NICOBARS, a cluster of eight large and twelve small islands in the Bay of Bengal, lying to the south of the Andamans, between 6° 40' and 9° 20' N. lat. and between 93° and 94° E. long., with a population in 1881, exclusive of aborigines, of 308. The largest island, the Great Nicobar, is about 30 miles in length and from 12 to 15 in breadth. Many of the islands are hilly, with peaks of considerable height; others are flat and covered with forests of cocoa-nut trees. All are well wooded. Tropical fruits grow in abundance, and yams of fine quality and size. The Nicobar swallow is the builder of the edible bird’s nest, which, together with trepang (bêche-de-mer), cocoa-nuts, tortoiseshell, and ambergris, forms the whole export of the islands. Agriculture is quite unknown. Trade is carried on by barter with the crews of English, native, and Malay vessels. The inhabitants, a race of savages with Malay-like features, had an evil reputation for piracy, and murder of the crews of vessels visiting the island or shipwrecked upon them. An inquiry by the Government of India into a case of this sort in 1869 led to the annexation of the whole archipelago, the administration being placed under the superintendent of the Andaman Islands.