250 THE NICOBARESE 



habitants are required to shave their heads, and the women 

 their eyebrows as well* Mourning for a relative is indicated 

 in like manner as well as by other observances. With infants 

 the head is often shaved for a time, and for the next few years 

 the hair is kept short, in which way it is also worn by all 

 ages and sexes. Boys as a rule have their heads cropped. 



Fairly long hair is worn by many, but in no case is it ever 

 permitted to grow below the shoulders ; at that point it is cut 

 across horizontally, and then, when bushy, the hair presents 

 much the appearance represented in Assyrian and Egyptian . 

 records. 



The Nicobarese possess no musical instrument of their own 

 invention, but very occasionally some individual attempts to 

 produce, without much success, a copy of something he has seen 

 in the hands of foreigners — a violin, guitar, etc. 



Two instruments are, however, in use among them : one, a 

 seven-holed flageolet, which is Burmese, and the other, the 

 danang, borrowed from the Indian " sitar," has three frets, a 

 string of cane, and two sound-holes.f " It is a hollowed bamboo, 

 about 2h feet long and 3 inches in diameter, along the outside 

 of which there is stretched from end to end a single string, 

 made of the threads of a split rattan, and the place under the 

 string is hollowed, to prevent it from touching. This instrument 

 is played upon in the same way as a guitar" while rested on 

 the knee.;!: 



With the exception of dancing, singing, and feasting, there 

 are hardly any organised amusements. The exact forms of the 

 dances vary, but for special occasions new figures and songs 

 are composed and assiduously practised. In the north-west, 

 challenges for canoe races, or processions rather, circulate 

 amongst the Kar Nicobar villages, and are taken part in by 

 twenty or thirty men a-side. The large canoes are decorated, 



* The idea being that the demon who caused the death may fail to recognise 

 the survivors. 



+ M. V. Portman, y<?«r. Royal Asiatic Soc, 18S8. 

 I G. Hamilton, Asiatic Researches, vol. ii. 



