Note 4 — Chapter V · THE INTERPRETATION OF ANDAMANESE CUSTOMS AND BELIEFS: CEREMONIAL

Each of the huts hitherto described is occupied by a single family. In order to understand the communal huts it is necessary to consider the arrangement of small huts in a camp or village. In the tribes of the Great Andaman there are two main types of such arrangement. The first type is that of the hunting camp, which is occupied for a few nights only. In this all the huts are placed facing in the same direction (to leeward) and in a line with one another. The second type is that of a village to be occupied for some weeks or months. In this the huts are arranged round an open space, all facing inwards, as described earlier in this book4. All encampments in the Great Andaman tend to conform to one or other of these types, but variations are introduced according to the nature of the site occupied. Thus in a hunting camp the site may not permit of the erection of the huts in one line. A village is, as a rule, only put up at a spot that has been used from time immemorial, where there is an open space of sufficient size, but if, for any reason, a site is selected where there is not room to arrange all the huts around the dancing ground, the arrangement of the village may be irregular.