The islands of the Indian Ocean include some of the most beautiful
and interesting in the world. It is outside the scope of this book to
treat them all in detail. I can but indicate points of interest of some
I personally know, and indicate, besides, something of the back-
ground of fascinating islands in an ocean too little known. Mada-
gascar, for example, could well form the subject of a book by itself.
It is separated from the African mainland by the 250-mile-wide
Mozambique Channel and is considered to be the chief relic of a
great archipelago which once connected Asia with Africa. Nearby
are the Comoro Islands, where early Portuguese navigators thought
they could discern Jewish traits among the natives, to whom names
such as Abraham, Lot, Moses, and Gideon were well known though
they were unfamiliar with the names of the prophets after Solomon.
Farther north are the Seychelles. Beyond them again are the coral
Laccadives, which hang upon the map of the blue ocean like pearls
from the southern end of India+ADs- and then there is the real pearl--
Ceylon, which is surely one of the loveliest islands in all the world.

In the Bay of Bengal are the Andaman and the Nicobar Islands,
which form a long chain from the southwestern tip of Burma toward
the northern end of Sumatra. One of the Andamans is a sort of Dev-
il's Island, with an Indian penal colony of more than 7,000 prison-
ers, with thousands more on parole. These work in sawmills, as
clerks in government offices, as servants, and in the workshops. The

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