io6 Voyage of the Novara. 



liablt them, we find ourselves confronted with a people, wlio, 

 on account of the primitive manner in which they live, at- 

 tract our interest in the highest degree. The natives of the 

 Nicobar group, whose entire number may be estimated at 

 from 5000 to 6000 souls, are, as we have already remarked, 

 large and well-formed, the skin of a dark brown, bronze-like 

 hue, and owing to the prevailing custom of anointing their 

 bodies with cocoa-nut oil, usually presenting a glancing 

 appearance, and emitting a peculiar odour. This inunction 

 is apparently intended to obviate superabundant perspiration, 

 as also any skin diseases, just as the Indian races west of the 

 Mississippi are accustomed to protect their naked bodies 

 against the direct influences of the cold, by rubbing in the 

 fat of animals. The practice of daubing the face does not 

 seem to be so extensively resorted to, as previous descriptions 

 of the Nicobar islanders had led us to believe. We saw only 

 one solitary native, at the village of Malacca in the island of 

 Nangkauri, who had 23ainted his forehead and cheeks with 

 the red pigment obtained from the seeds of the Bixa Orellana 

 (the well-known Annatto dye). Instances of tattooing we 

 never fell in with, nor do these islanders seem to have any 

 desire to imitate the beautiful, sometimes absolutely artistic, 

 designs punctured on the hands and feet of the Malays and 

 Burmese who occasionally visit them. Moles and blotches 

 on the breast and arms are of frequent occurrence. Tlie 

 forehead of the Nicobar islander is slightly rounded, and in 

 many cases may even be said to be well-formed, but it falls 



