246 



REPORT 1861. 



The inferior costa describes a continuous concave curve from the angle to the 

 base of the coracoid, without any suprascapular notch. The os innominatum, 

 calcaneum, astragalus, and bones of the hallux or great toe, peculiar to man, 

 contrasted as strongly with the quadrumanous characters of those bones as in 

 the highest of the humaa races. The first lumbar vertebra had the diapophysis, 

 metapophysis, and anapophysis distinct, and almost equally developed, and 

 well illustrated the true serial homology of the longer diapophysis of the suc- 

 ceeding lumbars. In many European skeletons the diapophyses of the first 

 lumbar vertebra are more developed than in that of the Andamaner. The 

 ridges, processes, and surfaces for muscular attachment are well and neatly 

 defined on the several limb-bones of this skeleton, and agree with the charac- 

 ter for agility in running, climbing, and swimming assigned to the Andaman 

 race. 



The following are the dimensions of the limb-bones : — 



Scapula. jn^ 



Length from end of acromion to inferior angle 7 



Breadth from upper and outer angle to lower border of glenoid 



cavity 4 



Os Innominatum. 



Length 7 



Breadth of ilium 5 



lin. 

 1 



The above dimensions of parts of the skeleton indicate that they are from an 

 individual of four feet ten inches in height. 



The Andamaners, or Mincopies, are called by most of the observers who 

 have described them " Negrillos," or dwarf Negroes. They have no 

 knowledge, and appear to have no idea, of their own origin. It has been 

 surmised that they might be descendants of African Negroes, imported 

 by the Portuguese for slave labour in their settlement at Pegu, and which 

 had been wrecked on the Andamans. But the recorders of this hypo- 

 thesis allude to it as a mere hearsay — " We are told that when the Por- 

 tuguese," &c. (Calcutta Monthly Register, or India Repository, November 

 1790, pp. 15-17). Neither the skull nor the teeth of the male Andamaner 

 above described oiFer any of the chai-acters held to be distinctive of the 

 African Negroes. The cranium has not the relative narrowness ascribed 

 to that of the Negro ; it presents nothing suggestive of lateral compression ; 

 it conforms to the full oval tyjie, with a slight degree of prognathism, 

 and is altogether on a smaller scale than in the Indo-European exhibit- 

 ing that form of skull. It is to be presumed that the Portuguese would 

 import from the Guinea coast, or other mart of Negro slaves, individuals 

 of the usual stature ; and it is incredible that their descendants, enjoying 

 freedom in a tropical locality aflfording such a sufficiency and even abun- 

 dance of food as the Andamans are testified to supply, should have degene- 

 rated in stature, in the course of two or three centuries, to the characteristic 

 dwarfishness of the otherwise well-made, well-nourished, strong and active 

 Eatives of the Andaman Islands. I conclude, therefore, that they are abori- 



