1865.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 185 



which terminates in a sort of large tassel behind ; and to this band or 

 cord, in front, they attach a broad leaf which covers the parts charac- 

 teristic of sex. This leaf serves the object for which it is employed 

 much better than might be supposed by any one who had not seen it 

 in use. Before applying the leaf, they strip from the back of it a 

 portion of the midrib, which adds to its pliancy, and renders it easy of 

 adaptation as required. 



" The woody fibrous band round the loins is called ' Bodah ;' — the 

 leaf, ' Waarda' 



"It is the custom with this people always to have the head shaved, 

 leaving merely a faint line of hair, (cut quite short and not more than 

 quarter of an inch in breadth), down the middle line of the back of the 

 head, — exactly corresponding to the portion in which a parting of the 

 hair commonly occurs in the case of Europeans. The shaving process is 

 effected with any piece of glass, a broken bottle, or the like. 



" The heads of the women are peculiar in shape, having a distinct 

 furrow of some depth running across from behind one ear to a corre- 

 sponding point on the opposite side, over the top of the head at the 

 vertex. This particularly strikes the attention of the stranger. 



" It appears that this furrow results from the custom of the women to 

 carry wicker baskets on the back of their shoulders, which baskets hang 

 down from the head, being suspended by a band or cord, which, by pres- 

 sure, gradually causes the depression alluded to. No such furrow is seen 

 in the skull of any male Andamanese, as they never carry weights sus- 

 pended from the head. This characteristic is interesting, and would 

 probably suffice in most cases to distinguish the cranium of the female 

 from that of the male, even after death. 



" The Andamanese do not tattoo their bodies. But instead of this, 

 they are in the habit of scoring or cutting themselves freely with 

 broken glass. Marks thus produced are readily distinguishable in the 

 photographs presented to the Society. This process of cutting the 

 body is called ' Beedmudda.' I was informed by a gentleman who 

 happened to come with this party of Andamanese to India, that shortly 

 after embarkation, they suffered from sea-sickness, and being very 

 miserable, they endeavoured to relieve their sufferings, by gashing 

 each other, particularly about the head, with fragments of broken 

 bottle. This was done until they bled freely. Indeed the marks of 



