Economic Botany Collection

Catalogue no.:

64981

Botanical classification:

STERCULIACEAE Melochia umbellata

Common name:

Melochia

Geographical description:

Andaman Islands, India

Item description:

Necklace of Dugong bones wrapped in fibre

Length:

44cm

No. of beads:

11

Bead size:

Bones 4cm long

Plant information:

Fast growing small tree or shrub. It is an invasive plant, native to India and eastward to New Guinea.

Donor date:

1901

Donor:

Edward Horace Man (1846-1929) - Born in Singapore, educated in England and received commercial training in the City of London. He was later appointed assistant to his father at Port Blair and worked in the Andamans and Nicobars in several positions, finally as Deputy Superintendent. He was appointed Officer in Charge of the Andamanese in 1875 and collected large amounts of new information. Man produced a 2000-word Aka-Bea vocabulary and completed a grammar of the language. He was popular and well respected by the Nicobarese and Andamanese. He was elected member of the Royal Geographical Society, the Royal Anthropological Institute and the Royal Asiatic Society. His book ‘On the Inhabitants of the Andaman Islands’ is still one of the few reliable records of traditional Andamanese life.