■178 ABBOTT COLLECTION FKOM ANDAMAN ISLANDS. 



THE ANDAMANESE. 



The origin of the Andamanese has long been an interesting problem 

 to anthropologists. From the observations of Mr. E. H. Man, who, 

 more than any other, has made the race a study, it appears that 

 the Andamanese are Negritos and not Papuans. They are well made 

 and well proportioned. Their skulls are braehy cephalic (see Plate I, 

 tig. 8), and very few cases of prognathism have been observed. Their 

 lips are not thick, their profiles are good, and they have no peculiar 

 odor like that which is found in the African race. Their extremities 

 are small, but the heel projects slightly to the rear. From measure- 

 ments of 48 men and 41 women, made by Mr. Man. it was found that 

 the average height of the men was 4 feet lOf inches, of the women, 4 

 feet 7i inches, while the average weights were 98^ pounds and 93£ 

 pounds, respectively. The maximum height of the males measured 

 was 5 feet 4j inches, of the female 4 feet 11^ inches, and the minimum 

 heights were 4 feet 5f inches and 4 feet 4 inches, respectively. The 

 color of the skin of the Andamanese is variable. It is generally bronze, 

 or dark copper color; often tin 1 color of soot, and even quite black. 

 Their hair is woolly, but its cross section is not always elliptical. It is 

 a common practice for both sexes to shave the head. Boys attain 

 puberty at the age of 16 years and girls at the age of 15. The average 

 length of life is said to be ±2 years. Adult women have a considerable 

 development of adipose tissue in the region of the pelvis, but it is not 

 excessive. Laughter is frequent and often immoderate. In a letter 

 to the Smithsonian Institution, Doctor Abbott says: " We liked the 

 Andamanese very much; they seem such a happy, jolly lot of little 

 folk." 1 And, of the inhabitants of Little Andaman, he says: "These 

 were a happy, merry, little people, infantile both in their looks and 

 behavior. They are without the rank smell of the negro. The girls 

 are frequently pretty when young. They are tin 1 very blackest peo- 

 ple 1 have ever seen." Of the natives near the settlement of Port 

 Blair, he says: "Unfortunately they are dying out. Contact with 

 civilization is making the women barren, and there are comparatively 

 few children. In Little Andaman, which is in statu quo ante, they 

 are in their original condition and art' not dying out." 



Whatever may have been the theories advanced to account for the 

 presence of these Negritos in the Bay of Bengal, so entirely unlike 

 any of their immediate neighbors, says Man, it is now pretty well 

 demonstrated that they are aborigines and have inhabited the group 

 from prehistoric times. Their nearest relatives. Wallace thinks, are 

 the Samangs of the Malayan Peninsula and the Acta- of the Philippines. 

 All of the tribes are of the same race, and there is no evidence of their 

 ever having been crossed with other races. The inhabitants of Little 

 Andaman may perhaps differ somewhat from their northern relatives, 



