PLACE NAMES 



155 



the export trade in their hands, only give the Shorn Pen one 

 packet for six bundles ! The bush aborigines have no settled 

 dwelling-places, but wander about, although they have good 

 gardens established in various localities. Their language is 

 quite distinct from the Nicobaresc,* but each knows enough of 

 the others' speech to make themselves mutually understood. 

 Asked, however, whether further south we could get a man 

 who knew the Shom Pen language, Domeat replied : " When 

 one of us sees a Shom Peii he runs away, and when a Shom 

 Peii sees a Nicobar man he spears him ! " f 



Misunderstandings frequently occurred when we talked to 

 him about the various places on the coast. The name given on 

 the chart is often not known to the natives : the Chinese have 

 another name, which is not given on the chart, and the natives 

 have a third, but are generally familiar wuth that used by the 

 traders. 



I believe the followincf to be correct : — 



t"The coast natives, man for man, are superior to the Shom Peii, and 

 regard themselves so both physically and mentally. I have known of a lot of the 

 latter (estimated at about 20) attacking a coast hut in which there were only two 

 men. On these showing resistance and wounding a couple of the Shom Pen 

 with wooden spears, thrown from inside the hut, the latter fled, carr)-ing away 



