MALDIVE Islands. This large chain of low islands and rocks, formed from coral, in the Indian Ocean, extends from the equinoctial line to the eighth degree of north latitude, and is situated between the seventy-second and seventy-fourth degrees of east longitude. The greatest breadth of the range is said to be from twenty to twenty-four leagues, and it is formed of large groups or clusters called Attollons. Of these groups there are seventeen, which are most of them round; some, again, are of an oval form, and are separated from one another by narrow channels, which are unsafe for ships of burden, the bottom being coral, and the anchorage near the rocky shore, on which the billows of the ocean beat with incessant fury. The large islands are inhabited, and produce cocoa-nuts; but a great proportion of the chain consists of mere rocks, rocky shoals, and sand-banks, which are flooded at spring-tide. The houses of the natives are built of wood, and covered with the leaves of the cocoa-nut tree, and are scattered about very irregularly. The royal palace is of two stories in height, and a handsome building; and near it are a good many cannon, and also a magazine. These islands carry on a considerable trade with each other, and also with the continent of India; and each island has its respective tradesmen, the brewers residing in one group, the goldsmiths in another, and the locksmiths, mat-makers, turners, &c. reside each in their respective group. This intercourse is carried on by means of a peculiar kind of boats with a small deck, which are occasionally absent a twelvemonth from their own island; and on these occasions their male children are taken with them, in order to accustom them to a seafaring life. These islands were formerly much frequented by trading ships from India. But they now arrive in their own boats, of thirty tons burden, at Balasore, in Orissa, with the southwest monsoon, loaded with coir, cocoa-nut oil, and all the other produce of the cocoa-nut tree, their grand staple; also cowries, salt-fish, turtle-shell, &c. They sail during the north-east monsoon in December, with their return cargoes, namely, rice from Bengal, sugar, hardware, broad cloth, manufactured cotton and silk goods, cutlery, silk stuffs, coarse cottons, tobacco, &c. This commerce has tended greatly to civilize their manners, and to render them hospitable to strangers. Dried shark-fins are exported to the Chinese market, where they are esteemed by that nation as an excellent seasoning for soup. The poverty of these islands has preserved them from invasion. The Portuguese erected a fort on one of them, but they were quickly driven away; and their conquest was meditated by Hyder Ali, but he was otherwise occupied by his wars with the British and the Mahrattas. The climate is intensely hot, and too unhealthy for Europeans. The Maldivians profess the Mahommedan religion, though mixed with other idolatrous superstitions. One of their superstitious practices consists in loading a small vessel with perfumes, gums, and odoriferous flowers, and turning it adrift at the mercy of the winds and waves, as a peace-offering to the spirit of the winds, or to the king of the sea. They are described as a mild, hospitable, and inoffensive race. It does not appear that they ever go to war with each other; and the crew of a French vessel, wrecked on one of the islands, was received in the kindest manner by the chief and his subjects.