1888.J on the Pygmy Maces of Men. 271 



important work, a work wbich, if not done, would have left a blank 

 in the history of the world which could never have been replaced, 

 we are indebted almost entirely to the scientific enthusiasm of one 

 individual, Mr. Edward Horace Man, who most fortunately happened 

 to be in a j^osition (as Assistant Superintendent of the Islands, and 

 specially in charge of the natives) which enabled him to obtain the 

 required information with facilities which probably no one else 

 could have had, and whose observations ' On the Aboriginal Inhabi- 

 tants of the Andaman Islands,' published by the Anthropological 

 Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, are most valuable, not only 

 for the information they contain, but as correcting the numerous erro- 

 neous and misleading statements circulated regarding these people 

 by previous and less well-informed or less critical authors. 



The Arab writer of the ninth century previously alluded to, 

 states that " their complexion is frightful, their hair frizzled, their 

 countenance and eyes frightful, their feet very large, and almost a 

 cubit in length, and they go quite naked," while Marco Polo (about 

 1285) says that " the people arc no better than wild beasts, and I 

 assure you all the men of this island of Angamauain have heads like 

 dogs, and teeth and eyes likewise ; in fact, in the face they are just 

 like big mastiff dogs." These specimens of mediajval anthropology 

 are almost rivalled by the descrijDtions of the customs and moral 

 character of the same people j)ublished as recently as 1862, based 

 chiefly on information obtained from ^ne of the runaway sepoy 

 convicts, and which represent them as among the lowest and most 

 degraded of human beings. 



The natives of the Andamans are divided into nine distinct tribes, 

 each inhabiting its own district. Eight of these live upon the Great 

 Andaman Islands, and one upon the hitherto almost unexplored 

 Little Andaman. Although each of these tribes possess a distinct 

 dialect, these are all traceable to the same source, and are all in the 

 same stage of develoj)ment. The observations that have been made 

 hitherto relate mostly to the tribe inhabiting the south island, but it 

 does not appear that there is any great variation either in physical 

 characters or manners, customs, and culture among them. 



With regard to the important character of size, we have more 

 abundant and more accurate information than of most other races. 

 Mr. Man gives the measurements of forty-eight men and forty-one 

 women, making the average of the former 4 feet lOf inches, that of 

 the latter 4 feet 1^ inches, a difference therefore of 3 J inches between 

 the sexes. The tallest man was 5 feet 4 J inches; the shortest 

 4 feet 6 inches. The tallest woman 4 feet llj inches ; the shortest 

 4 feet 4 inches. Measurements made upon the living subject are 

 always liable to errors, but it is possible that in so large a series 

 these will compensate each other, and that therefore the averages 

 may be relied upon. My own observations, based upon the measure- 

 ments of the bones alone of as many as twenty-nine skeletons, give 

 smaller averages, viz. 4 feet 8.^ inches for the men, and 4 feet 6 J 



