The material of which it is made is either the glume of a bamboo or the spathe of a palm which has been flattened out and framed with split bamboos.
It is about 3 feet long by 18 inches broad. The objects are painted with vermilion, their outlines being surrounded with punctures, which allow the light to pass through. * * *
As in all such Nicobarese paintings, figures of the sun, moon, and stars occupy prominent positions. Now, the sun and moon are stated, by those who have known the Nicobarese best, to be especial objects of adoration, and therefore these paintings may have some religious significance.
At first it occurred to me that this was merely an inventory of the property of the deceased, but as some of the objects are certainly not such as we should expect to find in an enumeration of property, e. g., the lizard, while the figures of men appear to portray particular emotions, it seems probable that the objects represented have a more or less conventional meaning, and that we have here a document of as bona fide and translatable a character as an Egyptian hieroglyphic inscription.
My own efforts to discover an interpretation from the natives on the spot were not crowned with success. * * *
Mr. De Röepstorff, extra assistant superintendent of the Andamans and Nicobars, to whom I applied for such information as he might be able to collect upon the subject, assured me by letter, in 1873, that the screens had a religious significance and were used to exorcise spirits, but he did not seem to regard them as capable of being interpreted. * * *
The following is a list of the objects depicted, besides animals; many of the common utensils in use in a Nicobarese household are included:
(1) The sun and stars; (2) the moon and stars; (3) swallows or (?) flying fish; (4) impression of the forepart of a human foot; (5) a lizard (Hydrosaurus?); (6) four men in various attitudes; (7) two dás for cutting jungle; (8) two earthen cooking vessels; (9) two birds; (10) an ax; (11) two spears; (12) a ladder (?); (13) dish for food; (14) cocoanut water-vessels; (15) palm tree; (16) a canoe; (17) three pigs; (18) shed; (19) domestic fowl; (20) seaman’s chest; (21) dog; (22) fish of different kinds; (23) turtle.