312 CUSTOMS OF THE KAR NICOBARESE 



to investigate the case, and settle the matter according to their 

 own customs. A good deal of argument then took place between 

 Offandi and 'Friend of England,' the crowd, acting as jurors, 

 gave their opinion, and at last the judge made a long speech, 

 in which he pointed out the faults of both parties, and ended 

 the case by ordering them to be reconciled. ' Friend of England ' 

 apologised to Offandi, admitting his bad language, and the 

 latter forgave him, everybody departing quite satisfied. 



" The origin of the affair was that Offandi and ' Friend of 

 England,' with a few others, jointly cleared a spot in the jungle 

 to make a garden. ' David Jones,' a cousin of the former's 

 and a junior partner in the concern, wished to plant only coconut 

 shoots, a plan to which ' Friend of England ' raised an objection, 

 as he wanted to grow only yams and other eatables. Offandi 

 tried to intercede on behalf of ' David Jones,' on the plea that 

 the land was given him by his deceased father, and therefore he 

 was at liberty to plant what he liked in the allotment. Then it 

 appeared that ' Friend of England ' said, ' Your father was a 

 liar.' Being enraged by this, Offandi rejoined, ' Shall I dig up the 

 bones of my father and throw them into the sea ? ' — a very great 

 indignity and bad omen to the party causing it. ' Friend of 

 England ' replied, ' Yes, you had better,' and hence the trouble." * 



The cases of " amok " that occur among the Malayan peoples 

 are, as often as not, the outcome of ill-health and long-continued 

 brooding over some imaginary or trifling insult. Similar occur- 

 rences happen from time to time among the Nicobarese, and as 

 they are an almost exact parallel, they possibly afford material 

 proof as to the Malayan affinities of these people. 



Sam-tat-yon was always a loafer who obtained his food gratis 

 from the traders at Malacca, and slept in any bazaar he could. 

 At dawn one morning, Osman — an old man — a servant of Yusuf 

 Hussain, got up from his bed and went to the beach, and while 

 returning to his hut, saw Sam-tat-yon coming out of it with an 

 axe in his hand. 



Osman called out to Ali Hussain and Yusuf Hussain (both 

 foreign traders) and told them what he had seen, and Sam-tat-yon, 

 * Diary of Oitechist V. Solomon. 



