MALDIVE ISLANDS, Zabiyah-ul-Mohli, a vast group of islands, estimated at 1200, extend ing southward from lat. 7° 6' 30" N. to 0° 42' S. A memoir of them, by Lieuts. J. A. Young and W. Christopher, I.N., is given in Born. Geog. Trans., 1836-1838. These islands and rocks have about 60 miles of breadth, the islands being formed into large groups, which the natives call atoll or atollon.
The most northern is Ileawandoo Pholo Atoll, 12 miles by 7, contains 24 islands, of which 7 are inhabited, with a population of 760.
Tilladoo Matte Atoll, 35 miles in extent, has 38 islands, all the northern of which are inhabited.
Malcolm Atoll contains 100 inhabitants ; many ships have been wrecked on it.
Milladoo Madou Atoll contains 101 islands, of which 23 are inhabited, with a population of 1700 or 1800.
Phaidee ?bolo Atoll, 10 miles south of Milladoo Madou, has about 10 islands near it.
Mahlop Mandoo Atoll extends from lat. 5° 1' to 59 N., in long. 55' E., has 4 small islands on its south.
Ari Atoll has a number of small islands on its eastern boundary.
Male Atoll has near it Male Island or King Island, with a population of 1500 or 2000. It is unfavourable to the health of European strangers.
Cardiva or Cardoo, in lat. 4° 58' 30' N., and long. 25' E., has 200 inhabitants.
South Male Atoll contains 22 islands, of which only 3 are occupied with 200 people.
Pha-lee-doo Atoll is situated between lat. 3° 19' 30' and 3° 41' N.
Moloque Atoll is 15 miles broad from east to west. Nillandoo Atoll extends from lat. 2° 40' to 3° 1' 30' N.
At its south extreme is a group of 20 islands, and there are detached small islands on the boundary. Coollo Mandoo Atoll, Adou Matte Atoll, Suadiva or Ilooandoo Atoll may be named.
Phoowa Moloku Islands, the most south-easterly of the Maldive islands, is 2 miles long ; it has 300 or 400 inhabitants, who are fishers and weavers. Addoo Atoll is the south extreme of the Maldive chain of islands. Its south point is in lat. 0° 41' 30' S., and long. 73° 5' E.
The group extend 466 geographical miles in length, and 46 or 48 miles in breadth. Between the islands the water is of great depth, but on the surrounding reefs the waves beat with great violence. The reefs have openings which admit ships to enter, and though the water inside the atolls is generally shallow and calm, the depth is sufficient to allow vessels to pass from one side to another. The soil is sandy, all the islands are densely clothed with palms, fig trees, bread-fruit trees, and a thick jungle covers them all. Indian corn, sugar-cane, and millet are grown in a few.
Large numbers of vessels have been wrecked upon the islands, the steamers Sea Gull (in 1879) and Conseil (in 1880). As a rule, shipwrecked
people are well received by the Maldivians, and the Ceylon Government occasionally have an opportunity of reciprocating that kindness by providing for Maldivians wrecked on the Ceylon coasts. The islands are inhabited by 30,000 or 40,000 people. They trade with India, Ceylon, Chittagong, and Singapore, carrying in their peculiar ships cocoanuts, salt fish, cocoanut oil, coir, jagari, coral, ornamental mats, tortoise-shell, and cowries, and import grain, cotton, silk, and tobacco. The coir is noted for its light colour, fineness, and comparative strength. Maldive mats, for delicacy of pattern and permanence of dye, are perhaps unsurpassed in the world.
The Maldivians construct their own quadrants, and translate into their own language the nautical tables. The people are quiet and inoffensive. Their ruler is styled Sultan of the thirteen atolls and 12,000 isles. Upon the acquisition of Ceylon by the British in 1796, the inheritance of the suzer ainty over the Maldives fell to them by the free will of the Sultan. The present Sultan sends an ambassador to the Governor of Ceylon annually, and his arrival at Colombo, and formal journey from the wharf to the Government House, is one of the most curious sights to be had in the capital. Maldivian etiquette requires the ambassador to bear with both hands on his head the silver salver containing his sovereign's letter (in a double envelope of coloured silk and spangled muslin) and two tiny silk bags of ambergris and sea cocoanut. The management state and revenue matters is entrusted by the Sultan to vizirs, and he frequently consults with them. Justice is dispensed in the house of the Fadiyarii or Kazi, who is head of the church and chief magistrate, and sometimes, in important cases, in the king's palace. With the education imparted to the children is the reading and writing of the Koran. Three different writing characters are found on the tombstones, the Dewehi Hakura, the .Arabic written from right to left, and the Gabali Tana similarly written, and the last is the common dialect of all the atolls. It is said to be Malay. Muhammadanism has been the accepted religion of the Maldivians for at least six centuries, but side by side with it there has continued to exist an older creed—not the less real because disowned —in demons and spirits, spells, charms, and the like. Every man in his lifetime provides for him self a burying-place.—Darwin; Lieuts. T. A. Young and W. Christopher, 1.N., in Bombay Geog. Trans., 1836-1838 ; Eneyc. Brit. ; Mr. Bell's Report.