ANDAMANESE OBJECTS.
No form of worship is to be found; but there exists a belief in a spiritual being, called Púluga, the Creator; and in evil spirits, Érem-chaugala, the spirit of the woods; and Juruwinda, the spirit of the sea, the first of whom causes sickness and earthquakes, the latter cramp; both are demoniacal. There are also a host of minor devils, who are self-created; none of the demons are under the control of Púluga.[103]
They make no attempt at trading in the natural products of their islands, and manufacture nothing but the weapons, personal ornaments, implements, and utensils required for their own use. They have some knowledge of pottery, though not of the wheel, and make rude pots, which they ornament with patterns of wavy lines before baking.
No true musical instruments exist, but a rude sounding-board is constructed, on which they accompany songs by beating with the foot.[104]
The weapons used in hunting and fishing are bows and spears, and there are both hand and large seine nets for taking fish. For food there are pigs, musang, dugong, porpoise, fish, turtle and their eggs, molluscs, larvæ (a delicacy), fruit, honey, and roots. Food is cooked and eaten as hot as possible: of the production of fire they, at least in modern times, have no knowledge: this accounts for the great care taken in preserving fire at their camping places, and when travelling.
The coast people are extremely expert swimmers and divers, but the interior tribes naturally not so, as their mode of life is somewhat different.
The natives are now known to be divided into twelve tribes, if groups that in many cases number at present less than fifty individuals can be so called. Beyond their speech there is little otherwise to distinguish them from each other, except in the case of the Öngés and Jarawas, who differ somewhat from the rest, but are in many ways both alike.
The enmity that the Andamanese had ever shown to all strangers was by some believed to have been greatly due to the treatment they had received from early Chinese and Malay traders, or bêche-de-mer collectors; but, prior to 1858, extreme jealousy and distrust prevailed among adjacent tribes, and even amongst scattered communities of the same tribe, and it was not till 1879 that members of all the Andaman tribes (except Öngés and Jarawas) were able to meet on friendly terms at the Homes of the Settlement.
Friendly relations have lately been arrived at with most of the inhabitants of Little Andaman (i.e. the Öngés), but the Jarawas, who inhabit the North Sentinel, Rutland Island, and South Andaman, have proved to be quite irreconcilable, and their attitude often explains the total disappearance that sometimes follows escapes of the convicts.