40 S ON THE ANDAMAN ISLANDS. 



rus, not unpleasing. In dancing they may be said to 

 have improved on the strange republican dance as- 

 serted by Vol t a i r £ to have been exhibited in England : 

 cc On dancant a la ronde s chacun donne des coups de pieds 

 " a son voisin s et en rccoit an/ ant." The Andamaners 

 likewise dancing in a ring, each alternately kicking 

 and slapping his own breech, ad libitum. Their sa- 

 lutation is performed by lifting up a leg, and smack- 

 ing with their hand the .lower part of the thigh. 



Their dwellings are the most wretched hovels ima- 

 ginable. An Andaman hut may be considered the 

 rudest, and most imperfect attempt of the human race 

 to procure shelter from the weather, and answers to 

 the idea given by ViTiiuvius,of the buildings erected 

 by the earliest inhabitants of the earth. Three or 

 four sticks arc planted in the ground, and fastened to- 

 gether at the top, in the form of a cone, over which a 

 kind of thatch is formed with the branches and leaves 

 of trees. An opening is left on one side, just large 

 enough to creep into ; and the ground beneath is strew- 

 rd with dried leaves, upon which they lie. In these 

 huts are frequently found the sculls of wild hogs, 

 suspended to the roofs. 



Their canoes are hollowed out of the trunks of 

 trees by means of fire and instruments of stone, hav. 

 ing no iron in use amongst them, except such uten- 

 sils as they have procured from the Europeans and 

 sailors who have lately visited these islands ; or from 

 the wrecks of vessels formerly stranded on their coasts. 

 They use also rafts, made of bamboos to transport 

 themselves across their harbours, or from one island 



to 



