Littell's Living Age/Volume 133/Issue 1719/Miscellany

Some interesting observations on the habits of the inhabitants of the Andaman Islands by Surgeon-Major Hodder appear in the appendix to the report of the Army Medical Department for 1875, just issued. The account given of these people, though not on the whole unfavorable, does not leave the impression that they form a pleasant society, or that the islands are a desirable place of residence. With the exception of a considerable variety of birds, there is a great deficiency of animal life — wild pigs and cats are nearly all that are known or believed to exist. Insects, lizards, and snakes are, however, common. The aborigines are not cannibals, as reported, and indignantly deny the imputation, nor are they, as has been stated, deformed and hideous, though not exactly prepossessing in appearance. In height they vary from 4 ft. 9 in. to 5 ft. 1 in.; they are extremely black, more so than the African negro, and some of them have "a dull, leaden hue like that of a black-leaded stove." They are fond of dancing, have a strong sense of the ridiculous, are exceedingly passionate, and easily aroused by trifles, when their appearance becomes diabolical. The men wear no clothing, and the women very little. They cover their bodies with red earth, and as ornaments wear strings of their ancestors' bones round their necks, or a skull slung in a basket over their shoulders. They are tattooed all over their bodies, their heads are shaven, with the exception of a narrow streak from the crown to the nape of the neck. They rarely have eyebrows, beard, moustache, whiskers, or eyelashes, and are very fond of liquor and smoking. They are short-lived and not healthy, not many passing forty years of age. Their language consists of few words, and these sound harsh and explosive, and are principally monosyllables. Their chief amusement, and indeed nearly their only one, is dancing, a monotonous song, and the music of a rough skin drum, which they play by stamping on it with their feet. Their method of courtship and marriage has the merit of simplicity. The youth who is a candidate eats a certain kind of ray-fish, which gives him the appellation of goo-mo, or "bachelor desirous of marrying." The girls who are marriageable wear a certain kind of flower. The ceremony consists in the pair about to be married sitting down apart from the others and staring at one another in silence. Towards evening the girl's father or guardian joins the hands of the pair; they then retire and live alone in the jungle for some days. The islanders make nothing but canoes, bows, arrows, spears, and nets, and these are necessary to supply them with their daily food. On the first establishment of the penal settlement in the Andamans their favorite occupation was murdering the convicts and taking their irons for arrow-heads; but they gradually gave up this objectionable practice, and now within a radius of ten or fifteen miles from the settlement stragglers are as a rule safe from attack, though beyond this radius Europeans, except in sufficient numbers and with arms for protection, would probably be roughly handled. Of late years "homes" have been established for the Andamanese consisting of large bamboo sheds, in which those who come in from the jungle put up, coming and going at will. They seem, however, to prefer the jungle, and the attempts made to cultivate their acquaintance do not appear to have, been crowned with success. Pall Mall Budget.