68 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



the Port Blair natives — who, it was hoped, would act as go-be- 

 tweens — served greatly to intensify. The bodies of the thirteen mur- 

 dered men were discovered on the beach, slightly covered with sand, so 

 that no cannibalism had taken place in this case. 



It may be added with reference to this expedition, that the boats 

 had to be regained through a heavy surf, and under cover of musketry, 

 as the natives, for whom firearms had no terrors, and the effects of 

 which they could not at first realise, closed round in great numbers, and 

 discharged clouds of arrows. 



The inhabitants of the Little Andaman seem to have some peculi- 

 arities which distinguished them from the inhabitants of the northern 

 islands. Their houses are of a bee-bive shape, and of considerable size, 

 being sufficient to accommodate 100 men; they are not elevated from the 

 ground on posts, as are those of most Malayan races. 



From the evidence given above, I am inclined to believe that the 

 reputed cannibalism of the Andamanese is more than doubtful. That 

 such a belief should be prevalent is no matter for surprise, considering 

 their admitted hostility to all visiters to their coasts, and the general 

 tendency there both was and is, on the part of travellers, to attribute 

 such propensities to savage races about whom little is known. 



As to the affinities of the Andamanese, there can be no question 

 that they belong to the scattered race of Negritos, traces of which are 

 to be found in many detached localities. Mr. Wallace, whose close 

 acquaintance with and study of the various races of the Malayan 

 Archipelago, has enabled him to draw distinctions not hitherto recog- 

 nised, writes that the "Negritos and Semangs of the Malay peninsula 

 agree very closely with each other, and with the Andamanese Islanders, 

 while they differ in a marked manner from every Papuan race." 

 Again — 



" The Negritos are, no doubt, quite a distinct race from the Malay, 

 but yet, as some of them inhabit a portion of the continent, and others 

 the Andaman Islands in the Pay of Pengal, they must be considered to 

 have had, in all probability, an Asiatic, rather than a Polynesian 

 origin."* 



Unfortunately, there is no reliable vocabulary of the Andamanese 

 language yet published, and it is therefore impossible to institute any 

 comparison with the known languages of the Malayan Archipelago. 



It is not much to the credit of the officers who have been stationed 

 in the Andamans for twelve years that no such vocabulary has been 

 made available to philologists and ethnologists. Not only is the pub- 

 lication of a vocabulary and sketch of the language desirable, on scien- 

 tific grounds, but on account of the means it would afford of opening 

 up communication with the people throughout all the islands so 

 that they may be civilized, at least to the extent of being taught to give 

 a more hospitable reception than a shower of arrows to those who 

 may have the misfortune to be shipwrecked on their shores. 



* "Malay Archipelago," pp. 452-3. 



