THE ANDAMAN AND NICOBAR ISLANDS.
POSITION OF THE ANDAMAN ISLANDS -- ORIGIN OF THE NATIVES -- THEIR
ROVING HABITS AND LACK OF CLOTHING -- THEIR HATRED OF STRANGERS
-- THE NATIVES AND THE STEAMER -- APPEARANCE OF THE WOMEN -- THE
ENORMOUS BOW AND SKILL OF THE MINCOPIE ARCHERS -- VARIOUS MODES OF
FISHING -- EXCELLENCE OF THEIR CANOES, AND MODE OF MAKING THEM --
THE LONG PADDLES -- THE SHIP’S CREW BEATEN BY THE MINCOPIE CANOE MEN
-- CANNIBALISM NOT PRACTISED IN THE ANDAMAN ISLANDS -- INGENIOUS
FIREPLACES AND METHOD OF COOKING -- WANT OF ARCHITECTURAL SKILL --
EDUCATION OF THE CHILDREN, AND THEIR GAMES -- POWERS OF SWIMMING --
MATRIMONIAL ARRANGEMENTS -- DEATH AND BURIAL -- THE NICOBAR ISLANDS
-- APPEARANCE AND COSTUME OF THE INHABITANTS -- THE CROSS-BOW AND ITS
ARROW -- A PRIMITIVE HAMMOCK -- TOMBS IN THE NICOBAR ISLANDS.
We will now pass to the westward, and travel gradually through the
wonderful group of islands which extends almost from Asia to America,
and which is known by the general title of Polynesia. One or two of
them will have to be omitted for the present, so as not to break the
continuity of races, but will be described before we pass upward
through America, from Tierra del Fuego to the Esquimaux.
* * * * *
In the Bay of Bengal, and not much to the eastward of India, is seen
a group of islands, named the Andamans. They are of considerable
length, but very narrow, seldom exceeding twenty miles in breadth, and
are arranged very much after the fashion of the New Zealand islands,
though on a smaller scale. These islands exhibit a phenomenon almost
unparalleled in the history of the human race.
They lie close to India, a country in which a high state of
civilization has been reached many centuries ago. They are almost in
the middle of the track which is traversed by multitudes of ships,
and yet their inhabitants are sunk in the deepest depths of savage
degradation. Even the regular visits made by the Chinese vessels to the
Andaman coasts, for the purpose of procuring the trepang, have had not
the least effect upon them; and they afford perhaps the most perfect
example of savage life which the surface of the earth can show.
The origin of the Andamaners is a problem to anthropologists. They are
small in stature, the men being on an average but little above five
feet in height, and the women being still smaller. They are very dark,
but have scarcely anything except their color in common with the negro.
They have neither the huge projecting jaws and cavernous mouth of the
true negro, nor his curiously elongated heel; and though they are so
small as almost to merit the name of pigmies, they are perfectly well
formed. The hair, when it is allowed to grow, is seen to be thick and
bushy, and resembles that of the Papuans; and it is the opinion of
many competent judges that the Andamaners are the aborigines of the
Papuan race, who have never permitted contact with strangers, and have
preserved their own individuality intact.
In habits they are absolutely savage, their arts being limited to the
manufacture of canoes and weapons, architecture and agriculture being
equally unknown. They possess one of the chief characteristics of
savage life in their roving disposition, never remaining long in one
spot, a stay of three or four days being considered a long visit to
any place. They have no laws, no religion, and no tribal distinctions.
Marriage, as we understand the word, is unknown to them; and there
seems to be few restrictions of consanguinity, a mother and her
daughter being sometimes the wives of the same husband.
Clothing is entirely unknown to them; and when captives have been
taken, they have always found clothes to be an incumbrance to them,
though they were pleased with gaudy handkerchiefs tied round their
heads. The only covering which they care for is one which they share in
common with many of the pachydermatous animals, and employ for the same
purpose. It is nothing more than a layer of mud, with which the natives
plaster themselves in the morning and evening, in order to defend
themselves from the attacks of the mosquitoes, sandflies, and other
insect plagues.
Until the last few years our knowledge of the Andamaners has been
almost _nil_, in consequence of their hatred of strangers, and the
determined opposition which they offer to any foreigners landing on
their shores. The very presence of a boat or a ship seems to excite
them to frenzy. In Captain Mouatt’s valuable account of these islands
is an animated description of a scene which occurred off the coast.
The steamer, on rounding a point, came suddenly upon two groups of
savages, who were at first paralyzed by fear at the sudden apparition
of the unknown object, with its columns of white steam roaring from
the escape-pipe, its smoke, and its plashing paddles. In a few moments
they recovered from their surprise, and raised a simultaneous shout of
defiance. Two boats’ crews were sent ashore, to the extreme anger of
the Mincopies.
“A peculiar natural phenomenon rendered the scene still more striking
and impressive as the interval between the two parties, the savage and
the civilized, was gradually diminished by the onward motion of the
boats. The spray as it rose in clouds from the breakers dashing on the
shore, reflecting the rays of the declining sun, magnified considerably
the slight figures of the natives, making massive and formidable
giants of men who were in reality little more than sable dwarfs. As
the cutters neared that part of the shore where they had stationed
themselves, and they clearly perceived that we were making preparations
to land, their excitement was such that they appeared as if they had
suddenly become frantic.
“They seemed to lose that restraint and control which it is the pride
of the savage to exhibit in time of danger, and jumped and yelled like
so many demons let loose from the bottomless pit, or as if there had
been a Bedlam in that locality, and they the most unmanageable of its
frantic inmates. Their manner was that of men determined and formidable
in the midst of all their excitement. They brandished their bows in our
direction; they menaced us with their arrows, said by common report--so
often a liar--to be poisoned; exhibiting by every possible contortion
of savage pantomime their hostile determination. To use a common
vulgar expression of some of the seamen, they seemed to have made up
their minds to ‘chaw us all up.’...
“The spear which he flourished incessantly was terminated by a bright,
flat, pointed head, which gleamed with flashes of light, as, circling
rapidly in the air, it reflected the rays of the sun. Sometimes he
would hold it aloft, poising it in his uplifted hand, as if with the
intention of hurling it with unerring and deadly aim at the first who
dared to approach the shore of his native island. At length, in a
paroxysm of well-acted fury, he dashed boldly into the water, boiling
and seething round him as it broke in great billows on the beach, and
on the rocks by which it was defended, and, fixing an arrow in his bow,
he shot it off in the direction of the steamer, as if that were the
arch enemy that had provoked his bellicose fury.”
The second party of natives, who turned out to be females, were as
frightened as their male friends were angry. After several failures
in launching a canoe, they rushed in a body to the jungle and hid
themselves from the strangers. They exhibited the usual characteristics
of the people, a basket for fish doing duty for clothes, and a patch of
red ochre on their heads taking the place of hair. So repulsive were
they in their appearance, that the sailors declined to leave mirrors
on the shore as presents for them, saying that such hideous creatures
ought not to be allowed to look at their own features.
The weapons with which the Mincopie men threatened the strangers are
really formidable, and before very long the exploring party learned to
hold them in great respect. The bows are sometimes six feet long and
enormously powerful,--so powerful in fact that the strongest sailors
tried in vain to bend the weapons which the pigmy Mincopies handled
with such skilful ease.
The shape of the bow is very peculiar. Instead of being nearly
cylindrical, largest in the middle and tapering regularly to each
end, it is nearly flat except at the handle, on either side of which
it becomes very broad. In fact, a good idea of it may be taken from a
flattened hour-glass, the channel in the middle being the handle.
The force and accuracy with which these tiny men can shoot are really
wonderful. They very seldom fail to hit their mark at any reasonable
distance, and can make tolerably sure of a man at sixty or seventy
yards, so that the Mincopie bow is really a far better weapon than the
old “Brown Bess” musket ever was. One arrow that was shot at a boat’s
crew at a distance of sixty yards struck a hickory oar, and knocked off
a piece of wood as large as a man’s hand.
These arrows are very neatly made. They are about three feet in
length, and are made of a reed by way of shaft, to the end of which is
fastened a piece of hard wood in order to give weight. Upon this tip is
fixed the head, which is usually the barbed tail bone of the sting-ray,
and sometimes, though not always, poisoned. Should this terrible weapon
enter the body, it cannot be removed without a severe operation, the
sharp brittle barbs being apt to snap off and remain in the wound if
any force be used in extracting the arrow.
Their consummate skill in the use of the bow is obtained by constant
practice from earliest infancy. As is the assagai to the Kaffir, the
boomerang to the Australian, and the lasso to the Gaucho, so is the bow
to the Andamaner. The first plaything that a Mincopie boy sees is a
miniature bow made for him by his father, and, as he advances in age,
bows of progressive strength are placed in his hands. Consequently, he
is so familiarized with the weapon that, by the time he is of full age,
the pigmy Andamaner draws with graceful ease a bow which seems made for
a giant.
Numbers of the toy bows and arrows may be seen scattered about an
encampment if the natives are forced to leave it in a hurry, and their
various sizes show the ages of the children to whom they belonged. The
education of the Mincopie archer is in fact almost precisely like that
of the old English bowmen, who, from constant practice in the art, and
being trained from childhood in the use of the bow, obtained such a
mastery of the weapon as made them the terror of Europe.
Being such skilful archers, they trust almost entirely to the bow and
arrow, caring little for any other weapon. Even the harpoon, with which
they catch the larger fish, is shot from the powerful bow. It is, in
fact, a very large arrow, with a moveable head. This head fits loosely
into a hole at the end of the arrow, and is secured to the shaft by
a thong. It is a very remarkable fact that the bow and harpoon arrow
of the Mincopies are almost exactly like those which are used by the
inhabitants of Vancouver’s Island. They are twice as large, but in
shape almost identical, as will be seen when we come to the North of
America.
When they use the harpoon, a long and elastic cord is attached to it,
one end of which is retained by the archer. The cord is made from a
fibre which has the useful property of hardening by being soaked in
water. For killing the fish when held with the harpoon the Mincopies
use smaller arrows, without barbs or movable heads.
The Mincopies are very expert fishermen, and use nets which are made
from the same fibre that has been mentioned. For small fish they make
the nets of rather thin but very tough string, but for turtle and
large fish they make nets of cord as thick as a man’s finger. One side
of the net is held to the bed of the sea by heavy stones laid on it,
and the other is upheld by floats.
The women search for molluscs, a business which occupies a considerable
part of their time. They always carry neat baskets, in which to put the
results of their industry, and each woman has generally a small net
fixed to a handle, like that which is used by butterfly collectors.
In nothing do the Andamaners show their superior skill more than
in canoe making. Their bows and arrows are, as we have seen, good
specimens of savage manufacture, but in the making and management of
canoes they are simply unapproachable, even though their tools are of
the rudest possible description.
Furnished merely with a simple adze made of a stone fixed into a
handle, the Mincopie boat maker searches the forest for a suitable
tree, and after a week or ten days succeeds in bringing it to the
ground. The rest of the process is so well described by Captain Mouatt,
that it must be given in his own words.
“The next operation is to round the trunk, a process which they perform
with remarkable dexterity, it being almost impossible to conceive how,
with the imperfect instruments at their command, they execute their
work with so much skill and neatness. Practice, however, must render
them, as well as others, perfect; and hence it is that in a short time
the rough and shapeless trunk begins to assume form and proportions;
and, when the process is finished, exhibits a finish and perfection
that even a Chinese carpenter, by far the most handy and ingenious
of human ‘chips,’ would regard with a feeling of envy, as a work of
dexterity which it would be vain for him to attempt to imitate.
“As soon as the trunk has been rounded, they commence the operation of
cutting and chipping at it externally, until eventually the outlines
of the elegant canoe begin to appear from the shapeless mass of the
knotted trunk, just as, by the skill of the statuary, the beautiful
figure gradually assumes its fair proportions in the block of marble.
The shape externally is generally finished with great care and
elaboration before they proceed to hollow it internally, the next
process to which they direct their attention. The interior is excavated
in the same perfect and business-like manner, until the shell is no
thicker than the side of a deal bonnet-box, although it still preserves
that strength which would enable it to resist successfully the utmost
force and violence of the waves, should it even be assailed by a
storm--a thing not at all probable, as, unless carried out to sea by
some accident, it is rare that the Andamaners venture far from the
shore.
“The buoyancy of these boats, when they are well constructed and
carefully finished, is remarkable. They float lightly on the top of the
waves, and, unless they have received some injury, it is considered
almost impossible to sink them. We sometimes made the attempt, but
never succeeded. We fired at them repeatedly when at Port Mouatt--which
may be regarded as a sort of Andaman Pembroke-yard, where a fleet of
Mincopie men-of-war were lying in every stage of preparation--but they
still floated with as great ease and buoyancy as ever. They would
make excellent life-boats, such, we believe, as have never yet been
constructed by any of our most experienced boat-builders.”
Near shore the boatmen paddle about with perfect ease in these fragile
vessels, though an European can hardly proceed twenty yards without
being upset. When they go further to sea they add a light outrigger
to one side of the canoe, and then venture forty or fifty miles from
land. They always, in such cases, take fire with them, which has the
double advantage of attracting the fish at night, and of cooking them
when taken. Sometimes a number of boats will remain all night at sea,
and the effect of their fires and torches is very picturesque when seen
from the land.
The outrigger is certainly a new invention. The earlier travellers,
who were always minute enough in their accounts, did not mention the
outrigger, and, as far as can be seen, the idea has been borrowed from
some Cingalese canoe which had got into a current and been drifted
toward the island.
The paddles are rather peculiar in their form, and, apparently, very
ineffective, looking something like long spoons with flattened bowls,
or, on a smaller scale, the “peels” with which bakers take bread out of
their ovens. The women are the paddle makers, and the implements vary
from three to four feet long. They are cut from a very hard wood, and
the work of making them is necessarily laborious.
Imperfect as the canoe and paddles seem to be, they are in fact
absolute marvels of efficiency. The tiny Mincopies, furnished with
these simple paddles, and seated in a canoe cut by themselves out of
a tree trunk, can beat with ease our best oarsmen. Captain Mouatt got
up several races between the Mincopies and his own prize crew in their
favorite boat. In point of fact there was never any race at all, the
Andamaners having it all their own way, and winning as they liked. The
powerful, sweeping stroke of the man-of-war’s crew was beautiful to
see, but the little Mincopies shot through, or rather over, the water
with such speed that the sailors were hopelessly beaten, although
they strained themselves so much that they felt the results of their
exertions for some time afterward.
Slight, and almost as active as monkeys, the Mincopies ascend the
tallest trees with the like agility, applying the soles of their feet
and the palms of their hands to the trunk, and literally running up
them. When they reach the branches, they traverse them with as much
ease and security as if they were on firm land. Indeed, their powers of
tree climbing seem to be equal to those of the inhabitants of Dourga
Strait, of whom an account will presently be given.
We now come to a question which has often been agitated, namely, the
asserted cannibalism of the Andamaners.
It is a question that every observant reader would be sure to ask
himself, as the Andamaners are just such a savage race as might be
expected to feed habitually on human bodies. Yet, though we find the
comparatively civilized New Zealander sharing with the savage New
Caledonian the habit of eating human flesh, the Mincopie, who is
infinitely below the New Zealander, and certainly not above the New
Caledonian, is free from that revolting practice. He undoubtedly has
been known to eat human flesh, but only when urged by extreme hunger
to eat the flesh of man or to die; and in so doing he has but set
an example which has been followed by members of the most civilized
countries.
That they are fierce and cruel toward foreigners is true enough, and it
is also true that the bodies of those whom they have killed have been
found frightfully mutilated, the flesh being almost pounded from the
bones by the blows which have been showered upon the senseless clay in
the blind fury of the savage. But no attempt has been made to remove
any part of the body, and it was evident that the victors had not even
entertained the idea of eating it.
The food of the Andamaners is tolerably varied, and is prepared in
a very simple and ingenious oven. A large tree is selected for this
purpose, and fire is applied to it at the bottom, so that by degrees a
large hole is burned in it, the charred wood being scraped away so as
to form eventually a large hole. This is the Mincopie oven, and at the
bottom a heap of ashes, about three feet in depth, is always left. The
fire smoulders away gradually among the ashes, and never entirely goes
out; so that whenever a native wishes to cook his pig, turtle, or fish,
he has only to blow up the smouldering embers, and in a few moments he
has fire sufficient for his purposes.
These oven-trees are very carefully preserved, the natives never
cutting them down, and always managing to prevent them from being
entirely burned through. In illustration No. 2, on the 893d page, one
of these trees is shown, with the fire burning in the hollow, and the
natives sitting round it. The Mincopies always contrive to have the
opening of the oven in such a direction that the rain cannot get into
it and put out the fire.
Pigs have been mentioned as forming part of the Andamaners’ food.
These pigs are small and black, with spare, hard bristles, that look
like pieces of wire. They are wonderfully active, and, according to
Captain Mouatt, “are the most curious and mischievous little animals
in creation. They have a leer that makes them look like so many
Mephistopheles, who have chosen to assume that peculiar form, in many
respects a very appropriate one, for, if they are not so many little
devils, they are certainly possessed by them.
“At the time of our visit to the Cinque Islands, we turned out a dozen
of them, and, our unwonted appearance filling them with alarm, they ran
off from us with the velocity of an Indian express train, squeaking
like mad. We set off and had a regular hunt after them--a hunt that
beats to chalks the most exciting scene of pig-sticking ever seen in
Bengal. After discharging their rifles, some of the hunters would
probably find the pigs between their legs, making them measure their
length on the sand. The falls were made with considerable violence,
though they were not dangerous, for they only excited our risible
faculties; and as each one came down he was greeted with a loud and
hearty burst of laughter, as a sort of congratulation to him in his
misfortune.”
The architecture of the Andamaners is very primitive. Four posts are
stuck in the ground in the form of a square, and the builder is quite
indifferent as to their straightness. Two of them are much longer
than the others, so that when they are connected by sticks, a sloping
roof is formed. Palm leaves are then placed upon them, one lying
over the other in tile fashion, so that they form a protection from
perpendicularly falling rain. A number of these huts are generally
erected in a circle, in some cleared space in the forest, which is
sheltered by large trees, and within a convenient distance of water.
One or two of these simple houses may be seen in the illustration.
Primitive as are these huts, some attempt is made at ornamenting them,
the decorations being characteristically the trophies of the chase.
Skulls of pigs and turtles, bundles of fish-bones, and similar articles
are painted with stripes of red ochre, and hung to the roofs off the
huts. Ochre painting, indeed, seems to be the only idea that the
Andamaners have of ornament, if perhaps we except a string which the
dandies tie round the waist, having a piece of bone or other glittering
article hanging from it.
This ochre is in great request among the Mincopies, the women being
especially fond of it by way of a decoration of their heads. As has
already been mentioned, they shave the head completely, using, instead
of a razor, a piece of flint chipped very thin, and having a sharp
edge. They are wonderfully adroit at making these primitive knives,
which are exactly like those of the stone age. The hair having been
scraped off, a tolerably thick plastering of red ochre is rubbed on the
head, and the toilet of a Mincopie belle is complete.
Not only is the ochre used for external application, but it is
administered internally. What is good for the outside, the Mincopie
logically thinks will be equally good for the inside. So, when he feels
ill, he makes a sort of bolus of red ochre and turtle oil, swallows it,
and thinks that he has cured himself. Wounds are dressed by binding
certain leaves upon them, and in many cases of internal pains, bruises,
or swellings, scarification is freely used. Certain individuals enjoy
a sort of reputation for success in the treatment of disease, and are
much honored by the less skilful.
It has already been mentioned that marriage is nothing more than taking
a female slave.
When a wife becomes a mother, the only treatment which she receives
is, that after the birth of her child she is plentifully rubbed with
the red ochre and turtle oil, and is expected to follow her usual
occupations on the next day. The young child is soused with cold water,
poured out of one of the great bamboo vessels which the Mincopies use,
and is dried by rubbing with the hand. Like its parent, the child wears
no clothing; but if the party should be on their travels, and rain
begin to fall, the mother pulls a few leaves from the next tree, ties
them together with a fibre of rattan, and fastens them on the body of
the child. This is the only clothing which an Andamaner ever wears.
Children are never weaned, but continue to take their childish
nourishment until the mother is absolutely incapable of affording it.
Both parents redeem much of their savage nature by their affection
for their children, the father being quite as loving a parent as the
mother--a trait which is often absent among savage tribes. The children
reciprocate the affection, so that, in spite of the absence of any
definite home, there is a domestic character about the family which
could scarcely have been expected from such a race.
It has been already mentioned that the boys amuse themselves chiefly
with small bows and arrows, having these toys of a continually
increasing size to suit their growth. The girls are fond of disporting
themselves by the sea-shore, and building sand houses for the waves to
knock down, precisely as is done by the civilized children of Europe
and America. Their great amusement is to build an enclosure with walls
of sand, and to sit in it as if it were a house of their own until
the rising tide washes away the frail walls. Both sexes are fond of
swimming, and as soon as they can walk the little black children are
seen running into and out of the water, and, if they can pick some
sheltered spot free from waves, they dive and swim like so many ducks.
A Hindoo, named Pooteeah, who was taken prisoner by the Mincopies, and
his life spared for some reason or other, states that they are such
excellent swimmers that several of them will dive together among the
rocks, search for fish in the crevices, and bring their struggling
captives to shore. This statement was discredited by those to whom
it was made, as were several other of his accounts. As, however,
subsequent observations showed that he was right in many of the
statements which were at first disbelieved, it is possible that he was
right in this case also.
[Illustration: (1.) NEW CALEDONIANS DEFENDING THEIR COAST. (See page
884.)]
[Illustration: (2.) ANDAMANERS COOKING A PIG. (See page 892.)]
This man, by the way, was furnished with two wives, mother and
daughter, and, as he was above the ordinary size, Captain Mouatt
expresses some curiosity as to the appearance of the progeny. He made
his escape from the island before the birth of a child that one of his
wives was expecting, and, as the Mincopie mothers are remarkable for
their affection toward their children, it is likely that the little
half-caste was allowed to live, and that a new element may thus be
introduced into the race.
They have more than once made use of their swimming powers in escaping
from captivity. Several instances have been known where Andamaners have
been kept prisoners on board ship, and have seemed tolerably reconciled
to their lot. As soon, however, as the ship neared land, they contrived
to escape for a moment from the eye of the sentry, slipped overboard,
and swam to land. They always dived as soon as they struck the water,
swam as far as they could without rising to the surface, and then,
after taking a single respiration, dived again, and so swam the
greater part of the distance under water. This mode of swimming was
doubtless practised by them when trying to escape from the arrows of an
unfriendly party.
In Captain Syme’s “Embassy to Ava” there is a curious account of two
young Mincopie girls who had been decoyed on board the ship. They
were treated very kindly, and soon learned that no harm would be
done to them. “They suffered clothes to be put on, but took them off
again as soon as opportunity offered, and threw them away as useless
encumbrances. When their fears were over, they became cheerful,
chattered with freedom, and were inexpressibly diverted at the sight of
their own persons in a mirror.
“They were fond of singing, sometimes in a melancholy recitative, at
others in a lively key; and often danced about the deck with great
agility, slapping the lower part of their bodies with the back of their
heels. Wine and spirituous liquors were disagreeable to them; no food
seemed so palatable as fish, rice, and sugar. In a few weeks, having
recovered strength and become fat, from the more than half-famished
state in which they were brought on board, they began to think
confinement irksome, and longed to regain their native freedom.
“In the middle of the night, when all but the watchman were asleep,
they passed in silence into the Captain’s cabin, jumped out of the
stern windows into the sea, and swam to an island half a mile distant,
where it was in vain to pursue them, had there been any such intention;
but the object was to retain them by kindness, and not by compulsion,
an attempt that has failed on every trial. Hunger may (and these
instances are rare) induce them to put themselves into the power of
strangers; but the moment that their want is satisfied nothing short
of coercion can prevent them from returning to a way of life more
congenial to their savage nature.”
Like many other savage races, the Mincopies make a kind of festivity on
each new moon; and as soon as the thin crescent appears they salute it
after their odd fashion, and get up a dance. Their dances are rather
grotesque, each performer jumping up and down, and kicking himself
violently with the sole of his foot, so as to produce a smart slapping
sound. This is the dance which is mentioned in the preceding account of
the two captives.
When a Mincopie dies, he is buried in a very simple manner. No
lamentations are made at the time; but the body is tied in a sitting
position, with the head on the knees, much after the fashion employed
among the Bechuanas, and described on page 300. It is then buried,
and allowed to decay, when the remains are dug up, and the bones
distributed among the relatives. The skull is the right of the widow,
who ties it to a cord and hangs it round her neck, where it remains
for the rest of her life. This outward observance is, however, all
that is required of her, and is the only way in which she troubles
herself to be faithful to the memory of her dead husband. It is rather
strange that, though the Andamaners make no lamentations on the death
of a relative, they do not altogether dispense with these expressions
of sorrow, but postpone them to the exhumation and distribution of the
relics, when each one who gets a bone howls over it for some time in
honor of the dead.
THE NICOBAR ISLANDS.
Immediately to the south of the Andaman Islands, and barely thirty
miles distant, lie the NICOBAR ISLANDS. The group consists of nine
tolerably large islands, and several of much smaller size. One of the
large islands, called Great Nicobar, is twenty miles long by eight
wide, while Little Nicobar is barely half these dimensions.
The islands are singularly fertile, and abound in various kinds of
vegetation, especially in the cocoa-nut palm, not a specimen of
which is to be found in the Andaman Islands. This curious fact is
accounted for by the character of the Andamaners, who have an almost
superstitious love for the cocoa-nut. If one of the nuts be washed
ashore, it is always broken up and eaten; and if perchance one of the
fruit happens to escape the sharp eyes of the natives and to germinate,
its green feathery shoots are sure to attract the attention of the
first Mincopie who passes in that direction. A similar barrier to the
production of the cocoa-nut is found on the coast of Australia.
Although so close to the Andaman Islands, the inhabitants of Nicobar
are very unlike the Mincopies, being a fine tall race, and of a copper
rather than a black hue. Unlike the Mincopies, the men are very fat,
especially about the breast, so that at a little distance they might
easily be mistaken for women. Moreover, they wear the hair long, and
parted in the middle, which to the eyes of a modern European, gives
them a peculiar effeminate look. They wear neither beard nor moustache,
their features are ugly, and their large mouths are stained a dark red
from the juice of the betel-nut, which they are continually chewing.
There is one distinction, however, which is apparent at a considerable
distance. In lieu of clothes, the men wear a strip of cloth, never more
than two inches wide. This is passed round the waist, under the legs in
front, and tucked through itself behind, the end being left as long as
possible. The men place great value on the length of this tail, and he
is the best dressed man who wears it the longest. Some of the wealthy
among them have the tail dragging along the ground for several feet,
like an European lady’s train. If possible, this tail is made of blue
cloth, an article that is held in very high estimation by the natives.
The women are quite as ill-favored as the men, and increase their
natural ugliness by shaving off all their hair. They do not wear tails
like the men, but have a plaited grass girdle, from which depends a
soft fibrous fringe about a foot in depth.
The character of the Nicobarians is far gentler than that of the
Mincopies, the latter being proverbially fierce and cruel toward
strangers, and the former soon learning to welcome foreigners when
they have made up their minds that no harm is intended them. Captain
Campbell, to whom I am indebted for most of the information respecting
these natives, found them very agreeable and hospitable, ready to
barter, and always welcoming him to their houses.
After a short time, even the women and children, who had at first
been scrupulously concealed, after the manner of savages, came boldly
forward, and were as hospitable as the men. On one occasion, while
paying a visit to one of their huts, Captain Campbell tried to make
friends with one of the children, all of whom were terribly frightened
at the white face of their visitor. Finding that no response was made
to his advances, he pulled the child from his hiding-place, and held
him for a little time, in spite of his struggles. The mother made no
opposition, but laughed heartily at the skirmish, evidently feeling
that no harm was intended toward her little one.
The native weapons of the Nicobarians are very curious. As the people
are not of a warlike character like the Mincopies, their weapons are
used almost exclusively for killing game. The most formidable is a
tolerably large spear headed with iron, which is used for killing
hogs, and is thrown like the assagai of Southern Africa. They have
also a smaller javelin for fish-killing, and a number of many-pointed
hand-spears for the same purpose. The most remarkable of their weapons
is a cross-bow, which is almost exactly like that of the Fan tribe of
Africa. It is not very powerful, and only propels a small arrow. Its
chief use is in killing birds.
Besides these weapons, every man carries a cutlass-blade from which the
hilt has been removed, and a handle roughly made by wrapping some six
inches of the butt with cocoa-nut fibre. It is intended not so much as
a weapon as a tool, and with it the natives cut down trees, carve their
canoes, and perform similar operations.
The architecture of the Nicobarians is infinitely superior to that of
the Mincopies, and is precisely similar in character to that which is
found among the inhabitants of New Guinea, the home of the Papuan race.
The native architect begins by fixing a number of posts in the ground,
and erecting on them a platform of split bamboo. Over this platform
he builds a roof shaped exactly like a beehive, and his house is then
complete. The bamboo platform is the floor of the hut, and, being
elastic as well as firm, serves also for a bed. To this hut the native
ascends by a primitive sort of ladder, and passes into the chamber
through a hole cut in the floor. The sides of the hut are adorned with
the skulls of hogs, intermixed with spears, knives, bows, and arrows.
The huts are kept peculiarly neat and clean.
A rather remarkable use is made of the hut. The open space between the
floor and the ground is far too valuable not to be utilized, as it
affords a cool and airy shelter from the sunbeams. Under this floor is
suspended a primitive sort of hammock, which is a board about six feet
in length, slung by ropes. In, or rather on, this very uncomfortable
hammock the Nicobarian likes to lounge away his time, dozing throughout
the hot hours of the day, sipping palm wine at intervals, and smoking
without cessation. In fact, we seem to have got again among the
inhabitants of Western Africa, so similar is the character of the
Nicobarian to that of the negro. The “Scene in the Nicobar Islands,”
represented on the 903d page, shows the personal appearance of the
Nicobarians and their style of architecture.
The canoes of the Nicobarians are not so beautifully formed as those
of the Mincopies, but are constructed on the same principle, being
hollowed out of the trunks of trees, and supported by a slight
outrigger. They have a very high and ornamental prow, and are propelled
by short paddles. They are very light, and, when properly manned, skim
over the water at an astonishing pace. Some of them are nearly sixty
feet in length, while others are barely six or seven feet long, and
only intended for one person.
The mode of burial is not in the least like that which is employed
among the Mincopies. When a man dies, the body is placed in a coffin,
which is generally made from a canoe. The canoe is cut in half, the
body being laid in one moiety, and covered with the other half. In
order to supply the deceased with provisions for his journey to the
spirit-land, a pig is killed and placed in the coffin, together with
a supply of yams and cocoa-nuts. In case he should be attacked on his
journey, a quantity of weapons, such as bows, spears, and cutlasses,
are placed in the coffin.
The body is buried in the middle of the village, and the spot marked by
a stick, to which is attached a small streamer. After some time, when
the body has been consumed by the earth, the coffin is dug up again.
The deceased being now supposed to have completed his journey to his
spirit-home, his bones are thrown into the bush, and the cutlasses and
other weapons distributed among his relatives.