THE ANDAMAN ISLANDERS. 439 



Their harpoons, like those of so many other savages, have a 

 movable head, and a long cord by which this may be held 

 when fixed in the victim.* They are very skilful with the 

 bow, and " make practice at forty or fifty yards with unerring 

 certainty," f though their arrows have no feathers. Their nets 

 are made with great ingenuity and neatness. They have no 

 pottery, but use either shells or pieces of bamboo to hold 

 water. They kill fish by harpoons, or with small hand-nets 

 they take any that are left by the tide, and it is even said that 

 they are able to dive and catch them with their hands. { 



They cover themselves with mud, and also tattoo, but wear 

 no clothes. They count only up to two. They are stated to 

 have no idea of a Supreme Being, no religion, nor any belief 

 in a future state of existence. After death, the corpse is 

 buried in a sitting posture. When it is supposed to be entirely 

 decayed, the skeleton is dug up, and each of the relations 

 appropriates a bone. In the case of a married man, the widow 

 takes the skull and wears it suspended by a cord round her 

 neck. It forms a very convenient box for small articles. 

 Marriage, however, only lasts, at least in some tribes, until the 

 child is born and weaned, when, according to Lieut. St. John, 

 as quoted by Sir E. Belcher, the man and woman generally 

 separate, each seeking a new partner. || 



They have no dogs, nor indeed any domestic animals. 



Tlie Australians. 



Throughout the whole continent of Australia the aborigines 

 were remarkably similar in physical appearance, in character, 

 and in general habits. They were, in some respects, scarcely, 

 if at all, farther advanced than those of the Andaman Islands. 

 The "houses" observed by Captain Cook "at Botany Bay, 



* 1. c. p. 326. t Mouatt, 1. c. pp. 310, 333. 



f Belcher, Trans. Ethn. Society, 1. c. p. 327. Belcher, 1. c. p. 43. 

 New Ser. vol. v. p. 49. || 1. c. p. 45. 



