TIME Magazine content is available exclusively for TIME subscribers.

Current subscribers for full access. Not a TIME subscriber? .

The Maldives: Another Atoll Heard From

The Maldives sound like something that belongs in a salad. Actually, they are an autonomous British protectorate in the middle of the Indian Ocean, consisting of some 2,000 palm-shaded coral islands and reefs, 215 of them inhabited, and they are not quite real. Auld Lang Syne used to be the national anthem,*the Mother Hubbard is the prescribed dress for women, and the primary means of transportation are outriggers and baggalas, which resemble a cross between a Chinese junk and a Spanish galleon. Crime in the Maldives (rhymes with bald wives) is virtually unknown, and once a year...

Time.com on Digg

POWERED BY digg

Quotes of the Day »

DAVID CAMERON, British Prime Minister, on England's soccer manager, Fabio Capello, who resigned after challenging the FA's decision to strip John Terry of the captaincy; Terry denies a charge of racially abusing QPR's Anton Ferdinand
For use in rail of Articles page or Section Fronts pages. Duplicate and change name as necesssary to distinguish.