170 THE BRITISH EMPIRE :— INDIA AKD DEPENDE^X'IES
Also attached to British India are the following island groups :
ANDAMAN AND NICOBAR ISLANDS.
The Andamaus are a group consisting of the Great and Little Andamans on the east side of the Bay of Bengal, 600 miles from the Hngli mouth of the Ganges. The Great Andamans comprise three large islands, the North, Middle, and South, with several smaller ones ; the group is about 156 miles long and 20 miles wide ; area, 1,760 square miles. The most considerable of the Little Andamans are Interview, Outram, Henry Lawrence, and Rutland Islands. The aboriginal population, of diminutive size and low type, is variously estimated at from 2,000 to 10,000. The islands are mainly used as a convict settlement for India, At the end of 1893-94 the convict population was 10,589, of whom some 2,513 held tickets as self-supporters. There is a police force of 645 men. Port Blair, the principal harbour, is on the South Island of the Great Andamans. The population of Port Blair (1891) is 15,670. Other ports are Port Campbell on the west of South Andaman, and Port Cornwallis on the east coast of North Andaman. About 21,663 acres have been cleared for cultivation by the convicts, the produce mainly for local use. The whole group was formally annexed in 1858, and is placed under a 'Chief Commissioner and Superintendent of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands,' appointed by the Indian Government.
The Nicobar Islands are a group to the south of the Andamans, 634 square miles. There are 8 large and 12 small islands. Great Nicobar is 30 miles long, 12 to 15 miles wide. There used to be a convict station at Nancowry or Camorta Island, but in 1888 the place was abandoned as a penal settlement. The number of aboriginal inhabitants is 6,915. The islands are said to yield annually 15,000,000 coco-nuts — one half exported ; edible birds' nests, tortoise- shell, ambergris, trepang are also shipped.
Reports on Forests in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands by Chief Commissioner. London, 1897.
LACOADIVE ISLANDS.
A group of 14 islands (9 inhabited), about 200 miles otf the west or Malabar coast of the Madras Presidency. The northern portion is attached to the collectorate of South Kanara, the remainder to the administrative district of Malabar. Population (1891), 14,440, all Muhammadans. The staple product is the fibre known as coir.
KAMARAN ISLAND.
Small island in the Red Sea, on the west coast of Arabia, 20 miles SSW. of Sohera, 15 miles long, 5 miles wide. There are 7 small villages occupied by fishermen. Allbrds good sheltered anchorage.
Keeling Islands. See Straits Settlement?.
Kuria Muria Island. See Aden.
LABUAN.
Governor. — L. P. Beaufort. Resident. — K. M. Little.
Crown colony, placed^ in 1890, under the government of the British North Borneo Company.
