"All of them willingly submitted to be photographed and measured, especially when they saw that after the process there was a reward of red cotton, or brass cartridge cases, to be used as ear-plugs. Such things as they received in this way, or in payment for baskets and other articles, were immediately handed over to the women. "They seemed to indicate time by pointing to the sun, and by such a method we made them understand that we should pay another visit to their camp on the morrow." "_March_ 20.--We reached the Shom Pe[.n] village early in the morning, and found its occupants variously engaged--some sitting listlessly about, and others busied in splitting and cleaning the rattan which they trade with the coast people. "The community was well supplied with food, in the shape of coconuts, bananas, and various tubers, besides possessing a plentiful store of pandanus fruit. Several young pigs, all obtained from the litters of wild sows, which are chased with a view to capture, were domiciled in cages within the houses. [Illustration: Shom Pe[.n] Cooking-vessel (Great Nicobar).] "Principal amongst the articles in use were iron-pronged fish-spears, axes, and _dáos_, with baskets, of which we purchased a selection; but the most interesting object visible, and one that had been overlooked during our former visit, was an apparatus for preparing the food of pandanus paste. "Some 6 inches above a clay hearth on the floor of the huts, a receptacle, about 3 feet by 3 feet by 6 inches, was formed of five sheets of thin green bark. These, two on a side, and the fifth doubled at the bottom to form a trough, were inserted at either end between split stakes, which--bound tightly together with rattans--pressed the edges of the sheets against each other. The lower part was thickly luted with clay, and where the edges of the bark overlapped, a strip of cane was stretched from stake to stake to compress the join. This ingenious vessel was narrow at the bottom but gaped widely at the mouth. "In cooking the pandanus, a little water is first poured in, and the fruit piled above it and steamed; when sufficiently done, the bread is prepared by the same method as practised on the coast. "Several paths led beyond the camp; and following one, we crossed a small stream by a tree bridge (a couple of saplings laid side by side), 300 or 400 yards beyond which we arrived at the bank of the Dagmar River, here a stream about 40 yards wide flowing between low jungle-covered banks. "Once more by the sea we photographed Awang and his family, bought some of his belongings, and also took possession of about twenty megapodes' eggs which he had collected for us.