

Ball — On a Visit to Port Blair, Andaman Islands. 65 



XII. — On a Visit to the Andamanese "Home," Port Blair, Anda- 

 man Islands. By W. Ball, B. A., Geological Survey of India. 

 (With Plate IV., Pol. Lit. & Antiq.) 



[Read November 13, 1871.] 



In the following paper I do not intend entering into any general 

 account or history of the Andaman Islanders, but shall simply confine 

 myself to a description of a visit which I paid to the "Home" esta- 

 blished by the Government of India, in connexion with the convict 

 settlement at Port Blair, for the purpose of commencing the civiliza- 

 tion and inspiring the confidence of the hitherto untamed aborigines 

 of the Andaman Islands. 



On the 8th of August, 1869, in company with Mr. Homfray, who 

 is in charge of the Andamauese Home, and Assistant- Surgeon Curran, 

 I started from Viper Island, in Port Blair, to visit Port Mouat and 

 the Home at Mount Augusta. 



Close to the landing-place at Horafray's Ghat there is an old 

 kitchen midden, in which the valves of oysters, Areas and Cyrenas, were 

 abundant. 



Mr. Homfray told me that the present race of Andamanese do not 

 eat oysters — a rather singular fact, and suggesting the possibility of 

 there having been different inhabitants of this part of the island at 

 some former period. 



The road to Port Mouat runs along by the side of a mangrove 

 swamp, in which Cyrenas abound. These molluscs are eaten by the 

 Andamanese, and the valves, in consequence of their sharp edges, are 

 used as substitutes for knives. 



Shortly after arriving at Port Mouat, we started in a boat for 

 Mount Augusta. As we approached the shores near to which the 

 Home is situated, a swarm of little woolly-headed Andamanese struck 

 into the waves, and, swimming and diving under and about the boat, 

 so accompanied us to the shore. 



On reaching the Home, we found that out of the 200 individuals 

 who were said to be availing themselves of the shelter and the ration 

 of 2 lbs. of rice per head per diem which Government gives them, 

 the greater portion of the men had gone out in their large canoes to 

 another part of the island to hunt for pigs. 



The sight presented to our eyes on entering the Home was a most 

 singular one, and one not readily to be forgotten. At intervals along 

 both sides there were a number of family groups, variously occupied. 



Some were boiling rice ; others were engaged in cooking pork, 

 which they effect by placing small strips in a hollow bamboo, which is 

 then laid on the fire, and the meat, when scarcely more than warmed, 

 taken out and eaten. 



Mr. Homfray assured me that the Andamanese, so far as he knows, 

 never eat meat in an actually raw condition. 



R. I. A. PKOC. — VOL. W», SER. II., POL. LIT. AND ANTIQ. L 



