MINCOPI occupy the Andaman Islands, and are perhaps the least civilised race in the world, being nearer to a state of nature than any people we read of. They are in the very lowest and most abject state of human society, without fixed dwellings, unclad, and unacquainted with the meanest of the useful arts. They have been ' isolated from unknown times ; and when the British settled on their islands in 1858, they were found in the lowest condition in which human beings can exist. They go quite naked, the women wearing only at times a kind of tassel or fringe round the middle, which is intended merely as ornament, as they do not betray any signs of bashfulness when seen without it. The men are cunning, crafty, and revengeful, and frequently express their aversion to strangers in a loud and threatening tone of voice, exhibiting various signs of defiance, and expressing their contempt by the most indecent gestures. At other times they appeared quiet and docile, with the most insidious intent. They are small in stature, seldom rising in height over 5 feet. The height of the men was found to average 4 feet 11 inches, and that of the women 4 feet 73 inches. The minima and maxima observed were, of the men 4 feet 5i inches and 5 feet 4# inches, and of the women 4 feet 4 inches and 4 feet I If inches, but these maxima were quite exceptional. They are of a squat, thick-set figure, skin intensely black and glossy ; that of the men has deep scars on it, produced by • cuts of flint or glass chips, this form of tattooing being performed by the women. The
head is round, smaller than neighbouring Asiatics, and eyes prominent, even projecting. Depres sions exist in the temporal region of the head. The teeth are nearly white, but often so irregular as to seem in double rows. They are muscular, and are deficient in the roundness and fullness which give such symmetry of form to other races. Their aspect uncouth, then. limbs are ill-formed and slender, their bellies prominent, and, like the Africans, they have woolly heads, thick lips, and fiat noses. They may be called hunters and fishermen, hunting game in their own wilds and jungles, using the bow and arrow, with which they are expert, and employing the bark of a tree for fishing - lines. In disposition they are shy, unsocial, and mischievous, They are skilful in shooting fish, manage their canoes well, and are fond of singing and dancing. They take little pains to cultivate the soil, and are ignorant of the art of working in metals. They make their canoes by hollowing out the trunks of trees by means of fire.
The area of the Andaman Islands is 1746 square miles, that of the Great Coco 11 square miles, the Little Coco 2 square miles, the three main Andaman Islands 1353 square miles, and others smaller 380 square miles.