96 KAMORTA 



de Roepstorff, a Dane by nationality, and for some time superin- 

 tendent of the settlement. Tanamara told us of his death, which 

 occurred in 1883. Complaint had been made that one of 

 the sepoys of the small force stationed here was in the habit 

 of stealing the natives' coconuts ; him the superintendent repri- 

 manded, and threatened to send to Port Blair for punishment. 

 Next day the sepoy shot at and wounded de Roepstorff while 

 the latter was in the act of mounting a horse. The injured 

 man despatched a letter to the Andamans by a Burmese trader, 

 but died before the arrival of a steamer, five days later. He 

 was nursed and buried by the Nicobarese, who would not allow 

 the Indian servants to approach him.* " He was," said Tanamara, 

 "a good man, a very good man." He took much interest in 

 all that surrounded him, and besides contributing accounts of 

 the Andamans and Nicbbars to the journals of the Asiatic 

 Society of Bengal, he made large collections of lepidoptera for 

 the Calcutta Museum, and compiled vocabularies of several 

 of the local languages.f 



* A somewhat dififerent, and more accurate, account of the incident 

 is given in a volume of sketches by John Strange Winter, entitled A Siege 

 Baby. I have given here the unamended version of the natives as related 

 to us by the headman. 



Mr E. H. Man writes: — "The story given by Tanamara, regarding de 

 RoepstorflPs murder, is very incorrect. The murderer (a havildar of the Madras 

 Infantry detachment then stationed at Nankauri) was under trial for having 

 assaulted a convict. After recording a lot of contradictory evidence, de R. 

 adjourned the case, whereupon the Madras Infantry jemadar pleaded on behalf 

 of the havildar. The magistrate reproved him for his interference, whereupon 

 the latter went and informed the havildar that he would probably receive a 

 severe sentence which might result in his dismissal from the army. This so 

 enraged the havildar that on de R. riding past the M. I. barracks a few hours 

 later the same day, he shot him from his room. The havildar was the crack 

 shot of the Madras army, having twice carried off Commander-in-Chiefs prize. 

 He shot himself on seeing that he had inflicted a mortal wound. De R. died 

 within a minute or so. It was his wife who despatched news of the affair to 

 Port Blair by a hagla^ which had just arrived in Nankauri Harbour. In five 

 days I arrived and held the inquiry. Mrs de Roepstorff during those five days 

 had a natural horror of the M. I. sepoys, and she would not allow any of them 

 to approach the house. Her Indian servants and others remained with her 

 as before." 



t Vocabulary of the Dialects spoken in the Nicobars and Aftdamans, Port 



