Note 6 — THE TECHNICAL CULTURE OF THE ANDAMAN ISLANDERS

The two types of camp arrangement which are seen in the village and the hunting camp are exhibited in two different types of communal hut. One of these, corresponding to the hunting camp, may be termed the long shelter. It is apparently only used in the North Sentinel Island. A hut of this type was seen by Mr Gilbert Rogers in 1903. It was rectangular, 40 feet long and 12 feet wide. The roof was supported on three rows of small posts ranging in height from 3 feet at the back to 6 feet at the front of the hut. The roof projected about 2 feet in either direction beyond the posts and was about 2 feet from the ground at the back and 7 feet above the ground at the front. There were twelve places for fires, six in front and six at the back of the hut, and near each, on the right-hand side, was a platform supported on four sticks, of the usual Andamanese type, for keeping food. There were two rows of sleeping places which were separated by small poles, making rectangles on the ground about 5 feet by 4 feet, each of which was probably occupied by a man and his wife and small children6.