1881.] Mr. de Roepstorff on the Nicobarese. 13 



the road easy. When we reached the deserted Shom-Beng village we were 

 very glad to turn into their houses, Mr. Simpson in one and I in another. 

 The rain was pouring down very heavily, but the house I was in was per- 

 fectly dry. From the sheltered position of the village and the direction of 

 the houses, the rain very rarely would beat in heavily. The shelter we 

 gratefully acknowledged, and we faithfully shared our breakfast with the 

 guides, who stared at every mouthful we took. Our claret they scorned ; 

 they do not appreciate anything between water and arrack. 



We reached the hut that was appointed as our meeting place, and 

 having sent on our guides to bring clothes and food, we made ourselves 

 comfortable in the house which was deserted at the time. At about 5 P. M. 

 the Shom-Beng turned up. By this time the-house was full of people. He 

 looked quite a different man. In the morning he had a pleasant expres- 

 sion full of smiles, perhaps he was also a good deal excited. Now he looked 

 fagged and tired, and he had also reason to be so. He brought two enor- 

 mous bundles of plantains as well as three spears. When I in the morning 

 asked him for something from his garden I meant some rootfruits, not 

 plantains, but I forgot to say so. I wanted to see whether he cultivated 

 like the Shom-Beng I met in 1876. The spears he brought were the same 

 wooden spears that the Galathea expedition obtained in the deserted village, 

 and the same as those I obtained in Ganges harbour in 1876, so that I had 

 there a link that connected the three tribes. He said his wife was unwell and 

 could not come, but he promised me that if I would return another time she 

 would come down. After some pretty speeches on both sides and counter- 

 presents on my side we parted. I beg to forward with this paper a 

 specimen of Koal's (the Shom-Beng's) hair, and hair of two Andamanese 

 lads from the neighbourhood of Port Blair, also one of the spears he 

 brought me, which is the typical Shom-Beng spear without any attached 

 spear-head. It will on examination be seen how very different the samples 

 of hair forwarded are in structure and colour. 



On talking with the Coast people about his hair I mentioned to 

 them, that at the Ganges harbour I had met a different sort of man, tall, 

 and with smooth hair, and they at once said : " Yes this is a bad Shom- 

 Beng, there are others, but far away, that have hair like us and that 

 look like us, he is a bad specimen." 



As the result of my visit I conclude that there is an element of 

 Papuan origin in the island, that it is only found among the people living 

 inland (t. e., cut off from the sea and communication with the outer 

 world) and that this element is strongly mixed with another not curly- 

 haired race. What the proportion is I cannot say, but the assertion I 

 have so often read, but never seen confirmed by ocular evidence, about a 

 curly-haired race in the interior of Great Nicobar is true. Whether the 



