LIFE OF FLOWER 159 



of worship or merely of affectionate regard, it must be 

 very difficult for a passing traveller without intimate 

 knowledge of the language and of the condition of 

 mind and thought of the people to ascertain ; but the 

 custom is obviously analogous to many others which 

 have prevailed throughout all historical times and in 

 many nations, manifesting itself among other forms in 

 the mummified bodies of the ancient Egyptians, and 

 which has received its most aesthetic expression in the 

 marble busts placed over the mouldering bones in a 

 Christian cathedral." 



Reverting to 1879, we find in the "Journal of the 

 Anthropological Institute for that year an important 

 and interesting paper by Flower on the " Osteology 

 and Affinities of the Natives of the Andaman Islands," 

 a subject to which the author made a further contribu- 

 tion in the same journal for November 1884. In the 

 first of these communications the author gave the 

 results of the examination of nineteen skeletons and a 

 large series of skulls, while in the second he was able 

 to amplify these, and thus to render his averages 

 more trustworthy by the details of no less than ten 

 additional skeletons. As in all his other papers of 

 this nature, Sir William first traced in considerable 

 detail the history of European intercourse^ with the 

 Andamanese, or " Mincopies," as they were often 

 called at one time, and then proceeded to point out the 

 external and osteological features of these interesting 

 and diminutive people. Relying to a great extent on 

 the "frizzly," or "woolly" character of their hair, 

 Flower was fully convinced that these people belong 

 to the Negro branch of the human family. 



