Iron Buffalo and Pig Spears. 



CHAPTER III 



THE NICOBARESE 



The Evolution of the Nicobarese — Description — Character — Language — 

 Legends of Origin — Origin of Coco Palms — Invention of Punishments — 

 Superstitious Beliefs — Diseases — Medicines — Marriage — Matriarchal 

 System — Divorce — Polygamy — Courtship — Property — Takoia — Head- 

 men — Social State — Position of Women and Children — Domestic Animals 

 — Weapons — Tools — Fishing — Turtle — Food — Beverages — Narcotics and 

 Stimulants — Cleanliness — Clothing^Ornaments — Coiffure — Amusements 

 — Arts and Industries — Cultivation — Produce — Traders and Commerce. 



If the Shorn Peii are not racially pure, the Nicobarese or coast- 

 dwellers are still less so, and what components have gone to 

 form them as they now exist is an interesting ethnical question. 

 To account for a certain similarity in all the people of the 

 Archipelago, we may suppose that not all, but most, of the 

 islands were occupied by groups of the aborigines, who every- 



221 



