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]
Licence: In copyright
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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![not at the hands of their mothers, but of the male members of the tribe. Reproduction. —1. Marriages never take place till both parties have attained maturity, and generally not till a few years later; the usual age of the bridegroom varies from 18 to 22, and of the bride from 16 to 20. The result of inquiries tends to sliow that there is a slight predominance of female over male births ; three or four is the average number of children born of the same ]iarents. The largest family known consisted of six, three only of whom attained maturity.^ 2. Twins are rare, and as no instance can be recalled of both surviving infancy, notwithstanding all possible care being be- stowed on them, they are not favourably regarded. No case of triplets has been known to occur. Births out of wedlock are considered discreditable, and in the one known instance of the kind, the parents were married immediately after the event ; no differfiiice was made in the treatment which the child received.^ 3. The limited fecundity of the women may in some measure be due to the circumstance that they never wean their babies, so long as they are able to suckle tliem, and it not unfrequently happens that the two youngest children are seen together at their mother’s breast.® 4. The ill success in rearing their offspring is doubtless owing in most part to the injudicious management and petting which each of the mother’s friends considei’s right to bestow on the infant. It is looked upon as a compliment for every woman who may be nursing, to relieve the mother of this duty at frequent intervals; it is, therefore, no matter of surprise that the little one ails and dies. 5. The proportion of deaths from violence and accident, is believed to amount to four or five per cent. 6. Barrenness is rare, as are also cases of stillborn children. No drugs or other contrivances are employed in order to increase or limit reproduction. Abnormalities.—1. Excessive development of fat about the gluteal region is frequently observable among the adult women. ' It is said that more children are born during the rains than at any other season of the year. - Viile post '■ .Vlarriage,” paragraph t. ^ On this subject Dr. Brander remarks as follows :— “ They mostly possess considerable mammary development, and the glands in many cases seem to be in a chronic .state of functional activity. This may be due to the late period to which they sucUe their young (even to three or four years), or to another purpose to which the milk is applied. . . .” (ride post. “ Shaving.”) [As will be seen from Plate II, fig. 1, the mainmse are pyriform rather than spherical; with tlie advance of years they become flaccid and elongated.]](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b24764413_0057.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
