APPENDIX C 341 White Chuglam.-Oars. Pyimma.-Thwarts. Thitmin.-Masts and spars. Chooi.-Ribs of small boats. For furniture, Padouk and Koko are chiefly used. Didu is the only species utilised for the manufacture of tea-boxes at Port Blair. Bark for tanning purposes is obtained from various species of Mangrove and from Terminalia procera. Mangrove also gives the most suitable wood for use in the furnaces of the Settlement steam-launches. Firewood for ordinary purposes is obtained from all hard-wood species other than those in demand for timber. Gurjan oil is obtained from three species of Dipterocarpus. The tapping operations extend from 1st January to 30th April. The daily outturn averages 7 lbs. per man, the greatest flow of oil taking place in the month of March. The mixture used for steeping house-shingles consists of 3 lbs. of gurjan oil to I lb. of earth oil and 1 lb. of Alford's metallic paint. The minor produce of the Andamans comprises several useful species of bamboo and cane, used in house-building and in the construction of furniture, rattan roots for walking-sticks, and two species of palm (Nipa fruticans and Licuala peltata), the leaves of which are used for thatching. The inner bark of Sterculia villosa is used for making ropes for timberdragging purposes. With regard to the capabilities of the forests for export purposes, there is an abundance of mature and over-mature Padouk throughout the Andamans. Gurjan oil trees, Gangaw (the Assam "Ironwood"), suitable for sleepers, and Didu, suitable for tea-box planking, are extremely abundant. For the extraction of these species labour alone is required. The forests are situated, in most cases, on the coast, or on or near to navigable creeks leading to the sea, and are capable of easy and economical working.-Andaman and Nicobar Gazette. The number of children among the Andamanese is probably understated. The census operations have brought to light a new tribe, the Tâbô of North Andaman, and have proved the recently discovered Kôrâ tribe to be comparatively numerous. In explanation of the small numbers of the newly discovered Tâbô tribe, the census party were informed that when a contagious disease was recently introduced among the Tâbôs by the Châriâr or Kôrâ tribes of the coast, they proceeded to kill off all those attacked until very few of the tribe were left.—Supp., And. and Nic. Gazette, March 2, 1901. The foreign residents number 16, 106 (viz., 4102 free and 12,004 convict), who are all located at or near Port Blair; but as the amount is arrived at by deducting the Andamanese and the natives of the Nicobars from the total population of the two groups, allowance must be made for inaccuracy due to estimation only of the Jarawas, Öngés, and Shom Pen. APPENDIX E 343 APPENDIX E GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS, PORT BLAIR The daily average number of pupils on the rolls of the Settlement schools for 1900 was 229-190 boys and 39 girls. The daily percentage of attendance was about 92 of both sexes. Of the former attending the schools, 133 were the children of free persons and ex-convicts, and the remainder were of convict parentage. With the exception of 6, all the girls were of the latter class. Inquiry shows that the percentage of boys attending the schools, born of free parents, is about 36 to the 20 born of convict parents, who remove their sons from school immediately the compulsory limit of age (12 years) is passed. The number of schools in the Settlement is seven, and the teaching staff consists of six vernacular masters, including a gymnastic instructor, one assistant English master, fifteen vernacular assistant teachers and monitors, five sewing masters and mistresses, one carpenter, and a blacksmith. The highest class in the English is the fifth, and in the vernacular school the sixth, in which mensuration and transliteration from Urdu into Roman characters are taught. The curriculum adopted is that in vogue in the Punjab. All vernacular education, as well as instruction, in the Industrial School is granted free of charge, but a fee of 1 rupee per month is imposed on those who are taught English. There were 82 boys in the Industrial School learning both carpenter's and blacksmith's work, and the earnings during nine months amounted to Rs. 56. It is proposed to teach boys who are not strong enough for the above trades the use of the sewing-machine, with a view to turning them into tailors. The girls do not make much progress in their literary studies, but their work in the sewing classes is more satisfactory. The reason for this is that free persons and ex-convicts do not send their girls to school, and convict parents withdraw their daughters as soon as they reach their tenth year. Efforts are made to overcome the prejudices of the parents, but without success. There are many difficulties in this matter with regard to native children, and at present it can only be hoped that by degrees prejudices will gradually break down, and the girls be allowed to make a better start in life than they are at present given. In Port Blair the locally born of both sexes may be fairly described, as a whole, as astonishingly wicked. Their delight is to do mischief, and to worry each other and their elders in an ingenious variety of underhand and crooked ways, including the perverse and fruitless lawsuit. It is very much better that their minds should be turned on athletic sports and games, while they can still join in them, than on such matters as these; and hence grounds for cricket and football with all requisites have been granted, and a gymnastic instructor has been obtained for teaching the boys. It is believed that satisfactory progress is made, and that much benefit will be derived from the lately established gymnasium, in which 100 boys are (1901) being trained. APPENDIX F MEASUREMENTS OF SOME NATIVES OF LITTLE ANDAMAN MET AT RUTLAND ISLAND |