LACCADIVE ISLANDS, are a group of about 32 low shoally islands in the Indian Sea, belonging to the Biby, The nearest of them is 75 miles from the coast of Mala bar; and they stretch from the will to the I 2th degree of North Latitude, being separated by a very wide and deep channel. The largest of these islands does not contain more than six square miles.
The only produce of the Laccadive Islands is cocoa nuts, betel nuts, and plantains.
They export coir, which is made from the husk of the cocoa nut, japery, cocoa nuts, and betel nuts. Coral from the surrounding reefs is also carried to India. The best coir cables on the Malabar coast, arc made from the fibres of the Laccadive cocoa nut. Their boats are made of the stem, and their houses are constructed wholly from the ma terials yielded by this valuable palm.
Minicoy, the southernmost island, is 71 miles long, and 1 a mile broad. It extends in the form of a crescent to the north-west, having a coral reef across it. The town is
situated within the reef; and the channel through this reef is very intricate and narrow.
Kalpeni is about 37 miles north east from Minicoy, and is about 4 miles long, and 1 broad. It is surrounded with reefs, and the town is in the midst of cocoa nut trees.
Underoot, the nearest to the Malabar coast, is about miles long from east to west. It is well planted with co coa nut trees : and the town is on the north side of the island.
Ambergris is somewhere to be met with among these islands. Vasco de Gama visited the Laccadive islands in 1499, on his return from Calicut, but they have never been carefully examined. See Dr. Francis Buchanan's Journey from Madras through the Mysore, tic. vol. ii. p. 554 ; and Milburn's Oriental Commerce, vol. i. p. 320.