CARNICOBAR, the northernmost of that cluster of islands in the bay of Bengal, called the Nicobars. It is about 40 miles in circumference, of a circular figure, and elevated little more than six feet above the level of the sea. So much does it abound in wood, that at a dis tance it appears to contain nothing else, though there are several spots upon it well cleared, and very delight ful. The trees are chiefly the barriongtonia, cocoa nut, tournefortia, borassus, and arcca ; the aletmis fragrans, and various other shrubs, are to be met with : nuts of different kinds, pine-apples, plantains, limes, &c. arc produced in great plenty: there are also wild ginger, excellent yams, and a root which the natives call cachu, and which is obviously a species of arum. All these grow abundantly, and with very little care, the climate being genial, and the soil rich. Lord Valentia, how ever, when he visited the island in 1802, could get no yams, and did not see a single pine-apple. The tim ber, which is plentiful, affords excellent materials for building and repairing ships, and some of it is of very large dimensions. No grain of any sort is produced on the island. There are great numbers of pigeons, poul try, and pigs. The latter are of the species called sus babyrussa. It is probable that now there are also goats, as Lord Valentin left a male and female of that useful animal, of which the natives promised to take great care. The other quadrupeds are dogs, rats, and a large animal of the lizard kind, called by the natives tolongui. Serpents are numerous, and their bite is frequently fatal to toe inhabitants.
The houses, or huts, in this island, arc generally erected upon the beach, which is sand, intermixed with coral rock; and form villages, each consisting of fifteen or twenty of them, and every house containing a family of about twenty persons. They are of a round shape, elevated upon long wooden pillars, covered with thatch, and having no windows, so that they very much resemble bee-hives. The entrance to them is by a trap door be low, and the inhabitants mount by means of a ladder, which is drawn up at night. For the admission of light and air, the flooring is made of thin slips of bamboo, laid at certain distances. The inside is finished off with neatness, and usually decorated with nets, fishing lances, and other implements of that kind. The inhabitants sleep in little hammocks made of matted grass, or the rind of trees; the males on one side, and the females on the other. To prevent the rats, and especially the
snakes, from getting in, the pillars on which the houses stand, arc covered with a very smooth sort of leaf; and still farther to increase security, there is a flat broad piece of wood made to project from each pillar, near the top of it, which it is impossible for the noxious ani mals to pass.
The inhabitants of Carnicobar, though of small sta ture, are well made, very muscular, uncommonly active, and in general healthy. T.Ieir complexion is of a cop per colour, and their features have a resemblance to those of the.Malays, excepting that their noses are not so flat. They have large mouths and irregular teeth, which the practice of chewing betel renders black and disgusting. The men have their hair cut short, while the Nvonicil have their heads shaved quite bare. Both sexes get their cars pierced when very young, and con trive, by squeezing large pieces of wood into the holes, and suspending heavy weights front them, to render them hideously wide, and very disgusting to the eye. From the accounts which have been given of them, it would appear that their countenance is far from being handsome or elegant. The women, in particular, Mr Hamilton says, are extremely ugly. Lord Valentin, how ever, tells us, that their features, though the very reverse of beautiful, have a pleasing expression. Though fond of European apparel when they can get it, their native dress has all the simplicity of savage life in a warm climate. The men wear nothing but a narrow strip of cloth wrapped close and tight about t, e middle. TI r women have only a short pettic oat made of lushes, or dry grass, reaching half way down the thigh, and hanging round them like the thatching of a house. They speak a mixture of broken English and barbarous Portuguese, which Lord Valentia tells us prevented /iim from having any difficulty in communicating with them. But their original tongue is that of Pegu, from which the Nicobar islands were peopled ; though their frequent intercourse with strangers has made diem in a gi cat measure renounce or forget it. They have this pe culiarity in their utterance, which is the principal feature that they have retained of their native language, that they pronounce their words with a sort of stop or catch in the throat, at every syllable.