TEANSACTIONS OF SECTION H. 845- 



disembodied spirit, wMcli is credited with peculiar activity and malevolence im- 

 mediately after its release. 



It is incumbent on all relatives and friends to repair as speedily as possible to 

 tbe hut where a death has taken place, and those who fail to bring with them the 

 customary ofi'ering of white or coloured calico must make a valid excuse to the 

 chief mourner, who would otherwise regard the omission as an insult to be 

 remembered and rendered in kind at the earliest opportunity : these ofierings vary 

 in quantity from a few yards to an entire piece, and are, as soon as they are pre- 

 sented, torn into lengths of about two yards and utilised for shrouding the corpse;, 

 they must be of new material, and may be of red, blue, white, striped, or checked,, 

 but never of black, calico. 



In most of their fimeral appointments the Nicobarese have, it appears, an un- 

 explained preference for uneven numbers ; the body must be washed once, thrice, or 

 Jive times ; it is laid on a bed or pad of the calico offerings, 30 being used for a head 

 man, and 29 or any less uneven number for persons of minor importance ; under the 

 pad are placed 3, 5, or 7 Areca spathes, and these again are kept in position by 5,, 

 7, or 9 swathes or bands of calico : curious-shaped pegs to the number of 7 or 9 

 are also used to secure the body in the grave in order to prevent its abstraction by 

 a class of evil spirits whose energies are supposed to be directed to this end. 



A practice analogous to that of barring the ghost by fire, prevails also in these 

 islands, and a pyre is ignited with tiresticks — which are only used on these occasions- 

 — at the foot of the hut where the dead is lying for the twol'old purpose of keeping 

 the disembodied spirit at a distance and apprising friends approaching or passing 

 in a canoe of the sad occurrence. 



Mourners are required to abstain from food from the time of the death until 

 after the prescribed cleansing of the dwelling and personal ablutions and lustration 

 by the menliiana or priest-medicine-man on the following day ; quids of betel and 

 sips of almost boiling water are the only refreshment permitted dm-ing the interval : 

 a set period of abstinence is further observed which varies in duration from one to 

 three or even four years. 



There are cemeteries attached to every village, in which each family owns a 

 certain area. The natives of the coast and inland tribes in the Southern group 

 leave their dead undisturbed, but at Car Nicobar, Chowra, Teressa and Bompok® 

 ossuaries are found where, after successive exhumations and re-interments, the 

 remains are deposited. At Car Nicobar mortuary huts are kept exclusively for 

 the reception of the dead prior to their interment, and certain sacrificial acts 

 are performed which are of interest. Throughout the group the memory of the 

 departed is kept alive and their manes propitiated by frequent feasts which are 

 celebrated in their honour. 



7. Notes on the Shell-Moiinds and Ossuaries of the Choptank River, Mary~ 

 land., U.S.A. By the Chevalier R. Elmee Reynolds. 



This paper was accompanied by a series of stone implements and utensils typical 

 of those found during the writer's research in the region named. Specimens of 

 cremated and other osseous remains were also exhibited as a portion of a collection 

 taken from a very interesting communal ossuary in Dorchester County, 



Chapter I. — The Booe; of Life — contains a brief history of the Choptank and 

 Nantecoke tribes, which were located on the Choptank river. The history of the 

 Choptank tribe was traced from early historic times until the present. Remnants 

 of these people still live in the states of Maryland and Delaware. 



Chapter II. — The Shores of Talbat — locates and describes the present con- 

 dition of the following shell-mounds on the northern shore of the Choptank. 



Oxford, at the mouth of the river ; mound covers several acres of ground, with 

 a depth varying from 1 to 3 feet. Shells much decomposed. Implements, hammers, 

 rude axes, arrows, shards of pottery, &c. 



