DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49708#0103
SESSIONAL PAPERS, 1881. 87
Mr. Allan Hume found the Lakkadives “a perfect paradise for crabs,” none new, but
in variety astounding. “ There were massive built, sturdy, purple chocolate rascals
(Eriplia scrabicula and levimana) that ensconced themselves in holes of rocks in
which they fitted to such a nicety that it was most difficult to dislodge them. Small
long-legged silvery fellows (Occypade cordimana) that scampered along the land at the
rate of tea miles an hour, and just when you thought you had them, vanished into a hole.
Then there were some strange enormous-clawed, cream-coloured, and grey-mottled, knobby
fellows, grubbing about in shallow water (Calappa tuberculata) which, when they opened
out their huge arms, seemed to be dividing their bodies into three parts. Then, under
every stone we turned, were dumpy brownish-red individuals, with black tips to very stout
claws (Leptodius sanguineus), the hardest biters of the lot. Hundreds of orange-red or
Hermit crabs (Cenobita Olivieri) lurked under branches of all the low-growing littoral
shrubs. Of course, the variegated Grapsi swarmed in myriads on every part of the reef,
and on the coral blocks at the outermost face of the island.”*
Throughout these groups Mollusca abound in rich profusion. “The shallows were
full of shells—huge massive Cones, enormous Tiger-claw shells (Pteroceras lambis) with
their beautiful wide-spreading glossy pink lips : cowries of many species, amongst them
some very large tiger shells (Cyprea tigris), deep-red King Conks (Cassis rufa), Olives
Cerithium, Murex, Mitra, Nassa, JSatica, Nerita, Trochus, Volvorina*
a The sea beach was strewed with large bunches of a delicate snow-white pointed
coraline (Isis hippuris), that looked as if it would have formed an appropriate moss for
the Arctic regions.”
The small money cowry (M. bolt, Cypraea moneta) is found in myriads at the Maldives.
Twice a month, when the tides suit, men and women wade into the sea waist deep
and detach them from the stones under which they cling.f One man will sometimes
gather as many as 12,000 in a day. The shells are then buried until all traces of
putrefaction have disappeared ; after which they are generally put up for the market
in three-cornered bundles of cocoanut leaf-plat known as kottas, weighing 25 lbs. each.
Two minor products, obtained by the Islanders from the sea, require notice. These
are ambergris (M. goma, mavaharu), and the so-called ‘ sea-cocoanut’ (M. tdva-karhi,
Lodoicea Seychellarum)—rated at so high a value in the estimation of the Maidive
Sultans as to be retained as part of their royalties.
Ambergris—the kind known to the natives of the continent and Ceylon as min or
‘fish’ amber—was formerly found in large quantities, and occasionally exported.
The curious double-cocoanut, now proved to be confined to the Seychelles, but long
believed to grow beneath the sea near these Islands, and hence called Coco-de-mer or Coco
des Maldives, is rarely washed ashore at the present day.
Both these casual products have ever been held in the greatest request by natives
throughout the East on account of their real, or supposed, valuable medicinal properties.!
MANUFACTURES.
The chief manufactures in which the Maldivians display much skill, and have attained
considerable success, are those of coir, mats, and cloth.
The coir (M. nW) of these Islands, as that of the Lakkadives, has been noted for
centuries for its light colour, fineness, and comparative strength, as contrasted with
Ceylon and Indian coir, and fetches a much higher price in the market. The Portuguese
drew most of the rope required for their fleets in Indian seas from the Maldives. The
best quality is made in Tiladummati Atol.
* Stray Feathers, Vol. IV., pp. 435-6. “ From our cruise we brought back over 100 species of uni-
valves, of which at least 12 were new ; and a still large number, I think, of bivalves.”
f The practice of collecting cowries, by placing cocoanut boughs in the sea, as described in the Travels
of the Two Muhammadans, and later by Barros (Asia, Dec. III., Liv. III., Cap. IV., p. 312), and Captain
A. Hamilton, Account of the East Indies, 1727, (Pinkerton, Vol. 8, p. 389), would seem to be obsolete.
| Note (4).
, THE
MALDIVES.
Productions and
Manufactures.
Mollusca.
Cowries.
Ambergris and
Sea-cocoanut.
Manufactures.
Coir.
Mr. Allan Hume found the Lakkadives “a perfect paradise for crabs,” none new, but
in variety astounding. “ There were massive built, sturdy, purple chocolate rascals
(Eriplia scrabicula and levimana) that ensconced themselves in holes of rocks in
which they fitted to such a nicety that it was most difficult to dislodge them. Small
long-legged silvery fellows (Occypade cordimana) that scampered along the land at the
rate of tea miles an hour, and just when you thought you had them, vanished into a hole.
Then there were some strange enormous-clawed, cream-coloured, and grey-mottled, knobby
fellows, grubbing about in shallow water (Calappa tuberculata) which, when they opened
out their huge arms, seemed to be dividing their bodies into three parts. Then, under
every stone we turned, were dumpy brownish-red individuals, with black tips to very stout
claws (Leptodius sanguineus), the hardest biters of the lot. Hundreds of orange-red or
Hermit crabs (Cenobita Olivieri) lurked under branches of all the low-growing littoral
shrubs. Of course, the variegated Grapsi swarmed in myriads on every part of the reef,
and on the coral blocks at the outermost face of the island.”*
Throughout these groups Mollusca abound in rich profusion. “The shallows were
full of shells—huge massive Cones, enormous Tiger-claw shells (Pteroceras lambis) with
their beautiful wide-spreading glossy pink lips : cowries of many species, amongst them
some very large tiger shells (Cyprea tigris), deep-red King Conks (Cassis rufa), Olives
Cerithium, Murex, Mitra, Nassa, JSatica, Nerita, Trochus, Volvorina*
a The sea beach was strewed with large bunches of a delicate snow-white pointed
coraline (Isis hippuris), that looked as if it would have formed an appropriate moss for
the Arctic regions.”
The small money cowry (M. bolt, Cypraea moneta) is found in myriads at the Maldives.
Twice a month, when the tides suit, men and women wade into the sea waist deep
and detach them from the stones under which they cling.f One man will sometimes
gather as many as 12,000 in a day. The shells are then buried until all traces of
putrefaction have disappeared ; after which they are generally put up for the market
in three-cornered bundles of cocoanut leaf-plat known as kottas, weighing 25 lbs. each.
Two minor products, obtained by the Islanders from the sea, require notice. These
are ambergris (M. goma, mavaharu), and the so-called ‘ sea-cocoanut’ (M. tdva-karhi,
Lodoicea Seychellarum)—rated at so high a value in the estimation of the Maidive
Sultans as to be retained as part of their royalties.
Ambergris—the kind known to the natives of the continent and Ceylon as min or
‘fish’ amber—was formerly found in large quantities, and occasionally exported.
The curious double-cocoanut, now proved to be confined to the Seychelles, but long
believed to grow beneath the sea near these Islands, and hence called Coco-de-mer or Coco
des Maldives, is rarely washed ashore at the present day.
Both these casual products have ever been held in the greatest request by natives
throughout the East on account of their real, or supposed, valuable medicinal properties.!
MANUFACTURES.
The chief manufactures in which the Maldivians display much skill, and have attained
considerable success, are those of coir, mats, and cloth.
The coir (M. nW) of these Islands, as that of the Lakkadives, has been noted for
centuries for its light colour, fineness, and comparative strength, as contrasted with
Ceylon and Indian coir, and fetches a much higher price in the market. The Portuguese
drew most of the rope required for their fleets in Indian seas from the Maldives. The
best quality is made in Tiladummati Atol.
* Stray Feathers, Vol. IV., pp. 435-6. “ From our cruise we brought back over 100 species of uni-
valves, of which at least 12 were new ; and a still large number, I think, of bivalves.”
f The practice of collecting cowries, by placing cocoanut boughs in the sea, as described in the Travels
of the Two Muhammadans, and later by Barros (Asia, Dec. III., Liv. III., Cap. IV., p. 312), and Captain
A. Hamilton, Account of the East Indies, 1727, (Pinkerton, Vol. 8, p. 389), would seem to be obsolete.
| Note (4).
, THE
MALDIVES.
Productions and
Manufactures.
Mollusca.
Cowries.
Ambergris and
Sea-cocoanut.
Manufactures.
Coir.