To a voyager who did
not land, the North, Middle, and South Andaman would appear as one great
island, whereas the strait separating these three islands from the Little
Andaman would be quite distinctly seen.
P. 311. Cannibalism. - The charge of cannibalism is entirely untrue. I
quote here my paragraph as to how it arose (Census Report, p. 48).
"The charge of cannibalism seems to have arisen from three observations of
the old mariners. The Andamanese attacked and murdered without provocation
every stranger they could on his landing; they burnt his body (as they did
in fact that of every enemy); and they had weird all-night dances round
fires. Combine these three observations with the unprovoked murder of one
of themselves, and the fear aroused by such occurrences in a far land in
ignorant mariners' minds, century after century, and a persistent charge
of cannibalism is almost certain to be the result."
The real reason for the Andamanese taking and killing every stranger that
they could was that for centuries the Malays had used the islands as one
of their pirate bases, and had made a practice of capturing the
inhabitants to sell as slaves in the Peninsula and Siam.
P. 311. Navigation. - It is true that they do not quit their own coasts
in canoes, and I have always doubted the truth of the assertions that any
of them ever found their way to any Nicobar island.
