Mr A. Gcdletlij on some Ethnograpliical Specimens. 255 



XXV. Notes on some Ethnograijliical Specimens hrour/htfrom 

 the Nicohar Islands hj Colonel Cadell, V.O., Chief 

 Commissioner of the Andaman and Nicohar Islands. 

 By A. Galletly, Esq. 



(Eead 15th November 1882.) 



The Nicobar Islands are situated in the Bay of Bengal 

 about 1000 miles nearly due south of Calcutta, and the largest 

 island of the group, called the Great Mcobar, is not greatly 

 larger than Arran at the mouth of the Clyde, and like it 

 very mountainous. 



In this communication a brief account was given of Colonel 

 Cadell's visit to the Great Nicobar in March 1881, when, 

 along with Mr F. A. de Eoepstorff, a member of his staff, he 

 succeeded in penetrating five miles inland from a point on 

 its northern shore. The main object of the journey was to 

 visit the wild tribe called Shompengs living in the interior 

 of the island, about whom almost nothing had been previously 

 known, as they are very shy of holding any communication 

 with the shore inhabitants. The travellers saw seven of these 

 Shompengs in their mountain homes, and in Mr de Eoep- 

 storff 's account of the journey, he states that he considers 

 them to be of a different race from the shore inhabitants, but 

 that they are identical with the people of Chowra, one of the 

 smaller islands of the group. 



In the following list a brief description is given of the 

 ethnographical specimens shown, which have been kindly 

 presented by Colonel Cadell to the Museum of Science and 

 Art, Edinburgh. 



1. Shompeng cooking vessel, formed of the bark of a tree, 

 and the only one of its kind which has yet been brought to 

 Europe. From its very primitive character, this is an ex- 

 tremely interesting object. It is of very rude construction, 

 but this specimen is not exceptionally so, as two or three 

 others very similar to it were seen. The bark, which is 

 smooth and about one-eighth of an inch thick, is simply 

 folded into a kind of boat shape, each of the ends being 



