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
Fruit and vegetables are the same as are found on Kar Nicobar, with the
addition of tobacco, of which several small fields have been raised from
seed imported from the west coast of India.
The census returns of 1901 give the population of Teressa as 624, making
the number of inhabitants 50 more than in 1886.
Bompoka, having the appearance of a truncated cone, and 634 feet high,
is an oblong-shaped island, about 4 square miles in area, separated from
Teressa by a channel 50 fathoms in depth, and scarcely more than 2 miles
wide. Its inhabitants, who number less than a hundred, and the people of
Teressa, have an interesting legend to account for the formation of the
island. Once upon a time a vessel, having a prince for its captain,
visited Teressa, where he, on landing, was murdered by the inhabitants.
His wife was taken on shore and treated with the greatest respect; but,
since the spot on which her husband's blood was shed was always before
her eyes, she was very miserable. One night, however, she was advised in
a dream, by her mother, to remove the bloody spot from Teressa if she
would be happy. This she did, and Bompoka was thus separated from that
island.[59]
The geological formation and the vegetation are similar to those of
Teressa. The inhabitants have good plantations of fruit-trees--papaya,
plantains, and limes--neatly fenced to keep out the pigs. At Poahat, on
the west coast, good water is to be obtained from a stream at the back
of the village.
These two islands, with perhaps Chaura, seem those referred to by
Hamilton as the Somerera Islands, so called because "on the south end of
the largest island is a hill that resembles the top of an umbrella or
somerera. They are fine champaign ground, and, all but one, well
inhabited. The island Somerera lies about 8 leagues to the northward of
Ning and Goury (the Nankauri group), and is well inhabited for the
number of villages that show themselves as we sail along the shores. The
people, like those of Ning and Goury, are very courteous, and bring the
product of their island aboard of ships to exchange for commodities.
Silver nor gold they neither have nor care for, so the root of all evil
can never send out branches of misery, or bear fruit to poison their
happiness! The men's clothing is a bit of string round the middle, and
about 1-1/2 feet of cloth, 6 inches broad, tucked before and behind,
within that line. The women have a petticoat from the navel to the knee,
and their hair close shaved; but the men have their hair left on the
upper part of the head and below the crown, but cut so short that it
hardly comes to their ears."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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