Before we left, a number of men from Great Nicobar arrived in a large canoe: they were proceeding to Nankauri on one of the expeditions undertaken by the Nicobarese when they desire to obtain the pottery manufactured only by the women of Chaura. We weighed anchor at sunrise on March 4th, having added a pitta, an owl, and the _Rhinomyias_--all new species--to the avifauna of the islands during a most satisfactory visit of seven days. CHAPTER XII KONDUL AND GREAT NICOBAR The Anchorage--The Island--Villages--We leave Kondul--Great Nicobar--Anchorage--Collecting--Up the Creek--A Bat Camp-- Young Bats--Traces of the Shom Pe[.n]--Bird Life--Fish--Ganges Harbour--Land Subsidence--Tupais--We Explore the Harbour--A Jungle Pig--"Jubilee" River--Chinese Navigation--Rainy Weather--Kondul Boys--Coconuts--Chinese Rowing. On the same day, we anchored as night fell, close to the island of Kondul, having sailed down the west side of Little Nicobar--a coast of sand-beaches and steep jungle-covered hills--and crossed the St George's Channel, which divides the latter island from Great Nicobar. Kondul is 2 miles in length, and half a mile wide, and, while running N.N.E. and S.S.W., lies too far from the larger island to form a harbour, although sheltered water is nearly always to be found on its lee-side. We dropped anchor in 7 fathoms, opposite a little beach and some coconut palms on the western shore, and next morning rowed to the village on the other side, meeting on the way a strong tide-rip, off the south-east point, that for long kept us from making any progress. The island is about 400 feet high, and its grey cliffs of slate and sandstone rise steep and bare until they meet the dense jungle with which the upper part is covered. Only on the east is there any flat land, and there, on a stretch of coral soil, are situated the houses and gardens of the natives, who now number some 38 individuals. We landed behind a projection of the reef which afforded shelter from the swell, and were met by the headman "Dang," who brought with him the shipping register. Some of the buildings were round, others rectangular in shape, and supported by leaning-posts in addition to the piles; and here and there were erected a few slightly carved and painted stumps, draped with bunches of palm leaves. The headman's house contained small figures of a man, woman, and child, and some painted nuts, also a large mirror in a gilt frame--a useless object probably obtained from the Chinese in return for some thousands of coconuts. We learned that there were many Shom Pe[.n] on the neighbouring coast, but that they were very nomadic, and badly disposed towards strangers.