ANDAMANESE. The Andaman islands in the Bay of Bengal are inhabited by a pigmy stock. The men average 4ft. Iozin., the women, 4ft. 6in. They are markedly round headed, broad nosed, with hair generally sooty black or yellowish brown. The skin varies in colour from an intense sheeny black to reddish brown on the unexposed parts.
There are two main divisions, coast and inland people, each divided into minor local groups with definite linguistic and cultural characteristics. There are no clans or exogamic units. There is no organized government or hereditary chief. Conduct is regulated by public opinion, the direct pressure of which, in small nomadic, hunting, food-collecting groups, is effective. The stages of life are marked by a series of rites centring on food taboos. Mar riage rites consist simply of publicly placing the bride on the bridegroom's lap. The encampment has separate huts for the unmarried—girls and boys apart, and for married couples. Four modes of burial are practised, tree burial being employed for those who are specially honoured. Dancing is practised, and sing ing, individual and collective, is cultivated. Religious beliefs are associated with the seasonal variations, the monsoon being the prominent and regulating feature. Legends display local variations. Religious ritual is not organized. Men have visions or dreams and gain reputation as in contact with the world of spirits. Though ignorant of methods of making fire, they pre serve it carefully, cook by it and make pottery.
The languages of the ten tribes of the Great Andaman form a linguistic group distinct from that constituted by the languages of the Little Andaman and the Jarawa of the South Andaman. The vocabularies differ conspicuously, but the identities of grammatical structure show that all are derived from a common source. The phonetic system is imperfectly known, but there is no s, z, sh or zh. Vowel and consonantal changes follow regularly in the several languages. The language is built up of stems and affixes. Simple stems are generally nouns, names of simple independently existing objects. Compound stems have a prefix, which is a separable element. The prefixes show that the object is a part of, or intimately associated with, some other object. A pig is an independent object. It is a simple stem. The head of a pig is not a simple object. A class prefix is therefore required. Such objects belong to someone; a head belongs to someone. A possessory prefix is therefore required. The class prefixes also modify the meaning of the stem. Adjectives do not require a possessory prefix but do require a class prefix. Simple verbs consist of a stem and a radical prefix and must be preceded by a personal pronoun. Compound words contain more than one stem. The elements may be (I) two simple stems, (2) two compound stems, (3) simple stem plus compound stem, (4) compound stem plus simple stem. It is recorded that many words could not be analysed so that the methods of word formation may include methods not stated above. The use of specific terms to describe details regarded by them as important is carried very far. Words for one and two are known. Finger counting is em ployed. Ten or both hands mean all, which is also used when five is reached by fingers. The grammatical construction proceeds on logical lines. There is as yet no convincing proof of any rela tionship with other languages.
Temple, Census of India, vol. iii., p. 96, et Bibliography.-Sir R. Temple, Census of India, vol. iii., p. 96, et seq. (1901) ; Anthropos, ix., pp. 36-52 (1914) ; A. R. Brown, The Andaman Islanders, p. 495 (1922) ; A. Trombetti, Elementi di Glot tologia, pp. 15 and 63 (1923) ; W. Schmidt, Sprach f amilien and Sprachen Kreise der Erde, pp. 122 and 362 (1926) .
