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ANDAMAN ISLANDS
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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 See also: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 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 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:commissioner, who is the supreme head of the settlement, are a See also:deputy and a See also:staff of assistant superintendents and overseers, almost all Europeans, and sub-overseers, who are natives of India. All the See also:petty supervising establishments are composed of convicts. The See also:garrison consists of 140 See also:British and 300 Indian troops, with a few See also:local See also:European See also:volunteers. The See also:police are organized as a military See also:battalion 643 strong. The number of convicts has somewhat diminished of late years and in roof stood at 11,947. The total population of the settlement, consisting of convicts, their See also:guards, the supervising, clerical and departmental staff, with the families of the latter, also a certain number of ex-convicts and trading settlers and their families, numbered 16,1 o6. The labouring convicts are distributed among four jails and nineteen stations; the self-supporters in See also:thirty-eight villages. The elementary See also:education of the convicts' children is compulsory. There are four hospitals, each under a See also:resident medical officer, under the general supervision of a See also:senior officer of the Indian medical service, and medical aid is given free to the whole population. The See also:net See also:annual cost of the settlement to the government is about a6 per convict. The harbour of Port Blair is well supplied with buoys and harbour See also:lights, and is crossed by ferries at fixed intervals, while there are several launches for hauling local See also:traffic. On See also:Ross Island there is a light-See also:house visible for 19 M. A See also:complete system of signalling by night and See also:day on the See also:Morse system is worked by the police. Local posts are frequent, but there is no See also:telegraph and the mails are irregular. See also:History.—It is uncertain whether any of the names of the islands given by See also:Ptolemy ought to be attached to the Andamans; yet it is probable that his name itself is traceable in the Alexandrian geographer. Andaman first appears distinctly in the Arab notices of the 9th century, already quoted. But it seems possible that the tradition of marine nomenclature had never perished; that the 'Aryaeou Saiµovos vi See also:Gros was really a misunderstanding of some form like Agdamkn, while Nfjaoc Bapobgo ac survived as Lanka See also:Bales, the name applied by the See also:Arabs to the Nicobars. The islands are briefly noticed by Marco See also:Polo, who probably saw without visiting them, under the name Angamanain, seemingly an Arabic dual, " The two Andamans," with the exaggerated but not unnatural picture of the natives, long current, as See also:dog-faced Anthropophagi. Another notice occurs in the story of Nicolo See also:Conti (c. 1440), who explains the name to mean " Island of See also:Gold," and speaks of a See also:lake with peculiar virtues as existing in it. The name is probably derived from the Malay Handuman, coming from the See also:ancient See also:Hanuman (See also:monkey). Later travellers repeat the stories, too well founded, of the ferocious hostility of the people; of whom we may instance Cesare See also:Federici (1569), whose narrative is given in See also:Ramusio, vol. iii. (only in the later See also:editions), and in See also:Purchas. A good See also:deal is also told of them in the vulgar and gossiping but useful work of See also:Captain A. See also: There was much sickness, and after two years, urged by See also:Admiral Cornwallis, the government transferred the colony to the N.E. part of Great Andaman, where a See also:naval See also:arsenal was to be established. With the colony the name also of Port Cornwallis was transferred to this new locality. The See also:scheme did See also:ill; and in 1796 the government put an end to it, owing to the great mortality and the embarrassments of See also:maintenance. The settlers were finally removed in May 1796. In 1824 Port Cornwallis was the See also:rendezvous of the See also:fleet carrying the See also:army to the first Burmese See also:war. In 1839, Dr Helfer, a See also:German savant employed by the Indian government, having landed in the islands, was attacked and killed. In 1844 the See also:troop-ships " Briton " and " Runnymede " were driven ashore here, almost close together. The natives showed their usual hostility, killing all stragglers. Outrages on shipwrecked crews continued so rife that the question of occupation had to be taken up again; and in 1855 a project was formed for such a settlement, embracing a convict See also:establishment. This was interrupted by the Indian See also:Mutiny of 1857, but as soon as the See also:neck of that revolt was broken, it became more urgent than ever to provide such a resource, on account of the great number of prisoners falling into British hands. See also:Lord See also:Canning, therefore, in See also:November 1857, sent a See also:commission, headed by Dr F. Mouat, to examine and report. The commission reported favourably, selecting as a site Blair's See also:original Port Cornwallis, but pointing out and avoiding the vicinity of a See also:salt swamp which seemed to have been pernicious to the old colony. To avoid confusion, the name of Port Blair was given to the new settlement, which was established in the beginning of 1858. For some time sickness and mortality were excessively large, but the reclamation of swamp and clearance of jungle on an extensive scale by Colonel See also: Kurz, Vegetation of the Andamans (1867); G. S. See also:Miller, Mammals of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (vol. See also:xxiv. of the Proceedings of the See also:National Museum, U.S.A.) ; A. L. See also: Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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