The Malays have an almost similar custom to this, in the employment of the _kapal hantu_ (ghost ship). This they use during times of pestilence, or in cases of individual sickness; but instead of forcing the evil spirits into it, they are attracted by a show of coloured rice, etc. Once they are cajoled on board, the vessel is pushed off, and carries the illness to whatever fresh locality it may reach.[67] The day before we left, Yassan, who had promised to collect, brought in a number of charms--figures of crocodiles, birds, women, men, and some fever pictures, called here _dé[=u]shi_ (derived from the Portuguese for God, and is applied to the representations of the Deity in the pictures on boards and spathes). The people had but few scruples with regard to parting with such things. After being paid, he asked for a _chit_ and a bottle of rum, "to use, mixed with eggs, as a medicine for his stomach!" In the waters of the bay we caught quantities of small fish, which, although easily obtained by us with the seine, cannot be a staple of diet in the case of the natives, who have no nets. I once observed a native in a canoe following a shoal, and making casts with a many-pronged fish-spear; he continually threw his weapon, but during the ten minutes I watched him, he caught nothing at all. There is no good water here, and to fill our tanks we dug holes just above high-water mark; the liquid that filtered in was slightly brackish, and gave a heavy deposit of earthy matter. Any quantity of coconuts may be obtained, with a few chickens and perhaps a pig or two. Kachal is about 62 square miles in area, and reaches a height of 835 feet on the eastern side, which is composed of hills of calcareous sandstone and marbly slate, formed in deep seas during the Tertiary period. The western side, which is of very recent formation, consists of a flat shore plain of coralline alluvium, mixed with decayed vegetable matter and loam brought down from the hill. It is covered with dense forest throughout. The population is stated to be 281--an increase of 100 in the last fifteen years. CHAPTER XI LITTLE NICOBAR AND PULO MILO A Tide-rip--Islets--A Cetacean--Pulo Milo--Timidity of the Natives--Little Nicobar--Geology--Flora--Population--Site for a Colony--Jungle Life--Banian Trees--The Houses and their Peculiarity--The Natives--Practices and Beliefs--The Shom Pe[.n]--The Harbour--We ascend a River--Kingfishers--Water-- Caves--Bats and Swallows--Nests--A Jungle Path--Menchál Island--Collections--Monkeys--Crabs. Sailing across the Sombrero Channel, some 30 miles wide, between Kachal and Little Nicobar, we passed the islet of Meroë. It is low-lying, and about 1 mile in length. A yellow beach separates the dark crown of jungle and coconuts from the sea, except at the southern end, which is slightly elevated and rocky.