Nicobar clearly means the Land of the Naked, but that does not correctly
describe the people. I have never seen either a naked man or woman in the
Nicobars. The men are nearly naked, but they wear a string round the waist
with a very small loincloth. The string is so tied as to leave two long
streamers behind, which have very much the appearance of a tail as the man
walks along, and no doubt this gave rise to the idea that they were tailed
men. The women wear a petticoat coming below the knees, generally red.
The Nicobarese are not savages and live in well-built clean villages, are
born traders, and can calculate accurately up to very high figures. They
deliberately do not cultivate, because by using their cocoanuts as
currency they can buy from Chinese, Malay, Burmese, Indian, and other
traders all that they want in the way of food and comforts. They are good
gardeners of fruit. They seem to have borne their present characteristics
through all historical times.
Pp. 307-308, Note 1. - Nancowry is a native name for two adjacent islands,
now known as Camorta and Nankauri, and I do not think it has anything to
do with the name Nicobar. For a list of the geographical names of the
islands, see Census Report, pp. 179-180.
Race and Dialect.
