1870.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 161 



and painting her husband, as well as attending him when sick. 

 The husband has to protect his wife, make canoes for fishing, the 

 implements for hunting pigs and turtle and spearing fish, whilst he 

 also obtains food when not provided by the bachelors or spinsters. 



Widowers and widows have no objection to re-marry, I saw one 

 woman who had done so within one month of her husband's death, 

 but this was looked upon as rather premature. 



When children are born, the infant is first bathed in cold water, 

 and then warmed over a fire, on the supposition that by beginning 

 early to stand changes of temperature, it will be of a hardy con- 

 stitution. They do not appear to be very successful, however, in 

 rearing their little ones. Men and women seem equally fond of 

 carrying the babies about ; all pet them ; when they cry for 

 anything, they give it ; and over-kindness early consigns the little 

 one to the grave.* 



Children are named some months before they are born, after 

 some family or favourite cognomen, consequently there is no dis- 

 tinction between that of the males and the females. Owing to their 

 vocabulary of names being limited to about twenty, they have to 

 prefix some word to each, expressive of something in the appearance 

 of the individual, or the locality from whence they come. 



Amongst the numbers of Andamanese I saw, there was only one 

 woman who had as many as three living children, of this she ap- 

 peared to be very proud, and I was informed, that no other family 

 possessed more than two. From April 1868, to April 1869, 38 

 deaths were reported, and only 1 4 births amongst those families 

 which reside near our settlements. During four years, only six in- 

 fants have lived, whose parents resided at the homes ; of monthly 

 visitors only 12, and of the half yearly ones some 20. 



The Andamanese, at least those who reside near the settlement, 

 are not a long lived or healthy race : but few appear to pass two 

 score years. They suffer severely from fever and lung complica- 

 tions, and although the jungles are their natural home, illness 



* Those children which are brought up in our schools, and clothed, rapidly 

 succumb, as might be anticipated, to the non-clothing and exposure system, 

 to which they become exposed on returning to their families, and resuming 

 their life of freedom. 



