Indian Antiquary Vol 58

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 338

THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[JULY, 1029
probably over 1,500 fathome. Between it eastwards to the Tenasserim Coast the depth is probably something over 1,200 fathoms. Between it and Narcondam 34 miles to the north-west the depth is under 1,000 fathoms. (6) Narcondam lies due south of Negrais Island, and the 400 fathom contour runs round it and the coasts of the Andamans and Burma. The water between it and the Andamans, 71 miles to west, is deep; probably up to at least 1,200 fathoms. Between it and Barren Island, 74 miles to south-west, the depth is great, probably over 1,500 fathoms: Between it and the hill above mentioned to south-east the depth is under 1,000 fathoms. Between it and Negrais Island the deepest water is 411 fathoms in a hole to north-west, otherwise the depth here is not more than 362 fathoms. (7) The 100 tathom line runs round all the Andamans, the Cocos and all the Western Banks, the two Sentinels and Dalrymple Bank. It runs also right round the Nicobars,
The main part of the Andaman group is a band of five chief islands, so closely adjoining and overlapping each other, that they have long been known as one, viz., " the Great An. daman." The axis of this band, almost a meridian line, is 156 statute miles long. The five islands are (north to south)-North Andaman, 51 miles long; Middle Andaman, 59 miles ; South Andaman, 49 miles ; Baratêng, running parallel to the east of the South Andaman for 17 miles from the Middle Andaman; and Rutland Island, 11 miles long. Four narrow straits part these islands-Austin Strait between North and Middle Andaman; Homfray's Strait between Middle Andaman and Baratang and the north extremity of South Andaman ; Middle (or Andaman) Strait between Bâratâng and South Andaman ; Macpherson's Strait between South Andaman and Rutland Island. Of these only the last is navigable by ocean-going vessels. Attached to the chief islands are, on the extreme north, Landfall Islands, separated by the navigable Cleugh Passage ; Interview Island, separated by the very narrow but navigable Interview Passage, off the west coast of the Middle Andaman ; the Labyrinth Islands off the south-west coast of the South Andaman, through which is the safe navigable Elphinstone Passage ; Ritchie's (or the Andaman) Archipelago off the east coast of the South Andaman and Baratâng, separated by the wide and safe Diligent Strait and intersected by Kwangtung Strait and the Tadma Jūru (Strait). Little Andaman, roughly 26 miles by 16, forms the southern extremity of the whole group, and lies 31 miles south of Rutland Island across Duncan Passage, in which lie the Cinque and other islands, forming Manner's Strait, the main commercial highway between the Andamans and the Madras Coast. Besides there are a great number of islets lying off the shores of the main islands.
The coasts of the Andamans are deeply indented, giving existence to a number of safe harbours and tidal creeks, which are often surrounded by mangrove swamps. The chief harbours, some of which are very capacious, are, starting northwards from Port Blair, the great harbour of South Andaman: East Coast, Port Meadows, Colebrooke Passage, Elphinstone Harbour (Homfray's Strait), Stewart Sound, Port Cornwallis (the last three are very large): West Coast, Temple Sound, Interview Passage, Port Anson or Kwangtung Harbour (large). Port Campbell (large), Port Mouat, 'Macpherson's Strait. There are, besides, many other safe.anchorages about the coasts for sea-going vessels : notably Shoal Bay and Kotara Anchorage in the South Andaman, Cadell Bay and the Turtle Islands in the North Andaman. and Outram Harbour and Kwangtung Strait in the Archipelago.
The islands forming Great Andaman consist of a mass of hills enclosing very narrow valleys, the whole covered by an exceedingly dense tropical jungle. The hills rise, especially on the east coast, to a considerable elevation ; the chief heights being, in the North Andaman, Saddle Peak, 2,402 feet; in the Middle Andaman, Mount Diavolo behind Cuthbert Bay, 1,678 feet; in the South Andaman, Koiob, 1,505 feet, and Mount Harriet, 1,193 feet, the Cholunga range, 1,063 feet; in Rutland Island, Ford's Peak, 1,422 feet. Little Andaman, with the exception of the extreme north, is practically flat. There are no rivers and few perennial streams in the islands.