Note 21 — Chapter IV · MYTHS AND LEGENDS
Reading edition
1 Portman, Notes on the Languages, etc. p. 97. ↑
2 The legend will be given later. ↑
3 Man, op. cit. p. 169. ↑
4 The suffix -la is added to personal names and to terms of address in order to express respect. ↑
5 The name seems to mean “alone.” ↑
6 The giant bamboo does not grow in the Andamans, but pieces of it are often drifted ashore, having come from the coast of Burma. The natives pick up these drift-wood bamboos and make buckets of them. It is possible that the bamboo from which the first man was born was just such a piece drifted up from the sea. Unfortunately I neglected to enquire on this point when taking down the legend. ↑
7 The meaning of the name is “the cave of Tarai”; I believe that this is the name of a spot in the Aka-J̌eru country. ↑
8 The meaning of the name was not discovered. ↑
9 The lizard was caught in some way by his genital organs, but I was unable to understand the story completely. ↑
10 This is the small platform of sticks placed near or above the fire, on which the natives keep their food, and on which they often place objects that they desire to dry. ↑
11 Notes on the Languages, etc. p. 227. ↑
12 When an old man of the A-Pučikwar tribe was giving me the information repeated above, an Andamanese man was with us who had been brought up as a Christian and had some knowledge of the doctrines of that faith. He explained to me that Tomo is the equivalent of the Christian God. This man belonged to the Akar-Bale tribe. ↑
13 These names are common personal names among the aborigines of the present day. Mr Portman derives Nyali from nam-da, the name of a tree, and Irap from pira-da meaning “scattered,” but these derivations are far from being authenticated. (Portman, Notes on the Languages of the South Andaman Group of Tribes, p. 70.) ↑
14 The place called Irap is at the north end of Havelock Island. ↑
15 Man, op. cit. p. 164. ↑
16 Until the settlement of Europeans on the islands the Andamanese had no knowledge of any means of producing fire. It is necessary to remember this to understand some of their legends which relate how in the time of the ancestors the fire was very nearly lost in a heavy storm. ↑
17 I understood that Lirtit, by the loss of his wings and tail, became a man. ↑
18 Portman, loc. cit. ↑
19 Mo̱m is a title indicating respect, and Mirit is the imperial pigeon. ↑
20 Portman, loc. cit. ↑
21 Ibid. ↑
22 Portman, loc. cit. ↑
23 Man, op. cit. p. 164. ↑
24 Ibid. ↑
25 Man, op. cit. p. 167. ↑
26 Dik was one of the ancestors. He was a giant and was so big that he could go into the deepest water and never needed a canoe. He used to shoot dugong and porpoise with his bow and arrow. (The natives shoot small fish with a bow and arrows, but large fish and dugong and porpoise they take with harpoons.) ↑
27 Karami is the name of a bird that was not identified. ↑
28 Kočurag-boa is the Akar-Bale name for a huge legendary animal. ↑
29 When a man has killed another, either in a personal or a tribal quarrel, he has to observe several customs of which one is to keep himself painted with red paint for several weeks. ↑
30 Man, op. cit. p. 171. ↑
31 Man, op. cit. pp. 167–169. ↑
32 Notes on the Languages, etc. p. 27. ↑
33 Man, op. cit. p. 166. ↑
34 Ibid. ↑
35 Man, op. cit. p. 169. ↑
36 This is the name of some creature that I did not identify, perhaps a kind of spider. ↑
37 An Andaman Islander will often, when walking along the shore, shoot his arrows before him, either aiming at some object, or trying to send each one as far as possible. I have never seen them do this in the jungle, for they might easily lose the arrows. ↑
38 The Andamanese classify resin as a “stone” although they know its vegetable origin. ↑
39 Man, op. cit. p. 172. ↑
40 Kalwadi is a small crab, yaramurud is the crow pheasant (Centropus andamanensis), and toau is the hawksbill turtle. ↑
41 Knives are generally carried slipped into a string that is tied round the neck, the knife, with a skewer of sharpened wood that is attached to it, hanging at the back of the neck, where it is easily accessible and not likely to get lost. ↑
42 I could obtain no explanation of the phrase, or word, to̱ kit. My informant only said “That is the way the spirits talk.” ↑
43 Man, op. cit. p. 165. ↑
44 The sneezing (the word is translated literally) is a sort of whistling noise that the wild pigs make when they suspect danger. ↑
45 The Andamanese always disembowel a pig and sever the joints of its legs before they place it on a fire. ↑
46 Man, op. cit. p. 170. ↑
47 Page 214. ↑
48 Man, op. cit. p. 170. ↑
49 In taking a honeycomb the natives often drive away the bees with fire or smoke. ↑
50 In climbing a tall tree the Andamanese choose a stout cane or other creeper depending from one of the branches of the tree, and climb up it. ↑
51 The natives express their joy at a success in hunting by shouting. ↑
52 Man, op. cit. p. 173. ↑
53 The narrator said “resin.” The Dipterocarpus tree does not produce resin, but a sort of oil. The marks on the two fishes owe their origin to this incident. ↑
54 Man, op. cit. p. 173. ↑
55 Man, op. cit. p. 169. ↑
56 Vide supra, p. 142. ↑