aware that — especially if their power- 



