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The South
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Contents Cover Story
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Pages from the Past
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The Maldive Islands By
C.
W. Rosset
One of the earliest
travelogues on Maldives, this article was written by C W Rosset and
published in The Graphic
in 1886. It is an account of Rosset's stay in the group of Maldive Islands
in 1885. Maldives were a dependency of the Government of
Ceylon before that colony passed into the hands of the English in 1796. I am not by any means the first European who has
paid a visit to the Maldives; but I can justly claim to be the first who has
undertaken a systematic exploration of the groups. By the courtesy of the
English Government I had been given a passage in the steamer
Ceylon, the vessel in which
Captain Wilding makes his periodical visits to the lighthouses of Minicoy
and the Basses. It was arranged that, as she was to proceed to Bombay to
have some repairs effected, I should be left on the way at Male, and that
she should return and fetch me away in two months’ time. At length, on the morning
of the 25th October, 1885, the Ceylon
steamed out of Colombo harbour and shaped her course for Male, the capital
of the Maldive group, situated on the island of the same name, at the
southern end of North Male Atol, exactly in the centre of the group. We
sighted land about 9 AM on the morning of the 29th, but there were no
landmarks to indicate which of the twelve thousand islands which constitute
the Maldive group was then before us. Soon a number of fishing boats could
be seen approaching and the engines were stopped to enable us to get a pilot
on board, from whom we learned that we had shaped our course correctly, and
had arrived directly opposite to the island of Male. The panorama, which was
now spread out before us, was beautiful in the extreme. The low shore,
marked by the thin white line of the beach, was covered to the height of
about seven feet with a thick growth of jungle, above which waved the
graceful heads of thousands of coconut trees, to which the slight breeze
then blowing imparted a scarcely perceptible motion. As I leant over the
bulwarks, admiring the scene, I suddenly became aware of a painfully
pestilential odour, which at once dissipated the romantic thoughts, which
the beauty of the scene had conjured up. This was the much-dreaded
fever-laden breath of the lagoons, the cause of the deadly Maldive fever.
This stench is due to a peculiarity in the Atols, or clusters of islands and
reefs which constitute the Maldive group. Most of the islands are small,
varying from a hundred yards to a mile in length and breadth, and are seldom
more than six feet above the level of the sea. In many cases the islands
form part of a ring of coral rock without any opening, the consequence being
that when the sea is calm, the enclosed water becomes rapidly putrid under
the action of sun’s rays, and emits the odours to which I have referred.
Indeed, many of the islands are quite uninhabitable, owing to the coral ring
having grown to a height sufficient to exclude any but the highest waves. I
discovered afterwards that the lagoons which emitted the odours did not
affect the town, or island of Male.
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