ABSTRACT
In rendering an account of the state of navigation and geography among the Indian islanders, it will be their ignorance rather than their knowledge that will constitute the principal matter of discussion. Indian islanders navigate in very slender barques the whole extent of the Archipelago and among people so rude may be looked upon as the greatest of navigators. The navigation of the Indian islanders is nearly throughout a coasting one. The shores, headlands, and other land-marks, are their principal guides. The capacious havens, which afford shelter to shipping, are not frequent in the Indian Archipelago, but their absence is no inconvenience in the present state of native navigation. Trusting chiefly to the steady course of the monsoons, both in respect to force and direction, the most enterprising of the Indian navigators frequently pursue a bolder tract, and quitting sight of land, make by a direct course for their port of destination.
