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MAY, 1926 )
REMARKS ON THE ANDAMAN ISLANDERS AND THEIR COUNTRY
87
as he understands them, and again alludes to the meaning of the term kimil (gumul) in con. nection with them, which here (p. 352) “ denotes a condition of social danger or of contact with the power possessed by all things that can affect the life and safety of the society."
Mr. Brown here remarks (p. 362) that "the life of the Andaman Islander is profoundly affected by the alternation of the seasons," and in relation to the occasional cyclones in the islands he remarks (p. 352): "an old man recounted to me how on the occasion of a violent cyclone he and others of his village took refuge in the sea and on the open shore from the danger of falling trees, and remained there till the violence of the storm had abated." Hero I would note that either Mr. Brown did not understand the old man or the old man was rhodomontading. I have personally been through three cyclones,-twice at sea and once on the sea-shore. The sea on such occasions is about the last place any one would or could seek in a cyclone. He is right, however, in saying that the visit of such a storm is a time of real terror and extreme danger to such a people as the Andamanese.
Then Mr. Brown shows how the seasons (pp. 352-353) affect the food supply : “roughly we can say that the rainy season is the season of flesh food, the kimil season is the season of grubs, the cool season is the season of fruits and roots, and the hot season is the season of honey."
Biliku (Puluga) and Taral (Deria). To follow his own expressions Mr. Brown then states : "I propose to show that the Andaman Islanders express the social value of the phenomena of the weather and the seasons, i.e., the way these phenomena affect the social life and the social sentiments, by means of Legends and beliefs relating to the two mythical beings whom they call Biliku and Tarai. Using the word 'personification in a sense to be defined later in the chapter, we may say that the Andamaneso personify the weather and the reasons in the persons of Biliku and Tarai.”
These are the Northern forms; in the South they are Puluga and Deria. Biliku is associated with the North East Monsoon, i.e., the cold and the hot season: Deria with the South West Monsoon, i.e., the rainy season. “It is possible (pp. 353-354) to show that the Andaman Islanders associate with these two beings all the phenomena of the weather and the seasons, and are able to represent the changes of the latter as though they were the actions of human or anthropomorphic beings."
Mr. Brown's form of argument is that where there is general agreement as to beliefs on a particular subject, those are the major or important points: where there is a lack of agreement, those are the minor or less important points. On this argument he treats as a matter of lesser importance the fact that in the South Puluga is male and in the North Biliku is female. Then he says (p. 354): "applying the strict method outlined above, we may begin by noting that there is completely unanimity in regard to the connection of Biliku and Tarai with the North East and the South West respectively, and therefore with the monsoons. No interpretation of the myth can be adequate unless it sets out from this fact. The con. nection is so firmly fixed that it appears in the names of the winds themselves."
As to the ascription of the winds, Mr. Brown remarks (p. 365) that "only the South West wind is associated with Tarai and all the other winds with Biliku," and he says that the point is one of " considerable importance in the interpretation of this myth.” Biliku is therefore naturally connected with the chief winds and storms, and so is more important than Tarai. “This preponderance (p. 356) will need to be explained as one of the essentials of the myth.” In fact on p. 365 Mr. Brown asserts that it is Biliku that sends all the storms and Tarai that sends nothing more than heavy showers of rain. With the fear of Mr. Brown before me I cannot help saying that these assertions require modification. Storms do occur in the North East Monsoon and are occasionally severe : oyclones are terrible and
