The Monmouth inquirer., 1925-08-13
ouEEREsT MEN oN EARTH.
Wear No Clothes, While a Few
Teaves Satisfy THAR Women.

-
Wear No Clothes, While a Few
Leaves Satisfy Their Women.
Earth's oldest and Oldest race OF
men has been brought prominently
into notice again through the wide
spread interest aroused by sending
q batch of Indian political agitators
to the penal settlement on the Anda-
man Islands, that beautiful coral
bound archipelago in the Bay Of Ben
gel. This remnant Of this most prtm-
tive human species in evidence will
soon be nothing but an chronological
memory, says a Calcutta Correspon-
dent. Contact with advanced civili-
cation has been followed, as usual,
with q train of infectious diseases
which are steadily thinning the
ranks.
Owing to the ancient course Of
trade, the Andamanese have been
known about from the earliest times.
1Stolemy's Agathan DIAMONDS Nesos
probably preserves the misunder-
standing of some term applied by
sailors to a place In or near the
modern Andamans. Notices of them
by travellers, Asiastic and European,
are continuous from the seventh
century, and the islands regularly
appear In some shape on maps Of
those regions from the Middle Ages
down.
The Andamanese live in a Hes
persian garden, where they toll not,
neither do they spin. For the pro-
duct of the spinner they have no
use, as the men go stark naked and
the women wear M or more leaves
In front and a bunch Of leaves tied
round the waist behind.
The average height of the men is
68 inches; that of the women 81 in
ches.
They appear to dwell free from
eare in a country that is everywhere
beautiful and varied.
IN the ordinary attachments OF
Aunan beings, however, unenlight-
ened, the Andamanese are amazingly
deficient. During all the ages Of
their intercourse by word of mouth
they have not developed a medium
worthy Of the name Of language.
Before the arrival of the British the
tribes, except actual neighbors, had
no intercourse. Even clans Of the
same tribe found difficulty In the
details of dialogue with one another.
There is q change of jargon along
bout every twenty miles Of the
coast. They have no words for or
binary greetings, salutations, or ex-
preston of thanks.
Such language as they have, how
ever, is exceedingly interesting from
the pathological point of view. It
possesses a quality which would be
Invaluable were the Adamanese a
business people. In their speech only
what is absolutely necessary is usu
ally expressed. These mites Of hui
manity could do just as we'll probably
without m words. at all. They
have an expressive sign language,
which they employ almost as much as
the spoken words. Their speech is
3erky, disjointed, and helped out
often by a grimace, a gesture, or a
sudden change In tone.
The Andamanese knows scarcely
anything and has no desire to in
crease his stock of knowledge. He
hrs never learned any sort of agri-
culture. Until the English taught
him to keep dogs he did not know
how to domesticate any animal or
bird. He cannot count eve with his
fingers, and doesn't see the need Of
counting. All his ideas are hazy and
inaccurate. On one point, however.
he ia levelheaded. He belongs to a
ace of fighters, knows 1t and Will
never attack unless certain of src-
eess.