Let Us Observe That His Point Of Departure In Sailing North To The Nicobar
Islands Was The Kingdom Of Lambri.
This seems to indicate that Lambri
included Achin Head or came very near it, an indication which we shall
presently see confirmed.
As regards Gauenispola, of which he promised to tell us and forgot his
promise, its name has disappeared from our modern maps, but it is easily
traced in the maps of the 16th and 17th centuries, and in the books of
navigators of that time. The latest in which I have observed it is the
Neptune Oriental, Paris 1775, which calls it Pulo Gommes. The name is
there applied to a small island off Achin Head, outside of which lie the
somewhat larger Islands of Pulo Nankai (or Nasi) and Pulo Bras, whilst
Pulo Wai lies further east.[1] I imagine, however, that the name was by
the older navigators applied to the larger Island of Pulo Bras, or to the
whole group. Thus Alexander Hamilton, who calls it Gomus and Pulo
Gomuis, says that "from the Island of Gomus and Pulo Wey ... the
southernmost of the Nicobars may be seen." Dampier most precisely applies
the name of Pulo Gomez to the larger island which modern charts call Pulo
Bras. So also Beaulieu couples the islands of "Gomispoda and Pulo Way"
in front of the roadstead of Achin. De Barros mentions that Gaspar
d'Acosta was lost on the Island of Gomispola. Linschoten, describing the
course from Cochin to Malacca, says: "You take your course towards the
small Isles of GOMESPOLA, which are in 6 deg., near the corner of Achin in
the Island of Sumatra." And the Turkish author of the Mohit, in speaking
of the same navigation, says: "If you wish to reach Malacca, guard against
seeing JAMISFULAH ([Arabic]), because the mountains of LAMRI advance into
the sea, and the flood is there very strong." The editor has misunderstood
the geography of this passage, which evidently means "Don't go near enough
to Achin Head to see even the islands in front of it." And here we see
again that Lambri is made to extend to Achin Head. The passage is
illustrated by the report of the first English Voyage to the Indies. Their
course was for the Nicobars, but "by the Master's fault in not duly
observing the South Star, they fell to the southward of them, within
sight of the Islands of Gomes Polo." (Nept. Orient. Charts 38 and 39,
and pp. 126-127; Hamilton, II. 66 and Map; Dampier, ed. 1699, II. 122;
H. Gen. des Voyages, XII. 310; Linschoten, Routier, p. 30; De
Barros, Dec. III. liv. iii. cap. 3; J.A.S.B. VI. 807; Astley, I.
238.)
The two islands (or rather groups of islands) Necuveran and Angamanain
are the Nicobar and Andaman groups. A nearer trace of the form Necuveran,
or Necouran as it stands in some MSS., is perhaps preserved in
Nancouri, the existing name of one of the islands.
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