In the Andamans and Nicobars Part 23

At last some wise men brought to the trees an old man who was dying, and made him taste of the nuts, to find out their qualities! The old man accordingly ate one, and found it to be very delicious, and from continually eating nuts he became very strong, and grew to look like a young man.

Thenceforth the people began to make use of the coconut!

In the old days it was the custom to kill men for any offence, grave or simple. But at length the elders, finding that the population had greatly diminished thereby, held a council, and introduced the system of killing pigs, burning houses, felling trees, breaking canoes, and destroying clothes, etc., and this method is continued at the present day side by side with the former.

The people seldom have open fighting among themselves, neither do they use their fists, or flog. In extreme cases only (witchcraft) do they commit murder.

The Nicobarese have no conception of a Supreme Being, or a future state, but there is a universal belief in evil spirits, who are in part ghosts of the wicked, and who can be propitiated by offerings and kept away by exorcisms.

These creations of the imagination, who in the northern island are called _Siyas_, seem much akin to the _Nats_ of Indo-China, but are far less localised, and, as a rule, have no particular tree, rock, or stream for their abode. They are the cause of every misfortune and disease that occurs to man, but death in the ordinary course of things is considered to be a natural event.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "Scare-devil," or device for exorcising evil spirits (Kachal).]

It would appear that in Kar Nicobar, Teressa, and Chaura, where the superst.i.tious practices are nearly alike, some idea is entertained of spirits not altogether inimical to mankind; but in the other islands, whose beliefs are all h.o.m.ogenous, the _Iwis_ are all harmful to human beings, and are kept at a distance by a redundancy of charms and talismans that does not occur in the north.[156]

The latter, which include various objects, such as figures of men, women, animals, etc., pictures, banners, and so on, are none of them regarded as idols or worshipped, neither are they fetishes--the instruments of spirits, or themselves endowed with life--although those of them representative of living objects are from time to time given such food as pork or coconuts. They merely act as "scare-devils,"

putting to flight the demons of sickness and guarding their constructors from any misfortune. They are effective only on behalf of those who make them, and at such person's death it is the custom to destroy or discard the talismans.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Nicobarese Talisman.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: "Scare-devil," or device for exorcising evil spirits (Kachal).]

The natives have no temples or any form of worship, but there have come into being _shamans_ or priest-doctors, known as _tamiluanas_ and _menluanas_, who have the power of communicating with the spirits, and by means of certain ceremonies, in conjunction with the use of rods, particular leaves, and ashes, periodically, by open warfare and by magic, drive the malignant demons from such places in man's neighbourhood as they may have intruded into, or defeat them when prevailing disease or misfortune can be traced to their agency.

These practices and beliefs, which it would be incorrect to cla.s.s together under the name of religion, are not accompanied by any moral element. Their code of ethics has no connection whatever with the form of malevolent spiritualism which they entertain, but is entirely an affair of public opinion and social convention.

The cult of the natives as it exists in the south, with its multiplicity of charms, "medicine," and demon-scaring figures and objects, is probably only an isolated case of a practice widely spread throughout the Malayan Archipelago--in Sumatra, Borneo, and other islands, and even amongst the Papuans still further east.[157]

On the other hand, it is not at all impossible, in view of the natives'

acquisitiveness of foreign ideas, that most of their practices arise from a corrupted interpretation of the, in other respects, futile teachings of the numerous missionaries who have laboured in vain in the islands, complicated by an additional jumble of tenets adopted from other strangers with whom they have come into contact, while, in particular, the figures, pictures, and charms of many localities may be to some extent merely a degraded survival of the religious paraphernalia of the Jesuit missionaries.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Female Talisman (Kachal).

Female Talisman, "Kario" (Nankauri).]

One might adduce in support of this theory the fact that superst.i.tion and its accessories thrive most strongly in the places where the missionaries as a rule establish themselves--Kar Nicobar and Nankauri Harbour.

Fever, colic, coughs, rheumatism, and sore and inflamed eyes, are not unfrequent ailments. Syphilis also occurs, and has probably been introduced by the traders, or by the Nicobarese who have visited Calcutta and Moulmein in their vessels.

Itch (_tinea circinata tropica_) is in some localities very prevalent among the natives, who are also liable to attacks of a mild form of elephantiasis throughout the Archipelago. It is said that in Chaura from one-third to one-half the population are so diseased in one way or the other. Cases of yaws occur from time to time among children.

Eno's fruit salt, camphor, castor-oil, turpentine, and quinine, are the princ.i.p.al features of the Nicobarese pharmacopoeia.

Eno's fruit salt mixed with water, with a little powdered camphor and turpentine added, is given twice a day for colic. For fever, a little quinine is added to the same mixture.

Sandalwood and jessamine oil are held in great repute as aphrodisiacs, and are purchased from the Burmese traders in small quant.i.ties at a very high price.

Faith, however, is not always placed in the efficacy of mundane remedies. A woman who had been ill for a year, when asked if she would take medicine, replied, "The devil has caused this illness, and it cannot be cured by medicine. Only the _tamiluanas_ can cure me by driving the devil out of me." She preferred sugar and biscuits to drugs.

Malaria, which is perhaps the indisposition by which they are most frequently attacked, is always attributed to demonic agency.

Marriage amongst the Nicobarese is of a cla.s.s that is considered to be a modification of the matriarchal system, and that exists widely spread in this portion of the world amongst the Malayan and Indo-Chinese peoples.

Until he marries, a man considers himself a member of his father's household, but after that event he calls himself the son of his father-in-law, and becomes a member of his wife's family, leaving the house of his own parents, or even his village, if the woman dwell elsewhere.[158]

Only the chiefs, or wealthy men whose positions in the village are of influence, are exceptions to this law; they are permitted by custom to bring their wives to their own houses.[159]

There is no law of exogamy amongst them--a man marries in his own village, village-group, or even house; for although connections between blood relatives are disapproved of, there is nothing to prevent such taking place, except public opinion, which may often be disregarded with impunity.

The woman on her marriage brings no special dower into the partnership, neither is there any custom by which the man is compelled to place a certain amount of property at the disposal of her parents. Each has a right to a certain proportion of their common household possessions, and their worldly status improves by inheritance and by their own efforts.

Those marriages are most successful from which children are numerous, for these make life easier by taking a large amount of the daily and special work upon themselves, and by acting as a support and provision to their parents in old age.

There is very little that is binding in the marriage state of these people, cohabitation with its duties being co-existent with mutual consent. So long as they like each other and are contented with their position, the couple remain together; but the absence of children, illness, old age, and many extremely trivial reasons are sufficient cause for separation.[160] The divorce is a matter for the two most concerned only; there are no public proceedings to take place, no ceremonies to undergo.[161]

Most of the adult members of the population have been married three or four times, a goodly number far more often. The children of the partnership, if young, go with the more influential of the parents; when older, they exercise an individual choice.[162]

From the nature of the marriage, the woman as often divorces her husband as _vice versa_.

The natives as a race are monogamous, but now and again polygamy is found to occur. It is practised, however, only by the chiefs and more wealthy men, who live in their own houses, and can afford to domicile their wives in separate dwellings.[163]

Cases of adultery are punished by a fine, but there is no established amount. The village elders consult together as to what the seducer shall be mulcted of, and generally decide on a certain number of pigs, which are cut up and distributed among the community.[164]

There seems to be no objection to a girl having as many lovers as she likes before marriage, and altogether the state when entered upon is one that presses very lightly on the people. There are few unwritten laws on the subject, and public opinion is of hardly any weight.[165]

Courtship, like marriage, is merely a variation of the Malayan custom of nocturnal visiting, much simplified, however, by the absence of any ceremonies to mark its change into a more stable relationship.

When a man desires to marry a girl, he contracts a friendship with her family, a.s.sists her in her daily work, and sleeps for a time in whatever house she may occupy. During the night he seeks the girl, who will be sleeping among others, and by blowing on the burning end of a cigarette he obtains light enough to discriminate. The efforts of the man to embrace and caress her the girl withstands vigorously with blows and scratches, so that his face and chest are often torn and covered with blood. So things continue for several nights perhaps, the man suffering patiently the while, until, if she is willing to take him as a husband, she yields herself. This is their nuptials, and concludes the marriage.[166] Thenceforth, the man holds to his wife's house rather than his own family's, but often the parents will learn nothing for some time.[167]

Sometimes the girl makes the path of courtship less easy, by changing her sleeping-hut from night to night. This difficulty the lover generally overcomes by employing small boys to follow her about and inform him of her resting-place.

Occasionally the man, following the girl home at night after a dance, etc., will meet with an attempt at resistance on the part of the other women dwelling there, when he essays to enter the house she has chosen.[168]

A man wishing to escape the consequences of marriage, and thinking he was unrecognised in the darkness by others during his intercourse with the girl, will nearly always be identified by some of the women present.

If he refuses to carry out his share of the contract, a council is called of the princ.i.p.al men of his village, and they fine him so many pigs, which form the material for a general feast.

In the northern islands, the "Town Halls" in the _Elpanams_ are the property of the community in general, for they are the work of the whole village. The products of the forest are common to all, but it is now necessary to obtain the headman's permission before occupying a piece of land near the village, to build a house or make a garden on.

Everything which the village as a whole makes or purchases, as the _Elpanam_ houses or Chaura canoes, is common property, but the result of individual work belongs to the individual. Plantations, coconuts,[169]

canoes, and houses, are private possessions, liable, however, to family claims founded on common family work.