Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.
|
ANDAMAN ISLANDS , a See also:group of islands in the See also:Bay of See also:Bengal . Large and small, they number 204, and See also:lie 590 M. from the mouth of the See also:Hugli, 120 M. from Cape Negrais in See also:Burma, the nearest point of the mainland, and 34o M. from the See also:northern extremity of See also:Sumatra . Between the Andamans and Cape Negrais intervene two small See also:groups, Preparis and Cocos; between the Andamans and Sumatra lie the Nicobar Islands, the whole group stretching in a See also:curve, to which the See also:meridian forms a tangent between Cape Negrais and Sumatra; and though this curved See also:line See also:measures 700 m., the widest See also:sea space is about 91 M . The extreme length of the Andaman group is 219 M. with an extreme width of 32 M . The See also:main See also:part of it consists of a See also:band of five See also:chief islands, so closely adjoining and overlapping each other that they have See also:long been known collectively as " the See also:great Andaman." The See also:axis of this band, almost a meridian line, is 156 See also:statute See also:miles long . The five islands are in See also:order from See also:north to See also:south: North Andaman (51 M. long); See also:Middle Andaman (59 m.); South Andaman (49 m.); Baratang, See also:running parallel to the See also:east of the South Andaman for 17 M. from the Middle Andaman; and See also:Rutland See also:Island (11 m.) . Four narrow straits part these islands: See also:Austin Strait, between North and Middle Andaman; Homfray's Strait between Middle Andaman and Baratang, and the north extremity of South Andaman; Middle (or Andaman) Strait between Baratang and South Andaman; and See also:Macpherson Strait between South Andaman and Rutland Island . Of these only the last is navigable by ocean-going vessels . Attached to the chief islands are, on the extreme N., Landfall Islands, separated by the navigable Cleugh Passage; Interview Island, separated by the very narrow but navigable Interview Passage, off the W. See also:coast of the Middle Andaman; tne See also:Labyrinth Island off the S.W. coast of the South Andaman, through which is the safe navigable See also:Elphinstone Passage; See also:Ritchie's (or the Andaman) See also:Archipelago off the E. coast of the South Andaman and Baratang, separated by the wide and safe Diligent Strait and intersected by Kwangtung Strait and the Tadma Juru (Strait) . Little Andaman, roughly 26 m. by 16, forms the See also:southern extremity of the whole group and lies 31 M . S. of Rutland Island across See also:Duncan Passage, in which lie the Cinque and other islands, forming See also:Manners Strait, the main commercial See also:highway between the Andamans and the See also:Madras coast . Besides these are a great number of islets lying off the shores of the main islands .
The See also:principal outlying islands are the North See also:Sentinel, a dangerous island of about 28 sq. m., lying about 18 m. off the W. coast of the South Andaman; the remarkable marine See also:volcano, Barren Island (1150 ft.), quiescent for more than a See also:century, 71 M
.
N.E. of See also:Port See also:Blair; and the equally curious isolated See also:mountain, the See also:extinct volcano of Narcondam, rising 2330 ft. out of the sea, 71 M
.
E. of the North Andaman
.
The See also:land See also:area of the Andaman Islands is 2508 sq. m
.
About 18 m. to the W. of the Andamans are the dangerous Western See also:Banks and Dalrymple See also:Bank, rising to within a few fathoms of the See also:surface of the sea and forming, with the two Sentinel Islands, the tops of a line of submarine hills parallel to the Andamans
.
Some 40 M. distant to the E. is the Invisible Bank, with one See also:rock just awash; and 34 M
.
S.E. of Narcondam is a submarine See also:
The scenery is every-where strikingly beautiful and varied, and the See also:coral beds of the more secluded bays in its harbours are conspicuous for their exquisite colouring
.
Harbours.—The coasts of the Andamans are deeply indented, giving existence to a number of safe harbours and tidal creeks, which are often surrounded by See also:mangrove swamps
.
The chief harbours, some of which are very capacious, are (starting north-wards from Port Blair, the great See also:harbour of South Andaman) on the E. coast: Port Meadows, See also:Colebrooke Passage, Elphinstone Harbour (Homfray's Strait), See also: A theory of a still continuing subsidence of the islands was formed by See also:Kurz in 1866 and confirmed by See also:Oldham in 1884 . Signs of its continuance are found on the east coast in several places . Barren Island is a volcano of the See also:general Sunda group which includes also the See also:Pegu group to which Narcondam belongs . Barren Island was last in eruption in 1803, but there is still a thin See also:column of See also:steam from a See also:sulphur See also:bed at the See also:top and a variable hot See also:spring at the point where the last outburst of See also:lava flowed into the sea . See also:Climate.—Rarely affected by a See also:cyclone, though within the See also:influence of practically every one that blows in the Bay of Bengal, the Andamans are of the greatest importance because of the accurate See also:information See also:relating to the direction and intensity of storms which can be communicated from them better than from any other point in the bay, to the vast amount of See also:shipping in this part of the Indian Ocean . Trustworthy information also regarding the See also:weather which may be expected in the north and east of See also:India, is obtained at the islands, and this proves of the utmost value to the controllers of the great trades dependent upon the rainfall . A well-appointed meteorological station has been established at Port Blair since 1868 . Speaking generally, the climate of the Andamans themselves may be described as normal for tropical islands of similar See also:latitude . It is warm always, but tempered by pleasant sea-breezes; very hot when the See also:sun is northing; irregular rainfall, but usually dry during the north-east, and very wet during the south-See also:west See also:monsoon . Not only does the rainfall at one See also:place vary from See also:year to year, but there is an extraordinary difference in the returns for places quite See also:close to one another . The See also:official figures in inches for the station at Port Blair, which is situated in by far the driest part of the See also:settlement, were: 125.64 107.28 136.41 127.22 87.01 83.28 132.50 A tidal See also:observatory has also been maintained at Port Blair since 1880 . See also:Flora.—A See also:section of the See also:Forest Department of India has been established in the Andamans since 1883, and in the See also:neighbour-See also:hood of Port Blair 156 sq. m. have been set apart for See also:regular forest operations which are carried on by convict labour .
The chief See also:timber of indigenous growth is padouk (Pterocarpus dalbergioides) used for buildings, boats, See also:furniture, See also:fine See also:joinery and all purposes to which See also:teak, See also:mahogany, See also:hickory, See also:oak and ash are applied
.
This See also:tree is widely spread and forms a valuable export to Enrnpean markets
.
Other first-class timbers are koko (Albizzia lebbek), See also: There is a small See also:pig (See also:Sus andamanensis) , important to the See also:food of the See also:people, and a See also:wild cal: (Paradoxurus tytleri); but the bats(sixteen species) and rats(thirteen species) constitute nearly three-fourths of the known mammals . This paucity of animal life seems inconsistent with the theory that the islands were once connected with the mainland . Most of the birds also are derived from the distant Indian region, while the Indo-Burmese and Indo-Malayan regions are represented to a far less degree . Rasorial birds, such as peafowl, junglefowl, pheasants and partridges, though well represented in the Arakan hills, are rare in the islands; while a third of the different species found are peculiar to the Andamans . Moreover, the Andaman species differ from those of the adjacent Nicobar Islands . Each group has its distinct See also:harrier-See also:eagle, red-cheeked paroquet, See also:oriole, sun-See also:bird and bulbul . See also:Fish are very numerous and many species are peculiar to the Andaman seas . Turtles are abundant and supply the Calcutta See also:market . Of imported animals, See also:cattle, goats, asses and See also:dogs thrive well, ponies and horses indifferently, and See also:sheep badly, though some success has been achieved in breeding them . See also:Population.—The Andaman Islands, so near countries that have for ages attained considerable See also:civilization and have been the seat of great empires, and close to the track of a great See also:commerce which has gone on at least 2000 years, are the See also:abode of savages as See also:low in civilization as almost any known on See also:earth . Our earliest See also:notice of them is in a remarkable collection of early Arab notes on India and See also:China (A.D . 851) which accurately represents the view entertained of this. people by mariners down to See also:modern times .
" The inhabitants of these islands eat men alive
.
Theyare black, with woolly See also:hair, and in their eyes and countenances there is something quite frightful
....
They go naked and have no boats
.
If they had, they would devour all who passed near them
.
Sometimes See also:ships that are windbound and have exhausted their See also:provision of See also:water, See also:touch here and apply to the natives for it; in such cases the crews sometimes fall into the hands of the latter and most of them are massacred." The traditional See also:charge of See also:cannibalism has been very persistent; but it is entirely denied by the islanders themselves, and is now and probably always has been untrue
.
Of their massacres of See also:ship-wrecked crews, even in quite modern times, there is no doubt, but the policy of conciliation unremittingly pursued for the last See also:forty years has now secured a friendly reception for shipwrecked crews at any port of the islands except the south and west of Little Andaman and North Sentinel Island
.
The Andamanese are probably the See also:relics of a See also:negro See also:race that once inhabited the S.E. portion of See also:Asia and its outlying islands, representatives of which are also still to be found in the Malay See also:Peninsula and the See also:
Though all descended from one stock, there are twelve distinct tribes of the Andamanese, each with its own clearly-defined locality, its own distinct variety of the one fundamental See also:language and to a certain extent its own separate habits
.
Every tribe is divided into septa fairly well defined
.
The tribal feeling may be expressed as friendly within the tribe, courteous to other Andamanese if known, hostile to every stranger, Andamanese or other
.
Another See also:division of the natives is into Aryauto or long-See also:shore-men, and the Eremtaga or jungle-dwellers
.
The habits and capacities of these two differ, owing to surroundings, irrespectively of tribe
.
Yet again the Andamanese can be grouped according to certain salient characteristics: the forms of the bows and arrows, of the canoes, of ornaments and utensils, of See also:tattooing and of language
.
The See also:average height of See also:males is 4 ft
.
102 in.; of See also:females, 4 ft
.
6 in
.
Being accustomed to gratify every sensation as it arises, they endure thirst, See also:hunger, want of food and bodily discomfort badly
.
The skin varies in See also:colour from an intense sheeny black to a reddish-See also: It grows in small rings, which give it the See also:appearance of growing in tufts, though it is really closely and evenly distributed over the whole See also:scalp . The figures of the men are See also:muscular and well-formed and generally pleasing; a straight, well-formed See also:nose and See also:jaw are by no means rare, and the See also:young men are often distinctly See also:good-looking . The only artificial deformity is a depression of the See also:skull, chiefly among one of the southern tribes, caused by the pressure of a strap used for carrying loads . The pleasing appearance natural to the men is not a characteristic of the See also:women, who early have a tendency to stoutness and ungainliness of figure, and sometimes to pronounced See also:prognathism . They are, however, always See also:bright and merry, are under no See also:special social restrictions and have considerable influence . The women's heads are shaved entirely and the men's into fantastic patterns . Yellow and red ochre mixed with grease are coarsely smeared over the bodies, See also:grey in coarse patterns and white in fine patterns resembling See also:tattoo marks . Tattooing is of two distinct varieties . In the south the body is slightly cut by women with small flakes of See also:glass or See also:quartz in zigzag or lineal patterns downwards . In the north it is deeply cut by men with pig-arrows in lines across the body . The male matures when about fifteen years of age, marries when about twenty-six, begins to age when about -forty, and lives on to sixty or sixty-five if he reaches old age . Except 1895 . 1898 . 1897 . 1900 . 1901 . 1896 . 1899 . as to the marrying age, these figures fairly apply to women . Before See also:marriage See also:free intercourse between the sexes is the See also:rule, though certain conventional precautions are taken to prevent it . Marriages rarely produce more than three See also:children and often none at all . See also:Divorce is rare, unfaithfulness after marriage not common and See also:incest unknown . By preference the Andamanese are exogamous as regards See also:sept and endogamous as regards tribe . The children are po3sessed of a bright intelligence, which, how-ever, soon reaches its See also:climax, and the adult may be compared in this respect with the civilized See also:child of ten or twelve . The Andamanese are, indeed, bright and merry companions, busy in their own pursuits, keen sportsmen, naturally See also:independent and not lustful, but when angered, cruel, jealous, treacherous and vindictive, and always unstable—in fact, a people to like but not to See also:trust . There is no See also:idea of See also:government, but in each sept there is a head, who has attained that position by degrees on See also:account of some tacitly admitted superiority and commands a limited respect and some obedience . The young are deferential to their elders . Offences are punished by the aggrieved party . See also:Property is communal and See also:theft is only recognized as to things of See also:absolute See also:necessity, such as arrows,. pigs' flesh and fire . Fire is the one thing they are really careful about, not knowing how to renew it . A very rude See also:barter exists between tribes of the same group in regard to articles not locally obtainable . The See also:religion consists of fear of the See also:spirits of the wood, the sea, disease and ancestors, and of avoidance of acts traditionally displeasing to them . There is neither See also:worship nor propitiation . An anthropomorphic deity, Puluga, is the cause of all things, but it is not necessary to propitiate him . There is a vague idea that the " soul " will go some-where after See also:death, but there is no See also:heaven nor See also:hell, nor idea of a corporeal resurrection . There is much faith in dreams, and in the utterances of certain " See also:wise men," who practise an embryonic magic and See also:witchcraft . The great amusement of the Andamanese is a formal See also:night See also:dance, but they are also fond of See also:simple See also:games . The bows differ altogether with each group, but the same two kinds of arrows are in general use: (1) long and See also:ordinary for fishing and other purposes; (2) See also:short with a detachable head fastened to the See also:shaft by a thong, which quickly brings pigs up short when shot in the thick jungle . Bark provides material for See also:string, while baskets and mats are neatly and stoutly made from canes and buckets out of See also:bamboo and wood . None of the tribes ever ventures out of sight of land, and they have no idea of steering by sun or stars . Their canoes are simply hollowed out of trunks with the See also:adze and in no other way, and it is the smaller ones which are outrigged; they do not last long and are not good sea-boats, and the See also:story of raids on See also:Car Nicobar, out of sight across a stormy and sea-rippled channel, must be discredited . See also:Honour is shown to an adult when he See also:dies, by wrapping him in a See also:cloth and placing him on a See also:platform in a tree instead of burying him . At such a time the encampment is deserted for three months . The Andaman See also:languages are extremely interesting from the philological standpoint . They are agglutinative in nature, show hardly any signs of syntactical growth though every indication of long etymological growth, give expression to only the most See also:direct and the simplest thought, and are purely colloquial and wanting in the modifications always necessary for communication by See also:writing . The sense is largely eked out by manner and See also:action . Mincopie is the first word in Colebrooke's vocabulary for " Andaman Island, or native See also:country," and the See also:term—though probably a mishearing on Colebrooke's part for Mongebe (" I am an Onge," i.e. a member of the Onge tribe)—has thus become a persistent See also:book-name for the people . At-tempts to civilize the Andamanese have met with little success either among adults or children . The See also:home established near Port Blair is used as a sort of free See also:asylum which the native visits according to his See also:pleasure . The policy of the government is to leave the Andamanese alone, while doing what is possible to ameliorate their See also:condition . Penal See also:Settle See also:meal—The point of enduring See also:interest as regards the Andamans is the penal See also:system, the See also:object of which is to turn the life-See also:sentence and few long-sentence convicts, who alone are sent to the settlement, into honest, self-respecting men and957 women, by leading them along a continuous course of practice in self-help and self-See also:restraint, and by offering them every inducement to take See also:advantage of that practice . After ten years' graduated labour the convict is given a See also:ticket-of-leave and becomes self-supporting . He can See also:farm, keep cattle, and marry or send for his See also:family, but he cannot leave the settlement or be idle . With approved conduct, however, he may be absolutely released after twenty to twenty-five years in the settlement; and throughout that time, though possessing no See also:civil rights, a quasi-judicial See also:procedure controls all punishments inflicted upon him, and he is as secure of obtaining See also:justice as if free . There is an unlimited variety of See also:work for the labouring convicts, and some of the establishments are on a large See also:scale . Very few experts are employed in supervision; practically everything is directed by the officials, who themselves have first to learn each See also:trade . Under the chief See also:comm |