ABSTRACT
THE RULES OF GENEROSITY: THE ANDAMAN ISLANDS* First, these customs are also to be found among the Pygmies, who, according to Fr Schmidt,l are the most primitive of peoples. As early as 1906 Brown observed facts of this kind among the Andaman Islanders (North Island) and described them extremely well with regard to hospitality between local groups and visitors to festivals and fairs that serve as occasions for voluntary and obligatory exchanges (a trade in ochre and sea products against the products of the forest, etc.):
the local group and the family, in other cases, know how to be self-sufficient in tools, etc ... . these presents do not serve the same purpose as commerce and exchange in more developed societies. The goal is above all a moral one, the object being to foster friendly feelings between the two persons in question, and if the exercise failed to do so, everything had failed!
