148 



GREAT NICOBAR— WEST COAST 



'■^ March 20. — We reached the Shorn Pen village early in the 

 morning, and found its occupants variously engaged — some sitting 

 listlessly about, and others busied in splitting and cleaning the 

 rattan which they trade with the coast people. 



" The community was well supplied with food, in the shape 

 of coconuts, bananas, and various tubers, besides possessing a 

 plentiful store of pandanus fruit. Several young pigs, all 

 obtained from the litters of wild sows, which are chased with 

 a view to capture, were domiciled in cages within the houses. 



" Principal amongst the articles in use were iron-pronged 



Shorn Pen Cooking-vessel (Great Nicobar). 



fish-spears, axes, and ddos, with baskets, of which we purchased 

 a selection ; but the most interesting object visible, and one 

 that had been overlooked during our former visit, was an 

 apparatus for preparing the food of pandanus paste. 



" Some 6 inches above a clay hearth on the floor of the 

 huts, a receptacle, about 3 feet by 3 feet by 6 inches, was formed 

 of five sheets of thin green bark. These, two on a side, and 

 the fifth doubled at the bottom to form a trough, were inserted 

 at either end between split stakes, which — bound tightly together 

 with rattans — pressed the edges of the sheets against each other. 

 The lower part was thickly luted with clay, and where the 

 edges of the bark overlapped, a strip of cane was stretched from 



