On the aboriginal inhabitants of the Andaman Islands / by Edward Horace Man. With report of researches into the language of the South Andaman Islands by A. J. Ellis.

Man, Edward Horace.

Date:: [1932]

Credit: On the aboriginal inhabitants of the Andaman Islands / by Edward Horace Man. With report of researches into the language of the South Andaman Islands by A. J. Ellis. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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$be'tma-. The thick end of the tbg- is called dr-ho-rod-, and the socket end d-kd-chdng'-.'\ 45- med'a dl'lea e'remlen mai'i Vd'hdtdng id'lia - go'iya igbd'dxgre : klanchd- d'chitik kd-rin td'ug pd'tke. Yesterday for the first time we saw a mai-i tree in the jungle; we can therefore make torches here, \jned-a we. di-lea yesterday, e-rem jungle. len in, postp. tnai-i name of a kind of Stcrculia free. Vd'kd-tdng, V eu- phonic, d-kd No. 11, tdng topmost part, this is any kind of tree, a fruit tree is d-kd-td-la-, which may be from the same root. id-Ua-go iya, possibly a contraction of td-a-li'a-gb-xya ever-of- fresh, quite the first, xgbd dxg-x-e see- did. kianchd- therefore. d'chitik now. kd-x'xn here, to-ug torch, con- sisting of the resin of the xnai-i tree wrapped in leaves and principally used when fishing and turtling at night, full name to-ug- pd'- t-nga-. pat make, only said of this torch, ke future time. The word for ‘ making ’ varies with different things made, thus, u-dl-igma- chdg make an oar, butdn'i make a house or hut. kop make a canoe, bow, etc., te-pi make anything with cane, bamboo, etc., as in thatching, weaving, said also of a bee constructing its comb, tdn-i make a pad, Idt make a cooking- pot, wjurmake waistbelts, wristlets, or garters with pandanus leaves and string, make arrow heads by hammering out pieces of iron, see 46, mai-a make string by twisting the strands with the fingers.] 46. .maxnjo la d-rtdui d-rlalexi chxt’i yx-tike, tb-batek meda e'la db'gaya id-ike. The former is always writing, meanwhile we are making lots of pig-arrows. \_.mam-jb-la homes- chief, a word coined since the Andaman ‘ Homes ’ were established, and used in addressing the officer placed in charge of them. The first syllable appears to be a form of mam (see 1), and the whole word is an abbreviation for mdxn- max'ola worshipful chief, of which some persons suppose it was first an English corruption, afterwards adopted by the natives. In this letter Mr. Man himself is referred to, as he ceased to be in charge of the ‘ Homes ’ when he was transferred to the Nicobars. d-rtdm old, applied to animate or in- animate objects, but here it only means ‘ former,’ for Mr. Man was not aged. (x-rla-len day-to, always, chit-i letter. a Hindustani word, yi-ti-ke tattoo- does. They have applied the word ‘ tattoo ’ to writing, as it were, scratching, scribbling, to-ba-tekva&^-a.- whUe, compare entb-ba already, before, tb'laba wait a little, dentb-bare elder brother, med-a we. e la pig-arrows, pi. indicated by next word, do gaya many, td i.ke make-do.^ 47. nxo-tot pai'chalen a'chitik del'ta b'to-chb-nga jl'baba. We have now got very many bundles of arrows in our possession, [tnd tot our. pai-cha-len lap-to, in our possession, see 23. d'chitik now. del'ta arrows, generic name for all arrows except the chdm-, which is more of an ornament or toy. The several kinds are: rd-td- with blunt wooden point for play, or before conversion into airr/erf-shtirp wooden- pointed, for shooting fish ; tb-lbbd- with iron point, with or without barb, for shooting fish and small animals, etc.; i-la- with movable iron blade-head, for shooting pigs and other animals, etc.; e-la Id-kd lu-pa- with fixed iron blade-head, for the same purposes. b to-chb'-nga bundle of arrows or bows (see b-to in Cl. 7, it is often used as a prefix to verbs), chb bind, as a parcel with string, ji-baba very many.] 48. .malai- li'a chd-rigmabt-lb-bingt, len jd'bagda ; dt-mu'gu ki-nab Vedd-x-e bl tbg len t&k-lake. The Nicobar out- rigger canoe is iU-suited for turtling ; the narrowness of the bows prevent# one from making full use of the spear. \_.malai- Malay, meaning Nicobarese, who are probably remotely Malays, and are quite different from the Anda- manese. li-a of. chd-rigma outrigger canoe, the generic name for all canoes is rd'ko-, those in the neighbourhood of Port Blair are generally without outrigger, and much larger than the chd-rigma-. ot-lo'bi-nga (No. 14) hunt for turtles along the shore by poling-(verbal subst.). len for, postp. jd'bagda bad. ot-mu-gu (No. 14) bow of boat, xg-mu-gu- face, ki-nab thin, that is, narrow. I'edd-re beccmse of, that is, because of the how being nar- row. bl it. tbg turtle-spear, see 44. len for. tdk-la-ke inconvenience-does.] 49. kianchd- Ib'binga be-dig met en-tb'lat-ke. The consequence is that in poling the canoe we (frequently) faU. [kianchd- therefore. Ib'bi-nga hunting the turtle by poUing-(verbal subst.). be-dig ■vr\x^e. met ms. en-tb--$