198 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[September 1, 1900. 



talkative, inquisitive, restless, prone to resent an injury, 

 but fond of a joke so long as it does not assume a 

 practical form. From the majority of savage peoples 

 they stand out in pleasing contrast on account of the 

 treatment accorded to the women by their husbands. 

 A man has but one wife, to whom he is nearly always 

 faithful throughout life, and whom he regards as an 

 equal, and treats with au affection which might be 

 copied by some civilised pcoijle. Like many sav-ige 

 races, the Andamanese have evolved a complicated 

 sj'stem of marriage prohibitions between relatives, and 

 they have likewise regulations as to the particular kind 

 of food they nuiy or may not eat at certain seasons 

 of the year, as well as superstitious with regard to 

 uttering certain words or names. But to mention these 

 and many others of their customs would exceed the 

 limits of my sjDacc. There apj^icars to be no form of 

 recognised worshij), yet there is a vague belief in a 

 supernatural being (I'li/uga), whose dwelling-place is in 

 the sky, and who created all living creatures with the 

 exception of a few evil spirits whom he is unable to 

 control. Thunder is supposed to be a manifestation 

 of the wrath of this supreme being, who is credited with 

 the curious incapacity of being unable to understand 

 human thoushts durino- the hours of darkness, although 

 he is capable of so doing during daylight. The absence 

 of any traditions among the Andamanese of the arrival 

 of their forefathers from some other pai't of the globe 

 may be taken as confirmatory of the physical evidence 

 as to their long teniu'e of their present home. By the 

 aborigines the Andaman Islands are indeed regarded as 

 alone constituting the world ; and the few strangers 

 by whom they were visited in the early days of their 

 history were looked upon as their own departed ances- 

 tors. The islands themselves are believed to be 

 supported on a lofty tree, one day destined to be over- 

 thrown by an earthquake, when they will be re-occupied 

 by the deceased predecessors of the present inhabitants. 



As regards arithmetical power the Andamanese stand 

 on an exceedingly low platform, as they have only 

 words for one and two. If they desire to express a 

 higher number, some word indicating several or many is 

 usually employed, but even then about six or seven seems 

 to form the limits of their arithmetic. A few specially 

 gifted individuals are, indeed, able to indicate ten by 

 tapping the nose successively with the ten fingers and 

 then holding up the two hands, but beyond this none 

 are able to go. 



In spite of this exceedingly low develojoment of cal- 

 culating power, the Andamanese have succeeded in 

 evolving a remarkably complex language, of which each of 

 the nine tribes possesses a dialect of its own. Into 

 the characters of this language it is impossible to enter 

 on the present occasion, but it may be mentioned that 

 it apjjcaz's to have no close affinity with any other known 

 tongue, and consequently sheds no light on the origin 

 and relationship of the race by whom it is sjioken. 



In spite of every care exercised by those in authority, 

 the establishment of the convict settlement at Port Blair 

 has produced the results universally observed when a 

 primitive and long isolated people are first brought 

 into contact with higher races. The newly introduced 

 habits, diseases, and vices soon told with fearful effect 

 on the aborigines ; the pure-blooded race showing a 

 marked tendency to die out and to be replaced by half- 

 breeds. In 1891 the number of j3ure-brcd Andamanese 

 was stated to be less than 4000, and there is little doubt 

 that their eventual fate, like that which has already 

 befallen the Tasmanians, is complete extermination. 



If we now enquire as to who are the nearest relatives 

 of the Andamanese, and whence they came, we shall be 

 confronted with a considerable amount of difference of 

 opinion on the part of those who have paid most 

 attention to the subject. By some it has been supposed 

 that a Negrito population is to be met with in the more 

 regiote hill districts of India, China, and all the Malay 

 countries, as well as in New Guinea, and that these 

 presumed Negritos indicate the original population of 

 South-eastern Asia before the time that it was overrun 

 by Mongolo-Malayau tribes. And it has been further 

 considered that there is no intim.-ite relationship between 

 the true Negritos of the Andamans and the long-headed 

 Oceanic Negroes of Papua and Melanesia. 



These views have, however, been recently opposed by 

 Dr. A. B. Meyer, the learned Director of the Dresden 

 Museum, who attaches compai'atively little importance 

 to rovmd heads and long heads, and is of opinion that, 

 in addition to the Andamanese, and apart from Papua, 

 the only Negritos definitely known to exist in Asia are 

 confined to the Malay Peninsula and the Philippine 

 Islands. Moreover, according to the same authority, 

 Negritos, in place of having no near kinship with the 

 long-headed Papuans and Melauosians, ai'e their very 

 intimate relations, there being no evidence to support 

 the view that the round-headed individuals occasionally 

 met with among the two latter indicate the remnants 

 of a distinct Negrito race. 



If these opinions represent the true state of the case, 

 and if, as has been suggested in previous articles of the 

 present series, the Australian aborigines and the primi- 

 tive tribes of India and Ceylon are related to the 

 Caucasian leather than to the Negro type, it will be 

 evident that the Negro element occupies a much less 

 important position in South-eastern Asia than has been 

 commonly supposed. Unfortunately, however, no 

 definite light is thrown on the problem whether the 

 birthplace of the Negro stock should be sought in Africa 

 or in Asia. 



Putting aside such theoretical ([uestions, the short 

 remaining space may be devoted to the nearest living 

 relatives of the Andamanese. The existence of Negroes 

 of small stature in the Philippines appears to have 

 been known to the Chinese at the commencement of the 

 thirteenth century, and the name Hai-tan was applied 

 by them to the people in question. Those small, black, 

 fiizzly-haired people were subsequently encountered by 

 the Spaniards when they colonized the Philippines, aud 

 as they were first seen in the mountains of Luzon, they 

 received from their conquerors the title Negritos del 

 Monte. They are accordingly the typical " Negritos." 

 Their native name is Aita, Ita, or Inagta, which iiipans 

 black, being akin to the Malay itam ; and it is possible 

 that the Chinese designation Hai-tan may have a similar 

 meaning. The average height of the men is 4 feet 

 8| inches, and that of the women 4 feet 6i inches. Not 

 only in physical apijeai'ance, but likewise in several of 

 their moral characteristics, these little Negroes resemble 

 the Andamanese, and it is a highly significant fact that 

 they are likewise faithful to their marriage vows and 

 have but one wife each. Negritos are likewise also found 

 in other islands of the Philippine group, such as Mindoro, 

 Panay, Negros, Mindanao, etc.; but our information 

 concerning all of them is extremely deficient. The only 

 other region where Asiatic pygmies ar'e known to occur 

 is the Malay Peninsula; but our lack of knowledge of 

 them in that area is, if possible, even more conspicuous 

 than in the Philippines. 



