50 KAR NICOBAR 



We shook hands all round, and commenced asking each other 

 questions in English as we strolled through the village. Then, 

 after ascertaining that we should be pleased to see him on 

 board later, and provide spirituous refreshment, Offandi left us. 

 He was said to be very well off, possessing large numbers 

 of coco palms, but the other staple of wealth (pigs) he has to 

 buy. 



We presently reached, near the shore, a group of buildings 

 known as Elpanam (The Place).* Principal among these were 

 two buildings, in which feasts and meetings take place. While 

 of the same shape as the living-houses, they were much larger 

 in every way. The roof and floor are built on the ground, 

 and then, by the combined efforts of the whole village, are 

 raised to the supports on which they rest. They were con- 

 structed inside of laths of areca, closely bound together, and 

 fastened horizontally to a framework covered with grass thatch, 

 a foot or more in thickness. 



The floors were gratings of split palm wood, but a great 

 portion was planked, and on this solid part a large fireplace 

 was built of clay. 



In the centre hung a rack, from which the joints of pork are 

 suspended at feast-times, and beneath were placed boards to 

 catch falling fat and grease. 



Strings of pigs' jaws were hung across the upper part of the 

 roof, and showed the number of animals consumed at the last 

 feast — a ceremony that sometimes lasts a month. 



The pigs, which are killed for these occasions by being 

 speared through the heart, are doubtless an introduced species, 

 for they attain immense proportions and are of many colours : — 

 black and white, brown, brown and white, etc. The young, 

 however, are all striped when born. 



Adjacent to these " Town Halls " f are the stores of the 



* In contradistinction to the village, which is known as '"'■ pnnamP 



t These large buildings in Elpanam are equivalent to the '" Balat" of the 



Malays, for in them visitors are installed, feasts are held, and general meetings 



take place. 



