PSYCHICAL AND PHYSICAL CHARACTERS OF THE MINCOPIES. 241 



The total number of species of PhEenogams in the district may be estimated 

 at 725. In tlie entire flora of the United Kingdom, those of the English 

 type are 396, the Scottish 68, Highland 108, Germanic 196, Atlantic 60. 

 In the district there are 166 of the Englisii type, 39 Scottish, 22 Highland, 

 17 Atlantic, and 3 only of the Germanic type; the remainder of course 

 embracing those of general occurrence in Britain, hence called the British 

 type. 



The flora therefore is characterized by a large admixture of species 

 belonging to the English and Scottish types, with a fair proportion of those 

 called Western or Ai;lantic ; the number of Highland species is small, a» 

 might have been expected, owing to the physical characters of the country ; 

 those of the Germanic type are still fewer, only three out of 196 British 

 species being referred to that type. 



On the Ps7/chical and Physical Characters of the Mincopies, or Natives 

 of the Andaman Islands, and on the Relations thereby indicated to other 

 Races of Mankind. By Professor Owen, F.R.S. ^c. 



[A communication ordered to be printed among the Reports.] 



The Andaman Islands extend from 10° 32' to 13° 10' N. lat., and are situ- 

 ated in 92° 30' E. long. : they are divided into Great and Little ; the former, 

 consisting of three islands, called North, Middle, and South Andamans, are 

 so closely contiguous as to form one tract of 140 miles long, and not more 

 than 20 miles across the greatest breadth, having a surface of 2800 square 

 miles, and inhabited by a race of undersized or dwarf blacks, notorious for 

 tbeir audacity and implacable hostility to all strangers. The skin is of a sooty 

 darkness ; the hair of the head black, crisp, apparently short, and growing in 

 small detached tufts ; the nose is broad, short, and rather flat, but not parti- 

 cularly widened at the end, with the expanded nostrils of the Guinea negro; 

 the lips are thick, but less prominent than in the Guinea negro : they are 

 said to shave off or eradicate the hair of the face, except the eyelashes ; it is 

 doubtful, at least, whether naturally they are devoid, as they appear, of beard, 

 moustaches, and whiskers. The hands and feet are small ; but the heel does 

 not project, as in some African negroes. 



The following notices of the habits and manners of the Mincopies, or 

 natives of the Andamans, are condensed from the "Reports" of the able 

 Superintendents and Surveyors of the convict settlements recently established 

 by the East Indian Government on these islands; particularly from the state- 

 ment of a Brchmin Sepoy, one of the transported mutineers, who, alter esca- 

 ping from the convict establishment, passed upwards of a year (From April 23, 

 1858, to May 17, 185^) with a tribe of Andamaners*. His statement 

 accorded with previous accounts, that the diminutive aborigines of these 

 islands have no notions of a Deity or a future state ; that both sexes go naked. 



They generally inhabit the jungle along the sea-coast ; but are migratory, 

 rarely residing many days in one spot. They are divided into parties of from 

 twenty to three hundred, including the usual proportion of males and females, 

 adults and children ; all having similar features, colour of skin and eyes, 

 the same language, habits, and customs. After puberty, the females have 

 promiscuous sexual intercourse, save with their own father, until they are 

 chosen or allotted as a wife, when she is required to be faithful to her hus- 



* Selections from the Records of the Government of India, No. XXV., " Andaman Islands," 

 Preface, p. vi. I am indebted to General Sir Proby Cautley, F.R.S., for a copy of this volume. 

 — R. O. 



1861. H 



