484 ABBOTT COLLECTION FROM ANDAMAN ISLANDS. 



CORDAGE. 



String is made for their harpoon linos, turtle nets and cables, hand- 

 fishing nets, sleeping mats, bowstrings, arrow fastenings, reticules 

 (PI. II, fig. If)), and necklaces. The yellow skin of an orchid {Den- 

 drohliuii) is often seen intertwined with the Anadondron string, and is 

 used as an ornamentation in the lashings of spear heads (PI. Ill, fig. 8), 

 etc. Bowstrings are coated with wax. 



WEAPONS. 



Bows and arrows are the principal weapons used b}" the Anda- 

 manese both in warfare and in hunting. Besides these, for spearing 

 turtle and large fish a harpoon is used, and a peculiar fish spear con- 

 sisting of a number of slender, pointed wooden rods arranoed in a 

 plane and diverging from the handle to the extremities. They are 

 kept in place by small pieces of wood transverselj^ lashed across them, 

 as shown in fig. 13, PI. III. Pig spears (fig. 8, PI. 3) are of compara- 

 tively recent introduction. 



SIGMOID BOWS. 



The S-shaped bows of the Great Andaman tribes are interesting 

 from their resemblance to those used b}^ the natives of New Ireland 

 and of Mallicolo, one of the New Hebrides. As held in the hand, the 

 upper part curves toward the marksman and the lower part away 

 from him. Bows used by the tribes of South and ]\Iiddle Andaman 

 and in the archipelago are usuall}^ ornamented by longitudinal rows 

 of X-shaped markings cut with a Cyrena shell, and are sometimes 

 smeared with red ocher. The bowstring is made of tiie bark fiber of 

 Aiiodendron paiiiculatum., which is usuall}^ coated with black bees- 

 wax. Those made by the North Andaman tribes (PI. HI, figs. 16 and 17) 

 are of a neater and more elegant form. They have long attenuated 

 extremities, are never ornamented by carving or painting, and are 

 usuallv from 5 to .5^ feet long. In Middle and South Andaman the 

 bows used in the interior for hunting are about -1 feet long. In the 

 coast and in the open jungle, or when shooting fish, longer ones are 

 used; and when made for presentation they are 6^ to 7 feet long, and 

 are elaborately ornamented with lines of X-shaped incisions made 

 with a Cvrena shell. On PI. Ill, figs. 14 and 15, are types of the 

 bows of South and Middle Andaman and of the archipelago, the latter 

 being a bow of the usual size for hunting and the former, longer, 

 broader, and more elaborately decorated (the markings on the flat sur- 

 face can not be seen), for presentation. As shown in the figure the bow 

 is inverted; the lower pomt is that which is held uppermost in firing. 

 Figs. 16 and 17 are })ows of the North Andamanese. As shown by 

 fig. 16, the sigmoid curve is not so pronounced in this type as in that 

 of their southern neighbors. 



