Book Title: Indian Antiquary Vol 58
Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications
________________
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
(NOVEMBER, 1929
The intelligence of the women is good, though not as a rule equal to that of the men. In old age, however, they frequently exhibit & considerable mental capacity which is respected. Several women trained in a former local Mission Orphanage from early childhood have shown much mental aptitude and capacity, the " savagery” in them, however, only dying down as they grew older. They can read and write well, understand and speak English correctly, have acquired European habits completely, and possess much shrewdness and common sense : one, Topsy, herself taught her Andamanese husband, the dynamo-man above mentioned, to read and write English and induced him to join the Government House Press as a compositor. She writes a well expressed and correctly spelt letter in English, and has a shrewd notion of the value of money. In later years she visited England as an "aya," and took naturally to civilised life. Such women, when the instability of youth is past, mako good "ayas," as their men-kind make good waiters at table. The highest general type of intelligence yet noticed is in the Járawa tribe.
The Andamanese divide the day by the position of the sun and can roughly divide the night, though they have no idea of steering by the sun or stars. The year is known by the three main seasons of the climate and the months rudely by the flowering and fruiting of trees of economic value to them. Tides are understood and carefully noted, a necessary accomplishment to a people largely living on shell-fish and navigating shallow tidal creeks and shores. They are aware of the connection of the phases of the moon with the tides and have names for the four phases of each lunation. They know the four quarters of tho compass in reference to the daily position of the sun and have names for the four chief winds that blow (N. W. N. E., S. E., S. W.) They differentiate three kinds of clouds Cumulus, stratus, nimbus. The only constellation they have distinguished is Orion and they have discovered the Milky Way for which they have a name, and also call it "the way of the angels "(môrowin, the daughter-messengers of Puluga).
The social emotions are not generally expressed. The Andamanese have no words for ordinary salutations, greeting or for expressing thanks. On meeting thoy stare at each other for a lengthened period in silence, which the younger breaks with a commonplace reinark and then follows an eager telling of news, which an Andamanese always delights in hearing. Relatives, however, sit in each other's laps, huddled closely together at meeting, weeping loudly and demonstratively, and after a long separation this may last for hours. The Önges are less demonstrative, and on such occasions shed a few silent tears only and caress each other with their hands. At parting they take each other by the hand and blow on it, exchanging sentences of conventional farewell.
Undemonstrative though they are, the Andainanese are readily roused to emotion, find. ing that difficulty in separating the real from the assumed observed in other savages. At Government House, Calcutta, in 1895, when a party was told to sit down and weep to show the custom at meetings, in a few moments the weeping became genuine, and when after a short time they were told to stop and get up, tears were streaming down their faces.
The Andamanese are good climbers, and rapid walkers and runners, moving with a free and independent gait, and can travel considerable distances at a time. The Jarawas turn their toes in, due to the necessity of stooping to pass along their paths through the tangleci jungle. The Eremtâga, jungle-dwellers, are good but not remarkable trackers. The Aryôto, longshoremen, are good swimmers and are much at home in the water. The Andamanese generally show a dexterity in getting about their thick and tangled jungles which baffles all immigrants, though in this respect the Eremtaga quite out-distance the Arvôto, and the Járawas apparently all the others. In the jungles all shooting with arrows is necessarily at very short distance, and generally the Andamanese are good shots at short distances only. judging direction very well but distance hardly at all. They can, however, at the very short distance required for shooting fish, allow accurately for refraction in moving water, and will
