THE PIGMIES. 21 



destiny. They forget the formal evidence given by Symes, which 

 I think right to reproduce textually :- — 



" Their religion is the simple but genuine homage of nature, ex- 

 " pressed in adoration to the sun as the primary and most obvious 

 " source of good ; to the moon as the secondary power ; and to the 

 " genii of the woods, the waters and the mountains, as inferior 

 " agents. In the spirit of: the storms they confess the influence of 

 " a malignant being, and during the south-west monsoon, when 

 " tempests prevail with unusual violence, they deprecate his wrath 

 " by wild chorus, which they chant in small congregations assem- 

 bled on the beach or some rock that overhangs the ocean." ( x ) 

 The late statements furnished by Messrs. St. John and Day have 

 still further confirmed the above account of Colonel Symes. 



"When the question has been more thoroughly studied as in 

 other places, we shall perhaps ascertain the existence of a complete 

 rudimentary mythology among the Mincopies. We know as yet, 

 through Mr. Man, that they have preserved some tradition of a 

 deluge. In the south-east of Middle Andaman, they point out a 

 rock, called Wota-Emeda, on which the first man made his appear- 

 ance and engraved the history of the creation. Mr. Man has visited 

 this Mincopie Eden, and has given a description of it. It is an 

 isolated boulder of small proportions, the surface of which is 

 covered with irregular grooves due to the action of the waves and 

 storms. ( 2 ) Let us hope that Mr. Man will enter into more 

 detail respecting the fables connected with it. ( 3 ) 



(i) Account of the British Embassy to the Kingdom of Ava, p. 282. 

 Major Symes gives the information furnished to him by Captain Stockoe, 

 who had resided for several years in the Andamans and taken great interest 

 in the natives. 



(2) The Andaman Islands. {The Journal of the Anthropological Institute, 

 Vol. VII, pp. 105 and 455). 



(3) 1 his paper was originally published in August, 1882. Since then I 

 have read in " Ihe Journal of the Anthropological Institute, (Vol. XII, Nos. I 

 II and III), the very remarkable paper of Mr. Man " On the Aboriginal 

 Inhabitants of the Andaman Islands.'''' Unfortunately the first number, 

 though bearing the same date as mine, was issued some time after, and I 

 was consequently unable to profit by the valuable and detailed account given 

 in it. However, far from altering my essential conclusions, it fully confirms 

 the opinion which I had always maintained touching the religious feelings 



