Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 2.djvu/21

Rh inhabited; these occur chiefly in the west of the province. The horses and bulls of Andalusia are celebrated all over Spain; sheep and swine are extensively bred, and game is abundant. The inhabitants are a lively, good-humoured, and ready-witted people, fond of pleasure, lazy, and extremely superstitious, great boasters, and, like most boasters, very cowardly and unwarlike. The men are tall, handsome, and well-made, and the women are among the most beautiful in Spain; while the dark complexion and hair of both sexes, and their peculiar dialect of Spanish, so distasteful to pure Castilians, are as evident traces of the long rule of the Moors, as are the magnificent architectural remains which adorn many of the Andalusian towns.  ANDAMAN ISLANDS. These islands lie in the Bay of Bengal, 590 geographical miles from the Hoogly mouth of the Ganges, 1GO miles from Cape Negrais in British Burma, the nearest point of the mainland, and about 340 from the north extremity of Sumatra. Between the Andamans and Cape Negrais intervene two small groups, Preparis and Cocos; between the Andamans and Sumatra intervene the Nicobar Islands, all seeming to indicate a submarine range stretching in a curve, to which the meridian forms a tangent, between Cape Negrais and Sumatra; and though this curved Hue measures 700 miles, the widest sea-space is less than 90. Some zoological facts are held to point to the former existence of con tinuous land from Negrais to Achin Head. If we can accept the doubtful authority of Wilford, Hindu legends notice this remarkable chain, and ascribe it to Rama, who attempted here first to bridge the sea, an enterprise after wards transferred to the south of India, and accomplished at the place we call Adam s Bridge.

The main part of the group is a band of four islands, so closely adjoining, end to end, but slightly overlapping, that they have long been known as one, viz., "the Great Andaman." The axis of this band, almost a meridian line, is 156 statute miles long. The four islands are (north to south) North Andaman, 51 miles long; Middle Anda man, 59 miles; South Andaman, 49 miles; and Rutland Island, 11 miles. Of the three straits which part these four islands, the two most southerly, Macpherson s and Middle Straits, though narrow are navigable. Andaman Strait, between Middle and North islands, is at low water a fetid swanipy creek, not passable by a boat.

Little Andaman, 30 miles by 17, forming the southern extreme of the group, is detached from Great Andaman by Duncan Passage, 28 miles in width. One considerable island (Interview Island) lies immediately west of Great Andaman, and many islets are scattered round. The highest point in the group is Saddle Mountain, in North Andaman, approaching 3000 feet. From this southward the hills sink in height.

