In the Andamans and Nicobars Part 18

As an example of this, Hamilton tells of one, Captain Ferguson, whose ship, bound from Malacca to Bengal, in company with another, was driven by a strong current on some rocks, and lost. The second vessel was carried through a channel, and was completely powerless to aid those shipwrecked, "which," says our author, "gave ground to conjecture that they were all devoured by those savage cannibals."

This same chronicler met a native of the Andamans at Acheen in 1694, and says of the incident: "The Andamaners had a yearly custom to come to the Nicobar Islands with a great number of small praus, and kill and take prisoners as many Nicobarians as they could overcome." During one of these raids, however, the long-suffering Nicobarese armed themselves--it does not seem to have been their custom to resist--and, gathering together, gave battle to the invaders, and utterly defeated them; and on this occasion the man under discussion, then a boy of ten or twelve years, who had accompanied his father, was taken prisoner, and, spared on account of his youth, was made a slave.

Some years went by, and he was sold to the Achinese, who, being Mohammedans, taught him their religion; and he remained in Sumatra, until, on the occasion of his master's death, he was manumitted.

He had now become very homesick, and so, obtaining a boat, he set out during the fine season from the islands of Gomus (Pulo Bras) and Pulo-weh. "From here the furthermost of the Nicobars may be seen, and so one island may be seen from another, from the southernmost of those to Chitty-Andeman (Little Andaman), which is southernmost of the Andamans, distant from Acheen about a hundred leagues." Once home, and made much of by his relatives, who recognised him although he had long been considered dead, he acquainted them with his knowledge of G.o.d, "and would have persuaded his countrymen to learn of him how to adore G.o.d and to obey His laws, but he could make no converts."

After a month or so of the old life, he returned to Acheen with a quant.i.ty of quicksilver, which, he said, abounded in some of the Andamans; and thereafter he made several other voyages, always returning with a similar cargo. "Some Mohammedan faquirs would have accompanied him, but he would not suffer them, because, he said, he could not engage for their safety among his countrymen. When I saw him he was in company of a seid, whom I carried as a pa.s.senger to Surat, and from whom I had this account of his adventures."

Trustworthy history of the islands now begins; for, at the close of the eighteenth century, the Honourable East India Company sent small expeditions, under Colonel Colebrooke and Captain Blair, to report on the possibilities of the group. Their accounts were so satisfactory, that, in 1789, the latter was sent to establish a penal settlement in what was then called Port Cornwallis--now Port Blair.

All went well with Blair and his colony until 1792, when orders were received from Calcutta to transfer the whole establishment to the harbour in North Andaman, which, in turn, was to be known as Port Cornwallis. The first place of that name was henceforth for a time dubbed Old Harbour.

Colonel Syme, who was sent on a mission to Ava in 1795, visited the establishment on his voyage out, and found there a population of 700, including a company of sepoys. He estimated the aborigines at 2000 to 2500, and gives a very unflattering description of them. They then used rafts of bamboo in addition to canoes.[96]

The new settlement proved so unhealthy, that, after an existence of four years, its abandonment was decided on: the prisoners were transferred to Penang, and the troops returned to Bengal.[97]

For many years now, the group remained untenanted by a foreign element, and its isolation was broken only by the rendezvous at Port Cornwallis, in 1824, of the fleet carrying the army of Sir Archibald Campbell to Rangoon for the first Burmese war; by the murder, while ascertaining the mineral possibilities of the islands, of Dr Heifer, a Russian scientist employed by the H.E.I.C.; and by the simultaneous wrecks in 1844, on Sir John Lawrence Island, of the troopships _Runnymede_ and _Briton_, which, in a hurricane one inky night, were flung, unknown to each other until morning dawned, right over the reef in among the trees of the jungle.

Hardly a life was lost.

Before the Andamans again became the field of Government activity, the Cocos group, which lie 20 miles to the north of Great Andaman, were the scene of an unofficial attempt at colonisation.[98] The first settlers were two men on their way to Australia, who, struck with the beauty of the Great Coco, with its sh.o.r.e covered with innumerable coco palms and other trees, gave up their original plan, and were left there in the early part of 1849. There were no inhabitants; but the islands were frequented during the north-east monsoon by people from Tena.s.serim and Arakan, who came for the coconuts that were so plentiful. The only animals were rats; but the bays abounded with fish and turtle, and water was obtained by sinking wells in the beach.

In the middle of July, the _Flying Fish_--the ship that had landed the first settlers--brought a second batch from Moulmein, and the population then consisted of four men, two women, and four children, with a small number of Burmese and a few Lascars.

Some months pa.s.sed, and the island remained unvisited; and the whole story of that time is one of incompetence, laziness, sickness, and starvation. Stores failed; while food procurable on the island only consisted of turtles, turtles' eggs, fish, and coconuts. The settlers were, besides, suffering from dysentery, fever, and other complaints, brought on by an unaccustomed mode of life, in dwellings that were mere hovels, and subjection to the inclemency of the rainy season. Their spirits became depressed, and despair succeeding discontent, they were more like an unfortunate shipwrecked party than immigrants who had landed to make a new home. Several of the colonists fell a prey to despondency, that in some cases amounted almost to mental derangement.

Some of them died, and those who were rescued from that fate were brought away from the island in an utter state of dest.i.tution, emaciated in body and almost silly in intellect.

On October 29 the remaining settlers--of whom seven had died--were taken off, and reconveyed to Moulmein by the Company's ship _Proserpine_.[99]

In 1855, measures were proposed at Calcutta--for the Andamans were then an appanage of the East India Company--for the repression of the outrages practised by the Andamanese on those crews shipwrecked on their sh.o.r.es, and two years later--on the conclusion of the Mutiny--it was determined that a penal settlement should once more be established in the group; thus combining a headquarters, from whence the pacification of the aborigines might be undertaken, with an abode of punishment for such mutineers and others whose offences had not merited the death penalty.

It was at this date that Dr F. J. Mouat, who has given an account of his visit in _Adventures and Researches among the Andaman Islanders_, was sent, as head of a Commission, to examine the islands and select a suitable locality for the establishment of a penal settlement. The Commission spent about three weeks steaming about the coasts of the Archipelago, and finally decided on Old Harbour, to which they gave the name of Port Blair, in honour of its former resident.

A rather amusing incident occurred during the visit:--A nervous and imaginative member of an exploring party brought news of the proximity of a native village and a lurking body of aborigines. The doctor, without waiting for further information, or to be attacked, addressed his followers in a warlike speech, and gave the order to charge, which the company forthwith did with such vigour that two fiery spirits were knocked senseless by contact with burnt tree-stumps--a number of which the party had mistaken for natives. The expedition had, however, several serious conflicts with the aborigines, in which a few of the latter were killed.

On return of the Commission to Calcutta their advice was soon acted on, and the late General (then Captain) H. Man was sent to Port Blair to formally re-annex the Andamans and put matters in train, and following him a body of convicts arrived in charge of Dr J. P. Walker, who was appointed first Superintendent.

For some years the death-rate was excessive (averaging 18 per cent.), owing to the necessity of pushing forward clearing and building operations, and it was not until 1868, soon after the appointment of Colonel Man as Superintendent, that it fell to a more normal level (average for ten years, 2.7 per cent.).

The pacification of the natives, by means of Homes, a school, and visits paid to the tribes by the Station gunboat, went steadily on, until there now remain but two or three groups of Andamanese from whom any hostility is to be feared.

In 1872-3 the Andamans were formed in a Commissionership with the Nicobars, and a year later general attention was drawn to them by the death of Lord Mayo, Viceroy of India, at the hands of a convict.

The Andaman Islands are inhabited by people of pure Negrito blood, members of perhaps the most ancient race remaining on the earth, and standing closest to the primitive human type.

Geologically, the islands are connected with the opposite mainland, so that in remote times migration was probably possible; and we find in the Malay Peninsula, and in the Philippines, which were at one time connected with it, aborigines who--known by various names, such as Semang, Jakun, etc., and Aeta--are the nearest existing relatives of the Andamanese.

There is no reason to consider the Andamanese any other than the aborigines of the islands, for we know from their kitchen-middens, which are found throughout the group, that they occupied it in very remote times.

From the examination of fragments of pottery, arrowheads, and other stone implements discovered in the sh.e.l.l-mounds, it is now believed that the locality was settled some time during the Pleistocene period, and certainly not later than the Neolithic age.

"In the Andaman kitchen-middens have been found sh.e.l.ls, pig-bones, pottery (referred to a stone age--at least to the Neolithic period--and almost identical with the fragments found in the Danish kitchen-middens), and stone implements. Every second stone picked up showed indications of being used in some way; some as hammers, others fastened to wood as rude hatchets, knives, etc.: a beautiful polished celt was found, indistinguishable from European or Indian celts of the Neolithic period, also a typical arrow-head--all of Tertiary sandstone."--Stoliczka.

The possession by the natives, in recent times, of implements and weapons manufactured from wood and sh.e.l.ls only, is easily accounted for by their having found these equally suitable to their needs, and far easier to construct.

It would be impossible to find anywhere a race of purer descent than the Andamanese, for ever since they peopled the islands in the Stone Age, they have remained secluded from the outer world, and to this isolation is due the uniformity so marked in their physical and mental characteristics.

In stature they are far below the average height; but although they have been called dwarfs and pygmies, these words must not be understood to imply anything in the nature of a monstrosity. Their reputation for hideousness, like their poisoned arrows and cannibalism, has long been a fallacy, which, although widely popular, should now be exploded.

The average heights of Andamanese men and women, computed from a large series of measurements, are found to be 4 feet 10-3/4 inches and 4 feet 7-1/4 inches respectively, and their figures which are proportionately built, are very symmetrical and graceful. Although not to be described as muscular, they are of good development, the men being agile, yet st.u.r.dy, with broad chests and square shoulders.

The abdomens--although on the whole not to a greater extent than those of other savages--are sometimes protuberant, in the women more so than the men, and it is probably owing to this feature that they have been described as figureless, a statement by no means wholly correct.

In both s.e.xes, the small of the back is very hollow and the b.u.t.tocks prominent. The feet are rather large, and occasionally occurs a case of the great-toe being placed with relation to the others in an almost simian or thumb-like way. Hands are of moderate size and well shaped, with long thin fingers.

Viewed from a distance, the skin appears of a jetty colour, especially when shining from the fat with which it is often bedaubed: a close examination shows, however, that it is not absolutely black, although these people are amongst the darkest of mankind.[100] Soles, palms, and nails are pale pinkish-brown, and while the lips of some show a slight purplish tinge, those of the majority scarcely differ in tint from the skin of the face.

The hair, which is similar in colour to the skin, and l.u.s.treless, is woolly, and of what is known as "pepper-corn" type, for, when kept short, it a.s.sumes the form of little k.n.o.bs with bare s.p.a.ces between, giving to the head an appearance that has been rather aptly likened to that of an old worn-out shoe-brush. When long, the tufts take the form of a cone-shaped frizzly spiral. The body is glabrous, but there are traces of hair about the armpits and other parts, and adult males possess sometimes an excessively slight moustache, and about a dozen hairs on the tip of the chin.

The skull is mesocephalous, with an index of about 82; the forehead of good size, round and prominent; the face rather short, and often quadrilateral. The nose is somewhat broad, with rounded tip and nostrils, often short, and, when not straight, as is most common, is as frequently convex as concave. The eyes are large, horizontal, and placed widely apart, with black pupils and muddy yellow sclerotic; and the lips, which are well-formed and neither excessively prominent nor thick, are kept closed when at rest, and cover teeth strong though irregular and often stained from use of tobacco. The ears are of good shape, small, and lie close to the head.

Their speech is rapid and vivacious. Each tribe possesses a distinct dialect, traceable, however, to the same source.

"The Andamanese languages are one group, and have no affinities by which we might infer their connection with any other known group.

They belong to the agglutinative stage of development, and are distinguished from other groups by the presence, in full development, of the principle of prefixed and affixed grammatical additions to the roots of words. Their form of speech is extremely intricate; for instance, the possessive p.r.o.nouns have as many as sixteen possible variants according to the cla.s.s of noun with which they are in agreement. There is also a distinct poetical dialect, and in their songs they subordinate to rhythm, not only the form of words, but even the grammatical construction of sentences."[101]

They have words for the numerals "one" and "two" only, but can count to ten by tapping the nose with the finger-tips of both hands, uttering for each in turn the word _an-ka_ = "and this," until, when the last is reached, the expression _arduru_ implies "all."

In disposition they are childish, but bright and merry, though petulant, quick-tempered, and restless, and not capable of much perseverance.

Great affection is lavished on children and the young; old or helpless are held in high consideration. Women are well treated, and not used as drudges or slaves, but are a.s.sisted by the men, who a.s.sume a fair share of the day's work.

In the school that at one time existed at Port Blair for the Andamanese, it was found, that, as with all savages, the children, when educated were as proficient up to a certain age as the children of civilised peoples, but that point reached, they possessed no capacity for imbibing further knowledge.

As the natives gain by education in intelligence and tractability, they become fat and indolent, while their morals undergo much deterioration through contact with the convicts. The clearance of the jungle has been prejudicial to their health, and excessive tobacco-smoking among both s.e.xes, which has been unrestricted, has seriously undermined their already enfeebled const.i.tutions.

They possess very little vital power, and readily succ.u.mb to diseases, suffering much from febrile disorders, which give rise to pulmonary complaints--the chief cause of mortality among them. Very few reach the age of fifty, and the average duration of life is little over twenty years. Of the lesser ailments, skin diseases are very common.

Measles, to which over 20 per cent. of the population fell victims in 1877, was followed by an outbreak of syphilis, both introduced by convicts. The latter disease has caused much injury, and its spread has, it is believed, been greatly accelerated by the custom prevailing of the women suckling each other's children.

The "sense of shame" is but little developed, and the natives pay no attention to their own nudity, although by nature they are modest. Of the various objects worn, those only coming under the heading of clothing are the ap.r.o.ns or leaves worn with the girdle by the women, and always carefully adjusted.

Previous to marriage, which is not permitted to those between whom any degree of consanguinity can be traced, unchast.i.ty is the rule with both s.e.xes. Births out of wedlock, however, are considered discreditable, and marriage generally follows on a girl becoming _enceinte_, in which case there seems no objection on the part of the lover to become the husband.

Once married, conjugal fidelity until death is the rule, and bigamy, polygamy, and divorce are unknown.

Restrictions from various tabooed articles of food, which begin at p.u.b.erty and often last for years, are brought to a conclusion after a long series of initiatory ceremonies undergone by both s.e.xes.