330 ON SECLUDED TRIBES OF UNCIVILIZED MEN. 



another unauthenticated account of a similar fate happening to an 

 Arabian ship, with like result, cannot be rCiCeived. The former, 

 indeed, must be an anachronism, as these islanders are mentioned 

 by Ptolemy. The same race is to be found in the mountainous parts 

 of the Malayan peninsula, under the name of Samangs or Semanga, 

 and it is conjectured that these Melanesians once held the whole of 

 that peninsula. If such were the case, we might account for the 

 presence of the same race in the Andaman Islands, by supposing 

 that a small section, perhaps guilty of treasonable or other repre- 

 hensible conduct, had been sent adrift or banished to these islands. 

 Most probably the original home of this race was in some of the 

 Oceanic islands. It is a curious coincidence that the inhabitants of 

 the Andamans, and the Pijis, who are also of the Melanesian race, 

 have both adopted the same custom in dressing their hair, namely* 

 colouring it a reddish-brown with some ochreous earth. The cha- 

 racter and habits of these people are also very extraordinary. They 

 are exceedingly shy of strangers, but will occasionally, on provoca- 

 tion, turn upon them with great ferocity. Hospitality is certainly 

 not one of their virtues, and it is extraordinary that they bear the 

 same animosity to all races of men, white and black. It will be 

 recollected that it was to one of these islands the King of Delhi 

 was banished by the British. There was also a stronghold on one 

 of them in which several rebel Sepoys were imprisoned. Some of 

 these succeeded in making their escape. So unfriendly was the re- 

 ception which they met with at the hands of the natives, that the 

 majority of them were exceedingly glad to return to imprisonment. 

 A few never returned^ and were supposed to have perished by the 

 violence of the inhabitants or by hunger. Two girls were once 

 found on the beach in a state of starvation. The boat's crew that 

 found them, enticed them by the sight of food to come near. They 

 took them on board ship, attended to their wants, and treated them 

 with great consideration. Their conduct on board was shy and sus- 

 picious. They would not both sleep at the same time ; one always 

 kept watch whilst the other reposed. When they had recovered 

 their strength, and the ship approached within half a mile of one of 

 the islands, they slipped into the sea by night and swam ashore. 



As regards their personal appearance, it is such as we might ex- 

 pect, knowing their position and their race. Their stature corres- 

 ponds with the usual stature of secluded savages — five feet in the 

 case of males, and four in that of females. These islands not being 



