THE SHOM PEN 217 



be of Negrito origin, but much interbred with Malays. Mr H. 

 Lake * writes : " The true Jakun is of short stature, 5 feet 2 inches 

 is a fair average height. They are much darker in colour than 

 the Malay, and, as a rule, not so well set up. The hair, which 

 in the pure Negrito curls closely, is here in most cases simply 

 wavy, or even straight. They live in small communities, and 

 subsist miserably on fruits, roots, etc. They seldom remain many 

 weeks in the same spot, but wander from place to place, living 

 under scanty shelters built on rickety poles at a considerable 

 height from the ground. It is not uncommon to find a dozen 

 in company, with a tame monkey or two, cats and dogs, living 

 in perfect harmony under the same roof" 



VVe may therefore consider the Shom Peii to be the aborigines 

 of the group, who, although everywhere else either exterminated 

 or absorbed by settlers from outside, have in Great Nicobar 

 found a refuge in the forest depths, and by long-standing hostility 

 to the intruders, arising from some unknown cause, have preserved 

 to a great extent their natural traits and existence, although 

 somewhat degenerated, both on account of the less favourable 

 circumstances in which they live and of the interbreeding that 

 the smallness of their numbers compels. 



Although the Shom Pen are by measurement as tall in the 

 average as the coast people, to the eye they appear smaller, and 

 they are less robust, with lean though bony figures (average 

 chest measurements, 35.2 inches), sinewy rather than muscular. 



Fourteen measurements of adult males gave a maximum 

 height of 6y^ inches, a minimum of 62^ inches, and an average 

 height of 64 inches. Of eight women measured, the tallest was 

 65 1 inches in height, and the smallest 57f inches, while the 

 average stature of that number was found to be 60.8 inches. 



The colour of the skin is a dark muddy-brown or bronze 

 (several shades deeper than the coast natives), but it is liable 

 to slight variation, and is generally a little paler in the women 

 and girls, who resemble far more distinctly the coarse Malayan 

 type than the men do. 



* Jour. Royal Geog. Soc, 1899, p. 288. 



