stories may not be classed with innumerable others, the offspring of the
fertile invention of the human brain, the potency of which as an origin
of myths has, I think, sometimes been too much underrated. I shall,
therefore, now take leave of them, and confine myself to giving you, as
far as the brief space of time at my disposal admits, an account of our
actual knowledge of the smallest races of men either existing, or, as
far as we know, ever having existed on earth, and which may, therefore,
taking the word in its current though not literal sense, be called the
“pygmies” of the species.
Among the various characters by which the different races of men are
distinguished from one another, size is undoubtedly one of considerable
importance. Not but what in each race there is much individual
variation, some persons being taller and some shorter; yet these
variations are, especially in the purer or less mixed races, restricted
within certain limits, and there is a general average, both for men and
women, which can be ascertained when a sufficient number of accurate
measurements have been recorded. That the prevailing size of a race is a
really deeply-seated, inherited characteristic, and depends but little
on outward conditions, as abundance of food, climate, etc., is proved by
well-known facts. The tallest and the shortest races in Europe are
respectively the Norwegians and the Lapps, living in almost the same
region. In Africa, also, the diminutive Bushmen and the tallest race of
the country, the Kaffirs, are close neighbours. The natives of the
Andaman Islands and those of many islands of the equatorial region of
the Pacific, in which the conditions are similar, or if anything more
favourable to the former, are at opposite ends of the scale of height.
Those not accustomed to the difficulties both of making and recording
such measurements will scarcely be prepared, however, to learn how
meagre, unsatisfactory, and unreliable our knowledge of the stature of
most of the races of mankind is at present, although unquestionably it
has been considerably increased within recent years. We must, however,
make use of such material as we possess, and trust to the future
correction of errors when better opportunities occur.
It is convenient to divide men, according to their height, into three
groups--tall, medium, and short; in Topinard’s system,[49] the first
being those the average height (of the men) of which is above 1·700
metres (5 feet 7 inches), the last those below 1·600 metres (5 feet 3
inches), and the middle division those between the two. In the short
division are included certain of the Mongolian or yellow races of Asia,
as the Samoyedes, the Ostiaks, the Japanese, the Siamese, and the
Annamites; also the Veddahs of Ceylon and certain of the wild
hill-tribes of Southern India. These all range between 1·525 and 1·600
metres--say between 5 feet and 5 feet 3 inches.
It is of none of these people that I am going to speak to-day. My
pygmies are all on a still smaller scale, the average height of the men
being in all cases below 5 feet--in some cases, as we shall see,
considerably below.
Besides their diminutive size, I may note at the outset that they all
have in a strongly-marked degree the character of the hair distinguished
as frizzly--_i.e._ growing in very fine, close curls, and flattened or
elliptical in section, and therefore, whatever other structural
differences they present, they all belong to the same primary branch of
the human species as the African negro and the Melanesian of the Western
Pacific.
I will first direct your attention to a group of islands in the Indian
Ocean--the Andamans--where we shall find a race in many respects of the
greatest possible interest to the anthropologist.
These islands are situated in the Bay of Bengal between the 10th and
14th parallels of north latitude, and near the meridian 93° east of
Greenwich, and consist of the Great and Little Andamans. The former is
about 140 miles long, and has a breadth nowhere exceeding 20 miles. It
is divided by narrow channels into three, called respectively North,
Middle, and South Andaman, and there are also various smaller islands
belonging to the group. Little Andaman is a detached island lying about
28 miles to the south of the main group, about 27 miles in length and 10
to 18 in breadth.
Although these islands have been inhabited for a very great length of
time by people whose state of culture and customs have undergone little
or no change, as proved by the examination of the contents of the old
kitchen-middens, or refuse heaps, found in many places in them, and
although they lie so near the track of civilisation and commerce, the
islands and their inhabitants were practically unknown to the world
until so recently as the year 1858. It is true that their existence is
mentioned by Arabic writers of the ninth century, and again by Marco
Polo, and that in 1788 an attempt was made to establish a penal colony
upon them by the East India Company, which was abandoned a few years
after; but the bad reputation the inhabitants had acquired for ferocious
and inhospitable treatment of strangers brought by accident to their
shores, caused them to be carefully avoided, and no permanent settlement
or relations of anything like a friendly nature, or likely to afford any
useful information as to the character of the islands or the
inhabitants, were established. It is fair to mention that this hostility
to foreigners, which for long was one of the chief characteristics by
which the Andamanese were known to the outer world, found much
justification in the cruel experiences they suffered from the
mal-practices, especially kidnapping for slavery, of the Chinese and
Malay traders who visited the islands in search of _bêche de mer_ and
edible birds’-nests. It is also to this characteristic that the
inhabitants owe so much of their interest to us from a scientific point
of view, for we have here the rare case of a population, confined to a
very limited space, and isolated for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of
years from all contact with external influence, their physical
characters unmixed by crossing, and their culture, their beliefs, their
language, entirely their own.
In 1857, when the Sepoy mutiny called the attention of the Indian
Government to the necessity of a habitation for their numerous convict
prisoners, the Andaman Islands were again thought of for the purpose. A
commission, consisting of Dr. F. J. Mouat, Dr. G. Playfair, and
Lieutenant J. A. Heathcote, was sent to the islands to report upon their
capabilities for such a purpose; and, acting upon its recommendations,
early in the following year the islands were taken possession of in the
name of the East India Company by Captain (now General) H. Man, and the
British flag hoisted at Port Blair, near the southern end of Great
Andaman, which thenceforth became the nucleus of the settlement of
invaders, now numbering about 15,000 persons, of whom more than
three-fourths are convict prisoners, the rest soldiers, police, and the
usual accompaniments of a military station.
The effect of this inroad upon the unsophisticated native population,
who, though spread over the whole area of the islands, were far less
numerous, may easily be imagined. It is simply deterioration of
character, moral and physical decay, and finally extinction. The
newly-introduced habits of life, vices, and diseases are spreading at a
fearful rate and with deadly effect. In this sad history there are,
however, two redeeming features which distinguish our occupation of the
Andamans from that of Tasmania, where a similar tragedy was played out
during the present century. In the first place, the British governors
and residents appear to have used every effort to obtain for the natives
the most careful and considerate treatment, and to alleviate as much as
possible the evils which they have unintentionally been the means of
inflicting upon them. Secondly, most careful records have been preserved
of the physical characters, the social customs, the arts, manufactures,
traditions, and language of the people while still in their primitive
condition. For this most important work--a work which, if not done,
would have left a blank in the history of the world which could never
have been replaced--we are indebted almost entirely to the scientific
enthusiasm of one individual, Mr. Edward Horace Man, who most
fortunately happened to be in a position (as assistant superintendent of
the islands, and specially in charge of the natives) which enabled him
to obtain the required information with facilities which probably no one
else could have had, and whose observations “On the Aboriginal
Inhabitants of the Andaman Islands,” published by the Anthropological
Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, are most valuable, not only for
the information they contain, but as correcting the numerous erroneous
and misleading statements circulated regarding these people by previous
and less well-informed or less critical authors.
The Arab writer of the ninth century previously alluded to states that
“their complexion is frightful, their hair frizzled, their countenance
and eyes frightful, their feet very large, and almost a cubit in length,
and they go quite naked,” while Marco Polo (about 1285) says that “the
people are no better than wild beasts, and I assure you all the men of
this island of Angamanain have heads like dogs, and teeth and eyes
likewise; in fact, in the face they are just like big mastiff dogs.”
These specimens of mediæval anthropology are almost rivalled by the
descriptions of the customs and moral character of the same people
published as recently as 1862, based chiefly on information obtained
from one of the runaway sepoy convicts, and which represent them as
among the lowest and most degraded of human beings.
The natives of the Andamans are divided into nine distinct tribes, each
inhabiting its own district. Eight of these live upon the Great Andaman
Islands, and one upon the hitherto almost unexplored Little Andaman.
Although each of these tribes possesses a distinct dialect, these are
all traceable to the same source, and are all in the same stage of
development. The observations that have been made hitherto relate mostly
to the tribe inhabiting the south island, but it does not appear that
there is any great variation either in physical characters or manners,
customs, and culture among them.
With regard to the important character of size, we have more abundant
and more accurate information than of most other races. Mr. Man gives
the measurements of forty-eight men and forty-one women, making the
average of the former 4 feet 10¾ inches, that of the latter 4 feet 7¼
inches, a difference therefore of 3½ inches between the sexes. The
tallest man was 5 feet 4¼ inches, the shortest 4 feet 6 inches. The
tallest woman 4 feet 11½ inches, the shortest 4 feet 4 inches.
Measurements made upon the living subject are always liable to errors,
but it is possible that in so large a series these will compensate each
other, and that therefore the averages may be relied upon. My own
observations, based upon the measurements of the bones alone of as many
as twenty-nine skeletons, give smaller averages, viz. 4 feet 8½ inches
for the men, and 4 feet 6½ inches for the women; but these, it must be
recollected, are calculated from the length of the femur, upon a ratio
which, though usually correct for Europeans, may not hold good in the
case of other races. The hair is fine, and very closely curled--woolly,
as it is generally called, or rather, frizzly--and elliptical in
section, as in the negroes. The colour of the skin is very dark,
although not absolutely black. The head is of roundish (brachycephalic)
form, the cephalic index of the skull being about 82. The other cranial
characters are fully described in the papers referred to below. The
teeth are large, but the jaws are only slightly prognathous. The
features possess little of the negro type--at all events, little of the
most marked and coarser peculiarities of that type. The projecting jaws,
the prominent thick lips, the broad and flattened nose of the genuine
negro are so softened down in the Andamanese as scarcely to be
recognised; and yet in the relative proportions of the limb-bones,
especially in the shortness of the humerus compared with the forearm,
and in the form of the pelvis, negro affinities are most strongly
indicated.[50]
In speaking of the culture of the Andamanese, of course I only refer to
their condition before the introduction of European civilisation into
the islands. They live in small villages or encampments, in dwellings of
simple and rude construction, built only of branches and leaves of
trees. They are entirely ignorant of agriculture, and keep no poultry or
domestic animals. They make rude pots of clay, sun-dried, or partially
baked in the fire, but these are hand-made, as they are ignorant of the
use of the potter’s wheel. Their clothing is of the scantiest
description, and what little they have serves chiefly for decorative or
ornamental purposes, and not for keeping the body warm. They make no use
of the skins of animals. They have fairly well-made dug-out canoes and
outriggers, but fit only for navigating the numerous creeks and straits
between the islands, and not for voyages in the open sea. They are
expert swimmers and divers. Though constantly using fire, they are quite
ignorant of the art of producing it, and have to expend much care and
labour in keeping up a constant supply of burning or smouldering wood.
They are ignorant of all metals, but for domestic purposes make great
use of shells, especially a species of _Cyrene_ found abundantly on the
shores of the islands, also quartz chips and flakes, and bamboo knives.
They have stone anvils and hammers, and they make good string from
vegetable fibres, as well as baskets, fishing nets, sleeping mats, etc.
Their principal weapons are the bow and arrow, in the use of which they
are very skilful. They have harpoons for killing turtle and fish, but no
kind of shield or breastplate for defence when fighting. The natural
fertility of the island supplies them with abundance and variety of food
all the year round. This consists of pigs (_Sus andamanensis_), which
are numerous on the islands, paradoxures, dugongs, and occasionally
porpoises, iguanas, turtles, turtles’ eggs, many kinds of fish, prawns,
mollusks, larvæ of large wood-boring and burrowing beetles, honey, and
numerous roots (as yams), fruits, and seeds. The food, the purveying of
which affords occupation and amusement for the greater part of the male
population, is invariably cooked before eating, and generally taken when
extremely hot. They were ignorant of all stimulants or intoxicating
drinks--in fact, water was their only beverage; and tobacco, or any
substitute for it, was quite unknown till introduced by Europeans.
As with all other human beings existing at present in the world, however
low in the scale of civilisation, the social life of the Andamanese is
enveloped in a complex maze of unwritten law or custom, the intricacies
of which are most difficult for any stranger to unravel. The relations
they may or may not marry, the food they are obliged or forbidden to
partake of at particular epochs of life or seasons of the year, the
words and names they may or may not pronounce,--all these, as well as
their traditions, superstitions, and beliefs, their occupations, games,
and amusements, of which they seem to have had no lack, would take far
too long to describe here; but, before leaving these interesting people,
I may quote an observation of Mr. Man’s, which, unless he has seen them
with too _couleur-de-rose_ eyesight, throws a very favourable light upon
the primitive, unsophisticated life of these poor little savages, now so
ruthlessly broken into and destroyed by the exigencies of our
ever-extending empire.
“It has been asserted,” Mr. Man says, “that the ‘communal marriage’
system prevails among them, and that ‘marriage is nothing more than
taking a female slave’; but, so far from the contract being regarded as
a merely temporary arrangement, to be set aside at the will of either
party, no incompatibility of temper or other cause is allowed to
dissolve the union; and while bigamy, polygamy, polyandry, and divorce
are unknown, conjugal fidelity till death is not the exception but the
rule, and matrimonial differences, which, however, occur but rarely, are
easily settled with or without the intervention of friends.” In fact,
Mr. Man goes on to say, “One of the most striking features of their
social relations is the marked equality and affection which subsists
between husband and wife,” and “the consideration and respect with which
women are treated might with advantage be emulated by certain classes in
our own land.”
It should also be mentioned that cannibalism and infanticide, two such
common incidents of savage life, were never practised by them.
We must now pass to the important scientific question, Who are the
natives of the Andaman Islands, and where, among the other races of the
human species, shall we look for their nearest relations?
It is due mainly to the assiduous researches into all the documentary
evidence relating to the inhabitants of Southern Asia and the Indian
Archipelago, conducted through many years by M. de Quatrefages, in some
cases with the assistance of his colleague, M. Hamy, that the facts I am
about to put before you have been prominently brought to light, and
their significance demonstrated.
It is well known that the greater part of the large island of New
Guinea, and of the chain of islands extending eastwards and southwards
from it, including the Solomon Islands, the New Hebrides, and New
Caledonia, and also the Fijis, are still inhabited mainly by people of
dark colour, frizzly hair, and many characteristics allying them to the
negroes of Africa. These constitute the race to which the terms
Melanesian, negroes, or Oceanic, are commonly applied in this country.
They are the “Papouas” of Quatrefages. Their area at one time was more
extensive than it is now, and has been greatly encroached upon by the
brown, straight-haired Polynesian race with Malay affinities, now
inhabiting many of the more important islands of the Pacific, and the
mingling of which with the more aboriginal Melanesians in various
proportions has been a cause, among others, of the diverse aspect of the
population on many of the islands in this extensive region. These
Papouas, or Melanesians, however, differ greatly from the Andamanese in
many easily-defined characters, which are, especially, their larger
stature, their long, narrow, and high skulls, and their coarser and more
negro-like features. Although undoubtedly allied, we cannot look to them
as the nearest relations of our little Andamanese.
When the Spaniards commenced the colonisation of the Philippines, they
met with, in the mountainous region in the interior of the Island of
Luzon, besides the prevailing native population, consisting of Tagals of
Malay origin, very small people, of black complexion, with the frizzly
hair of the African negroes. So struck were they with the resemblance
that they called them “Negritos del Monte” (little negroes of the
mountain). Their local name was Aigtas, or Inagtas, said to signify
“black,” and from which the word Aëta, generally now applied to them, is
derived. These people have lately been studied by two French travellers,
M. Marche and Dr. Montano; the result of their measurements gives 4 feet
8¾ inches as the average height of the men, and 4 feet 6½ inches the
average for the women. In many of their moral characteristics they
resemble the Andamanese. The Aëtas are faithful to their marriage vows,
and have but one wife. The affection of parents for children is very
strong, and the latter have for their father and mother much love and
respect. The marriage ceremony, according to M. Montano, is very
remarkable. The affianced pair climb two flexible trees placed near to
each other. One of the elders of the tribe bends them towards each
other. When their heads touch, the marriage is legally accomplished. A
great _fête_, with much dancing, concludes the ceremony.
It was afterwards found that the same race existed in other parts of the
archipelago, Panay, Mindanao, etc., and that they entirely peopled some
little islands--among others, Bougas Island, or “Isla de los Negros.”
As the islands of these eastern seas have become better known, further
discoveries of the existence of a small Negroid population have been
made in Formosa, in the interior of Borneo, Sandalwood Island (Sumba),
Xulla, Bourou, Ceram, Flores, Solor, Lomblem, Pantar, Ombay, the eastern
peninsula of Celebes, etc. In fact, Sumatra and Java are the only large
islands of this great area which contain no traces of them except some
doubtful cross-breeds, and some remains of an industry which appears not
to have passed beyond the Age of Stone.
The Sunda Islands form the southern limit of the Negrito area; Formosa,
the last to the north, where the race has preserved all its characters.
But beyond this, as in Loo Choo, and even in the south-east portion of
Japan, it reveals its former existence by the traces it has left in the
present population. That it has contributed considerably to form the
population of New Guinea is unquestionable. In many parts of that great
island, small, round-headed tribes live more or less distinct from the
larger and longer-headed people who make up the bulk of the population.
But it is not only in the islands that the Negrito race dwell. Traces of
them are found also on the mainland of Asia, but everywhere under the
same conditions; in scattered tribes, occupying the more inaccessible
mountainous regions of countries otherwise mainly inhabited by other
races, and generally in a condition more or less of degradation and
barbarism, resulting from the oppression with which they have been
treated by their invading conquerors; often, moreover, so much mixed
that their original characters are scarcely recognisable. The Semangs of
the interior of Malacca in the Malay peninsula, the Sakays from Perak,
the Moys of Annam, all show traces of Negrito blood. In India proper,
especially among the lowest and least civilised tribes, not only of the
central and southern districts, but almost to the foot of the Himalayas,
in the Punjab, and even to the west side of the Indus, according to
Quatrefages, frizzly hair, negro features, and small stature are so
common that a strong argument can be based on them for the belief in a
Negrito race forming the basis of the whole pre-Aryan, or Dravidian as
it is generally called, population of the peninsula. The crossing that
has taken place with other races has doubtless greatly altered the
physical characters of this people, and the evidences of such alteration
manifest themselves in many ways; sometimes the curliness of the hair is
lost by the admixture with straight-haired races, while the black
complexion and small stature remain; sometimes the stature is increased,
but the colour, which seems to be one of the most persistent of
characteristics, remains.
The localities in which the Negrito people are found in their greatest
purity, either in almost inaccessible islands, as on the Andamans, or
elsewhere in the mountainous ranges of the interior only, and their
social condition and traditions, wherever they exist,--all point to the
fact that they were the earliest inhabitants; and that the Mongolian and
Malay races on the east, and the Aryans on the west, which are now so
rapidly exterminating and replacing them, are later comers into the
land, exactly as, in the greater part of the Pacific Ocean, territory
formerly occupied by the aboriginal dark, frizzly-haired Negroid
Melanesians has been gradually and slowly invaded by the brown
Polynesians, who in their turn, but by a much more rapid process, are
being replaced by Europeans.