Chapter XVII: The Coral Island of Sikayana (4)

The Nicobar Islands had been recommended by a learned member of the Society of Physicians of Vienna, as a special subject of inquiry as to whether this group were not by position, conditions of soil, and climate, particularly suitable for the cultivation of the Peruvian bark tree, whose importance for medical purposes is daily increasing. So far as our brief stay admitted, we did not lose sight of this object, but the practical observations we made in the course of our voyage led us to conclusions widely different from those which, representing the quinquina tree as in danger of being extirpated on its native soil, South America, by the carelessness of the Indians, regarded its transplantation into other countries as a question of the utmost importance for the interests of the human race. The China tree, very far from becoming extinct, is carefully cultivated in Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador. The bark is systematically cropped in most of these localities, and consequently there is no occasion to anticipate any considerable increase in price, or failure in the supply of this precious drug. We shall have an opportunity, when describing our stay at Java and at the west coast of America, to revert at length to this question, and shall have only to add the remark, that the great expense of such an attempt, and the extraordinary watchfulness and care which must be bestowed on the China tree for a number of years before the slightest profit can be derived from it, seem alone to render hopeless such an undertaking as its introduction in the Nicobar Islands, even were the climatic conditions better suited to such an experiment than we have reason to believe that they are.

As for the zoology of these islands, it seems to be much less developed, whether as regards numbers, or size, than might be expected, considering the luxuriance of the vegetation. The forests are by their very nature poor in living denizens, the majority of these consisting of various species of birds. In like manner the sea is but little productive, and the nets which we cast over the ship's side at Kar-Nicobar, Pulo Milu, and Ganges Harbour, like the hook and line, brought up but few specimens, and those hardly deserving of notice. The natives have no nets of any sort, their mode of fishing consisting simply of raising a succession of weirs, in which they can harpoon or take their prey.

Of domestic animals we saw only swine, hens, dogs, and cats, all of which live upon cocoa-nut. The dog, a smooth-haired cur of a light brownish-yellow colour, with pointed ears, is a sad coward, and his bark rather resembles a prolonged howl. The cats and the hens are exactly like those of Europe. Cattle for draught or the dairy, are as yet entirely unknown to the natives; yet they might easily be introduced from the adjoining shores of India. The zebra breed especially, already acclimatized in the tropics, would be of conspicuous utility as beasts of draught, supposing any attempt made at cultivation of the soil.

Judging by the experiments made at Pulo Milu, the introduction of goats and sheep could only be accomplished with much difficulty. On the other hand all manner of poultry would be found to thrive in these islands.

In passing from this very cursory consideration of the natural history of these islands[21] to the race of man who inhabit them, we find ourselves confronted with a people, who, on account of the primitive manner in which they live, attract our interest in the highest degree. The natives of the Nicobar group, whose entire number may be estimated at from 5000 to 6000 souls, are, as we have already remarked, large and well formed, the skin of a dark brown, bronze-like hue, and owing to the prevailing custom of anointing their bodies with cocoa-nut oil, usually presenting a glancing appearance, and emitting a peculiar odour. This inunction is apparently intended to obviate superabundant perspiration, as also any skin diseases, just as the Indian races west of the Mississippi are accustomed to protect their naked bodies against the direct influences of the cold, by rubbing in the fat of animals. The practice of daubing the face does not seem to be so extensively resorted to, as previous descriptions of the Nicobar islanders had led us to believe. We saw only one solitary native, at the village of Malacca in the island of Nangkauri, who had painted his forehead and cheeks with the red pigment obtained from the seeds of the _Bixa Orellana_ (the well-known Annatto dye). Instances of tattooing we never fell in with, nor do these islanders seem to have any desire to imitate the beautiful, sometimes absolutely artistic, designs punctured on the hands and feet of the Malays and Burmese who occasionally visit them. Moles and blotches on the breast and arms are of frequent occurrence. The forehead of the Nicobar islander is slightly rounded, and in many cases may even be said to be well formed, but it falls away somewhat suddenly; the face is usually broad, and if we except the rather prominent zygomatic process, approaches the oval type; the hinder portion of the head is flat and seems as though crushed inwards, a circumstance of which Fontana, in his well-known journal already mentioned, takes special notice, and which deserves the more attention, that we think we are in a position, by means of actual measurement, and inquiries made on the spot, to say with certainty that this modification of the normal form of the skull is not natural to this race, but is artificially produced. We especially rely upon the circumstance, that among the natives of Nangkauri and others of the islands, the custom prevails of pressing quite flat the head of the newly-born infant, probably in conformity with Nicobar laws of taste and beauty: in order to make the result more certain, they keep continually repeating this experiment by a variety of different means during a considerable time. The nose is of ordinary dimensions, but is always of unusual breadth, and coarse of outline; we found a few individuals with noses of exorbitant length. Owing to the incredible extent to which the disgusting practice of chewing the betel-nut is carried, their mouth, naturally large, is hideously distorted. On the island of Treis we saw an aged native, whose tongue, in consequence of the incessant betel-chewing, had been attacked in a similar manner as his teeth. The chin is for the most part without any marked characteristic, and is usually rather retreating. The maxillary bones are broad and projecting, and the zygoma has a rather bold curve. The ears are small, but the flaps on the other hand are so broad, that when pierced they are ornamented with a piece of bamboo an inch thick.

Some of the natives make use of this broad aperture to store away cigars. The thin eye-brows do not curve over the whole of the superior arch of the eye. The hair for the most part is beautiful, thick, black, and soft, in many instances depending low on both sides. The beard is universally very thin, and instances of mustachios or goatees are very rarely encountered. However a beard does not seem to be classed among those objects which add to the Nicobar ideal of beauty. At least, as often as they found an opportunity of seizing a pair of scissors from our dressing-cases, we used always to see the natives eagerly setting about extirpating the few hairs, which despite all their endeavours would persist in appearing upon the upper lip on either side of the mouth. The expression of their face is grave, tranquil, and rather _insouciant_. We never saw in their features any expression of emotion, such for instance as might have been imparted by delight at having obtained some coveted object, not even when they had manifested the utmost eagerness to possess it. The only excitement which their ordinarily impassive countenances were however many a time called on to indicate, took the form of an expression of pain and anxiety, as often as they saw a number of strangers make a descent upon their islands. The singularly marked similarity of feature in each and every individual, may safely be ascribed to the similarity of condition universally prevalent, to the small scope given to the play of their affections, and to the frequent intermarriage, which must necessarily be the case where, as in these islands, a couple of hundred human beings form the whole population of an island, and where intercommunication with the adjoining islands is so confined.

The assertion by Fontana, that the natives never cut their nails, but on the other hand shave off their eye-brows, we have never found confirmed in any of the islands we visited, although very possibly some few individuals, certainly so far as we could find very scanty in number, may ape the customs of their Malay and Chinese visitors, by letting their nails grow. Of cripples, or at all events of individuals stunted in their growth, we saw but two, the first case being that of a native of Kar-Nicobar, who in consequence of a dislocation of the _radius_ at the wrist joint was entirely powerless of the left arm; while the second, a sort of dwarf, who was likewise an inhabitant of that island, presented a well-marked corpulence in the extremities, and fingers so swelled up and short, that he was known among his neighbours by the nickname of _Kiutakunti_ (short finger).

Hitherto the natives seem to have escaped the ravages of syphilitic diseases. As to any instances of visitations of virulent though temporary epidemics, we could not get any information of such having occurred; they have however in their language a word (Mallok) for the small-pox, of the existence of which we had convinced ourselves by personal demonstration in the case of a Malay, whose face was frightfully disfigured by the marks of this appalling disease.

Although in a climate the annual average of which is 81 deg. Fahr., clothes are all but unnecessary, the natives nevertheless manifest an extraordinary passion for European clothing, and when it seemed impracticable by any other means to elicit an expression of pleasure on their calm, indifferent, emotionless countenances, it was always possible to succeed by presenting them with a shirt, a coat, or a black silk round hat. As however the natives have seldom been presented with more than one such article at a time, and many a year is apt to elapse ere he gets another, by which he might succeed in gradually completing his dress, the Nicobarian makes his appearance before strangers attired in the most extraordinary fashion, almost entirely naked, sometimes with only a black hat on his head, or pluming himself on being spruced up in a frock coat (but without shirt, stockings, or head-gear), which on the plump naked brown skin of this child of nature has far more the appearance of a straight-waistcoat than a comfortable article of dress.

The natives show infinitely more vanity in the selection of a piece of clothing, than calculation as to its real necessity or suitability. A large low-crowned white hat with broad rim, which we presented to one native, gained not the slightest approval, although both in form and colour it was far better suited to protecting the wearer against the rays of the tropical sun than a high, narrow-brimmed, fashionable black silk hat, to the possession of which the natives of Kar-Nicobar and Nangkauri attach quite an inordinate value. For such an article, in the course of barter, they offer 1600 ripe cocoa-nuts, while for a long piece of wide dark-coloured muslin, in which they are wont to envelope their dead, they will give only 1200 such fruits. But the most characteristic head-gear of the Nicobarians is a bandeau made of dried leaves of the cocoa-nut palm, which gives them quite a picturesque appearance. We saw but few ornaments worn, such as necklaces, bracelets, &c., only one or two of the younger men having their hands and their necks adorned with massive rings of silver and iron wire.

The dwellings of the natives are usually round, beehive-shaped huts, resting on a number of stakes of from six to eight feet in height. Simple as is the construction of these huts, it nevertheless, especially on the island of Kar-Nicobar, possesses a certain degree of ornament, we might almost say elegance, while the thatching of dried palm-leaves, as also the beams and the walls constructed of reeds (_Calamus Rotang_), are a branch of industry which would do honour even to civilized races of the world. The natives usually cower or squat on the ground, or seat themselves upon some cocoa-nut that has chanced to fall, while at night, stretched out upon the flowers shed by the Areca palm, and with their heads elevated by a piece of hard wood, they find anywhere a sufficiently comfortable couch.

The means of subsistence of the Nicobar islanders are anything but abundant. As they are utterly ignorant of cultivation, they are entirely indebted for the very first necessaries of life to the provision which a bountiful nature has supplied to them, without the assistance of man's labour. Their chief articles of food are the cocoa-nut and the pandanus fruit. As with the natives of India, so among the natives of the Nicobar group, the cocoa-palm is applied to the most various purposes, although it would be difficult to make it fulfil all the ninety and nine useful purposes which the Hindoo proverb assigns to this noble individual of the royal race of palms. The cocoa-palm likewise constitutes the chief article of export of the entire group, while the profit from the Trepang (Biche de Mar of the English, a sort of cockle), edible swallows' nests, tortoise-shell, amber, and so forth, is of the highest importance in the interchange of commerce.

The betel shrub (_Piper Betle_), next to the cocoa-nut and pandanus fruit, one of the most important necessities of the inhabitants of these islands, is not indigenous, but has been introduced hither from the peninsula of Malacca, and formed for a long time an article of commerce and exchange. At present this creeper, which spreads with hardly any particular care, is found in such quantities that only a small proportion of the leafy produce can be consumed by the sparse population. It was always incomprehensible to us in what could consist the great charm of betel-chewing, that a habit so loathsome should be so extensively practised by the very lowest slaves of the princes of India, by poor as well as rich, nay, should fling its chains, as it actually does, even over women and children. A lucky chance, however, threw in our way a Sanscrit poem (_Hytopedesa_) which celebrates as follows the thirteen cardinal virtues of the betel-leaf:--"Betel is pungent, bitter, aromatic, sweet, alkaline, astringent, a carminative, a dispeller of phlegm, a vermifuge, a sweetener of the breath, an ornament of the mouth, a remover of impurities, and a kindler of the flame of love! O friend! these thirteen properties of betel are hard to be met with, even in heaven!"[22]

It would be an inquiry of considerable interest to trace the influence which the incessant betel-chewing exercises over the longevity of the inhabitants, and the changes caused in the masticatory organs, which are so constantly exposed to these pernicious practices.

That which most deeply struck us throughout the Nicobars, was the frightful decomposition of the teeth, whereas in other betel-chewing races these were stained only of the same deep crimson as the lips and the gums. We at first ascribed this difference to some variation in the mixture of the ingredients, but we repeatedly perceived afterwards that the betel used on the Nicobar group consisted of nothing else than a small piece of Areca-nut, which, sprinkled with a little chalk, was enveloped in a green aromatic betel-leaf, and so was popped into the mouth. The Hindoos, on the other hand, add to these ingredients, which they always carry about with them in elegant cases, a certain astringent substance (formerly called _Terra Japonica_, because it was long supposed to be a mineral product) made out of the pith of the _Acacia Catechu_, a species of Mimosa; or occasionally add to the usual masticatory composition a species of resin obtained from the _Melaleuca Cajeputi_, as also a little tobacco.

The frightfully destructive effects of the betel on the teeth and lips of the Nicobar natives, is apparently attributable only to some difference in the proportions of the ingredients used, very probably to the use of a larger quantity of coral lime. What is alleged of a custom the Nicobarians have of filing down their teeth and rubbing them with some corrosive substance, rests exclusively upon conjecture, and is confirmed neither by personal observation nor by the account given by the natives themselves, nor by the Malay traders who frequent Great Nicobar and Nangkauri.

In social as well as in religious matters, we must consider the inhabitants of this Archipelago as among the child-races of the world. They consider it a duty to marry very young and take but one wife, but they age with uncommon rapidity. Of about 100 natives with whom during our stay on the various islands we were in communication, hardly one was above forty, and the majority may be roughly estimated at from twenty to thirty. If, moreover, we set it down as improbable that all the aged men should have taken to flight like the women and children, it should seem that these natives never attain a very extended duration of life.

Of the therapeutic powers of various plants that are found in their forests, the natives have but little knowledge. All that they have ever had of drugs have been almost entirely supplied from Europe by captains of English vessels. Although they attach the most extravagant importance to the possession of these, these medicines are, if anything, more prejudicial than beneficial to them, as they of course understand nothing of their use, and often apply them in the most absurd manner. It seems that once some ship captain in order to get quit of their importunities made over to them all the articles he could most conveniently spare, such as castor-oil, Epsom salts, spirit of camphor, turpentine, peppermint, eau de Cologne, &c. &c., and ever since they pester each visitor for medicine! A native once urgently begged us to give him a little spirit of turpentine; on our asking him to what purpose he wished to apply it, he answered that he wanted to rub himself with it, and take a few drops internally, because he believed it was an excellent preservative against ague and pain in the chest!

The maladies with which the natives are most commonly afflicted, are intermittent fever, phthisis, and rheumatism. In some cases we remarked _Elephantiasis Arabica_ (the Juzam of Arab writers), called by the Nicobarians _Kelloidy_, attacking the bones, and several different forms of cuticular eruption. The severity of these diseases must be ascribed less to the insalubrity of the climate than to the unwholesome mode of existence of the natives. Can we feel surprised that naked men, who do not inhabit the more favourably situated spots ventilated by regular winds, but live on the swampy coast, in the sandy bays that are fringed with a forest belt, where they can grow their cocoa-palms with the least labour to themselves, who leave their bodies exposed now to the violence of tropical rains, now to the fiery rays of a tropical sun, and whose food consists almost exclusively of cocoa-nuts and the fruit of the _pandanus_,--can we wonder that they should be in an especial degree subject to disease? It is a mistake to suppose that the food of inhabitants of the tropics is that assigned by Nature herself, and therefore the most beneficial and suitable. For, despite all theory, which for residents in the tropics chiefly prescribes substances with plenty of carbon and nitrogen as the proper articles of food, we see Europeans, more especially Englishmen, in the hottest climate in the world, with a thermometer that rarely falls below 86 deg. Fahr., devouring, just as in a more northern climate, strong soups, gigantic beef-steaks, and mutton cutlets to any extent, contemptuously turning up their noses at mere vegetable diet, and barely touching marmalade or sweetmeats; yet there they are blooming in the best of health, far better even than that of the natives. Indeed, it is a fact full of interest, and confirmed by observations carried on for years, that in the Presidency of Madras, for example, the Hindoos and Mahmudas, so widely different in their customs and mode of life, were much more seriously attacked by fever than the Europeans resident there, in such entirely different conditions of climate than they were accustomed to. On the other hand, so far as regards sanitary measures, that portion of the aboriginal population presents the most favourable results which is most intimately allied to the Europeans, and applies in its own case the precepts of modern civilization.

So soon as the natives are attacked by fever with any severity, they rapidly succumb. However, we have never heard tell of any of that barbarous inhumanity which any medicine-man, whose treatment is unsuccessful, is said to experience at the hands of the relatives and friends of the patient, which indeed is all the more improbable as, were such really the case, considering the small advantages and scrimp fees likely to be picked up by a smart medicine-man among such an impoverished race, there would hardly be met with one Manluena in the entire group! The head-mark of a doctor in the southern islands is his unusually long floating hair. On our inquiring of a native what qualifications were requisite in order to become a doctor, he replied with the most charming naivete: "One must be the son of a doctor!" From this reply we may gather that in the Nicobar Islands medical skill and knowledge of the healing art are confined to certain families! We afterwards found this information confirmed, upon our discovering that the youthful Manluena of Great Nicobar, who so severely kneaded and twisted the arm of one of the associates of the Expedition, was the son of an aged doctor of the island of Kondul, and owed his reputation solely to the circumstance of his kindred. Besides cases of sickness, the advice, the adroitness, and the zeal of the Manluena are held in special repute for the driving out of the evil spirit or _Eewees_, by which, as already mentioned, the inhabitants of the Nicobar Islands believe themselves to be incessantly surrounded.

Of idols proper, such as barbarous tribes construct and honour, and to whom they dedicate temples, they have none; nor have they any object in nature, as, for instance, a lofty tree, a huge rock or a hill, to which they attach a certain charm, like some of the Central American tribes. They have not even a word for the Divine idea in their language, nor for Godhead, nor for any Beneficent Principle or Being, and the rudely carved figures, which are found set up in all sorts of comical postures within their huts, are intended to serve no higher purpose, than to frighten away those evil spirits which even the Manluena has been unable to see, though he sets himself forward as able to hold converse with them.

The notion of a Being, whose wisdom and whose love rule the world, is quite as foreign to their minds as the conception of a spiritual life in the future after death. We repeatedly asked one of their most intelligent leaders, who also spoke a little English, whether he believed he should ever again recognize his dead friends and relatives? But he replied invariably with a cold, indifferent, "Never, never!" All that we told them of the privileges of a believing Christian, of a Divine Being, of the belief in a future state of existence after death, served only to fill them with astonishment, but they seemed ready enough to listen to such subjects. What little they had heard upon these truths from missionaries and ship captains, appeared however to have left them with very confused notions.

From all that came under our notice, the mode of life of these islanders is singularly uniform and indolent, its most important events consisting probably of the alterations necessary by the interchange of the seasons. They know of no other method of computing time than the change of the moon and of the monsoons. At the beginning of the wet season or S.W. monsoon, and at the corresponding period of the dry season or N.E. monsoon, there are certain festivals, which somewhat resemble the "sowing feasts" and "harvest homes" of the American aboriginal stocks. They have however no appointed day of rest, corresponding to the sabbath of the Christian Church, nor indeed do they need such, seeing that in their mode of life every day is a holiday! They have no measure for time, nor indeed for anything else: not a single native could give us any idea of his own age, nor could count above 20.[23] Time has for them not the slightest value: the watchword "_Time is money!_" which first given by England, is at present resounding throughout the world, falls voiceless and ineffectual on their insensible ears. Their reckoning of time is as limited as their capacity for recollecting by-gone occurrences. The presence of Christian missionaries at various periods, as also the visit of the Danish corvette _Galatea_ in 1847, had already almost entirely disappeared from their memory. Only among a very few of their numbers have some of the names clung to the recollection, such as _Galatea_, and _Steene Bille_ (which they pronounced _Piller_).

We could not find anything that bore the least resemblance to any settled form of government, to any distribution upon fixed principles of the possessions of the general community, to any recognition of individual right, to any tribunal for settling quarrels, &c. &c. They recognize the relations of family and of property; on the other hand, the power of the captain, one of whom the greater number of villages has each for itself, and whom they call _Mah_ or _Umiaha_ (old), extends no further than giving him the right to be the first to trade with such foreign ships as make their appearance, and to inaugurate the barter-system. Indeed this very institution of captainship, although much liked by the natives, does not at all seem as though it were part of their own system, but to date from the period when English merchant vessels began to visit these islands regularly.

As to the social life of the natives, their family relations, and so forth, we could get such scanty and uncertain data to go upon, what with the cursory visits we paid to the various islands, and considering the women and children had everywhere fled, while the men regarded us simply as intruders, that we do not venture to publish any special information upon this point. Be it however permitted to express our opinion, that, judging by the tendency to a decent style of dress and the extreme elegance of the decorations of the canoes and the huts of the islanders of Kar-Nicobar, as contrasted with the destitution, nakedness, and wretched condition of the natives of the southern islands of the group, civilization seems to be advancing from north to south with slow but sure steps. And it will probably interest the philologist to be informed that both in Kar-Nicobar and Nangkauri, the most important settlement bears the same name, Malacca, as the chief city on the adjoining Malay peninsula. As the natives in this delicious _far niente_ existence live exclusively upon the precious gifts of an all-bountiful Nature, which provides them at once with food and drink, one naturally finds among them few implements of labour, indeed only such as are indispensably necessary in erecting their huts, in preparing their canoes, and in enabling them readily to open the cocoa-nuts. And even these tools, as, for instance, hatchets, cutlasses, files, &c., were first procured through intercourse with civilization.

Their weapons consist merely of lances or javelins with points of iron or hardened wood, by the number of which, it is presumed, the wealth of a Nicobar islander is estimated. A cross-bow, which we saw in the possession of a native of Kar-Nicobar, although made on the island, was manifestly of European design originally, and merely an imitation.

Of musical instruments we did not find a single specimen in Kar-Nicobar, whereas on the southern islands there is a six, sometimes a seven-holed flute in use, made of bamboo-cane, which, as we afterwards discovered, had been brought hither by the Malays; and also a kind of guitar about two or three feet in length, hollowed out, and with sound-holes in the side, and made of thick bamboo and reed strings. On the whole, however, the Nicobarians seem to be much too apathetic and indifferent a race to have any special predilection for music, singing, or dancing. Accordingly at their monsoon festivals and other holiday-times, their notion of dancing is limited to hopping round in a circle with arms entwined, while they at the same time keep up a listless humming noise.

In the case of such a race, which has no civilization or industry of its own, it is out of the question to speak of their having any regular industrial occupation in the strict sense of the word. The particular and to them most beneficent plant, which supplies them at once with enough to eat and to drink, at the same time brings them, very reluctantly, into contact with civilization, and will yet become a main agent in introducing a knowledge of those necessities and acquaintance with those articles which are the product of a higher grade of civilization alone. The ripe nuts of the cocoa-palm constitute the chief article of export of the Nicobar Islands, and, what is even more important, supply the stimulus, which already arouses the native to a certain degree of activity, although most of the nuts that are put on ship-board are collected not by the natives, but by the crews of the Malay vessels. All other articles of export, such as _Biche de mar_, edible birds' nests, tortoise-shell, amber, &c., are of very inferior importance, and are only taken as by-freight. According to published documents the northern islands can supply 10,000,000 cocoa-nuts, of which however, at present, not much more than 5,000,000, to wit, 3,000,000 from Kar-Nicobar alone, and 2,000,000 from the rest of the islands, are exported in all. As this fruit is one-sixth of the price it bears on the coasts of Bengal, the concourse of English and Malay vessels, especially from Pulo Penang, increases every year.[24] The trade is carried on by way of barter instead of money payments, although silver is highly valued too; for here also, despite all that is reported of the inordinate longing of the Nicobar natives for tobacco, glass beads, and such like rubbish, the truth of the adage is fully borne out that "Money is the most _universal merchandise_." Of silver coins, the natives are only acquainted with rupees, Spanish dollars, and English threepenny pieces, which latter they call "small rupees." Gold is as yet unknown among the southern islands, and therefore is valueless in the eyes of the natives.

So long as the relations of the natives with foreign nations were exclusively confined to barter with some couple of dozen English and Malay vessels, which latter visited the islands with the N.E. monsoon and left with the S.W. monsoon, thus making but one voyage in the course of the year, the natives of the various islands kept up among themselves quite a frequent and regular communication. This favourable trait was undoubtedly owing in great measure to the defectiveness of their otherwise very elegant, but small, slight-built canoes, which are but ill adapted for voyaging to any remote distance.

Respecting that other swarthy, crisp-haired, savage race, widely different from that inhabiting the coasts of Nicobar, which, according to a legend, dwells in the forests of Great Nicobar, and lives upon snakes, vermin, roots, and leaves of plants, and in the Nicobar idiom called _Baju-oal-Tschua_, we could only add to our stock of information by recitals that obviously pertained to the domain of Fable-land. When, however, we remember that not a single traveller or author who has indulged such gossiping, nay, that not even the natives who tell such stories of them, have ever seen one of this race, we shall be excused for suggesting in reply to the numberless conjectures afloat respecting these mysterious inhabitants, that the alleged denizens of the interior of Great Nicobar are neither a widely different race of men from the coast-natives, nor yet an offshoot of the crisp-haired swarthy race of Papuas from New Guinea, but that, dispossessed and degraded by a conjuncture of various hostile influences, they hold, with respect to the inhabitants of the sea-board, a similar position to that occupied by the Bushmen of Namaqualand to the Hottentots of Cape Colony.

In the circumstances in which the inhabitants of this group of islands at present find themselves, without traditions, without proverbs, without songs, without monuments, and especially without any characteristic peculiarity in their habits and customs which could possibly throw a ray of light upon the obscurity of their origin, it is a bold undertaking to express any decided opinion as to the derivation and genealogy of this people. By far the most probable theory, as is also admitted by Dr. Rink, who visited these islands with the Danish Expedition, would represent them as an offshoot from the north-westerly boundary of the Malay race, as a people which, while possessing much in common with the Indo-Chinese stock, nevertheless in its physical characteristics seems to hold a middle rank between the Malay and the Burmese.

Considering the study _of language_ as a most important and reliable source of information, the members of the Expedition made it their main object to draw up, in conformity with what is known as Gallatin's method, so extensively used by all American and English travellers, a vocabulary of about 200 words in both languages, viz. that used by the inhabitants of Nicobar, and that (widely different in all respects except the numerals) in use among the natives of the more southern islands. As a Malay barque from Pulo Penang was lying at anchor during our stay on the northern shores of Great Nicobar, so favourable an opportunity was of course made use of to prepare a similar vocabulary of the Malay idiom spoken at that port, which will give the philologist the advantage of being able to judge for himself as to the similarity existing between these two idioms, and thence, by analogy, between the two races, and discriminate whether those scholars, such as Vatu, come nearer the truth who maintain that the Nicobar language is of Malay derivation with an admixture of foreign words, principally European, or those other students of philology who, as for instance Adelung, hold that the idiom used by these islanders is identical with some of the languages of the Indo-Chinese peninsula.

At the same time the ethnographer of the Expedition had endeavoured to ascertain by means of a new system of measurements of the human frame, drawn up by himself in concert with Dr. Edward Schwarz, one of the physicians of the Expedition, and with the co-operation and assistance of the latter, various data, such as, when applied to the various races inhabiting the earth, might justify many new and striking conclusions, and ultimately result in definitely fixing the relation, resemblance, or physical dissimilarity of the various races of man. Such a plan makes it much more easy by means of figures, those most undeniable evidences of the results of investigations, to get speedily and accurately at the required results, than by all the most specious theories laid down in the less certain domain of philosophic speculation.

These measurements, applied at three chief regions of the body, namely, the head, the trunk, and the upper and lower extremities, are intended to be scientifically discussed in a special memoir,[25] and we accordingly confine ourselves here to remarking that the various points of measurements were not only determined in an anthropological point of view, but that among the 68 different categories, into which these measurements are naturally distributed, there occur some which supply many curious points of inquiry, as also considerable assistance not merely to national economics, the result of the light thrown upon the subject of the average of muscular strength of the various races as found by the dynamometer, but also to the graphic art, with respect to a more accurate acquaintance with the human skeleton as well as the entire figure.

In like manner we never omitted to collect some of the hair of the head from as many as possible of the various individuals measured, since the laborious researches of Peter Brown of Philadelphia on the human hair, have elevated it into a very remarkable means of tracing the origin of the various disparities of race.

It must also be considered as an especial boon for the science of comparative anatomy, as well as universal ethnography, that we succeeded in bringing away with us from the Nicobar Islands the skulls of two of the natives.

Lastly, a small collection of twenty-three subjects of ethnographical inquiry, collected from the various islands, will be found useful, partly as illustrating the information already obtained, partly as affording evidence of the amount of culture of the inhabitants of the Nicobar Archipelago.

We are still called upon to answer the question already propounded, whether the Nicobar Islands are suited as the site of a colony, and whether the numerous attempts already made in this direction did not probably fall through for other reasons than those of climate.

According to inquiries instituted by the members of the Austrian Expedition, this insular group, by its geographical position in one of the very chiefest commercial routes of the world, and by the richness and abundance of the products of its soil, offers sufficient points of attraction to interest any leading commercial or maritime power, in securing possession of it. With regard to any colonization or cultivation of the soil by free European immigrants, there is as little to be said as of almost any other islands in the tropics. In order to make such spots aids to the extension of civilization, the utmost certainty of rule is imperatively necessary, such as was instituted with such marvellous results by England in Pulo Penang, Singapore, Sydney, &c. The climate of the Nicobars is very far from being so deadly, that mere residence upon them must speedily prove fatal to Europeans, and it will undoubtedly be signally ameliorated by a partial clearing of the forests, cultivation of the soil, channelling of the rivers, and drainage of the swamps. All such works however must be executed by Malay or Indian labourers, under the superintendence of Europeans. From what we have learned by personal observation of the surprising influence which the transportation system has exercised in Australia upon the cultivation and development of the soil, as also upon the social condition of the convicts themselves, we do not hesitate, despite the distrust of experiments of such a nature which prevails in certain philosophic circles of Europe, to express our opinion, that with a little prudence and forbearance convict labourers in abundance could be imported, who would be at once better off, more contented, and more disposed to do honour to their man's estate than as at present confined at home in their dreary prison cells.[26]

If the various experiments hitherto made have all fallen through, the "effect defective" undoubtedly arises from the deficiency of means requisite for such an undertaking, and in the limited number of men, merely humanly speaking, who were engaged in such enterprises. The mere prime cost of clearing and cultivation, so as to enable them to anticipate a good return for their labour, must be set down as at the lowest computation between L100,000 and L150,000; the number of labourers employed in the undertaking at from 300 to 400; of whom all skilled artisans, such as carpenters, joiners, locksmiths, blacksmiths, bricklayers, masons, &c., must accompany the settlers from Europe.

The sums expended for the first outlay must not however be set down as entirely thrown away, since the fertility of the islands in those colonial products that are most valuable, and the enormous quantity of cocoa-nut palms, must, under the impulse of cultivation and industrious habits, speedily make returns in countless tides of prosperity. So far as regards the aboriginal population, of whom there are not above 5000 or 6000 on all the islands, they would experience but little annoyance from the carrying out of such an enterprise. In fact, morally and materially they could only gain from the introduction of a foreign element. At present they are confined to the narrow belt of shore, where grows the cocoa-palm, their sole support. The interior of the island, so prolific in natural wealth of the most varied description, and which would become infinitely more valuable under a proper development of its capabilities, is utterly unknown and valueless to the native.

Once a settlement were fairly set a-going on the above-mentioned principles, the inhabitants of the Nicobar Archipelago would be placed under the tutelage of European civilization, and in their transactions would no longer be exposed to the knavery and caprices of ships' captains. It would be necessary to watch over the natives as over minors, so as not alone to secure for them material benefits, but by liberal sympathetic treatment as the groundwork of their education, gradually to establish that faith whose introduction hitherto, despite numerous praiseworthy endeavours in the past as well as the present century, has been doomed to be unsuccessful through a variety of extraneous circumstances. Moreover, the Nicobar Archipelago would be a most convenient central station whence to impart the blessings of Christianity to the pagans of the adjoining groups of islands.

* * * * *

MEMORANDUM

Relating to those points of the Nicobar Archipelago whose geographical position was ascertained by the _Novara_ Expedition.

+--------------+-----------------+-----------------+
| PLACE OF | Latitude North. | Longitude East |
| OBSERVATION. | | from Greenwich. |
+--------------+-----------------+-----------------+
| Saui Cove | 9 deg. 14' 8''| 92 deg. 44' 46'' |
| Komios | 9 7 32 | 92 43 42 |
| Morrock Bay | 8 32 30 | 93 34 10 |
| Kaulaha | 8 2 10 | 93 29 40 |
| Kondul | 7 12 17 | 93 39 57 |
| Galatea Cove | 6 48 26 | 93 49 51 |
+--------------+-----------------+-----------------+

A very careful measurement, made at the point of observation in Saui, of the Moon's distance from Jupiter, gave 6 h. 11 min. 2 sec., or 92 deg. 45' 30'' East.

* * * * *

Our voyage from the south side of Great Nicobar to Singapore occupied twenty days. This time the fine weather seemed to have entirely abandoned us. Day and night, at almost all hours and from all parts of the sky, we encountered severe thunder-storms, with water-spouts, lightning, thunder, and the most tremendous rain-squalls. We could thoroughly realize that we were in the tropics at the beginning of the rainy season. One day during the prevalence of one of those floods, five tons during the first half hour, and in the course of an hour and a half eight tons, or 32,000 pints of water, were collected by the sailors in buckets and other similar utensils. These storms came now from the coast of Sumatra, now from the Malay peninsula, or yet again from the Straits of Malacca, and gave our jolly tars not a moment of repose. These tempests alternated with calms accompanied by a most oppressive sweltering hot temperature, and if by chance a breeze sprang up, it was sure to come out of the straits dead against us, and, coupled with the strong contrary current, fairly arrested our progress. Thus tacking about for 14 days between the north shore of Sumatra and Junk-Ceylon, we made as much way in that time as a fast steamer would have done in as many hours, and it was but poor consolation to us that several ships close to us, perhaps six or eight, shared the same adverse destiny.

An incident of a very singular nature suddenly gave us all plenty of excitement. As our deeply respected chaplain was sitting reading one evening in his cabin, he became sensible of a peculiar pressure on his foot; the servant being called, made his appearance with a candle, and on examining the floor was horror-struck at perceiving a pretty large sea-snake (_Chorsydrus fasciatus_), coiled round the foot of the priest. In the same instant this gentleman instinctively rid himself of the poisonous reptile by a vigorous kick, while the various persons who hurried to the spot were resolved they would secure this dangerous assailant dead or alive. Within the narrow limits of a ship's state-room, a campaign is speedily brought to a close. His snakeship was forthwith routed out of his asylum, and hacked into more pieces than was exactly agreeable to the zoologists, who had been extremely anxious, and even expected, to preserve this now doubly interesting reptile almost uninjured in spirits of wine. It was a tolerably large specimen, one inch thick, and about three feet long, and had apparently either wriggled up the cable, or had been washed on board by a wave through the open sky-light of the cabin.

At length on the 9th of April wind and weather changed, and, in company with the entire squadron of companions in misfortune, we sailed gaily into the Straits of Malacca, with all sail set, and dead before the wind. On the 11th of April, early in the morning, we found Pulo Penang (also called Areca, or Prince of Wales' Island) lying broad on our port beam. Its chains of forest-clad mountains, gloomy, and overcast with dense masses of cloud, prevented our realizing the charms of this possession of England, such as they have been described by all who have visited it.

On the 12th of April we steered between the Sambelongs, or Nine Islands, and the island of Djara, and caught a glimpse of the lofty well-wooded mountains of the kingdom of Perah. The channel through these straits is becoming more and more contracted owing to the _debouche_ at this point of the river Perah. Shallow sand-banks and small rocky islands impede the navigation, and it is a common precaution for ships to cast anchor at the least approach of foul weather, an operation which is the more readily set about that the water is nowhere above twenty fathoms, but good holding ground throughout the straits. Moreover, the charts of these regions are thoroughly reliable and accurate, while at the most dangerous spot, where a sand-bank with only one fathom of water over it lies right in the tracks of vessels, a light-ship is moored, which we passed on the 13th of April, and continued our voyage through the night in perfect safety.

On the morning of the 14th April, the hill of Ophir (called also Ledang or Pudang), 5700 feet high, lay fair before us. We now found ourselves opposite the town of Malacca. The channel at this point approaches so close to the mainland, that we could easily distinguish churches and houses, and the frigate exchanged signals with the neighbouring semaphore.

Malacca, once the Malay capital, has at present altogether lost its former importance, and of the three English colonies in the Straits of Malacca, usually known as the _Straits Settlements_, is the least important in either a political or a commercial sense. The entire region was, until within these few years, in most evil repute for the atrocious piracies perpetrated here. Natives used to lie in wait in small canoes filled with merchandise of all sorts, with which they boarded the passing ships, and while these were supplying themselves with fruit and fresh provisions, the former were spying the number of crew, as also the means of defence of the unfortunate vessel; after which it usually happened, that during the night the more defenceless of them, while becalmed or lying at anchor, would be attacked by an overwhelming force of pirates and ruthlessly plundered. Captain Steen Bille relates, that even so late as 1846, he loaded his cannon with shot, and maintained extra vigilance during the night.

We now sped along, still favoured by the wind, during the ensuing night, and on the morning of the 15th April had the satisfaction of reaching the entrance of the bay of Singapore, without once having to lie at anchor in the straits. The landscape that lay outstretched before us was splendid,--lofty wooded islands on the coast of Sumatra, and a whole archipelago of islets lay around us, in the channels between which prahus were sailing about, while Chinese junks, full-rigged ships and barques, were working in or out as the case might be, all intimating the proximity of a great mart of commerce. Equally fortunate as in the straits was our passage through the labyrinth of islands, through which a vessel must wind in order to reach Singapore. And this roadstead itself, what a contrast it presented to the lovely beach of the Nicobar Islands! Here were thousands of ships of all sizes and rigs, and the flags of nearly all sea-faring nations in the world. We found at anchor the English frigate _Amethyst_, and the screw corvette _Niger_; and having warped ourselves into their vicinity, by 2 P.M. we had cast anchor in 13 fathoms water. Almost immediately afterwards an officer came off from the _Amethyst_ to welcome us, and to impart to us the unpleasant intelligence that cholera had been raging in the city for some weeks past, and had also committed great havoc among the shipping in harbour. Even the captain and one of the crew of an English merchantman had succumbed but a few hours previously to this fell scourge, and the vessel had her flag half-mast high as a signal of mourning. This information at once deranged all our plans and projects with respect to Singapore, and had we not been compelled to victual here, we should at once have set sail. However, under the circumstances there was nothing to do but to spend five or six days at Singapore, and this breathing-space we availed ourselves of to obtain as much information as possible both by eye and ear touching this very remarkable colony, and its not less interesting inhabitants.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Anciennes relations des Indes et de la Chine de deux voyageurs Mahometans, qui y allerent dans le IXeme siecle. Traduit de l'Arabe avec des remarques par Eus. Renaudot. Paris, chez Coignard, 1718. 8vo.

[2] Journal of the Voyage of the I.R. Ship _Joseph and Theresa_ to the new Austrian plantations in Asia and Africa, by Nicolas Fontana, ship-surgeon to Mr. Brambilla, body physician to the Emperor, assistant surgeon in the army. Translated from the Italian MS. by Joseph-Eyerle. Dessau and Leipzig,--"_Buch-handlung der Gelehrten._"

[3] "I have drawn up these documents," writes Prince Kaunitz, in a state paper addressed to the Empress, dated 27th March, 1776, "in such manner as to advance the objects of your Majesty in establishing commercial intercourse between Austria and the Indies, without incurring disagreeable results, which might accrue from the conferring of unrestricted authority."

[4] A piece of parchment, cut out of a book in zig-zag fashion, which in former times was necessary in all commerce with barbarians, the captains of privateers, when unable to read, being enabled, by comparing the torn-out leaf (_scontrino_) with the counterfoil, which it was customary to give to all trading persons, to determine to what nationality the vessel belonged.

[5] A few years previous, in 1782, a certain C. F. von Brocktroff, of Kiel, had addressed a memorial to the Emperor Joseph II., in the course of which he warmly advocated the annexation, settlement, and reclamation of the Nicobar Islands, and, on the strength of fifteen years' experience in the East Indies, promised immense profits to the Austrian-German trade by this method of procedure. This interesting treatise will be found among the Government Archives at Vienna, and will be published in full in another section.

[6] Bolts had several times come before the public as an author. In 1771 he issued in London a work in two volumes 4to, entitled, "Considerations on Indian Affairs," which was also translated into French. Further, he published a "_Recueil des pieces authentiques relatives aux affaires de la ci-devant societe Imperiale-Asiatique de Trieste, gerees a Anvers_," which appeared in 4to (116 pages) at Paris, in 1787.