TANAMARA AND HIS RELATIONS 89 



education otherwise has resulted in giving him a contempt for 

 the native superstitions, of which he speaks with sneers, and 

 meanwhile has replaced them by no other tenets. The train 

 of events that brings such a condition of things about seems 

 somewhat injudicious. A knowledge — a small knowledge — of the 

 * three R's ' is of very little use to a native who has sooner or 

 later to return to his national mode of existence. His experience 

 may unsettle him, and is no suitable training for his future 

 life, while it must leave him at a disadvantage among his 

 countrymen, who have been bred to the conditions under which 

 their existence will be passed." 



''February ii. — Tanamara came on board last evening with 

 his brother-in-law (Hamol) and nephew (Terrok). He was half- 

 drunk with toddy, and brought — it was quite a family party — 

 his wife (Helpak) and mother (Mert). A canoe-load of dishes, 

 spears, and charms, which accompanied them, we purchased 

 with old clothes, wire, and rice. The headman is as great a 

 beggar as the others, perhaps more so, by virtue of his position 

 and his English. Our conversation was continually interrupted 

 by demands for one thing or another as he remembered them : 

 things for his father, mother, wife, each request insinuatingly 

 prefaced by the words ' my friend.' ' My friend, you give me — ; 

 My friend, I want — .' But for this fault, he is a fairly favourable 

 specimen of a Nicobarese, and is certainly more intelligent than 

 the rank and file ; but, like many that we met, he is somewhat 

 spoilt by contact with more civilised conditions. 



" We had on board a quantity of American cigarettes, packed 

 in cardboard boxes, each containing a dozen, and a coloured 

 picture of a young woman in an evening gown ! These packets 

 were very useful as small presents, or as an answer to a 

 request for a smoke. ' Oh, my dear ! ' exclaimed Tanamara, as 

 he lovingly gazed at the picture from his packet. But he soon 

 became dissatisfied, for she was a blonde and he likes brunettes, 

 while what he was most anxious to obtain was the portrait of 

 a Malay woman. 



" Our small supply of spirits coming to an end, Abbott 



