Note 15 — Chapter I · THE SOCIAL ORGANISATION (continued 2)
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The natives of the North Andaman were able to tell me of a few cases of murder which had occurred within the memory of those still living.
Mr Portman in his History of Our Relations with the Andamanese records a certain number of murders which occurred while he was in charge of the Andamanese. One man, who had been imprisoned at Port Blair for murder, committed another soon after his release and was hanged. Since that date there has been no case of murder among the Great Andaman tribes. This is perhaps in part due to the punishment with which they are now threatened by the Government, but another cause is probably the breakdown of the old social organisation which has in this respect rather improved their morals than the opposite. ↑