THE Nicobarese know a good deal of English, which they have learned from the crews of British trading vessels; but as they are rather like the islanders of the Pacific, about whom so much has been written, I will say little about them.

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Their method of handling cocoanuts may be of interest.

If a young nut is required to serve as a drink, a man slips his toes into a band of fibre to help him to grip the tree with his feet, and holding his dhâ (a scimitar-shaped knife) round the tree with his hands, with its cutting edge against the trunk, he then climbs the tree like a monkey up a stick. On reaching the nuts he detaches one at a time, giving each a gentle twist before dropping it in order that it may fall on its pointed end. If this precaution is not taken the nut falls on its side and bursts open. The nut is then held in the left hand, and with his dhâ in his right hand the man slices off sufficient of the husk to enable him to drink the milk, which is most refreshing when out walking on a hot day. If he wishes to eat the soft and creamy young nut, the man holds the nut in the palm of the left hand, on its side, with the pointed end towards him, then smites it a strong downward stroke with his dhâ, which is always very sharp, and this splits the nut open. He then, with one stroke of the dhá, cuts a piece of the husk to serve as a spoon before handing you the nut. It looks simple enough, but when a savage invited me to open a nut myself, I realised that if I funked, the dhá, might slip and away would go my wrist. So I smote hard and split the cocoanut, thereby impressing the natives with the fact that I could do everything they could do, especially as I also raced them in their own canoes and beat them.

One way and another I greatly enjoyed life among the Nicobar Islands; it reminded me of the book called " Coral Island," by Ballantyne, which I had so much enjoyed reading in my boyhood. On these islands it is dangerous to drink water from any stream, so that when thirsty, with no cocoanuts at hand, I was glad to be shown how to get a safe and refreshing drink anywhere in the densest of jungle, from the thick kind of rattan canes that grow there in great abundance.

This is done by cutting two or three lengths of about five feet and holding them, one at a time, above one's head in such a way as to allow the water in them to trickle into one's mouth.

The Car Nicobar is the northernmost island of the Nicobar group, and as it is flat it has more cocoanut trees on it and less jungle than the other islands, and therefore the Car Nicobarese are obliged to purchase their canoes from other islands, as they have no large trees from which to make them. The nearest large island is Chowra, which is about fifty miles distant, and this island has the monopoly to supply canoes to the Car Nicobarese. Woe betide any Car Nicobarese who attempts to land on Chowra in a canoe purchased from any other island. There is a small uninhabited island, called Batti Malve, that lies about midway between the Car Nicobar and Chowra, and this affords a good resting place, particularly as it contains cocoanut trees. As its shores are rocky and precipitous, canoes cannot be taken ashore without risk of damage, as these craft are too light and frail for rough handling.

One day two geologists visited Port Blair on the monthly mail steamer from Calcutta. After having called on the Chief Commissioner, they were duly invited to dine with him. At dinner he told them that the Settlement Officer, Mr. Man, who was in charge of the Nicobars, had been lucky enough, while on a visit to the Car Nicobar, to obtain some black sand from the natives. This greatly interested the geologists; they were keenly anxious to get some of this rare mineral, so the Chief Commissioner took them to Car Nicobar in the Nancowry.

On landing at the north end of the island, the party was met as usual by a number of natives dressed in their best. One wore a tall hat, another a dress waistcoat, another a pair of dress trousers, and so on. All these garments were very much the worse for wear, having been passed on from father to son since the days when British vessels had traded at the island for copra.

They wished the visitors " Good morning," greeted the Chief Commissioner by name, and when they were asked their names, gave the fancy ones with which their forefathers had been christened by the crews of the traders. For instance, one said his name was Lord Raglan, another Tinbelly, and so on. The Chief Commissioner, delighted with the intelligence shown by the natives, asked them if they could show the party where they could find black sand, and as all the natives said " My savvy," they were told to show the way.

The day was hot, and as the path ran through a forest of cocoanut trees, there was not a breath of wind to cool the air. Every now and then, when the guides were asked how much further they had to go, the reply was always, " A little more far." At last, after walking about eight miles — the whole length of the island — when the party were nearing a village, the question was again asked, "Where is the black sand?" whereupon all the natives pointed in the direction of a hut and said, " Have got." They were pointing at a man descending from his hut by means of a ladder, who went by the name of Black Sam ! Needless to say the Chief Commissioner was furious, but after all, the natives had done their best, so he could not say much.

The party then laboriously wended their way back, no richer, but wiser, men.

On reaching the high land above the place where their boat was lying, they looked round but could not see the Nancowry for some time. At last they spied the top of her masts in the distance. Thinking that a look-out was being kept for them on the ship, they pulled out to sea in their boat. After they had gone several miles out from the shore they became afraid, as the ship was still far away, and if they had decided to turn back, night would have fallen before they reached the shore, in which case they would probably have foundered on the surf. Suddenly, to their relief, they saw the vessel approaching, went alongside and boarded her. The Chief Commissioner was the first to get on board, and as he was being saluted by the captain, who was a hefty Irishman, he said angrily, " What the devil do you mean, sir, by making us pull out to sea like this? " To which the captain replied, " The captain of a ship has a reason for everything he does," and walked away without saying anything further. The Commissioner was furious, but said no more.

What had happened, I heard later, was this:

As the water was deep, the captain had not anchored the ship, but had put her head against the current and had steamed slow ahead. After lunch he had gone to sleep in a canvas chair, and although the crew had noticed that they were drifting, no one dared to waken him, as he was well known for his violent temper.


The Great Nicobar, the southern island of the group, is about thirty miles long and has a few small rivers, up which I greatly enjoyed travelling in my Nicobar canoe, and particularly going through the surf at the bar. One afternoon, while paddling up one of these streams at the north end of the island, and much admiring the colouring of the dense jungle on the slopes of the hills on either side, I noticed a number of sea birds hopping about on the muddy bank of the stream.



As there was nothing for them to eat there and my approach did not seem to disturb them, I came to the conclusion that they must be waiting for something; so I watched from midstream. Suddenly a huge alligator's head appeared near the birds with its mouth wide open, which it closed with a snap as soon as its jaws were clear of the water. As it did so, several fish fell from its jaw on to the mud. These the birds picked up greedily.

The stream happened to be swarming with small fish, and the alligator found that by running along the bottom of the stream with its mouth wide open it managed to get a good mouthful, coming to the surface before closing its mouth less the fish escaped, which accounted for its running up the bank. It must have been doing this a number of times to have attracted so many birds.

The dragon so often seen in pictures is a fabulous reptile, I know, but one afternoon while walking in the gloom of the dense jungle on Little Nicobar Island, I looked up at the tall trees round me, and suddenly became conscious that the two bright eyes of a huge reptile, which was holding on to a tree trunk, were glaring at me. The reptile was the exact reproduction of the dragon St. George is represented as slaying, except that it had no wings. I felt uncomfortable, I admit, and particularly so when the huge beast sprang to the ground. But to my astonishment and relief it scuttled away without molesting me, for as it was between five and six feet in length with a huge mouth and formidable looking claws, it looked a nasty customer to meet in a dense jungle. I afterwards learnt that the ferocious looking dragon I had seen was only a harmless iguana of a different kind to those I had learnt about in school.

There are a large variety of pigeons at the Nicobar Islands, also jungle fowl, one specimen of which (Megapodius Nicobaricus) a dark coloured bird the size of a partridge, lays an egg that is one-sixth of its own weight. Small wonder that it does not lay and hatch more than one egg at a time.

The Nicobarese are afraid of evil spirits or devils, and when anyone dies under mysterious circumstances, the elders of his village find out in secret who the stranger was who passed through or visited the village last prior to the death. When the feast is given, which is the chief feature of a funeral, this individual, amongst others, is invited to it, for it is believed that he has in him the evil spirit or devil that caused the death of their kinsman. When the feast is in full swing, a selected party of strong men creep up behind the doomed person, seize him, and put him to death in the most cruel manner. This practice has now been stamped out by the British Government.

I have mentioned in a previous chapter the fact that the rattan cane found at the Nicobar attains a great length, and that specimens have been known to measure over 1,000 feet, or a fifth of a statute mile.

With this extraordinary statement before you, you may wish to know how a rattan cane grows to so great a length without being a creeper, in the sense a rambler rose plant is. The head of a rattan cane plant remains permanently in one place, with only a very small point of the plant showing above the surrounding jungle. This is explained thus:

At first, the rattan plant grows like a palm, which it very much resembles, except that its long, leaf-like branches are armed on their lower sides with long projecting hooks. The cane plant usually retains its perpendicular growth till its head reaches the branches of the trees around it, and then, by means of the hooks on the branches, secures itself to those trees, ever climbing upwards. But as the lower branches die and fall, the stem of the cane, now no longer strong enough to support the weight above, bends, and the bight or elbow so formed moves sideways through the jungle. The jungle therefore is a mass of these canes, which, with the undergrowth, completely block one's path, so that it is impossible to advance without a dhá, to cut the way. Therefore progress through the jungle is very slow work at times.

I have come across crabs of many kinds, but none as ferocious as the Birgus Latro, or Robber Crab, found at the Nicobars, which attains a huge size, sometimes fifteen inches or more across the back, with claws in proportion. There is one small island, named Meroe, in the southern group of the Nicobar Islands, which is flat and covered with cocoanut trees, and is so thickly inhabited by Birgus Latro that the Nicobarese are afraid to land on it to gather the cocoanuts that grow there plentifully. Once a party of Europeans armed with sticks and spears, landed in a boat from a steamer anchored off the island. The visitors has not gone far up the beach before a large number of Birgus Latro blocked further progress, and looked so formidable that the party were glad to get back into their boat unmolested. The claws of these crabs are so powerful that I feel sure that an ankle bone would need to be very strong to withstand the pressure they could bring to bear on it, judging by the grip one had on a piece of board I held out to it. As soon as the crab got hold of the board I swung it several times round my head, and then, as I found the crab a bit heavy to swing any longer, I put it down. After twenty minutes or so the crab still retained its grip of the board as firmly as ever.

Many varieties of orchids are found at the Nicobars, which look beautiful when on jungle trees near the water, in the sunshine, with monkeys and many coloured parrots flitting to and fro among the boughs of the trees to complete the picture.

Off one little island, which lies to the south-eastward of the Little Nicobar, the sea is extraordinarily clear.

Once when visiting this island in the Nancozory, to enable the officer in charge of the Nicobars to communicate with its inhabitants, I stopped the vessel at what I considered to be a safe distance off the island.

The leadsman had given ten fathoms, no bottom, and as there was no wind, I did not try to get near enough to anchor with such deep water close to.

After a while, when the natives were swarming round the vessel in their canoes, I happened to look down, and I must say I had a shock, for it seemed as though the sandy bottom was so near that I could have touched it with my hand from a boat. I naturally asked the leadsman what he meant by not giving me warning, as he was still in the chains. He said he could get no bottom at ten fathoms. I told him to heave the lead again and get bottom. I saw the lead pass through the water, strike the bottom, and then fall on its side, as clearly as if it was in a basin of water, and yet the depth of water was 13 fathoms (81 feet).

I have never seen such clear water anywhere else before or since.

The natives here spear large fish at a great depth below them, by paddling their canoes immediately over a fish asleep about a hundred feet beneath the surface, and then by adding lengths of bamboo to their harpoons, strike it in the back and bring it to the surface.

A very large variety of beautiful shells are found round these islands, one of which is the large scollop or clam (Tridaona Gigas), which attains the enormous size of three feet or more in width. Ornamental fountain basins are made from it. Vessels moored here by rope cables have been known to lose their anchors through the cable touching one of these shells when open; for, on the fish within the shell closing it, the sharp, powerful edges of the shell can cut even a very stout rope cable.

It was the general practice at the settlement of Nancowry, for one of the two large rowing boats kept there for the purpose of bringing the stores ashore from the mail steamer, to proceed once a month to a neighbouring island for a supply of cocoanuts; this work was entrusted to the senior and best-behaved convict, helped by a crew of twelve other well-behaved convicts.

Once, soon after the mail steamer had made her monthly visit, the time arrived when one of the boats required overhauling, and while this was in progress and the boat's seams had been opened out for caulking, the senior convict suggested going as usual for cocoanuts; he was given permission to do so. But as the boat did not return by nightfall, some alarm was felt that they might have escaped, and sure enough, six of the eighteen absent convicts had decamped with all their belongings. There was no station vessel at Nancowry at the time, the only other seaworthy boat at the post could not be put in running order within several days, the mail steamer would not revisit the port for nearly a month, and there was no telegraph or other means of communication. The boat and its crew got clear away to Achin Head, the north point of Sumatra, some 150 miles distant.

It appeared afterwards that the head convict had been a frequent visitor to the Chinese junks that called at Nancowry, and had learned from their captains all about the navigation of these waters. He may have obtained a Chinese compass from one of them, which is small, inexpensive, and very reliable.

Most people who have lived in India contract fever of some kind, and they have my deepest sympathy.

Of the many fevers I have known and heard about, the Nicobar fever is one of the worst. It is, I believe, described as a choleraic malaria.

I usually had three bouts of fever in each attack, with an interval of two days between each bout, and in this way the Nicobar fever is similar to many other fevers. During the interval between the bouts of fever, however, one usually feels very fit.

It happened during one of my attacks that the Kwang Tung visited some small islands near the south end of the South Andamans, where the captain and officers interested themselves in collecting oysters from the rocky islands, out of which they extracted grey pearls. As it was desired to mark a reef that was covered at high tide, I said I would cut a tree and mark it the following morning, quite forgetting at the time that a bout of fever was due.

Luckily for me, I remembered just in time, and took a deck boy in the skiff to pull her back to the ship if I got crumpled up with fever. I had cut a small straight tree from the steep side of the island, and had just launched it down the slope to the skiff when the fever came on, and I only just managed to slide down the slope to the skiff, crawl aboard, and lie down on the stern sheets grating. The messenger boy had to do the rest.

Many people have had this fever, but all do not get it quite the same way. It kills some. A man came to my room one day, when I was at Rangoon some months later, to tell me that a friend of mine had been killed in an accident. I happened to be suffering from a bad bout of Nicobar fever at the time, and he got so frightened at the sight of me with my mottled green face, that he ran away without delivering the message.