pelago was originally occupied by primitive peoples of Malayan stock, now represented by the Shom Pen of Great Nicobar, and was afterwards resettled on the coast-lands by Indo-Chinese and Malayan intruders, who intermingled, and either extirpated and absorbed, or else drove to the interior, the first occupants.""

It is difficult to picture a typical representative of this muchmixed people, as even in those islands that have a distinct speech of their own, and whose inhabitants might be supposed to be fairly homogenous, wide differences are met with, as above pointed out. The variations, however, are not sufficient on the whole to merit separate descriptions of the inhabitants of each island.

These variations occurring in size, features, and hair, show that the Nicobarese are a thoroughly mixed race, for the points do not coincide with each other; that is to say, curly hair does not always go with a prominent nose, or straight hair with Malayan features.

It is hardly possible to describe a representative specimen who combines all the prominent prevalent characteristics, but they seem capable of division into two classes, the smaller of which is superior in appearance to the other, and is often strikingly Caucasian, with oval face, straight eyes, aquiline nose, and thin lips.t

The result of about forty measurements shows that the maximum height of an adult male Nicobarese is 70 inches; the minimum, 591 inches; and the average stature, 63.9 inches.‡ While thus somewhat under middle height, they are well built (average chest measurement, 35.3 inches) and proportioned, muscular, and on the whole a sturdy-looking race.

* Professor A. H. Keane, “Man, Past and Present," Camb. Geog. Series, 1899.

+ Comparing the group of Kar Nicobar boys (page 60) with those of Kondul (p. 138), it is not easy, at a glance, to perceive much racial resemblance. The first, scowling and flat-nosed, with prominent teeth and thick lips, and the others intelligent-looking, with almost European features. Yet the eldest of these latter exactly resembled in every way Little John, the man who was my shikari in Kar Nicobar.

Although the average is no more than with the Shom Pen, there is a much greater individual variation of stature.

P

The colour of the skin is a brown much resembling in colour the tint of a sun-burnt, weather-beaten Malay, such as a sailor; it is darker than the ordinary native of that race, and has less of the olive or yellow about it.

The hair is of a rusty black, but generally glossy with oil: it is thick and luxuriant, and reaches to the shoulders, varying between a slight waviness and pronounced curls. It is somewhat coarse, and when kept short with boys, is almost bristly, and stands up stiffly all over the head. In about 5 per cent. of the men there are traces of moustache and beard, otherwise the faces are smooth, but the axilla and elsewhere, and often legs and thighs, are profusely covered with hair.

The form of skull is brachycephalic, with an index of about 80.5, and the back of the head, among the natives of the central and southern groups of islands (excepting the Shom Pen), is noticeably flat.* The face is broad, and, but for the cheek-bones, which are generally prominent and developed laterally, approaches the oval type. Often, however, it has a somewhat rectangular outline, owing to the squareness of the lower jaw in the rear. The features are somewhat flat. The forehead is slightly rounded and even well-formed, but it is often compressed at the temples, and falls away somewhat suddenly.

The supraciliary arch is prominent, and the eyebrows are generally fixed in a permanent scowl; the pupil is black, and the eyes often-though not as a rule-slightly oblique, with the Mongolian fold at the corner.

The nose is generally broad, and coarse in outline, is straight, and of medium length, depressed at the bridge, flattened, with

* This is due to the practice, observed and described by Mr Man, of flattening the occiput and forehead of infants by the mother, who gently exerts pressure by means of a small pillow, and the palms and outstretched fingers of both hands for an hour or so at a time.-Jour. Anthrop. Inst., Feb. 1894, p. 238.

"It is a custom with them to compress with their hands the occiput of the new-born child; by this method they say the hair remains close to the head as nature intended it, and the upper fore-teeth very prominent out of the mouth." -Nicholas Fontana, Asiatic Researches, vol. iii.