Andaman Family.
We comprise in the Andaman Family those Eastern blacks who possess the characteristics of the Negro race strongly marked. These nations are as yet but little known. The inhabitants of New Guinea, the aborigines of the Andaman Isles, in the bay of Bengal, the blacks of the Malacca peninsula, those dwelling in some of the mountains of Indo-China, the natives of Tasmania, and, finally, the indigenous population of Australia are included in this group.
Among all these people the facial angle does not exceed 60 degrees; the mouth is very large, the nose broad and flat, the arms short, the legs lanky, and the complexion the colour of soot. The women are positively hideous.
The tribes which form these groups are, in general, numerous and subject to the arbitrary authority of a chief. Language is extremely limited among them; they possess neither government, laws, nor regularly established ceremonies, and some do not even know how to construct places of abode.
In order to convey to the reader an idea of the people composing the Andaman Family we shall give a glance at the inhabitants of the Andaman Isles and also at those of Australia.
Andamans.—The dwellings of the Andamans are of the most rudimentary kind, being hardly superior to the dens of wild beasts. Four posts covered with a roof of palm-leaves constitute these lairs, which are open to every wind, and “ornamented” with hogs’ bones, turtle shells, and large dried fish tied in bunches.
As for the inhabitants themselves, they are of an ebon black. They seldom exceed five feet in stature; their heads are broad and buried between their shoulders; and their hair is woolly, like that of the African blacks. The abdomen is protuberant in a great many cases, and their lower limbs lank. They go about in a state of complete nudity, merely taking care to cover the entire body with a layer of yellow ochre or clay, which protects it from the sting of insects. They paint their faces and sprinkle their hair with red ochre.
Their weapons are, however, manufactured with much cleverness. Their bows, which require a very strong pull, are made of a sort of iron-wood and gracefully shaped. Their arrows are tipped with fine points, some of them barbed, and they shoot them with much skill. They handle expertly their short paddles, marked with red ochre, and hollow their canoes with a rather rude implement formed of a hard and sharp stone fastened to a handle by means of a strong cord made from vegetable fibres.
The Andamans are ichthyophagists, for the seas which wash their islands abound in excellent fish and palatable mollusks. Soles, mullets, and oysters constitute the staple of their food, and when during tempestuous weather fish runs short, they eat the lizards, rats, and mice which swarm in the woods.