THE ISLANDS AND THEIR POPULATION 37 
or whatever the Christian or pagan Malaysian of the 
region may talk. It is extremely likely that this was not 
always the case and that the language of his own which 
the Negrito must have possessed when he was the sole or 
principal owner of the islands has only gradually gone 
out of use, owing to his insignificant numbers as com- 
pared with the Malaysian, and because of the cultural 
dependence in which he has always stood toward the 
latter. 
The Andamanese speak a peculiar language which it 
has not yet been possible to connect with any other 
variety of human speech. This they seem to have 
preserved only because the remoteness and-small size of 
their islands drew no immigrants and preserved them 
from all foreign contacts. It is conceivable that the 
Semang and the Philippine Negritos at one time spoke 
dialects akin to those which the Andamanese have pre- 
served. 
Negrito Life. The culture of the Negritos seems to 
lack all specific traits. It is extremely meager, and they 
seem to possess no tool or custom which is not known 
also to their Filipino neighbors and which they could not 
have derived from them. They live an unsettled exist- 
ence, supporting themselves largely, and in some dis- 
tricts wholly, by hunting and gathering wild foods, 
especially roots, tubers, and honey. Externally, their 
mode of life is thus quite different from that of the 
brown Filipino; but as soon as their poor little stock of 
civilization is analyzed, it becomes revealed as only a 
pale and abbreviated copy of the latter. In addition, 
the Negrito, with all his shyness, is wont to trade more 
or less with his neighbors, exchanging forest products 
such as rattan and beeswax for cloth, knives, iron, 
and ornaments. The most useful of his possessions are 
therefore not even of his own manufacture. All this 

