'Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society, from January 1847 to May 1849. Edited by the Secretary. Volume VIII.' [‎369] (478/496)

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thin and lanky, whilst the abdomen was unusually large and distended
They were perfectly naked, and wore no ornament except a necklace of
beads or shells. A few amongst them had their bodies cicatrized : nearly
all had the lobes of the ears and septum of the nose perforated : their
heads were as usual decorated with feathers, and many had them plaster
ed ovei with chunam. They were particularly stupid, and completely des
titute of that intelligence which was so characteristic of the inhabitants
of Murray’s Island. The language was apparently the same, but they
talked so fast that we could scarcely distinguish a single word they
uttered. They lepeatedly pointed to the ships, and by their gestures
seemed anxious we should leave them, which we did after a very brief
interview, not at all regretting our parting from such a barbarous unci
vilized race. As we cpiitted, a pistol was discharged in the air by one of
the men, and the moment they heard the report, many from terror fell
flat on the ground, with their hands pressed tightly to the ears to keep
out the noise ; whilst others hid themselves in the jungle. They all soon
hurried away, and never again molested us with their presence. They
were all armed with bows, arrows, spears, and clubs, but as none of these
war implements were used during our visit, we therefore lost an oppor
tunity of witnessing their skill and mode of handling them. When the
bow is required, a guard made of basket-work is worn over the left arm
just above the wrist, to prevent the string or arrows from injuring it.
Their clubs were made of some sort of heavy wood, and were very rudely
carved with barbarous designs. Their village, which was situated on a
low sandy point on the south-western extreme of the island, consisted of
a few miserable huts, and I should imagine did not contain more than
200 inhabitants. They had also some large canoes, which were hauled up
on the beach, and none of them were ever launched whilst we remained
at the island. The women appeared to have separated entirely from the
men, for on our coming to an anchor a group of about twenty of them
were seen on the beach immediately opposite the vessels, formed into a
circle, and were dancing round and round with savage wildness, at the
game time clapping their hands and making the most ridiculous antics
possible ; whilst they vociferated, or rather screamed, so loudly that we
could distinctly hear them on board. They wore the same grass petticoat
as the females of Murray’s Island, and like them were naked from the
waist upwards. They appeared to be greatly alarmed at our piesence,
—-whether from a sense of innate modesty or otherwise, we were a a oss
to conceive; but directly the boat touched the shore, they scampere
away as fast as their legs could carry them, and during oiu \isi wc were
never again favored by a sight #f these sable damsels.