166 
KICOBAR ISLANDS/ 
are eomposed of saiull variegated shells, and some consist of several 
rows of twisted hair, with a piece of carved w'ood or bone, highly 
jiolished, the bottom part forming a curve. They have also the 
poo-rernah, or bracelet; the most valuable of which are of boar’s 
tusks, fastened together side by side with a piece of string, by 
means of a hole drilled through the middle. 
Such, at least, was the character, dress, and manners of these 
islanders, before the missionaries of late years settled among them ; 
since which time, they have made rapid advances in civilization, and 
have adopted many European customs. 
Natives of the Nicobar Islands. 
These islands lie in Asia, at the entrance of the gulf of Ben- 
gal. The natives are low in stature, but well-made, active, and 
strong ; they are copper-coloured, and their features have a cast 
of the Malay, quite the reverse of elegant. The w'omen are 
extremely ugly. The men cut their hair short, and the women have 
their heads shaved quite bare, and wear no covering but a short 
petticoat, made of a sort of rush, or dry grass, which reaches half 
way down the thigh. This grass is not interwoven, but hangs round 
the person, sometimes like the thatching of a house. Such of them 
as have received presents of cloth petticoats from the ships, com- 
monly tie them round immediately under the arms. The men wear 
nothing but a narrow slip of cloth about the middle. The ears of 
both sexes are pierced when very young, and by thrusting into the 
holes large plugs of wood, or banging heavy shells, they render them 
wide, and disagreeable to look at. They are naturally good^ 
humoured, and fond of sitting at table with Europeans, where they 
eat every thing that is set before them, most enormously. They do 
not care for wine, but will drink bumpers of arak as long as they 
can see. A great part of their time is spent in feasting and 
dancing. 
When a feast is held in any village, every one that chooses goes 
uninvited. At those feasts they eat immense quantities of pork, 
which is their favourite food. Their hogs are remarkably fat, 
being fed upon cocoa-nut kernels and sea water, as indeed all their 
domestic animals, fowls, dogs, &c. are. They have also plenty of 
small sea-fish, which they strike very dexterously with lances, wading 
into the sea about knee- deep. They are sure of killing a very small 
fish at ten or tw^elve yards’ distance. They eat the pork almost raw, 
giving it only a hasty grilling over a quick fire. They roast a fowl 
by running a piece of wood through it by way of a spit, and holding 
it over a brisk fire until the feathers are burnt off, when it is ready for 
eating, in their taste. They never drink water, only cocoa-nut milk, 
and a liquor called soura, which oozes from the cocoa-nut tree 
after cutting off the young sprouts or flowers. This they suffer to 
ferment before it is used, and then it is intoxicating; to which quality 
they add mucli, in their method of drinking it, by sucking it through 
a small straw. 
