A third colour-phase, the "erythristic" or red, is represented by the sandy cat, the female of which takes the form of the "tortoise-shell," characterized, curiously enough, by the colour being a blend of black, white, and sandy.
A nearer view will reveal the rich chestnut of the mantle and upper wing-coverts, and the combination of colours thus exhibited suggests the term "tortoise-shell" often applied to it - the quill-feathers being mostly of a dark brown and its lower parts pure white.
The exports are chiefly groundnuts, rubber of inferior quality, sesamum and other oil seeds, tortoise-shell and ebony.
Dobbo, on a small western island, is the chief place; its resident population is reinforced annually, at the time of the west monsoon, by traders from that quarter, who deal in the tripang, pearl shell, tortoise-shell, and other produce of the islands.
The chief exports of the islands besides coir and cowries (a decreasing trade) are coco-nuts, copra, tortoise-shell and dried bonito-fish.
