1847.] 



Laccadive Islands. 



17 



Quantity and ^ ^^^^ yields from |- to ^ a seer of neera per 

 diem, and bleeding for 6 months of the year, will pro- 

 duce 60 to 90 seers of the juice. This will yield after boiling 6 to 8 

 seers of jaggery, which at the rate of 1 anna or 1{ anna per seer 

 would give the annual produce of the tree a value of 6 annas to half 

 a rupee, when the trouble of cutting the trees, and gathering firewood 

 is considered it will be seen that this species of cultivation is not so 

 lucrative as that of the nut and the manufacture of the coir. Our 

 islanders consequently do not manufacture enough for the home con- 

 sumption, but import from the Beeby's islands of Androt and Kou- 

 raty where large quantities are manufactured — probably the conse- 

 quence of the system pursued there. Both cocoanuts and coir are 

 there under monopoly, 11 rupees per candy being paid for the latter, 

 and only 4 rupees per 1,000 delivered on the coast; for the former 

 their value on the island would therefore not much exceed 3 rupees 

 per thousand, and the value of the average gross produce of a tree pro- 

 ducing fruit would at this rate not exceed 5 annas, and that of 100 

 trees but be within 20 rupees. Under these circumstances it is 

 probably found that the boiling of the jaggery is the more profitable. 

 This class of trees contributes nothing towards the revenue of Go- 

 vernment under the present system. The general effect of cutting 

 is to weaken the trees but it is often beneficial, v/here, from over- 

 exuberance, trees shed their fruit as soon as the flowering branch 

 bursts. 



The island of Ameendevy, the principal and most populous island 

 Ameendevy. group, is attached to Canara and is now the re- 



sidence of the Monigar in local charge of the islands. The length 

 of the island may be 2 miles by f in breadth. It is low and the 

 surface very even, but unlike, the other island is so imperfectly pro- 

 tected by the reefs on which it stands, that the soaking of coir 

 among the sea sand is impossible. 



The island is divided into four grams — PuUakerry, Yeduct, Pora- 

 kery and Kodacherry ; divisions, originating probably in the local 

 privileges of certain principal families, but the people live scattered 

 throughout the island. The principal inhabitants of this island have 

 an acknowledged superiority, and exercise considerable influence 

 over the inhabitants of the other islands. They appear pretty com- 

 fortable. Their houses, built of slabs of lime-stoue and thatched 

 with cocoanut leaves, contain several rooms and have out-houses at- 



