1881.] F. A. de Roepstorff — On the inhabitants of tlie Nicobars. 107 



pot, but in this it was fixed at the southern end and was on the platform, 

 and not on the ground as was the first one I mentioned. The pot consisted 

 of three sheets of bark, one stuck inside and over the others like roofing : 

 it had been exposed to fire. 



We had to climb over some fallen trees, and when we came up to the 

 village we found inside " Koal" the man I had met in October, and an old 

 man suffering from hydrocele. " Koal" recognized me and promised to 

 bring our luggage, and in a little while we were with our guides in sole 

 possession of a Shombeng village. The inhabitants had evidently left on 

 our approach, but they had had time to take away all their valuables, for 

 they only offered us shelter, which, however, was an important point. 



Colonel Cadell took possession of one house and I of another. 

 The difference in size was not very great, but it was quite balanced by the 

 cooking pot at the one end that shortened it considerably, so that only two 

 small persons could find shelter in it. After a while our luggage was 

 brought up. Koal and the old h} r drocele, however, disappeared again after 

 having brought our guides a few Gunyas. After a while we were informed 

 that the Shombengs were afraid of us and would not come in, so we had 

 to put pressure on. Our guides had no food, and when we declared that 

 we would not leave till we had made friends with the inland tribe 

 they began to bestir themselves. They went off after Koal and after a 

 long explanation he at last promised to bring in some of his friends, 

 saying that they would be with us at 2 p. m., pointing to the sun. We 

 waited patiently till 2 and impatiently after that time, and when it was 

 nearly dark we were beginning to fear that our visit had been all in vain, 

 even our guides were in a bad humour, when we were cheered up by the 

 arrival of a party of this curious people, headed by Koal. We remained 

 seated where we were and took no notice of them till they had come inside 

 the enclosure and stood round us. We then gave them peace-offerings of 

 strings of little glass beads, and in a very short time we were on the best of 

 terms. They submitted to our examining them and to our taking locks of 

 their hair. These little glass beads are the only valuable property they care for 

 and ours were considered very nice. Money they did not even know. 

 Seated near a smoking fire that nearly blinded us, and delighted at our 

 success, we proceeded to examine them, and, to make sure of the accuracy 

 of our notes, they were drawn up by Colonel Cadell on the spot and contain 

 what we agreed about. I give our notes verbatim. The first man men- 

 tioned I will refer to later on. 



" Koal, Mr. de R's old friend with the bushy hair has already been 

 described. 



"No. 1, Alles— height 5' 3", chest 36", age about 30 or 35— 

 hair thin, straight, black, eyes black — well built, but rather bony — parts 



