ANDAMANESE

aboriginal inhabitants of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal. They belong to Negrito stock, which is represented also by the Semang of Malaysia and the Pygmies of the Philippines. Most have been detribalized and absorbed into modern Indian life, but traditional culture survives among such tribes as the Jarawa and Onge of the lesser islands. Speakers of Andamanese number about 1,000. Until the mid-19th century, the remoteness of the Andamanese and their practice of killing all foreigners preserved them from any considerable physical or cultural modification. The remnant tribes still live by hunting and collecting, cultivation being unknown. The only indigenous weapon is the bow, used both for fishing and for hunting wild pigs; they have no traps or fishhooks. Turtle, dugong, and fish are caught with nets and harpoons; the latter are used from single-outrigger canoes. Pottery is made, and iron, obtained from wrecks, has been used for arrowheads, knives, and adzes from at least the 18th century. It is shaped by breaking and grinding, a technique derived from the working of shell. The Andamanese were unique in knowing no method of making fire.