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
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THE INDIAN AXTIQUARY
[ NOVEMBER, 1929
and cure diseases by simple application to the diseased part. The skull is worn down the back tied round the neck, usually, but not always, by the widow, widower or nearest relative. Mourning closes with a ceremonial dance and the removal of the clay. The oeremonies con. nected with the disposal of the dead are conventional, reverential and by no means without elaboration in detail.
(v) Arts. The only stone cutting implemont known to the Andamanese is the quartz flako chipped uff, never worked, and held between the fingers for shaving and tattooing, and shells and fish bones are used for the small blades of the peculiar adze of this people, and for arrow points, scraping and cutting. A cyrena valve is the ordinary knife and scraper. Hammers, anvils, hones, and oven-stones consist of natural stones. They have never made celts.
The ends of glass bottles for some years, and iron from wrecks for a long time past, have been substituted for the indigonous implements, when and where procurable. The object of the long series of murderous raids made by the inland Járawas on the outlying parts of the Penal Settlement has now been proved to have been in search for iron. The implements on the whole are coarsely and roughly macle.
The wenpons of the Andamanege are bow and arrow, harpoon, fish spear, pig spear, and they have never had any notion of poisoning the blades, which however sometimes inflict langerous septic wounds from dirt, though as a rule they are kept bright as a matter of pride. Barbed arrows and harpoons with looge heads are used for catching and pulling up game in the jungles and marking where turtle or large fish are sinking.
Excellent information with illustrations on the domestic and other arts of the Andama. nose is to be found in a minutely accurate work, Man's Aboriginal Inhabitants of the Andaman Islands. String for nets and all purposes is twisted, often neatly, from the inner bark of creepers. Large nets of this string are made for driving turtle and hand-nets for prawns and small fish, and for wallets. Stout cord is made from the inner bark of the Melochia velutina. Whole, split and scraped canes are used as binders. The weaving is good, neat and stout, and baskets and mats are thus well made from strips of canos.
Theunglazed circular clay cooking pots with rounded or pointed bottoms, to the Andamanese very valuable, are built up by hand, sundried and then baked, but not thoroughly, in the fire. They are often encased in basket work for safety. Their manufacture, form and ornament are typical of the Stone Age generally. Buckets are hollowed out of wood or cut from the joints of the bamboo. Canoes are hollowed out of whole trunks of light, soft timber by the adze without the use of fire, do not last long and are only fair sea boats. They are however capable of holding many people and a good deal of light cargo.
The personal ornaments made are—bunches and strips of fibros and leaves scrapod, cat and hammered, fringes of dentalium shells and straw-coloured wreaths of hammered and roast. ed dendrobium bark. The bones, skulls and jawbones of deceased relatives are also used whole, or broken and scraped to fancy or requirement, as ornaments, besides necklaces of the bones of animals. Tattooing and painting the body are only ornamental to the extent that, in the latter case especially, deviations from the conventional designs are due to personal thate. The only ornaments to dwellings and huts are the heads of turtle, pigs, iguana.ar paradoxurus killed in hunting. These are hung up partly as ornaments and partly as trophies but not with any idea of record.
Every manufactured article has its own.oustomary oonventional lino ornament in one or more of three colours and in one or more of eleven patterns, approximately achieved only. The colours are red, white and brown from natural earths. The patterns aro (1) chevrons, (2) close cross-betoh, (3) wide orosa-batoh, (4) parallel lines, (6) parallels and chevrons oombined, () lozenges, (7) plait or guilloche, (8) herring-bone, (9) cross cute, (10) loops, (11) vandyke with soalloped bands and orops lines,
