The Negritos of the Andaman Islands

Abstract

According to their distribution the Negritos of the Andaman Islands were classified into 4 groups; Great Andamanese, Onge, Jarawa, and Sentinelese, by RADCLIFFE-BROWN (1922), (Fig. 1). Since establishment of Penal Colony at Port Blair in 1858, the Andaman Negritos have decreased rapidly in their population, especially in the population of the Great Andamanese from 5, 000-8, 000 souls in 1858 to only 26 souls in 1980 (Tab. 1).The somatometric and somatoscopic data was obtained on the Negritos; 6 Great Andamanese (4 males and 2 males) and 1 male Onge, staying in ADIBASERA at Port Blair. As the size of the sample was very small, the absolute measurements and indices, and the somato-scopic characters of the individuals are shown in Table 2 and 3 respectively. The results are compared with those of MOLESWORTH (1893), EICKSIEDT (1934), and GUHA (1954).The somatic traits of the Negritos of the Andaman Islands were as follows: the stature is short and the values of the head and face measurements are relatively small. They belong to the under-level of the brachycephalic in their head form, belong to the mesoprosop in their face form, and belong to moderately broad in their jugomandibular form. The form of the hair is of the kinky (pepper-corn) type, but the short wave hair was observed in one male (Plate 3). No or thin beard and mustache are observed on their faces. The degree of the projection of arcus superciliaris and arcus zygomaticus is relatively small. The nose bridge runs straightly, and the thickness of the lips are medium in most of cases. Only in one case the Mongolian fold was observed in his both inner canthus.Comparing with data obtained by MOLESWORTH (Great Andamanese), EICKSTEDT (Great Andamanese, Onge), and GUHA (Onge), some differences were observed between the somatic traits of the two groups; the Onges has smaller size in the stature and the measurements of the head and face, rounder head in the head form, and broader in the jugomandibular form than those of the Great Andamanese. These differences were observed in author's data too.