1870.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 19 



implements as their daily utensils, that they make a kind of coarse 

 pottery, not burning but only drying the same in the sun, that they 

 do not appear to be acquainted with any sort of grain or other kind 

 of cereals, &c. — However, when we come to compare these few simple 

 facts with what we know of the Kj 6 kkenmoddings of other parts 

 of the world, they become of an intense interest. We could almost 

 verbally repeat the same as the results of the many successful 

 examinations of the Danish and other shell-mounds by Steenstrup, 

 Worsaae, Sir J. Lubbock, Sir Oh. Lyell and many others. In 

 Europe, especially in Denmark, some parts of Scotland, &c, we look 

 upon the kitchen-middens as the pre-historic remains of an ancient 

 population which has entirely disappeared ; here we have exactly 

 similar mounds formed by a population which still vigorously 

 strives for its existence with the foreigner. It is only natural to 

 expect, therefore, that a study of the latter will supply the most 

 reliable data in comparing the two thoroughly allied formations, 

 and that thus the archaeologist may greatly profit from the researches 

 of the historian. 



I cannot, however, venture to enter now upon this large field of 

 inquiry with the very scanty materials at my disposal, but I may 

 be allowed to indicate, at least, a few points which will shew how 

 valuable a thorough examination of the Kjokkenmoddings on the 

 Andaman, and other similarly situated islands, can become for the 

 study of European Archaeology, and at the same time increase our 

 knowledge of the physical changes of the islands themselves. 



The kitchen-middens are always situated close to the sea shore. 

 The occurrence of them far inland would indicate that some terrestrial 

 changes in the islands have taken place. Mr. K u r z in his report 

 on the Andamans, (selection of the Bengal Government 1868), drew 

 the conclusion from the occurrence of some purely terrestrial trees in 

 what is now a mangrove swamp, that the islands are in a sinking 

 state. But from the account which he gives of several conglo- 

 merate banks on the western side of the islands, it is clear that the 

 beach must have been locally raised. On some of the Nicobar 

 islands, considerable upheavements along the sea-shore have taken 

 place, as indicated by comparatively recently-formed strata high 

 above the present sea level ; and it is very probable that on the 



