DRESS OF THE NATIVES 39 



at Rutland Island were also Onges and were merely visiting 

 Rutland Island on their way to or from Port Blair. 



By the time we landed again in the afternoon, the number 

 of waiting natives had increased to about thirty, and they 

 continued to arrive until between sixty and seventy were present, 

 of all ages and both sexes. 



One of our party, who stands some inches over 6 feet 

 in his socks, and is proportionately built, was a contrast to 

 a group of natives, none of whom were more than 5 feet 

 in height ; and nothing impressed my mind more forcibly 

 than this sight with the racial diminutiveness of the Negrito 

 race. 



By way of ornament, the men rang the changes on chaplets 

 and armlets made from the inner bark of a tree, and necklaces 

 and girdles of cord, in which was twisted some bright yellow 

 material of a straw-like nature. Similar ornaments were worn 

 by the women, who, in addition, wore for dress an apron, or 

 bunch of a fibre resembling bass, suspended in front from the 

 centre of the girdle. Everything but the aprons was freely 

 parted with, but the modesty of the women was so strong — 

 although the men go completely unclad — that we could 

 not obtain them until we thought of tendering sufficient cloth 

 beforehand to serve as a skirt, and then, after draping this 

 about themselves, they were able to remove the girdle without 

 doing violence to their praiseworthy scruples. Both sexes 

 wore also about the neck a small reticule or purse, of netted 

 twine, which served as a hold-all, and often contained tobacco, 

 pipes, and fruit. 



Both men and women cover themselves with a thick wash 

 of reddish clay, which, when fresh, gives them a very striking 

 appearance. On one of the men thus ornamented, the coating 

 was applied in this wise : — On the face a circular patch extend- 

 ing from brow to chin, but leaving nose and lips black ; on the 

 front and back of the body large elliptical patches, through 

 which, while wet, the fingers were evidently drawn, leaving broad 

 bands of four black stripes ; the arms were covered to half-way 



