Nicobar Islands

NICOBAR ISLANDS, a British group of twelve inhabited and seven uninhabited islands in the Bay of Bengal, between Sumatra and the Andaman Islands, to which latter they are administratively appended. Thcy have an aggregate area of about 2,508 sq.m., Great Nicobar (Loong), the largest and southernmost of any size, covering 333 sq.m. A careful census of the natives, taken in 1931 gave the total population of the islands as 10,240.

Car Nicobar (Pu), the most northerly island, with an area of 49 sq.m., was by far the most densely populated. The marine surveys of these islands are still meagre and unsatisfactory, but the whole of the Nicobars and outlying islands were surveyed topographically by the Indian Survey Department in 1886-1887.

Some of the islands have mere flat, coral-covered surfaces; others, again, are hilly, the Great Nicobar rising to 2,505 ft. On that island there are considerable and beautiful streams, but the others generally are badly off for fresh surface water. There is one good harbour, a magnificent land-locked shelter called Nankauri Harbour.

Geology.

The Nicobars form part of a great submarine chain, of which the Andamans are a continuation. Elaborate geological reports were issued by a Danish scientific expedition in 1846 and an Austrian expedition in 1858. Dr. Rink of the former considered that the islands belong to the Tertiary age. Von Hoch stetter of the Austrian expedition classified most important formations thus : eruptive, serpentine and gabbro; marine de posits, probably late Tertiary, consisting of sandstones, slates, clay, marls, and plastic clay; recent corals. He considered the whole group connected geologically with the great islands of the Malay Archipelago farther south. Earthquakes of great violence were recorded in 1847 and 1881 (with tidal wave), and mild shocks were experienced in December 1899.

The climate is unhealthy for Europeans. The islands are ex posed to both monsoons, and smooth weather is only experienced from February to April, and in October. Rain falls throughout the year, generally in sharp, heavy showers. The rainfall varies from 90 to 135 in., and the shade temperature from 64° to 92° F. Flora and Fauna.—The vegetation of the Nicobars has not been subjected to a systematic examination by the Indian Forest Department like that of the Andamans, and indeed the forests are quite inferior in economic value to those of the more northerly group; besides fruit trees—such as the coco-nut (Cocos nucifera), the betel-nut (Areca catechu), and the mellori (Pandanus leeram) —a thatching palm (Nipa fruticans) and various timber trees have some commercial value, but only one timber tree (Myristica irya) would be considered first-class in the Andamans. The palms of the Nicobars are, however, exceedingly graceful. The mammals are not numerous. In the southernmost islands are a small monkey, rats and mice, tree-shrews (Cladobates nic.), bats, and flying-f oxes, but it is doubtful if the "wild" pig is indigenous; cattle, when introduced and left, have speedily become "wild." There are many kinds of birds, notably the megapod (Megapodius nic.), the edible-nest-building swift (Collocalia nidifica), the hackled and pied pigeons (Calaenas nic. and. Carpophaga bicolor), a paroquet (Palaeornis caniceps) and an oriole (Orionis ma crow-us). Fowls, snipe and teal thrive after importation or migration. Reptiles—snakes, lizards and chameleons, crocodiles, turtles and an enormous variant of the edible Indian crab—are numerous ; butterflies and insects, the latter very troublesome, have not yet been systematically collected. The fresh-water fish are reported to be of the types found in Sumatra.

Natiires.

The Nicobarese may be best described as a Far Eastern race, having generally the characteristics of the less civilized tribes of the Malay Peninsula and the south-eastern portion of the Asiatic continent, and speaking varieties of the Mon-Annam group of languages, though the several dialects that prevail are mutually unintelligible. Though short according to

the standard of whites (average height, man, 5 ft. in. ; woman, 5 ft.), the Nicobarese are a fine, well-developed race, and live to seventy or eighty years of age. Their mental capacity is con siderable, though there is a great difference between the sluggish inhabitant of Great Nicobar and the keen trader of Car Nicobar. The religion is an undisguised animism, and all their frequent and elaborate ceremonies and festivals are aimed at exorcising and scaring spirits. On the whole the Nicobarese are a quiet, inoffen sive people, friendly to each other, and not quarrelsome, and by inclination friendly and not dangerous to foreigners. Such govern ment as there is, is by the village. The clothing, when not a caricature of European dress, is of the scantiest, and the waggling tags in which the loin-cloths are tied behind gave rise to fanciful stories that the inhabitants were naked and tailed. The houses are good, and often of considerable size. The natives are skilful with their lands, and though they never cultivate cereals, exercise some care and knowledge over the coco-nut and tobacco, and have had much success with the foreign fruits and vegetables introduced by the missionaries. The staple article of trade has always been the ubiquitous coco-nut, of which it is computed that 15 million are produced annually. There is an old-established internal trade, chiefly between the older islands and Chowra, for pots (which are only made there) and racing and other canoes. History.—The situation of the Nicobars along the line of a very ancient trade route has caused them to be reported by traders and seafarers through all historical times. In the 17th century the islands began to attract the attention of missionaries. At various times France, Denmark, Austria and Great Britain all had more or less shadowy rights to the islands, the Danes being the most persistent in their efforts to occupy the group, until in 1869 they relinquished their claims in favour of the British, who at once began to put down the piracies of the islanders, and established a penal settlement, which was withdrawn in 1888. There are native agencies at Nankauri and on Car Nicobar, both of which places are gazetted ports. At the latter is a Church of England mission station under an Indian catechist.

Ethnology.

The Nicobarese inhabitants are probably of mixed Malay and Indonesian origin, with hair generally straight, sometimes wavy. The Shom Pen tribe of Great Nicobar differs from or perhaps is merely purer blooded than the coastal tribes. The use of cloth waist-belts with the end pulled between the legs under the belt, behind which it hangs down at the back has given rise to stories of tailed men. There are six tribes said, like the sexes, to be distinguishable by their smell, the natives of Chowra being malodorous on account of eating dog flesh. The marriage tie is loose, the couvade (oto) is practised, the head is flattened in infancy, the teeth blackened and the ears distended. Betel is chewed, pandanus fruit used as food, and the people dislike milk. Pigs and fowls are fed on coco-nut. Houses are built on piles; a benign Creator is believed in; disease is ascribed to sorcerers and treated by expulsion of devils or by pretended extraction of foreign matter palmed by the sorcerer. Villages are protected by scare-devils. The cross-bow is used.

See E. H. Man, The Nicobar Islanders (Journal of the Royal Anthrop. Inst., 1889) ; Kloss, In the Andaman and Nicobar (19°3) ; Whitehead, In the Nicobar Islands (1924).