Until contact, the Andamanese were strict hunter-gatherers. They did not practice cultivation, and lived off hunting indigenous pigs, fishing, and gathering. Their only weapons were the bow, adzes and wooden harpoons. Besides the aboriginal people of Tasmania, the Andamanese were the only people who in the 19th century knew no method of making fire. They instead carefully preserved embers in hollowed-out trees from fires caused by lightning strikes. They are known as Chadda