Little Andaman Island, Bay of Bengal. 45 



sooty black ; their hideous faces seemed to be painted with red 

 ochre. I may here remark, that the inhabitants of the Anda- 

 man Islands, decidedly a negro race, and differing widely from 

 those of the neighbouring continent, are supposed to be the de- 

 scendants of the survivors from the wreck of an Arab slave ship, 

 said to have been lost here some centuries ago. The Chinese, 

 who occasionally resort to these islands to collect the edible nests 

 of the Hirundo esculenta, affirm that the natives are anthropo- 

 phagi. One thing, however, is certain, that several boats^ crews 

 have fallen into their hands, and have never since been heard 

 of. 



At the above stage of the rencontre, the other cutter, with two 

 or three of the officers on board, neared the beach, and seeing 

 what we were about, they called to us to retire' a short distance, 

 and allow the tyndal to go up and speak to the savages, for perhaps 

 they were afraid of Europeans. We fell back to the water's 

 edge, and having caused the tyndal to strip to shew them that 

 he was unarmed, he went up to within a few paces of them, and 

 offered them a couple of handkerchiefs, making at the same time 

 signs of drinking ; but* upon his attempting to approach nearer, 

 they drew their bows and threatened him. Seeing this we called 

 him off; and not knowing how to act in this emergency, without 

 advice from the ship, as we had been requested not to use any 

 violence, both cutters returned to the vessel ; and upon report- 

 ing what we had seen relative to the hostile disposition evinced 

 by the natives, a subaltern's party of the 45th, with a couple of 

 buglers, and pioneers to fill the water-casks, were ordered to ac- 

 company us, in order that we might force our way to the water 

 if necessary. We landed at the same spot we had formerly 

 done, and not seeing any thing of the natives, we advanced a- 

 long the beach towards the southward ; and, upon turning a 

 point, saw flocks of sand-larks, curlews, &c. Further on we 

 discovered a hut on the edge of the jungle : we went to it, and 

 found it to be about 20 feet in height, of a conical shape, 

 thatched to within a foot and a-half of the ground with rattan 

 leaves, with just room to crawl in underneath. The floor inside 

 was strewed with leaves, and there were several cots or sleeping 

 places in different parts ; they consisted of four sticks driven in- 

 to the ground, on which was fixed a bamboo grating. Ranged 



