6 
N I C 
that, although the neighbouring Carnicobar woods abound 
with monkeys of different fpecies, none are to be feen in 
tliefe iflands, notwithftanding their having been repeat¬ 
edly brought over: they neither propagate, nor do they 
live for any time. Among the feathered tribe, wild 
pigeons are pretty abundant from June to September, on 
account of a berry which is then ripe, and on which they 
feed with great eagernefs: at the fame time pheafants and 
turtle-doves are frequently found ; but the conftant in¬ 
habitants of the woods are a fpecies of the green parrot, 
or parroquet, with a black bill and collar. Mr. Haenfel, 
the Danifh miflionary, mentions alfo the Hirundo efcu- 
lenta, whofe nefts are fo highly prized by Indian epicures. 
See Birds-nests, vol. iii. p. 56. But this gentleman has 
ventured to fuggeft an opinion refpeCting the material of 
which they are compofed ; and in this view his obferva- 
tioris are worthy of being tranfcri'oed : “ Thefe birds are 
called hinlene by the natives, and build in fifl’ures and ca¬ 
vities of rocks, efpecially in fucli as open to the fouth. 
In the latter, the fined and whited neds are found, and I 
have fometimes gathered fifty pounds weight of them on 
one excurfion for that purpole. They are fmall, and 
fhaped like other {wallows’ neds. If they are perfect, 72 
of them go to a catty, or ij pound. The bed fale for 
them is in China. After the mod diligent invedigation, 
I was never able fully to difcover of what fubdance they 
are made, nor do any of the opinions of naturalids, with 
which I have become acquainted, appear fatisfa&ory to 
me; neither have the authors alluded to ever feen the 
birds. They have remarkably fliort legs, and are unable 
to rife, if they once fall or fettle on the ground: I caught 
many in this date ; and, after examining them, threw 
them up into the air, when they immediately flew away. 
They cannot, therefore, as fome fuppofe, obtain their ma¬ 
terials on the coafl, or from rocks in the fea. My opi¬ 
nion is, that the neds are made of the gum of a peculiar 
tree, called by fome the Nicobar cedar, and. growing in 
great abundance in all the fouthern iflands. Its wood is 
hard, black, and very heavy. Erom December to May, it 
is covered with bloffom, and bears a fruit fomewhatreiem- 
bling a cedar or pine-apple, but more like a large berry 
full cf eyes or pudules, difcharging a gum or refinous 
fluid. About thefe trees, when in bloom or bearing fruit, 
I have feen innumerable flocks of thefe little birds, flying 
and fluttering like bees round a tree or flirub in full flower; 
and am of opinion, that they there gather the materials 
for their neds. I relate the faft, having often watched 
them with great attention ; but will not venture to affirm 
that I have made a full difcovery.” 
Among the reptiles, ferpents claim particular notice. 
Several of them are enumerated by Mr. H. but one in par¬ 
ticular druck him as a Angular fpecies : “ It is of a green 
colour, has a broad head and mouth like a frog, very red 
eyes, and its bite is fo venomous, that I faw a woman die 
within half an hour after receiving the wound. She had 
climbed a high tree in fearch of fruit, and, not obferving 
the animal among the branches, was fuddenly bitten in 
the arm. Being well aware of the danger, die immedi¬ 
ately defcended ; but, on reaching the ground, reeled to 
and fro like one in a date of intoxication. The people 
brought her immediately to me; and, while I was apply¬ 
ing bliders and others means for extracting the poifon, 
fhe died under my hands.” 
The climate is pure, and might, with a little trouble 
in cultivation and clearing the woods, be rendered very 
falubrious. Condant fea-breezes fan their fliores, thus 
preferving them from oppreffive heat. Vegetation conti¬ 
nues without intermiffion. The woods are very thick, 
confiding of cocoa and areca palms, and an immenfe quan¬ 
tity of timber-trees of various kinds, fome of them of 
enormous fize. All the valleys and fides of the hills, to 
a confiderable height, are thickly covered with them, in- 
fomuch that the light of the fun has not been able for 
ages to penetrate through their foliage. They are in 
many places fo clofely interwoven with immenfe quanti- 
OBARS. 
ties of rattan and bufh-rope, that they appear as it were 
fpun together; and it is almod perfectly dark in the 
woods. Mod of the plants and trees bear fruit, which 
falls down and rots. Thefe circumdances contribute to 
render the climate unhealthy, the free current of air 
being impeded ; but an increafing and induflrious popu¬ 
lation would foon, as in America, remedy this inconve¬ 
nience ; and with great advantage to themfelves, as loine 
of the larger trees are of a very compaCt texture, and well 
calculated for fliip-building: one is mentioned that mea- 
fured nine fathoms, or fifty-four feet, in circumference. 
Bul^ the natives are mod careful of the cocoa and areca 
trees ; the lad being chiefly for their own confumption, 
as they chew it all day long with tobacco, betel-leaf, and 
fhell-lime: the former is not only ufeful for their own 
and their hogs’ nourifhment, but alfo an objeCt of trade. 
Mod of the country-fliips, that are bound to Pegu from 
either of the coads of India, touch at the Nicobar-illands, 
in order to procure a cargo of cocoa-nuts, which they pur- 
chafe at the rate of four for a tobacco-leaf, and one hun¬ 
dred for a yard of blue cloth, and a bottle of cocoa-nut 
oil for four leaves of tobacco. The tropical fruits grow 
in thefe iflands exquifitely flavoured, the pine-apple in 
particular : wild cinnamon and faffafras grow there alfo ; 
the coffee-tree in two years yields fruit j yams are to be 
found for three or four months in the year only, and are 
eaten by the natives indead of the larum. The tree called 
by the natives larum, and by the Portuguefe mellori, is 
very abundant, and produces an excellent bread-fruit, 
different from the kind found in the interior parts of Af¬ 
rica, and alfo from that of Otaheite. This tree is a fpecies 
of the Pandanus ot botanids; and produces a fruit 
weighing from 30 to 40 pounds; whereas that of Ota- 
lieitean bread-fruit is not larger than a three-penny loaf. 
Some of thefe plants have been brought from Nicobar, 
and placed in the Ead-India Company’s botanical garden 
at Bengal; and the greated encouragement will, it is 
hoped, be given to the cultivation of fo precious a vege¬ 
table; fora fruit weighing even twenty or thirty pounds, 
and containing a farinaceous fubdance both palatable 
and nutritive in a high degree, would perhaps, if it were 
common in thefe provinces, for ever fecure the natives of 
them from the horrors of famine ; and the Pandanus of 
Bengal might be brought, perhaps, to equal perfection 
with that of Nicobar, if due care were taken to plant the 
male and female trees in the fame place, indead of leaving 
the female to bear an imperfefi and unproductive fruit, 
and the didant male to fpread itfelf only by the help of 
its radicating branches. 
As the natives of Nicobar are naturally indolent, their 
dances are as dull and inanimate as can be conceived, as 
well for the flownefs and heavinels of their motions, as 
for the plaintive monotonous tune that accompanies 
them; with noindrument but their mournful low voices, 
which are in perfeCt unifon with the motion of then- 
bodies. Men and women form a circle, by putting their 
hands on each others fhoulders: they move ilowly, back¬ 
wards and forwards, inclining fometimes to the right, 
and fometimes to the left. The whole of their mufic con- 
fids of the few following notes: 
(7 ,, 
r" 
P~i is 
V “1 - 
-Pan 
tii 1 
zt-fr 
js. s 
rp:l| 
The bafis of the language fpoken by thefe iflanders is 
chiefly Malay, with fome words borrowed fronrEuropeans, 
and other drangers; but they have no expreflion for the 
numbers beyond forty. 
Thefe iflands were vifited by fome Moravian tniflionaries 
in the year 1758; and their attempts at converting the 
natives were continued, or renewed from time to time, 
till the year 1789, when they finally abandoned the place, 
their endeavours having totally failed. Eleven worthy 
Huflionaries fell a facrifice to the unhealthinefs of the cli¬ 
mate., 
