REPORT 
ON THE 
VEGETATION OF THE ANDAMAN ISLANDS,* * 
BY Mr. S. KURZ, 
CURATOR OF THE HERBARIUM OF THE ROYAL BOTANICAL GARDENS, CALCUTTA. 
■ - - ■ »- -- 
I was directed by Dr. T. Anderson, Superintendent of the Royal Botanical 
Gardens, Calcutta, in accordance with letter 
Appointment. No. 1224 of the Government of India, dated 27th 
Pebruary last, to proceed on board Her Majesty’s Steamer Prince Arthur to 
Port Blair, and to collect the material for a Plora of the Andaman Islands; and 
while doing this to ascertain the proportion which trees known to be valuable 
for their timber bear to the rest of the forest, and also to identify botanically 
all timber that might be pointed out to me by the local authorities; I received 
also instructions to do all in my power to collect living plants and seeds for 
the Botanical Gardens, Calcutta. 
2. Accordingly, I left Calcutta on the 2nd April 1866, and arrived on 
the 9th of the same month at the place of my 
Journal. « i a • tt * i l i o • 
subsequent explorations. Having placed my sell m 
communication with the Superintendent of Port Blair, I began my excursions 
on the 16th April, and explored subsequently nearly the whole of the forest 
tracts around Port Blair and most of the eastern coast from Macpherson’s 
Straits up to Shoal Bay, as also a good part of the western coast as far as 
Island Bay before Port Campbell, and visited some of the Labyrinth Islands 
and Rutland. 
On board of Her Majesty’s Steamer Diana , which was placed at my 
disposal for a couple of days, I obtained an opportunity to proceed to the 
entrance of Middle Straits, whence I explored both the coasts of South and 
Middle Andaman as far as the western entrance of said Straits. 
On the 11th May, however, when on the point of entering the interior 
of South Andaman from Escape Bay, I was seized by the Burmese convicts, 
whom the Superintendent of Port Blair had given me to assist me in my work, 
and was left tied up in the jungles by hand and foot on the ground. These 
and subsequent circumstances, which rendered the carrying out of my proposed 
excursions through the Islands impracticable, obliged me to return in 
Her Majesty’s Steamer Peroze to Calcutta, where I arrived on the 20th 
July last. 
The little sketch map (Appendix C.) of South Andaman shows partially 
^ the parts visited by me, and also the large extent 
Appendix C. o i • • i.*n a l i n 
oi country remaining still to be explored. 
3, The time of my visit occurred in April and May, the two hottest 
TT „ ,, , . months in the year. I, therefore, had great diffi- 
L ntavorable time ot tlie deputation. , , -n n • 1 /? 
culty m procuring flowers or iruits, as many oi 
the trees were destitute of them, and many were quite leafless, as were also a 
number of shrubs; several perennials and annuals, amongst them also some 
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* This is a reprint of a former report submitted to the Government of India in the early part of the year 1868. 
Some corrections and additions are now made by permission. 
