974 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVIII. 
lier o\vii and woe betide any strange pig that tries to intrude during the feeding 
jjrocess. Finally one usually finds one or more cats busy washing themselves 
or lying in the sun near the entrance to the hut. Entry to the living hut 
is effected by means of a short bamboo ladder or by steps cut alternately in 
the two sides of a stout piece of timber. On Chowra Island as well as in 
Great Nicobar the Nicobarese use a large flat sponge as a door mat, on which they 
wipe their feet before entering the hut.* These sponges are found growing on 
the coral-reefs round those islands, but I saw none either growing or in use in 
the villages round Nankauri Harbour. The contents of a hut remind one irresis- 
tibly of a museum. At the far end of the hut opposite the entrance is an earthen 
or stone fire-place, upon which rest various pots and pans of earthenware ; the 
rest of the space is largely occupied by “ scare-devils ” of every conceivable and 
inconceivable variety, some being crowded together in comers, others being sus- 
pended from the roof, while occupying a central position one frequently finds 
a red cloth-covered board, on which is displayed an amazing assortment of cheap 
German-silver or nickel-plated spoons, etc., obtained from traders in exchange 
for cocoanuts. 
In spite of all efforts to christianise the inhabitants of the central group 
of islands their religion remains unchanged and is fundamentally and essentially 
animistic. They have an implicit belief in “spirits”, for the most part, so far 
as I could gather, evil in character, that have the power to cause misfortune or 
sickness, but which can be kept away or driven out of the aftticted person by 
objects of a supposedly terrifying nature. A study of these “scare-devils” gives 
one a very good idea of both the history and natural history of these islands. 
The accompanying photograph shows a collection of these objects, all taken 
from a smgle hut, together with their proud possessor. The majority of these 
scare-devils can be divided into two groups : — 
(a) Models of human beings and 
(b) Paintings on wooden boards or shields. 
On the left of the photograph stands the principal scare-devil (kareau), 
a life-size model of a Nicobarese medicine-man. As is invariably the case, 
the attitude is threatening and to make the resemblance complete the 
face is painted red and round the neck is hung a string of grass, orna- 
mented with bits of cloth and glass beads. When in its proper place this figure 
usually stands at the head of the ladder and close to the entrance to the hut. 
On the right of the photograph is a three-quarter life-size figure of a Nicobarese 
woman, also in a threatening attitude and with vertical bars of white paint on 
the cheeks and chin. The squatting female figure in the centre is interesting, 
as it is in my experience of a very unusual type ; the attitude, the legs crossed 
and the sole of the upper foot turned upwards, the left hand outstretched and 
the right hand raised, reminds one forcibly, in spite of the sex, of a statue of 
Buddha in the attitude of blessing, and to render the similarity yet more com- 
plete there is a painted caste-mark in the centre of the forehead. The fourth 
little figure with the peaked cap, buttoned-up coat and trousers is in a pro- 
bability an image of one of the officers of the Austrian frigate “ Novara ” 
which visited these islands in 1858 — at any rate the little man has been 
adorned with a very fine “ kaiserlich “ moustache. One of these scare-devils 
is of a most miusual type. Apparently it is intended for a model of a boat, 
but both stem and stern terminate in a four-faced head crowned with a top-hat 
and each bears a ring of spikes radiating outwards ; seated in the boat are five 
little figures, each wearing a hat of the ‘boating-straw’ type with a black band. 
• Vide Census report by A. R. S. Anderson, Census of India, 1901, Vol. Ill, An- 
daman and Nicobar Islands, pp. 163-169. Calcutta. 1903. a7id Dr. A. M. Meerwath. 
Ethnological gallery Guide Book, No. 2. “ The Andamane.se, Nicobarese and Hill 
Tribes of Assam,” Indian Museum, Calcutta, 1919. 
