Laccadive

LACCADIVE (lak'a-dev) ISLANDS, a group of coral reefs and islands in the Indian Ocean, between 1 o° and 12° 20' N. and 7 4o' and 74° E. The name Laccadives (laksha dwipa, "hundred thousand isles") is that given by the people of the Malabar coast, and was probably meant to include the Maldives. There are seventeen separate reefs, "round each of which the 1 oo-fathom line is continuous" (J. S. Gardiner). There are, however, only fourteen islands, and of these only nine are inhabited. Between the Laccadives and the Maldives to the south lies the isolated Minikoi. The principal submerged banks lie north of the islands; they are Munyal, Coradive and Sesostris, and are of greater extent than those on which the islands lie. The islands have in nearly all cases emerged from the eastern and protected side of the reef, the western being completely exposed to the S.W. monsoon. The islands are small, none exceeding a mile in breadth, while the total area is only about 8o sq.m. The soil is light coral sand, beneath which, a few feet down, lies a stratum of coral stretching over the whole of the islands. This coral, generally a foot to a foot and a half in thickness, has been in the principal islands wholly excavated, whereby the underlying damp sand is rendered available for cereals. These excavations—a work of vast labour —were made at a remote period, and according to the native tradition by giants. Coarse grain, pulse, bananas and vegetables are cultivated ; coco-nuts grow abundantly in all parts of the islands. For rice the inhabitants are compelled to depend upon the mainland.

Population and Trade.

The population is about io,000.

The people are Moplas, i.e., of mixed Hindu and Arab descent, and are Mohammedans. The language spoken is Malayalim, but it is written in the Arabic character. Reading and writing are common accomplishments among the men. The chief industry is the manufacture of coir. The various processes are entrusted to the women. The men employ themselves with boatbuilding and also in transporting the produce of the islands to the coast.

As the frequent coral reefs in the vicinity of these islands make navigation dangerous, commerce is carried on almost exclusively in native vessels, which are manned by the daring sailors of these islands.

History.

Mbirimi (c. 1030) divides the whole archipelago (Dibajat) into the Divah Kiizah or Cowrie Islands (the Mal dives), and the Divah Kanbar or Coir Islands (the Laccadives). The islanders were converted to Islam by an Arab apostle named Mumba Mulyaka, whose grave at Androth still imparts a peculiar sanctity to that island. The kazee of Androth was in 1847 still a member of his family, and was said to be the twenty-second who had held the office in direct line from the saint. The Por tuguese discovered the Laccadives in May 1498, and built forts upon them, but about 1545 the natives rose upon their oppressors. The islands subsequently became a suzerainty of the raja of Cannanore, and after the peace of Seringapatam, 1792, the southern group was permitted to remain under the management of the native chief at a Yearly tribute. This was often in arrear, and on this account these islands were sequestrated by the British government in 1877.