S6 



Descriptio7i of the 



[No. 33, 



Islanders see will require to go before the Court, from the fear of 

 being obi'-jed to attend as witnesses. This is especially the case 

 when the witnesses are chiefly females, for they will not leave the 

 islands, the matter is therefore immediately compromised and justice 

 frequently defeated. The Monegar has no proper place of confine- 

 ment, and the punishment of imprisonment for theft is quite a farce 

 and ineffectual ; the principal inhabitants generally recommend flogging. 

 For petty assaults fines are levied in coir at 1 rupee per maund. The 

 price actually paid by Government is only about 11 annas per maund, 

 the commutation rate then is greatly in favor of the fined, but even 

 this calculation will not measure its value to a man who has the raw 

 material about him, and has merely to direct the woman of his house 

 to make up a little more coir. The fines are never paid at once, for 

 the Monegar has no room to keep coir, and its weight always varies, 

 but are undertaken by one of the Karomars so that all things con- 

 sidered the commutation rate should at least be doubled. 



The Monegar makes the tour of the islands only once a year ge- 

 nerally though situated near each other. This is not sufficient for ef- 

 fectual supervision, and he should be authorized to engage a boat for 

 that purpose at least once a month, while communication is open. 

 Coir monopoly management of the coir in the Government mo- 



on the Coast, nopoly, and the sources whence we look for a small 

 revenue alone remain to be described. The months of January and 

 February are very busy ones on the islands, the accumulations of 

 coir for the season are gathered and made up into yarns of 70 to 75 

 fathoms long and brought by, each family to the boat owner whom 

 they are bound to employ ; he receives their coir by weight but with- 

 out reference to the quality and undertakes to pay to each on his re- 

 turn, their due proportion of the price received from Government for 

 the boat load, and this too is done without reference to the classification 

 on the coast. The coir is then unrolled, and packed tightly into boats 

 which will carry from 40 to 60 candies. The boats are generally so top 

 heavy from the article being bulky that should they meet squalls, they 

 are obliged to throw a large quantity overboard ; the loss of coir in this 

 way is frequently very considerable. In March and April, the coir 

 is brought to the coast. It is dried for 8 days, weighed and deliver- 

 ed into the godowns by the Islanders, and no expense is incurred. 

 No separation of the coir into different classes or particular examina- 

 tion into its quality takes place at the time of receiving the coir, 

 it is only on payment of the prices that any classification is 



