PROCEEDINGS OF THE COTTESWOLD CLUB 305 



Of "fire-making" I could learn nothing, though I do 

 not mean to imply that they know nothing of it, but I 

 should judge that the practice has very much died out 

 on account of the great ease with which matches can be 

 obtained ; and as the men have naturally no pockets, they 

 carry the pipe fixed in the wool on one side of their head, 

 the matches on the other. 



The Andamanese appear to have no religious ideas at 

 all. A few traditions concerning the population of the 

 Islands are to be found in the Journals of the Anthropo- 

 logical Society, written by Mr Man, who has paid great 

 attention to this, as also to their language, which he speaks 

 like a native. They are monogamists, but take no care of 

 their children, and are quite ready to hand the child over 

 to the first person who may ask for it ; few children are 

 now born, and few survive birth, the natural result is, that 

 the race is fast dying out, and their extinction is acceler- 

 ated by death from measles and pneumonia. Boys and 

 girls make excellent servants, and in the words of Col. 

 Cadell, the late Governor, " they are such jolly merry 

 Httle folk, and it is very saddening to live among them and 

 to realize that ihey are fast dying out." As regards their 

 jollity I can corroborate the Colonel, and no one with whom 

 I came in contact had a bad word for them, though they 

 have, like others, their faults. 



They live in small tribes, but have no chiefs, though 

 the strongest-minded amongst them takes the lead. 

 The tribes are distinguished by tattoo-markings ; these 

 consist of a series of cicatrices formed by pinching up the 

 skin, and then rutting it with a piece of glass ; the patterns 

 are somewhat of the herring-bone style, and are made on 

 the chest ; some have marks on their backs and arms, but 

 I do not think that these have any especial significance. 



Their amusements are few in number. They dance in 

 a monotonous manner, and in their singing, the tune is 

 restricted to three notes of our gamut, in the minor key. 



