34 MACPHERSON STRAIT 



of the arrows used for fishing are triple - headed. A fairly 

 deep notch is made to receive the bowstring, and the butt of 

 the arrow is tightly scored transversely, with the idea of afford- 

 ing a better grip. The lengths varied from 45 to 66 inches. 



While being strung, the bow is held almost vertically, with 

 one end resting on the ground. A foot is then placed on the 

 centre, and the upper end drawn towards the operator until the 

 loop can be slipped over it. 



The pull used may be anything between 50 and 60 lbs., and 

 though in the jungle, with their silent step and quality of 

 remaining unseen, the Andamanese are dangerous as enemies, 

 in the open they would be less formidable, for it is doubtful 

 whether their arrows will carry more than a hundred yards, 

 and certainly their shooting, as we ourselves saw, possessed 

 little accuracy at more than a quarter of that distance. 



In return for the various articles obtained, we gave an axe, 

 a parang, a file, a number of long French nails, and a quantity 

 of red cotton, with which things they seemed very satisfied ; and 

 we left behind, as a parting gift, a good supply of rice and 

 leaf tobacco. 



The dress of the women I have already described : their 

 heads were bald, entirely shaved ,of hair. The men were only 

 partially cropped, and what hair was left was short, and had 

 much the appearance of a small skull-cap. Those who were 

 ornamented with clay had applied it in long stripes down arms 

 and body, and across the face, while for further decoration 

 some wore a cord about the waist, or armlets of fibre tightly 

 fastened round the biceps. 



We found the shores of South Andaman a splendid locality 

 for collecting. One morning in particular I remember. On 

 landing we saw all about the beach the tracks of numerous pigs 

 that had come down in the night to obtain a meal of the trepang, 

 crabs, and molluscs left exposed by the ebb tide ; and I had 

 not been five minutes ashore before I knocked over an equal 

 number of beautiful parrots {P. faciatus\ a species we found 

 everywhere very common throughout the Andamans. 



