42 THE CINQUES AND LITTLE ANDAMAN 



possess a few iron tools, such as small axes and files, the work 

 must be one of painful slowness.* 



Their bows and arrows were like those from Rutland Island : 

 many of the former, however, were only 5 feet in length, while 

 of the latter some, in addition to the hardwood tip, had a bent 

 nail lashed on in such a way as to form both point and barb, 

 and the butts of all were left smooth. 



By the time we had finished at the encampment, night was 

 drawing near, but fifteen or twenty men accompanied us when 

 returning. In the growing darkness the journey back was far 

 from easy : now we were ploughing through loose sand and 

 climbing over fallen trees, now dodging among mangrove roots, 

 or splashing thigh-deep through the water, which had risen 

 with the incoming tide. In such circumstances the natives 

 showed their superiority to ourselves by their agility in making 

 a way amongst roots and fallen trees, and by either their 

 better eyesight in the dark or familiarity with the path. 

 Evidently they had come with the intention of accompanying 

 us on board ; for when the boat was reached, all got into it, and 

 we had some trouble in persuading them to leave. The coral 

 bottom at the anchorage was very bad holding-ground, and 

 had it come on to blow, we might have been compelled to put 

 to sea, in which case we did not wish to return. The natives 

 were perfectly harmless, as they had no weapons ; but we had 

 no desire to leave an unpleasant impression for the benefit of 

 future visitors, so had recourse to gentle measures only. 

 All, however, clung to the sides and thwarts of the boat, and 

 gave vent to a chorus of refusal, " Nai, nai," and the childish 

 behaviour continued, until one, more hardly pressed than the 



* The canoes are sometimes fitted with an outrigger, and it has been 

 supposed that this has been adopted from some Point de Galle fishing-boat 

 wrecked on the islands, for early writers never mention its existence (vSir H. 

 Yule, Encyclopoidia Britannica) ; but it is much simpler to conjecture it to be 

 a copy of the same feature from the Nicobarese canoe. On the other hand, 

 there is no argument against it being original, for the aborigines of New South 

 Wales and Queensland have a canoe that is in every way almost the exact 

 counterpart of the Andamanese vessel. 



