486 
AGRtCULTURlSt. 
[•Tan, 1, 1902. 
1 first visitecl five of tlie lagoon islands, and then, 
a strong north-east breeze setting i'l, worked up 
aloiis; the erige of the atoll, (-aiiing ffom down 
to dusk, and aachoring at night to leewavd of 
the nearest reef. I examined all the reaf-, and 
islands, and aouaded the velu (lagoons) of all the faro 
(atoUons) along the western rim, rejoining th^^ schoo- 
ner on Dec. 11 at the north of the atoll. Unhappily 
a series of oodections, ra vie by myself and my boys, 
to illustrate the populating of sand-banks by bjth 
animals and plauls, w is rained by my capsizing our 
fishing boat near Canderudc. 
On Dec. 12th. after t-iking in wood and water, we 
sailed for Miladumadulu, a similar bank toMihlos- 
Hiadulu but with relatively far fewer reefs and a less 
determinate rim. We anchored the same night at 
Guth 'rdu and at daybreak made Rail toiv nds the east 
side of the atoll. Owing to a strong tioutn-westerly 
set of the carrent we took two daya in reaching Dareida 
in the middle of the bank, a distance of seven miles. 
Thisisthe island of a round f iro, one rnihs in diametei- ; 
its lagoon has 19 fathoms of w^ter, a depth which 
makes"the faro peculiar among all its fellows in th-i 
Maldives. "We landed the same night for fi ewood and 
water, bat, none oi the latter being olitainable, were 
compelled to sailat dawn. A strong north-east gale com- 
ing out, we stood up at the atoll a'ld watered at Rym- 
ag-ya anchoring that night at Fnrnardn, a large island 
on the rast edge of the atoll. The inlands of this rim 
of Miladumadulu tend to be closely fringed by the reef 
on all sides, .ind to have a hult (shallow lake, French 
haracliois) in the centre, surrounded by mangroves, 
through which the sea has in some found access. 
While Mr. Forster Cooper dreaged with the schooner 
down to Kendikolii, I visited feu of these islands in a, 
fishing boat; two were very small, three had definite 
kuii or else m ngrove swamps (Ekasdu, a large lake 
swarmiu" with a species of Leander), and four were 
crescentic in shane, their kuli now open to the sea. 
Kendikelu is one of the largest islands in the 
Maldives, being two-and-a-half miles long by 
two-thirds of a mile in breadth. Ihere are four 
kuli flown the centre surrounded by mangroves, 
which abound in rails; on -their surfaces we saw 
a few duck, while their waters, which are quite fresh, 
four to five'feet deep, teem with small fish. However, 
as Ea.iiazan, the Mahommedan fast month, was ap- 
nroachiug we had to hurry on, and only stayed two 
ni-^hts We accordingly, on December 19th, dredged 
down to Landu, obtaining a large variety of sponges 
and Polyzoa with a quantity of red Poli/frema and 
some nuUipores, in addition to corals, of which the 
black DendrophyUia ramea was very abundant in 12 to 
20 fathoms off the reefs. We visited and dredged Ma 
and Eddu faro with three to four fathoms of water in 
their velu obtaining a few Csphalochorda, and ex- 
amined some of the central islands of the atoll. At 
Manadn we caught a single specimen of TupMos, which 
is evidently very rare in the archipelago, since it has 
no native name. t, oo ;3 
Fadiffolu atoll was reached on December 23rd ; it 
differs from the preceding in being a true atoll, having 
a well-defined, encircling reef, especially to the east, 
and an open lagoon with but few shoals. We first 
moved down the east side examining the reefs but 
then dredged across to Innawari. The natives although 
r.nt actively hostile, were very unfriendly, so that 
nn (Ihristmas morning we sailed down to Naifaro. _ The 
win'er rains now commenced aud continued inter- 
mittently with heavy squalls from the north-east for 
■^ month, making navigation among reefs difficult. 
The schooner too was decidedly unpleasant as the 
whole of our cabin accommodation had to be utilised 
for storing our books, instruments and various col- 
Ipctious We remained at Naifaro four days restowing 
nnd renairiug our vessel, as she had been somewhat 
«tvained in the recent heavy weather. The time was 
nrr'unied in a survey of the neighbouring islands and 
ree'fs, and in throughly dredging some of the passages 
into the atoll. , , , T r 
The shores of all the islands at the north end of 
V^^x'&'M I ^""^"^ abuadauUy strewn with the sheila 
of SpirHla. Enquiring of the natives as to its "fish,'' 
I was surprised to receive an accurate description of 
it. It appjared that th^^ a-iimils were extremely 
abundant in Januarv of 1897 in the channel towards 
MiiaduuiuduUi. " Thsv flo it on the surface, and may 
be picked up with the uoat-bailer. They are never 
seen ios'de the atoll, but periodically occur in th« 
north-east monsoon in the open sea. None were seen 
in 1898." I offered a reward of 50 rupees for the first 
specimen, but, although, eight or nine boats went 
out daily du ing my stay, I did not secure one. 
That the people of Na'faro and louawari really 
know the animal is undoubted. Yet this is pec iliar, 
to I did not find on close enquiry that it was known 
as the natives of any otlier part of the whole archi- 
palajo, thougb its shell occurs spirinaly evervwheie. 
The native name for the shell is markana taludaiidi, 
the heron's key. 
Leaviu:.: Naifaro we again dredged accro'^s the atoll 
on a more southerly course, subsequently cruising 
along the e.istoin siiie, dredging and examining the 
i-lands and re-fs. On .Jan. 2nd, 19;J0, w..' sat sail for 
M lie atoll, anchoring off Helengeli the same afternoon. 
This atoll is intermediate in its characters between 
JMahlos and Fadiffolu ; except at the south end it has 
practically no islands in the lagoon. There are 
evidently great changes in its topography since the 
original survey, two islands of the eastern edge at 
least resting on their own reefs, having disappeared. 
There seemed to be stiil greater alterations in respect 
to the shoals in the lagoon, but in our somewhat 
dependent position any real survey was impossible 
owing to canstant interference from Male. We, 
however, saw some of the western reefs on our 
way to Groifurfehenda, and on our return jour- 
ney to Male, which wa reached on Ja^p. 5th, 
1900, we dredged down as close as possible to 
the eastern reefs. Farther Mr Forster Cooper 
in the middle of February made a most successful 
dredging crnise of eight days in the atoll, taKing 34 
hauls, to ascertain the character of the bottom in 
every position, and I at the same time visited 
most of the islands and reefs within five miles 
of Male. 
Ramazan had now commenced, and dependent as 
we were entirely on Mohammedan boys, it would 
have been useless to continue our cruise. Our vessel 
too was in want of a thorough overhaul, the rigging 
being very bad. After a couple of days in Male, 
we had house erected on Hulule, the island of a 
neighbouring faro, and at once transferred to it suffi- 
cient stores for a stay of four or^ five weeks' 
duration. 
Hulule island is about IJ miles long by 800 yards 
broad ; it is about 2 miles distant from Male. The 
greater part of its surface is covered with coconut 
trees, but a large patch along the western side has 
been allowed to revert to jungle. The principal 
trees are the banyan, candle-nut and Calophyllum, 
the branches of which abound in frugivorous bats. 
On account of the island's proximity to Male, 
where all foreign vessels for the group have to enter, 
many plants have been introduced. For few of the 
fruits thrive, but half-a-dozen brilliant flowers relieve 
the everlasting green. Sweet-smelling plants, jes- 
samine, frangspanni, roses and various herbs, make 
the proximity of the mosque and village pleasantly 
fragrant. T'he western shores are fringed with 
Pemphis acidula, the white, perfumed Uowers of 
which prove a great attraction to insects. As soma 
of our boys delighted in this work, the land fauna 
and flora was exhaustively collected. As compared 
with Minikoi, we found the insect and spider 
faunas to be decidedly poor except in but- 
terflies, although it may be deemed to be 
throughly representative of any rich island 
in the centre of the Maldives. A certain number of 
insects must have been introduced with the plants,but 
the successful acclimatisation of any considerable 
number of the latter only dates back to the eruption 
of Krakatao in 1883. Before this time pamice (/"en//- 
ia-^ni the wateK'Switnmiog stooe) vim not known iu 
