The group of islands known as the Nicobars, about one hundred and fifty
miles south of the Andamans, has been but little explored, though the
manners and customs of the inhabitants offer very interesting
peculiarities to the ethnologist. One of the most noticeable of these is
the passion for old hats. Young and old, chief and subject alike,
endeavour to outvie one another in the singularity of shape, no less than
in the number of old hats they can acquire during their lifetime. On a
fine morning at the Nicobars it is no unusual thing to see the surface of
the ocean in the vicinity of the islands dotted over with canoes, in each
of which the noble savage, with nothing on but the conventional slip of
cloth and a tall white hat with a black band, may be watched catching fish
for his daily meal. Second-hand hats are in most request, new ones being
looked upon with suspicion and disfavour.--“TIT-BITS.”