MALLERY.] MORTUARY TABLET. 527 
The example of Nicobarese picture writing in Fig. 736 was obtained in the year 
1873 on the island of Kondul, where I found it hanging in the house of a man who 
was said to have died a short time previously. * * * 
The material of which it is made is either the glume of a bamboo or the spathe of 
a palm which has been flattened out and framed with split bamboos. 
It is about 3 feet long by 18 inches broad, The objects are painted with vermil- 
ion, their outlines being surrounded with piinctures, which allow the light to pass 
through. * * * 
As in all such Nicobarese paintings, figures of the sun, moon, and stars occupy 
prominent positions, Now, the sun and moon are stated, by those who have known 
the Nicobarese best, to be especial objects of adoration, and therefore these paint- 
ings may have some religious significance. 
At first it occurred to me that this was merely an inventory of the property of 
the deceased, but as some of the objects are certainly not such as we should expect 
to find in an enumeration of property, e. g., the lizard, while the figures of men ap- 
pear to portray particular emotions, it seems probable that the objects represented 
have a more or less conventional meaning, and that we have here a document of as 
bona fide and translatable a character as an Egyptian hieroglyphic inscription. 
My own efforts to discover an interpretation from the natives on the spot were 
not crowned with success. * * * 
Mr. De Roepstorff, extra assistant superintendent of the Andamans and Nicobars, 
to whom I applied for such information as he might be able to collect upon the sub- 
ject, assured me by letter, in 1873, that the screens had a religious significance and 
were used to exorcise spirits, but he did not seem to regard them as capable of being 
interpreted. *“ * ™* 
The following is a list of the objects depicted, besides animals; many of the com- 
mon utensils in use in a Nicobarese household are included: 
(1) The sun and stars; (2) the moon and stars; (3) swallows or (?) flying fish; 
(4) impression of the forepart of a human foot; (5) a lizard (Hydrosaurus?); (6) 
four men in various attitudes; (7) two das for cutting jungle; (8) two earthen 
cooking vessels; (9) two birds; (10) an ax; (11) two spears; (12) a ladder (?); 
(13) dish for food; (14) cocoanut water-vessels; (15) palm tree; (16) a canoe; (17) 
three pigs; (18) shed; (19) domestic fowl; (20) seaman’s chest; (21) dog; (22) fish 
of different kinds; (23) turtle. 
