226 THE NICOBARESE 



The colour of the skin is a brown much resembling in colour 

 the tint of a sun-burnt, weather-beaten Malay, such as a sailor ; it 

 is darker than the ordinary native of that race, and has less of the 

 olive or yellow about it. 



The hair is of a rusty black, but generally glossy with oil : it 

 is thick and luxuriant, and reaches to the shoulders, varying 

 between a slight waviness and pronounced curls. It is somewhat 

 coarse, and when kept short with boys, is almost bristly, and 

 stands up stiffly all over the head. In about 5 per cent, of the 

 men there are traces of moustache and beard, otherwise the 

 faces are smooth, but the axillae and elsewhere, and often legs 

 and thighs, are profusely covered with hair. 



The form of skull is brachycephalic, with an index of about 

 80.5, and the back of the head, among the natives of the central 

 and southern groups of islands (excepting the Shom Pen), is notice- 

 ably flat* The face is broad, and, but for the cheek-bones, 

 which are generally prominent and developed laterally, approaches 

 the oval type. Often, however, it has a somewhat rectangular 

 outline, owing to the squareness of the lower jaw in the rear. 

 The features are somewhat flat. The forehead is slightly rounded 

 and even well-formed, but it is often compressed at the temples, 

 and falls away somewhat suddenly. 



The supraciliary arch is prominent, and the eyebrows are 

 generally fixed in a permanent scowl ; the pupil is black, and the 

 eyes often — though not as a rule — slightly oblique, with the 

 Mongolian fold at the corner. 



The nose is generally broad, and coarse in outline, is straight, 

 and of medium length, depressed at the bridge, flattened, with 



* This is due to the practice, observed and described by Mr Man, of 

 flattening the occiput and forehead of infants by the mother, who gently 

 exerts pressure by means of a small pillow, and the palms and outstretched 

 fingers of both hands for an hour or so at a time. — Jour. Anihrop. Jnst., Feb. 

 1894, p. 238. 



"It is a custom with them to compress with their hands the occiput of the 

 new-born child ; by this method they say the hair remains close to the head as 

 nature intended it, and the upper fore-teeth very prominent out of the mouth.'' 

 — Nicholas Fontana, Asiatic Researches, vol. iii. 



