Note 104 — Chapter I

The pukuta yemnga, a shield-shaped piece of wood, placed with the narrow end in the ground. Andamanese songs are in solos and choruses, the latter invariably sung by both sexes if available, and are accompanied by a dance, which takes place in the evening and at night, in the jungle, when both men and women quite lose themselves in the excitement.

Specimens of Andamanese songs:—

(1) "From the country of the Yerewas the moon rose; it came near; it was very cold,—I sat down." Chorus.—"I sat down."

(2) "Maia Poro saw a big turtle in the water, and hit him in the eye. Poro laughed when he hit him in the eye." Chorus.—"Poro laughed when he hit him in the eye."

(3) "I am cutting the under-part of a canoe's prow. I am cutting a canoe." Chorus.—"I am cutting a canoe."

—Vide "Andamanese Music," by M. V. Portman, Jour. Royal Asiatic Soc., 1888.