increased prodigiously; and as the upper regions of the mountains are covered with vast quantities of fine grass, they find food in abundance, and grow to a large size, especially the buffaloes. These are always seen in herds, and I never ventured to shoot any, though I longed to procure some of their flesh for our use. Dogs and swine are found in all the islands.

Serpents are numerous in some places, but they are far less abundant and venomous, than on the coast of Coromandel. The chief cause of this difference I am apt to ascribe to a custom, prevalent among the natives, of setting the long grass on the mountains on fire, two or three times a-year. As these reptiles like to lay their eggs in the grass, great quantities of them are thus destroyed. One kind of serpent struck me here as a singular species; it is of a green colour, has a broad head and mouth like a frog, very red eyes, and its bite is so venomous, that I saw a woman die within half an hour after receiving the wound. She had climbed a high tree in search of fruit, and not observing the animal among the branches, was suddenly bitten in the arm. Being well aware of the danger, she immediately descended, but, on reaching the ground, reeled to and fro like one in a state of intoxication. The people brought her immediately to me; and while I was applying blisters and other means for extracting the poison, she died under my hands.

I saw but few scorpions, but among them an unusually large species, of a red colour, said to be extremely venomous. They were lying in a boggy place, and I had no means of taking them.

One of the most formidable animals with which these islands abound, is the crocodile, or alligator. Kar Nicobar is overrun with them, as are all the other Nicobar islands, which have fresh-water lakes and streams. They are of two kinds, the black kayman, and the proper crocodile. The latter is said never to attack live creatures, but to devour only carrion, and is therefore not considered dangerous. Of the correctness of this opinion I had once ocular proof. I was walking at Queda along the coast, and looking at a number of children swimming and sporting in the water. On a sudden, I observed a large crocodile proceed towards them from a creek. Terrified at the idea of the danger they were exposed to, I screamed out, and made signs to some Chinese to go to their assistance, but they laughed me to scorn as an ignorant stranger. I really afterwards saw the monster playing about among them, while the children diverted themselves by pretending to attack him and drive him away. The kayman is less in size, and very fierce, seizing upon every creature that has life, but he cannot lift anything from the ground, as the lower jaw projects.

The bats of Nicobar are of a gigantic size; I have seen some, whose outstretched wings measured from five to six feet across the back, the body being the size of a common cat. They are of two kinds; the head of one somewhat resembling a dog, and that of the other a cat; the former making a barking, and the latter a mewing noise, when on the wing. I never saw more than one at a time. They appear hideous, and in their solitary flight resemble a cloak in motion, chiefly and awkwardly perching upon the mango tree, the fruit of which they eat, breaking down the smaller branches, till they light upon such as are able to bear their weight.

Of birds, I shall only notice one, called by some the Nicobar swallow³, but I will not venture to determine its generic character. It is the builder of those eatable nests, which constitute one of the luxuries of an Indian banquet. These birds are called Hinlene by the natives, and build in fissures and cavities of rocks, especially in such as open to the south. In the latter, the finest and whitest nests are found, and I have sometimes gathered fifty pound weight of them, on one excursion for that purpose. They are small, and shaped like swallows' nests. If they are perfect, 72 of them go to a catty, or 1¾ pounds. The best sale for them is in China. After the most diligent investigation, I was never able fully to discover of what substance they are made, nor do any of the opinions of naturalists, with which I have become acquainted, appear satisfactory to me, neither have the authors alluded to ever seen the birds. They have remarkably short legs, and are unable to rise, if they once fall or settle on the ground. I caught many in this state, and after examining them, threw them up into the air, when they immediately flew away; they cannot therefore, as some suppose, obtain their materials on the coast, or from rocks in the sea. My opinion is, that the nests are made of the gum of a peculiar tree, called by some the Nicobar cedar, and growing in great abundance in all the southern islands. Its wood is hard, black, and very heavy. From December to May, it is covered with blossom, and bears a fruit somewhat resembling a cedar or pine-apple, but more like a large berry full of eyes or pustules, discharging a gum or resinous fluid. About these trees, when in bloom or bearing fruit, I have seen innumerable flocks of these little birds, flying and fluttering like bees round a tree or shrub in full flower, and am of opinion, that they there gather the materials for their nests. I relate the fact, having often watched them with great attention, but will not venture to affirm, that I have made a full discovery. I observed before, that these birds dwell in cavities of rocks, like bees in a hive, flying in and out, and building their nests close together, like martins or swallows. The hen constructs a neat, large, well-shaped nest, calculated for laying and hatching her eggs, and the cock contrives to fix another, smaller and rather more clumsy, close to his mate: for they are not only built for the purpose of laying eggs, but for resting-places, whence they may take wing. If they are robbed of them, they immediately fall to work to build others, and being remarkably active, are able to finish enough in a day to support the weight of their bodies, though they require about three weeks to complete a nest. During the north-east trade wind, they are all alive and fly about briskly, but as soon as the wind comes round to the south-west, they sit or lie in their nests in a state of stupor, and show animation only by a kind of tremulous motion over their whole body. I have sometimes taken one out of his nest in this state, and laid him on the palm of my hand, when I observed no sign of life about him but this trembling, and on returning him to his place, could hardly prevent him from falling on one side. If their nests were taken away at that season, the poor birds must inevitably perish⁴.

I did not perceive any great variety of birds in these islands; but wild pigeons and parrots are numerous.

As to fishes, the sea abounds with various descriptions, but my attention was principally directed to shell-fish, which are found in great abundance and beauty on most of the islands, the Mission being in part supported by collections of these and other natural curiosities, made by me and other Brethren, whose time and disposition allowed of it. It became at one time peculiarly my business, and though I possessed no previous knowledge of these things, and would not venture to determine upon a proper classification of the various natural productions which I collected, both on the coast of Coromandel and in the Nicobar