s 



Description of the 



[No. SS. 



pits for soaking coir, where soaked in fresh water, are made by 

 breaking through this crust and taking out the sand. The sand gra- 

 dually presses towards this excavation, and from the constant removal 

 of it some of the wells and tanks are very extensive under this vault 

 of coral. The water in these wells is quite fresh but is affected by 

 the tide, rising and falling several inches, the effect probably of the 

 increasing and decreasing external pressure on the porous cistern in 

 which it is contained. Water is abundant and never fails, but is said 

 not to be very wholesome. 



Above this crust, the soil lies to a depth varying from two to six 

 feet and is generally composed of light coral and sand, finer but quite 

 as dry as common sea sand. In some parts the soil is entirely com- 

 posed of small loose pieces of coral without any other soil, and thus 

 is said to be particularly well adapted to the cocoanut. 



The surface of the soil is naturally so barren that there is little or 

 no spontaneous vegetation in most of the islands, and though during 

 the monsoon some small crops of coarse dry grains are produced, 

 their scantiness shows that the prosperity of the islands must ever 

 depend on the cocoanut. 



^ , The inhabitants are now Moossalmans, but are pro- 



Inhabitants. 



bably of pure Hindoo origin from Malyalah. The 

 tradition preserved among them is that their forefathers formed a 

 part of an expedition from Malyalah, which set out for Mecca in 

 search of their apostate king, Bharman Permal, and was wrecked on 

 these islands. They certainly were Hindoos for a long time after 

 their first settlement, and were probably converted not more than 

 250 or 300 years back. 



They retain some of the general distinctions of caste as well as the 

 law of alya santari^" but with some local modifications. This law 

 is still adhered so strictly on the island of Ameendevy, where dis- 

 tinctions of caste and a numerous population have been obstacles to 

 the gradual change by which the custom of regular filial descent is 

 supplanting it on the islands of Kadamat, Kiltan and Chetlat. 



In Ameendevy there are four castes, said to correspond with 

 castes in Malabar. The Tarway and Tanakaporandony correspond 

 with Namboories and Nairs — of these there are but a few families of 

 the chief inhabitants ; the two lower and more numerous castes are 



* Descent of inheritance through the female line. 



