1 6 Proceedings of the Asiatic Societg. [Jan. 



they were derived from cup-shaped vessels of a very simple con- 

 struction. The scratches or grooves on "both the inner and outer 

 surfaces are very dense, crossing each other irregularly ; they are 

 mostly straight, and have apparently boon made by an obtuse 

 point of a shell or a stone. The material is common clay, mixed 

 with a little sand* and very imperfectly moulded, as seen by the irre- 

 gular fracture. No potter's wheel has evidently been applied, and 

 the vessels were not burnt but only baked in the sun. On a few 

 of the fragments, which appear to be from near the upper peri- 

 pherical edge of the pot, a few curved lines are to be observed, but 

 on the whole they are very rudely and irregularly executed. 



Regarding the form of the pottery itself, the question was very 

 soon settled. For, on visiting on the subsequent morning, the North 

 Bay with the object of examining a recently made settlement, or ra- 

 ther a small camp, of the Andamanese, Mr. Roepstorff found in 

 the jungle, not far from the deserted camp, a large pot which must 

 have been in use only a short time previous. This pot is of a sim- 

 ple cup-form, f rounded below, about 10 inches high, and with a 

 diameter of about 1 1 inches at the outer margin. The thickness 

 of the material varies from £ to £ of an inch ; the inner and outer 

 surface is marked with irregular grooves, the perpendicular ones 

 being much more distant than the horizontal. Fragments of this 

 pot are not distinguishable from those found in the shell mounds. 

 The only fire-place near the camp was indicated by a few scattered 

 stones, rather inconvenient for such a kind of cooking pot ! 



It is not even certain, whether this rude kind of pottery is 

 generally used by the Andamanese, for I have been informed that 

 in some parts of the island their only cooking utensils are large, 

 specimens of Turbo marmoratus, valves of Tridaoia gigas and others. 



In submitting the rude fragments of pottery, previously men- 

 tioned, to an archaeologist in Europe, no one would long hesitate 

 in referring them to the stone age, at least to the neolithic period ; 

 for, indeed, they are almost identical with the fragments of pottery 

 found in the Danish kitchen middens, though here fragments of 

 pottery are comparatively very rare. 



* Derived from the decomposition of tertiary sandstone. 



f That no improvement in this very simple kind of pottery has taken place 

 is remarkable, for the Nicobarese are well known to possess good pottery, car- 

 rying on a regular trado with it between their different islands. 



