300 THE PYGMY RACES OF MEN xix 



difficult for any stranger to unravel. The relations they may 

 or may not marry, the food they are obliged or forbidden to 

 partake of at particular epochs of life or seasons of the year, 

 the words and names they may or may not pronounce, all 

 these, as well as their traditions, superstitions, and beliefs, 

 their occupations, games, and amusements, of which they seem 

 to have had no lack, would take far too long to describe here ; 

 but, before leaving these interesting people, I may quote an 

 observation of Mr. Man's, which, unless he has seen them with 

 too couleur-de-rose eyesight, throws a very favourable light 

 upon the primitive, unsophisticated life of these poor little 

 savages, now so ruthlessly broken into and destroyed by the 

 exigencies of our ever-extending empire. 



" It has been asserted," Mr. Man says, " that the ' com- 

 munal marriage ' system prevails among them, and that 

 ' marriage is nothing more than taking a female slave ' ; but, 

 so far from the contract being regarded as a merely temporary 

 arrangement, to be set aside at the will of either party, no 

 incompatibility of temper or other cause is allowed to dissolve 

 the union ; and while bigamy, polygamy, polyandry, and 

 divorce are unknown, conjugal fidelity till death is not the 

 exception but the rule, and matrimonial differences, which, 

 however, occur but rarely, are easily settled with or without 

 the intervention of friends." In fact, Mr. Man goes on to 

 say, " One of the most striking features of their social relations 

 is the marked equality and affection which subsists between 

 husband and wife," and " the consideration and respect with 

 which women are treated might with advantage be emulated 

 by certain classes in our own land." 



It should also be mentioned that cannibalism and infanti- 

 cide, two such common incidents of savage life, were never 

 practised by them. 



We must now pass to the important scientific question, 

 Who are the natives of the Andaman Islands, and where, 

 among the other races of the human species, shall we look for 

 their nearest relations ? 



It is due mainly to the assiduous researches into all the 

 documentary evidence relating to the inhabitants of Southern 

 Asia and the Indian Archipelago, conducted through many 



