Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1913.djvu/282

 160 THE BKITISH EMPIRE : — INDIA AND DEPENDENCIES

limited jurisdiction within their districts ; important cases being referred to the council.

Sikhim produces rice, Indian corn, millet, oranges, apples, and two or three kinds of cloth. Fruit gardens are maintained by the State. There are extensive forests in the State and wide tracts of unoccupied waste. A few copper mines are worked. The principal trade route from Bengal to Tibet passes through Sikhim. Imports into Bengal from, and exports from Bengal to Sikhim : —

—

1907-08

&

55,558 35,192

1908-09

1909-10

£

64,078 62,930

1910-11 1911-12

Imports Bxi)orts

&

63,872 51,085

72,906 86,084 56,300 73,894

The chief imports into Sikhim were cotton piece goods, oils, provisions, salt, manufactured silk, sugar, tea, tobacco, and rice ; the chief exports from Sikhim food grains and vegetables, hides and skins, raw wool, and timber. Political Officer,— C. A. Bell.

Eeferences.

A colleotion of Treaties, Engagements, and Sanads relating to India and neighbouring countries. By C. U. Aitchisou. Volume II. Calcutta.

Routes in Sikhim, coniiiiled in the Intelligence Branch of the Quartermaster-General's Department in India. By Captain W. F. O'Connor. Calcutta, 1890.

Dojta^dson (Florence), Lejicha Land, or Six Weeks in the Sikhim Himalaj-as. London, 1900.

Edgar (Sir John), Report on a Visit to Sikhim in 1873. Calcutta, 1874.

Fres/i/ieW (D. W.), Round Kangchenjunga. London, 1903.

Louis (J. O. H.), At the Gates of Tibet. London.

Strahan (Lieut.-Col.), Report on Explorations in Sikkim. Dehra Dun, 1899.

White (J. Claude), Sikhim and Bhutan. London, 1909.

ANDAMAN AND NICOBAR ISLANDS. The Andaman Islands lie in the Bay of Bengal, 590 miles from the mouth of the Hugli, 120 miles from Cape Negrais in Burma, the nearest point on the mainland. Five large islands closely grouped together are called the Great Andaman, and to the south is the island of Little Andaman. There are some 200 islets, the two principal groups being the Andaman Archipelago and the Labyrinth Islands. The Great Andaman group is about 219 miles long and, at the widest, 32 miles broad, the total area being 2,508 square miles. The group, densely wooded, contains many A^aluable trees, the best known of Avhich is the paclauJc or Andaman redwood (Ptcrocarpus dcdhergioiclcs). The islands are hilly, the highest point, Saddle Peak, being 2,402 feet, and Mount Harriet, 1,196 feet in height. The islands possess a number of harbours and safe anchorages, notably. Port Blair, Port Cornwallis, and Stewart Sound, the last being most favourably situated for forest trade. The aborigines, 1,882 (1,036 males and 846 females) in 1901, live in small groups over the islands ; they are savages of a low Negrito type. The total population of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in 1911 was 26,459 (19,570 males and 6,889 females). The climate is tropical, the rainfall irregular and often excessive. In 1911 the forest sales, the result of convict labour, amounted to 4,16,773 rupees. Tea, the cocoanut, Manila hemp {Musa textilis), and Bahamas aloe {Agave sisalana) are successfully cultivated. In 1911 there were 11,274 head of cattle. Wireless telegraphy with Burma was established in 1904. A mail steamer connects Port Blair with Calcutta, Rangoon, and Madras. The islands are used by the Government of India as a penal settlement for life and long-term convicts. The settlement possesses about 26,600