In the Andamans and Nicobars: The Narrative of a Cruise in the Schooner "Terrapin"Kloss, C. Boden (Cecil Boden)
History
In the Andamans and Nicobars: The Narrative of a Cruise in the Schooner "Terrapin"
Kloss, C. Boden (Cecil Boden)
Andaman and Nicobar Islands (India) -- Description and travel; Natural history -- India -- Andaman and Nicobar Islands
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 fishing weir constructed of rattans.
The muddy shores 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 shore 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 compass, 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 passed 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 shores of the bay.
Several turtle were observed on the sea, but the harpoon never being at
hand when requisite, they always escaped unmolested.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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