In the Andamans and Nicobars Part 13

In a deep rocky ravine (that in the wet season must be filled with running water), arched over with tall jungle trees, and containing beautiful tree ferns, whose waving heads rose above the edge, I shot our first full-plumaged specimen of the Nicobar fly-catcher. Though not of brilliant colouration--for the slightly-crested head is of steely blue-black hue, and the remaining plumage of a silky-white (saving the large feathers of the wings, which are delicately pencilled with black, and the quills and edges of the tail feathers, the two central being several inches long, which are marked with the same colour), with blue bill and feet--this bird is to me perhaps the most beautiful of all the Nicobar avifauna; and while there are many of far more gorgeous plumage, none can approach it in delicacy, and the quiet beauty of its colouring.

Tracks of pig were very numerous in the low ground, and we often met with herds of monkeys making their way through the jungle; no rats, however, were trapped in this place, although crabs were scarcer than usual.

Water we obtained on the east side of the basin, just within the sandbar, but we had some difficulty in discovering it. The skipper, while engaged in the search, reported having found a number of spiked stakes planted in the jungle, similar to the _ranjows_ of the Dyaks.

An old man, named Baraw.a.n.g, arrived one day in a canoe. He spoke English fairly, and said he was headman for the west coast, producing a Port Register in support of his statement. He formerly lived at Pulo Pet, but fled thence with his family to Kondul to escape a raiding party of Shom Pe[.n].

The waters of the bay swarmed with shoals of little fish, which were much preyed upon by the _ikan parang_,[76] a long, thin, sabre-shaped fish with a formidable set of teeth; it is often seen darting along above the surface of the water, which it just flicks with its tail. Of the small fry we caught immense quant.i.ties with a casting-net, and obtained larger varieties with the seine, by fixing it on stakes across the mouth of the creek at high water; by the time the tide had fallen, several fish had invariably become entangled in the meshes.

On the 10th we made sail, and proceeded a little further along the coast to Ganges Harbour, anchoring just within its eastern point. If the chart is correct, changes have taken place on the coast since the last survey.

We lay opposite a small stretch of flat land, and where the plan gives the coast-line nearly straight, a little bay now exists, where stand stumps of dead trees, about which the low tides expose a broad expanse of black mud.

After wading through the mud to reach the sh.o.r.e, we found that much of the low-lying ground was merely swamp. Part however, was covered with tall, open jungle, in which were numbers of pigeon and parrots. There were no monkeys, but tupais (_Tupaia nicobarica_) were plentiful. These appear to be entirely arboreal in habits, and are quite as active as squirrels in running along branches, or climbing about amongst smaller twigs in search of insects. Their cry is a sort of trilling squeak, which is easily confounded with the call of a bird.

In crossing to the further side we found plentiful traces of Shom Pe[.n]--a faint path, a ruined hut, heaps of sh.e.l.ls, and split seed-cases of the _Barringtonia speciosa_. The edge of the land was rapidly being eroded, and many tall casuarina trees, with roots undermined by the water, lying prostrate in the sea. At either end, this disappearing beach was hemmed in by rising ground and rocks, which at its eastern termination contained a little stream and basin of good water.

On the 12th we rowed about the sh.o.r.es of the harbour, landing every now and then to search for the aborigines. The only signs of man's presence discovered, however, were rows of stakes set up across the creeks in the mangroves. One of these rows we utilised to hang our own net on, and obtained there such an abundant catch of small fish that we returned the greater part to the sea.

The sh.o.r.e-line is much more indented than the outline given on the chart, and in the shallow water and mud of a little bay, rows of tree trunks still stood, two or three hundred yards from the land. This subsidence, however, is local in its occurrence, for everywhere else in the Archipelago signs of elevation are markedly present, and it is to be attributed to seismic agency--earthquakes having several times been experienced in the group--and not to a general depression of the land.

The following day we went still farther afield, and crossed the harbour to a beach where stood a grove of coconut trees and a small hut. The trees were without fruit, and the house, though deserted, contained a number of bundles of split rattan, such as a small section of the Shom Pe[.n] trade in with the coast people. The plantation was surrounded by hilly country, covered with tall, open jungle: birds were scarce, and a hawk and a megapode were all we obtained in the way of feathered booty; but, immediately on landing, Abbott caught sight of a couple of pigs, and knocked over the boar with a bullet. Though very similar to the Andamanese pig in size and appearance, it had patches of white on the feet. From it a new species has been described, under the name of _Sus nicobaricus_.

While rowing back to the _Terrapin_, we were overtaken by a blinding squall of wind and rain, which half-filled the boat and made the men (who sat with their feet on the thwarts) very uneasy, lest they should be polluted by contact with the blood and water that swished about in the bottom.

Next day we extended our search still farther, and ascended a little river, to which the name of "Jubilee" has been given by the surveyors.

We rowed up several arms of this stream that wound to and fro in the mangroves, but only found a small fis.h.i.+ng weir constructed of rattans.

The muddy sh.o.r.es swarmed with water-birds--herons, whimbrel, redshanks, and others--and we surprised a monstrous crocodile, little less than 20 feet long, who rushed into the stream long before our guns were ready.

Returning to the mouth, we landed and walked for a couple of miles along the beach; but the sh.o.r.e was everywhere covered with dense tangled scrub, behind which lay the swamps of the river.

On the last day of our stay, a junk arrived from Dring, where it had taken in a cargo of coconuts. It was handled very clumsily, and nearly ran on the reef before the anchor was down, eventually having to make sail again and beat up to a more suitable place. Considering the happy-go-lucky manner in which these junks are navigated, it must be admitted that they have good fortune--they have a compa.s.s, indeed, but all those we met were totally unprovided with charts.

Our mornings in this place were spent in searching for Shom Pe[.n]; the afternoons were pa.s.sed in adding to the collections. The traps produced a couple of rats only; but we obtained several specimens of the storkbilled kingfisher, which was common about the sh.o.r.es of the bay.

Several turtle were observed on the sea, but the harpoon never being at hand when requisite, they always escaped unmolested.

Possibly because of the proximity of high land--for Mount Thuillier, 2100 feet, the highest point of the Nicobars, rises near the northern end of the island--a good deal of rain fell every day, and somewhat spoiled the enjoyment of wandering in the jungle. At night when we lay in Ganges Harbour, it was nearly always calm, and many mosquitoes came from sh.o.r.e to plague us.

Traps were set on the sh.o.r.e throughout our stay, and we thus obtained a specimen of a new shrew (_Crocidura nicobarica_), the largest known Oriental member of the sub-genus; while two rats--all that were caught--were both undescribed varieties, and have been named _Mus pulliventer_, and _Mus burrescens_.

Having filled up with water--obtained from a little stream trickling down a cool rocky ravine at the inner corner of the bay--we made sail early on the 16th, and returned to Kondul.

Two hours' run before the wind brought the schooner to our former anchorage, where we were immediately joined by a junk from the north, and shortly afterwards by our companion of Ganges Harbour. After breakfast we reached the village, subsequent to a hard pull in the whaleboat against wind and tide, and found the junks' crews busily loading their boats with bundles of rattan; and by a chat with one of the skippers, supplemented the scanty information of the _Sailing Directory_ anent the west coast of Great Nicobar.

Very few people were about, and the headman, suffering from an attack of inflammation of the eyes, had wisely confined himself to the shade of his house. Four jolly little boys, however, bestirred themselves to get us a supply of coconuts. One, after putting a loop of fibre round his ankles, climbed a palm tree and hacked off all the fruit, and then we all set to and carried the plunder down to the boat--a very awkward task, unless one knows the correct method, for the coconut is both heavy and bulky. With a _dao_ a notch is made in the husk and a strip of fibre pulled out, with which the nuts are tied together two by two, and slung across a pole, to be comfortably balanced on the shoulders. To the owner of the tree we gave a bucket of rice, and to our juvenile a.s.sistants a length of bright cotton, which one, a bald-headed youngster, immediately annexed and wrapped round his shaven pate.

Towards evening they came to the schooner with an old man, bringing some more nuts and a few fowls; they joined the crew at the evening meal, but were very nervous, and one boy, whom the men wickedly pressed to stay, eventually took refuge in his canoe.

That night quite a small fleet--the two junks and ourselves--lay in the quiet anchorage. The cook and boy, smartly attired in black oiled calico, went off in the dinghy to visit their compatriots. The style of their garments must be held to excuse the absence of that quality in their rowing, for each man's stroke was a thing to itself, as he painstakingly ill.u.s.trated the famous maxim of Mr Charles Bouncer, "Dig your oar in deep, and pull it out with a jerk!" Perseverance and a devious course brought them to their goal; but we retired to sleep with dubious opinions as to their safe return.

CHAPTER XIII

GREAT NICOBAR--WEST COAST

Pulo Kunyi--Area of Great Nicobar--Mountains--Rivers--The Village-- The Shom Pe[.n]--Casuarina Bay--An ingenious "Dog-hobble"--In the Jungle--A Shom Pe[.n] Village--Men of the Shom Pe[.n]--A lazy Morning---The Shom Pe[.n] again--Their Similarity to the Nicobarese--Food--Implements--Cooking-vessel--The Dagmar River-- Casuarina Bay--Pulo Nyur--Water--A Boat Expedition--The Alexandra River--Shom Pe[.n] Villages--Kopenheat--More Shom Pe[.n]-- Elephantiasis--Pet Monkeys--Anchorage.

"_March_ 17, 1901.--At 6.30 A.M. both junks left, and we followed half an hour later. The breeze was light, the sea smooth, and the Chinese kept ahead all the way: in fact, we only caught up the smaller just abreast of Pulo[77] Kunyi, our destination on the west coast, where we anch.o.r.ed shortly after the big junk about midday; the other boat did not stop, but sailed on for another village more to the south.

"Great Nicobar is the southernmost and the largest of the islands of the group, having a length of 30 miles north and south, and a breadth of from 7 to 14 miles, while the area is 334 square miles. The highest part of the island is that to the north, where Mount Thuillier attains an alt.i.tude of 2105 feet. A continuous range of hills runs down the east side of the island close to the coast, making the surface hilly; and near the centre a range 1333 feet high extends crossways in an E.N.E.

direction. On the west side the hills are much more irregular in disposition, and there are broad alluvial plains between their bases and the sea.

"Both in vegetation and geological formation it resembles Little Nicobar, but is the only island of the group that possesses navigable rivers; for, when their bars are pa.s.sable, the Dagmar and Alexandra rivers on the west, and the Galathea River in the south, can be ascended some distance towards the interior.

"The coastal population is barely two-thirds what it was computed at in 1886, and now numbers 87 only. In the interior are the Shom Pe[.n], who, liberally estimated, may number from 300 to 400; but, as a few friendly families alone are all with whom communication has been held, it is impossible to arrive at any definite conclusion.

"Great Nicobar is the least known of all the islands; the Government steamer seldom visits it, on account of its few inhabitants, the rough weather frequently met with on its coasts, and the absence of harbours near the populated districts.

"As we sailed along the north-west portion, we perceived it to be low and flat for some distance inland, but towards the south the land rose in irregular forest-clad hills.

"The village of Pulo Kunyi lies along the sh.o.r.e of a small bay, from either end of which two long reefs of coral stretch out seaward to form the harbour. This is further protected by a submerged coral bank which lies across the mouth, leaving only two narrow pa.s.sages to north and south, of which the former is the more practicable.

"With a man in the cross-trees and a lead from the junk, we got in safely--finding 6 fathoms in the middle of the entrance--and brought up in 3-1/2 fathoms, in a well-sheltered anchorage where there was plenty of room for several small vessels to lie.

"As soon as all was s.h.i.+pshape on board, we went ash.o.r.e with our guns. In the village, which consists of five buildings (sheds and houses), we met but two men--women and children had disappeared from fear of the Chinese and ourselves; but there are probably not more than ten inhabitants altogether.

"The Chinese were already at work, busily appropriating all the coconuts that lay about. When purchasing these, they give a bag of rice for 530 nuts, which sell at Singapore for $15. Barter worth $1 is given for half a dozen bundles of rattan, which fetch about $12 in the same market. The trade of this island is mostly in canes, for very few more coconuts are produced than suffice for the wants of the inhabitants.

"The one beehive hut in the village was occupied by an old man named Aw.a.n.g, with his wife and child. A large charm hung in the centre of the house--a frame about 8 feet by 6 feet, covered with palm leaves, across the top a row of birds, and at the foot a line of wooden men, each supplied with a ration of fat pork.

"Our persistent inquiries about the Shom Pe[.n] seemed to amuse Aw.a.n.g excessively; but we were delighted to find we had arrived in their neighbourhood at last. The aborigines live a short distance in the interior, and often come down to the coast; as they would do on the morrow, when we should have an opportunity of meeting them, since notice had been sent that the traders were waiting to purchase their stock of rattan.

"The inland tribe is split into two main divisions. The larger inhabits the interior proper, and is still hostile (there was a man in the village with some ugly open wounds beneath the shoulderblades, who had been speared by them close to the houses a year ago); the members of the other division, who form small settlements near the coast villages, are known as "mawas Shom Pe[.n]" (quiet, or tame Shom Pe[.n]), and are on intimate terms with the Nicobarese, fearing equally with them the wilder natives. When the latter are out on the warpath, the friendlies come down to the sh.o.r.e, and, with the coast people, leave the district by canoe until it is safe to return.

"The village is surrounded by open scrub and jungle, in which large numbers of screw-pines flourish. The little scarlet-breasted _Aethopyga_ was common here, and numbers of them were flitting about the crowns of the coco palms, searching the fruit-stalks and bases of the leaves for insects.

"Good paths ran through the jungle, and following one to the southward, we reached the sh.o.r.e of Casuarina Bay, so named from the long grove of dark-foliaged trees that extends right along the coast. All round the head of the bay white surf rolled on the flat sandy beach, but there was a fair landing-place within the point, protected by a reef, and free from breakers.

"Before returning to the village we shot a number of tupais, some sunbirds, and a serpent-eagle. The local dogs all wore a large coconut slung loosely about the neck. This heavy burdening would hardly meet with the approval of the S.P.C.A.; but it prevents the dogs from chasing sows and their litters, and is a most effective hobble, as it hangs right between the fore-legs.

"Darkness was approaching as we pa.s.sed through the village, and the fowls were all retiring to rest in the branches of the trees--a return to early habits that they may indulge in with security in these islands, where no mammal more dangerous than the monkey exists.

"The boat soon came off to fetch us in answer to a hail, and we returned to the schooner, where, after a bath and a dinner, we settled down to an evening's work."

"_March_ 18.--Armed respectively with guns and camera, we struck inland, at sunrise, along a path running eastward through beautiful open forest.

The ground was level, and our way lay for some time within sound of the breakers of Casuarina Bay. Picking up a bird now and again as we went along, we had proceeded some three or four miles when we heard the sound of voices in the bush. We stopped for a moment to listen, and then moved on. Presently the roof of a hut appeared between the trees. "Shom Pe[.n]!" we whispered, and, creeping down the path with the idea of getting among them before they could run, did they feel inclined, walked--oh, miserable swindle!--into a camp of Nicobarese rattan-gatherers; for the numerous bundles of canes hanging from the trees, and the heaps of sc.r.a.pings, showed plainly what their occupation was.