In the Andamans and Nicobars Part 8

One afternoon we paid a visit to Tanamara. He and his wife have no children, but have adopted a little girl from Chaura, whose parents are dead. This custom of adoption is, he says, not at all uncommon.

Tanamara's father and mother live with him; the former, "England" by name, is an old, white-headed man, who is nearly eighty; he professes to know nothing about the piratical atrocities which formerly occurred in this group of islands, although many of them happened at a period sufficiently late in his life for him to have fully comprehended such events.

The interior and contents of the house were very similar to what we had already seen in Trinkat. Opposite the door stood the fireplace--a bed of clay on the floor--above which was a mantle-shelf or rack, where are kept pots, baskets, trays, etc. A grated floor formed a small chamber immediately under the roof, where baskets and odds-and-ends are stowed away. Several boxes, packed with the family possessions of cotton and spoons, stood against the walls, on which hung various charms--small figures (_kareau_), carved scrolls, ta.s.sels of palm leaf, and pigs'

skulls--all for scaring away devils. Hanging in the centre was a gra.s.s string, with a few small coconuts attached: these are for the purpose of feeding the house, and are periodically renewed: the object so nourished does not seem possessed of much ac.u.men, however, for small green nuts, which have been blown down or have fallen from disease, seem quite good enough to sustain it. The house also contained some almost life-sized human figures (_odiau_), carved from wood, painted and clothed. These were not at all badly shaped, and show an appreciation of anatomical detail unusual among uncivilised people. The shape of the Nicobarese head, and the peculiar angle at which the teeth are set, were well noticed: the swelling muscles, the toes and fingers, even the sharpness of the shin-bone in front of the leg, and the form of the knee-cap, were faithfully copied. They were all supplied with a piece of rancid pork hung from the neck or placed in the mouth.[46]

Several pictures (_henta_) drawn on slabs of wood were placed against the walls. These originate from an attack of fever. They are drawn by the village artist by order of the doctor (_menluana_), who tells him what he should make. The latter is paid in kind for his work. Of frequent occurrence are pigs, crocodiles and coconut trees, whilst almost always there appears a scene of men seated at a table and drinking rum from large gla.s.ses. If the patient make a good recovery, the picture is kept as a potent charm, since it has been successful in scaring away the spirits of illness; otherwise, it is thrown away. A bird (_kalang_)[47] commonly made during fever will also produce recovery.

We could not persuade the people to part with any of these, neither would they sell one of the large figures. Tanamara has a life-sized statue, painted black, with a white face, and although he was offered in exchange a dress-suit and a white sun-helmet, which he much coveted, he would not part with his double: its price was far above rupees. I was, however, permitted to photograph both pictures and figure; although, while the latter was being moved from the house to the beach, he was in an agony of apprehension, for he believes that if any accident should happen to it, illness on his part would follow, while, had we broken it or taken it away, he himself would certainly die. The object of these figures is to keep devils from working harm to their owners. Some people have none, while others sometimes possess two or more.

"_February 7._--The people are far too occupied with their feasting to take much notice of our presence: on sh.o.r.e I found them so busy and excited that the photographs I had hoped for could not be obtained.

Every day four large canoes go across to the other side of the harbour for coconuts, of which very few grow about the village: all the vessels are gaily decorated, and the paddlers are in holiday attire--collars of split banana leaf (_f[=u]m_), beads, new cottons, and red paint on their noses.

"Tanamara came on board to tell us that the dance, at which by arrangement we are to be spectators, will be ready to-morrow morning; but that, to give a proper dance, the performers require to be jolly, and to be jolly needs a bottle of rum, which under the circ.u.mstances it was our duty to supply. He only stopped to beg for a gla.s.s of spirits, and then returned to the amus.e.m.e.nts on sh.o.r.e. Laughter, cheers, and singing have been going on in the village all the evening."

"_February 8._--About nine o'clock this morning, taking with us a supply of liquid--half water, half rum--we landed at the village, and were received with a cordiality which doubtless owed its warmth partly to the presence of the bottles. In the banqueting-house we found dancing still in progress, that, judging from the noise made, had lasted throughout the night. All the cottons had been taken down, but the stand of spoons still remained in the centre of the floor. Every one still on his legs was very hilarious; we were shown large jars which last evening were full of toddy. Lying about the sides of the floor people were sleeping, some from sheer weariness, some from intoxication. All were gaily dressed; bright cottons hung from the shoulders like a cloak, round the neck were strings of beads and collars of frilled banana-leaf, now faded; many wore ear-stretchers of red and white cotton made into rosettes, and the men were crowned with chaplets of twisted print: we saw several handsome belts, made of silver wire and rupees (almost the only use to which money is put), and some wore armlets of silver not unlike those bra.s.s-wire ornaments affected by Dyak women.

"In dancing, the people--men, women, and children--form a circle, or portion of a circle, round the spoons, and, with arms intertwined and hands on each others' shoulders, move slowly towards the right, with measured step, to the accompaniment of general chanting--to me it sounded like 'ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah,' _ad infinitum_, only varied in tone and rhythm.[48] The regularity of the movement is broken at intervals by a step or two in the opposite direction, or a pause with a pirouette on one leg, and now and then a heavy stamp on the floor. One old woman, who danced most perseveringly, was so intoxicated, that, whenever her neighbours took away the support of their arms, she fell over, and was too helpless to rise unaided.

"Seated on boxes we watched the performance, and the doctor, presiding over the rum bottles, repeatedly filled a small gla.s.s, from which each imbibed, turn and turn about. At our feet squatted a number of half-drunken people, gabbling away in a mixture of Nicobarese, Malay, and English; not all so stupid, however, that some could not detect the water in the tipple.

"Tanamara, who was fairly clear-headed at first, received the finishing touch from the rum, and before we left embraced Abbott with fervent grat.i.tude: 'You good man, I love you; you make us all nice and drunk.

Oh, I feel so nice!'

"The dancing was very monotonous, and before long we were glad to get out to the open air: the hut was ventilated by a small doorway only, and the vitiated atmosphere in which people had been moving for the last twelve hours was by no means pleasant. Children and boys were present, but no young women; in fact, at all times we only caught sight of the latter as they bolted into the houses on our approach, and none were forthcoming for the camera."

"_February 9._--Everything is quiet on sh.o.r.e to-day after the dissipation which left off yesterday. Tanamara came on board with a headache; he was sure it could be cured with rum, but got a heavy dose of Eno instead. We gave him a few ducks he was very anxious to possess.

It is to be hoped there is a drake among them--a point that was somewhat doubtful--for then we shall have benefited the community to the extent at least of introducing a new domestic animal to the islands."

"_February 10._--Gave Tanamara a watch this afternoon, to spur him to further efforts in collecting curiosities. His wife, whom he calls 'my Mary,'[49] desires to visit the schooner this evening; but although she is uninvited, and comes by her own wish, she has bargained for two fathoms of red cotton in payment for the honour done us.

"We met a man on sh.o.r.e who was for a time at the school formerly kept for natives at Port Blair. He lays claim to the name of William Brown, and speaks English very well; his education otherwise has resulted in giving him a contempt for the native superst.i.tions, of which he speaks with sneers, and meanwhile has replaced them by no other tenets. The train of events that brings such a condition of things about seems somewhat injudicious. A knowledge--a small knowledge--of the 'three R's'

is of very little use to a native who has sooner or later to return to his national mode of existence. His experience may unsettle him, and is no suitable training for his future life, while it must leave him at a disadvantage among his countrymen, who have been bred to the conditions under which their existence will be pa.s.sed."

"_February 11._--Tanamara came on board last evening with his brother-in-law (Hamol) and nephew (Terrok). He was half-drunk with toddy, and brought--it was quite a family party--his wife (Helpak) and mother (Mert). A canoe-load of dishes, spears, and charms, which accompanied them, we purchased with old clothes, wire, and rice. The headman is as great a beggar as the others, perhaps more so, by virtue of his position and his English. Our conversation was continually interrupted by demands for one thing or another as he remembered them: things for his father, mother, wife, each request insinuatingly prefaced by the words 'my friend.' 'My friend, you give me--; My friend, I want--.' But for this fault, he is a fairly favourable specimen of a Nicobarese, and is certainly more intelligent than the rank and file; but, like many that we met, he is somewhat spoilt by contact with more civilised conditions.

"We had on board a quant.i.ty of American cigarettes, packed in cardboard boxes, each containing a dozen, and a coloured picture of a young woman in an evening gown! These packets were very useful as small presents, or as an answer to a request for a smoke. 'Oh, my dear!' exclaimed Tanamara, as he lovingly gazed at the picture from his packet. But he soon became dissatisfied, for she was a blonde and he likes brunettes, while what he was most anxious to obtain was the portrait of a Malay woman.

"Our small supply of spirits coming to an end, Abbott manufactured a new kind of c.o.c.ktail from the medical stores--tincture of cardamoms, essence of ginger, sugar, and water, with a few spoonsful of rum to give the mixture a bouquet. This fiery liquid was received with some suspicion at first; but when I told them it was the favourite tipple of the C.C. at Port Blair (may I be forgiven), Tanamara and his brother--it was too stiff for the others--drank it down, although the tears stood in their eyes."

Of the fauna, we obtained from day to day little of interest: the jungle was without paths, and too thick even to see much in. No rats were trapped, but one specimen was brought us in a bottle by a native, and this has proved to be _Mus alexandrinus_, totally unrecorded until now from the Andamans or Nicobars. Pigeons were common, but megapodes scarce, and the only one obtained was caught in a trap. The vicinity of the harbour, though a somewhat unproductive hunting-ground for the ornithologist, for those interested in the natives, is, like Kar Nicobar, a most satisfactory locality.

Nankauri is a heart-shaped island, with an area of 19 square miles, and a maximum height of 534 feet. The bed rock consists of serpentinous magnesian, which is exposed in places. It is covered by a plastic white or yellowish clay and clay marl, with intervening beds of quartz sandstone, formed, like the clay, by the disintegration of the plutonic rock. The clay beds are similar to those which cover most of the northern islands, and contain silica, alumina, magnesia, and iron, but usually no lime, except in the form of gypsum, found in crevices.

Portions of the clay cliffs exposed to the sun are covered with a fine efflorescence of sulphate of magnesia (Epsom salts). Professor Ehrenberg found in 1850, on examining specimens sent him by Dr Rink (_Galathea_ Expedition), that this formation is a polycistina clay similar to that of Barbadoes.

About one-third of the island is covered with gra.s.s: a belt of forest runs all round the coast, but in the interior is restricted to the valleys and more sheltered slopes. The most useful species are: _Garcinias_, _Calophyllums_, _Myristica irya_, which yields good timber; _Sterculia campanulata_ and _Terminalia procera_, which grow to immense sizes. The Nicobar and many other palms occur in numbers, and a wild species of cinnamon is common, as also is _Amomum fenzlii_, the leaves of which are used for cigarette wrappings, and the fruit much eaten by the natives.

But little fruit is grown about the villages: limes, guavas, and soursops are commonest. In the way of supplies, coconuts, pigs, and a few fowls might be obtained from the natives, and beef by shooting the wild cattle. Water in the harbour is very bad, and scarce.[50]

By a comparison of the census returns (1886 and 1901), the population would seem to have been stationary for many years: it now consists of 224 individuals.

The central group of islands was once notorious for the frequent disasters occurring to vessels calling there. It was for long thought that the numerous total losses that occurred in the Bengal Sea were due to storms and cyclones; but at length the discovery was made, that, from the beginning of the century until the British occupation, the vicinity of Nankauri Harbour was the _habitat_ of a band of pirates, who cut off and murdered the crews of many vessels calling to trade and supply themselves with water or provisions. The headquarters of the band appear to have been in Expedition Harbour, and from there, whenever a vessel anch.o.r.ed at the islands, they sallied out, and either getting on board under the guise of peaceful natives, took the crews by surprise with a sudden attack, or else cut up landing-parties, and then captured the weakened vessel.

In this way, always by treachery and never in open warfare, they succeeded in capturing ship after ship.

There is some ground for belief that, for a time, the piratical goings-on were carried out under the leadership of an Englishman named William Worthington. The dates given in the various accounts of him are contradictory; but it appears that, about 1808, Worthington deserted at Nankauri from the frigate _Bucephalus_, and that for some years subsequently the pirates were directed by a man who gave that name as his.

In 1814, the _Ceres_ was boarded by an Englishman, who stated that he had been left behind by a man-of-war. After inspecting the vessel, he left, and next day, as the anchor was being hove up, he arrived at the head of about thirty canoes, and made a futile attack on the ship.

A short time after, the brig _Hope_ was cut off. An Englishman, who had previously stated he was Worthington, deserter from the _Bucephalus_, murdered the captain and mate, and the natives despatched the crew, with the exception of two or three, who escaped in a boat and in some way arrived at Rangoon.

At length Worthington was either expelled from the harbour, or left with some home-going Bompokans; but be that as it may, a man of that name lived for some years on Teressa and Bompoka, where several captains met with, or received letters from, him. Their opinions of his character differed. He was last seen in December 1820, when he reported that a ship from Bengal had been cut off and ma.s.sacred at Nankauri, with several others previously, by natives led by Kafirs. He stated that after he deserted at Nankauri, he was unable to leave until he had paid a ransom to the natives. His death took place the same year, and the natives with whom he lived afterwards gave him the best of characters: that "John," as they called him, had long dwelt quietly and amicably amongst them. His seems to have thus been a case of "devil turned monk,"

and his career amongst the natives akin to the records of the better-known "beach-combers" of the early days in the Pacific.[51]

In a paper contributed to the _Journal of the Indian Archipelago_, 1847, the missionary, Chopard, says that silver had a peculiar attraction for the natives, and was the chief article which induced them to butcher, by treachery always, crews of vessels calling at the harbour. He knew a Kamortan, thirty-five years of age, who recollected eight vessels which had been cut off there in that manner.

In 1833, a Cholia vessel was cut off in the false harbour of Nankauri (Expedition Harbour) and everyone murdered. In 1844, Captain Ignatius Ventura, from Moulmein, commanding the _Mary_, anch.o.r.ed on the north side of Teressa at two o'clock, and an hour later he and his crew were murdered. In the same year, Captain Law met the same fate on Kamorta. In 1845, a vessel, having taken in part of her cargo at Kachal, sailed to the false harbour at Nankauri to complete, and all hands were murdered.[52]

"While I was at Kar Nicobar," Captain Gardner writes in 1857,[53] "two vessels were cut off at Nankauri, the crews ma.s.sacred, and the ships plundered and scuttled." In 1840, the _Pilot_, South Sea whaler, was cut off there, and the captain, mates, and twenty-five men murdered; the third mate, surgeon, and seven men escaped to sea in a boat.[54] In 1844, the cutter _Emilia_ visited Nankauri, and her captain was murdered within an hour of landing, but the boat escaped.

Piracy in the Nicobars came to an end with the occupation of Nankauri Harbour by the Indian Government in 1869; but two years previous to that it had been necessary to send there a British punitive expedition, on account of the atrocities committed by the natives. A notification of the event was made by Captain N. B. Bedingfield, who commanded the expedition, in the first of the Port Registers entrusted to the Nankauri natives.

"TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN.

"Whereas the natives of these islands have been guilty of several acts of piracy; the crews of no less than four vessels have been ma.s.sacred; a white woman and two children have been kept prisoners for about two years and a half, and after being most cruelly treated, the poor woman, used for the very vilest purposes, was, with her children, first poisoned and afterwards knocked on the head: Her Majesty's ships _Wasp_ and _Satellite_ were sent to endeavour to liberate any captives that might still remain on the Islands, and to punish the natives for their crimes.

"Several towns implicated have been burnt, all the war canoes destroyed, and other punishments inflicted ..." etc., etc.

Nor was this the only case of the kind, for although most of the vessels disposed of were native, the total included not a few European. There is another instance on record, in which a European woman was taken ash.o.r.e and so brutally abused by the band of pirates that she died next day.

It is believed that the origination of these practices cannot be traced to the natives, but is due to the settlement of a body of Malays, who attracted a number of the inhabitants to themselves, and then formed a gang to plunder all vessels calling at the harbour, consequent upon a successful ma.s.sacre of the crew.

CHAPTER IX

KAMORTA

The Old Settlement--The Cemetery--F. A. de Roepstorff--Mortality-- Birds--The Harbour--Appearance of Kamorta--Dring Harbour-- Olta-moit--Buffalo--Spirit Traffic--Cookery--Ceremonial Dress-- A Visit from Tanamara--Geology--Flora--Topography--Population-- Hamilton's Description.

On several occasions we crossed the harbour and visited the locality of the convict settlement formerly established on Kamorta, but given up in 1888, when the buildings were dismantled, and sepoys and prisoners withdrawn to Port Blair.

The jetty on which one lands is more than a hundred yards long, and although solidly constructed of coral blocks, is now in need of partial repair. To the right is a long sea-wall, and on the other hand a small boat harbour, both built of coral. Beyond the agent's house at the foot of the jetty, one walks along a gra.s.s-grown road shaded by an avenue of tall casuarinas, and pa.s.ses several large wells of strong brickwork, and a large tank for rain water, with various other traces of past occupation, till on the hill-top one comes on the remains of the Government bungalow, of which only the foundations are now to be seen. A little farther on is the only building now standing--the old powder store--"where nothing's here that's worth defence, they _leave_ a magazine!"

On another hill close by--from which are to be seen the whole stretch of the beautiful harbour, the distant forest-clad slopes of Kachal and the gra.s.sy interior of Kamorta--lies the little cemetery with its two occupants--Nicolas Shimmings, chief engineer of the R.I.M.S.

_Kw.a.n.gtung_, and Frederick Adolph de Roepstorff, a Dane by nationality, and for some time superintendent of the settlement. Tanamara told us of his death, which occurred in 1883. Complaint had been made that one of the sepoys of the small force stationed here was in the habit of stealing the natives' coconuts; him the superintendent reprimanded, and threatened to send to Port Blair for punishment. Next day the sepoy shot at and wounded de Roepstorff while the latter was in the act of mounting a horse. The injured man despatched a letter to the Andamans by a Burmese trader, but died before the arrival of a steamer, five days later. He was nursed and buried by the Nicobarese, who would not allow the Indian servants to approach him.[55] "He was," said Tanamara, "a good man, a very good man." He took much interest in all that surrounded him, and besides contributing accounts of the Andamans and Nicobars to the journals of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, he made large collections of lepidoptera for the Calcutta Museum, and compiled vocabularies of several of the local languages.[56]

Nowadays, all that marks our possession of these islands is the Colonial Jack, presided over by a Hindu; all that shows our past occupation, fallen brickwork, gra.s.s-grown roads and graves: these things, and the result of our contact with the native inhabitants. In the north, some knowledge of the English speech, and the beginning of education; here the suppression of piracy.