Among the Head-Hunters of Formosa

PTE

AL S

e and Evidence of Handicraft-Tribal Divisions of the Aborigines-Moot Que

eaking, be regarded as belonging to the Indoneso-Malay stock, many tribes being strikingly similar in appearance to certain tribes in the Philippine Islands. Hamay, writing under the hea

o, to a certain degree, to social customs and religious beliefs. Considering physical resemblance alone, however, I should say that this is more striking between the Formosan aborigines and the Tagalogs of Luzon than between the former and the Igorotes-that is, where the Tagalogs are unmixed with Spanish blood. The resemblance between the Tagalogs and the Taiya

hat its forbears came "in boats across a great sea from an island somewh

Arnold Schetelig says he "found to his great surprise that Polynesian and Maori skulls in the Lond

spoken by the Formosan aborigines, and had gone on to point out the "remarkable harmony between speech and physical characteristics." However, as, since the time that Schetelig wrote, kinship of race between Indonesian and Polynesian-or, at least, strong eviden

ll refer at greater length under the head of Arts and Crafts.) Also the custom of certain tribes-notably the Yami, of Botel Tobago-of building their houses on piles.[50] This in a climate, and under conditions, where there is no mate

ther than Chinese, Melanesian, or other affinity, is supplied by th

THE BUN

licemen in

BOTEL TOBAGO IN FRONT

races of Africa being a case in point); or even as regards people living on neighbouring islands. With the Formosan aborigines, however, there has been no contact within historic times between themselves and other branches of the Malay or Indonesian race. They themselves are not a seafaring folk, and the people who have invaded their island-certainly since about the sixth century A.D., when Chinese records first speak of it, during

age-that spoken by the Malays proper. With so large a proportion of words bearing a close resemblance, and taking into account the centuries-long isolation of the Formosan tribes

u, Tsarisen, Paiwan, Piyuma, Ami, and Yami. This is as nearly as the Japanese-or, for that matter the English-can imitate the pronunciation of the respective names by which these tribes-people call themselves. Each name seems merely to mean "Man" in

ma and Tsarisen resemble the tongue spoken by the Paiwan, that they group these tribes together. Perhaps! Certainly it is a fact that the tribes omitted from Japanese enumeration are rapidly disappearing; and their conquerors scarcely like to call attention to that fact. At any rate, Mr. Ishii is honest

thin this territory-even in the mountain range, in which the aborigines were left undisturbed[101] during the Chinese rule of the island-the Japanese Government has now established stations for cutting down camphor trees, and at some points machinery for extracting crude camphor, to be refined later in the great factory in Taihoku. Th

the east coast, is the largest tribe, both in population and in extent of territory; next, the Paiwan, of the south. On this point-that of the relative size of population of the aboriginal tribes-I sh

ch I shall speak more in detail under another heading-together with the few remaining members of the Saisett tribe. In speaking of the Taiyal tribe, the "Report of the Control of the Aborigines in Formosa," issued by the Japanese Government, says: "Their

e Japanese Government) might with equal truth be made regarding the territory of the other aboriginal tribes, those who are grouped

the boldest and least submissive. Most of the adult men of this tribe have upon their faces the tattoo-mark signifying that

VING AMONG THE TAIYAL TRIBE, BE

page

YAMI TRIBE OF

proper.) Note the difference of type, a

egarding the Chinese terms of Pepo-huan (Chinese characters) Sek-huan (Chinese characters), and Chin-huan (Chinese characters), as signifying ethnic or tribal divisions. In reality, these terms-in the Amoy dialect of Chinese-mean, taking the words in the order given above, respe

part from difference in tattoo-marking-between the tall, rather prognathous Taiyal of the north; the more mongoloid type of the Ami and Paiwan on the east coast; the handsomer, aquiline-nose type-approximating to that of certain tribes of the Am

ay as are the ancient Britons in present-day England. They-the Pepo-huan-formerly lived in the eastern plains, and the few who have not been exterminated have been amalgamated with the Chinese-Formosan population. The inde

, and as having a weak constitution. Both writers suspect a strain of Dutch blood in these people-though just why weakness of constitution should be associated with Dutch descent I do not know. Apparently weakness of constitution has[105] led to non-survival in a country, and under conditions, whe

y cut features. Ishii states that "they [the Taruko] are believed to be the oldest inhabitants of the island." Of this I, personally, could find no confirmation, though Mr. Ishii may have good grounds for making the statement. At any rate, there is a tradition, both among themselves and among the neighbouring Taiyal, that the Taruko originally lived on the western side of the great mountains, and within the past few generations have m

ase of certain women-three or four. I do not refer, of course, only to the difference in size between these women and the Taiyal women-or the women of any of the other tribes; but to certain characteristics of physique in which they radically differ. For one thing, the shape of the head is distinctly different, that of these very small women being more negroid than Malay, and curiously infantile even for the negroid type of skull-i.e. with disproportionately bulging forehead. Also the who

as dark as that of the Philippine Aetas or the Andamanese Islanders. On th

nection with them is that the other aborigines among whom they live regard these women as being "different." They themselves-those whom I saw-were taciturn and seemed averse to expressing themselves. Also curious, in a tri

type of cranium and of general physique. It must be remembered that these individuals referred to live in a zone through which the Tropic of Cancer runs; consequently they may be exemplifications of the theory sometimes put forward that every race living in the tropics has its duplicate pigmy race. Or it may be-and to me this seems more probable-that these few very small and dissimilar women living among the Taiyal represent the remainder of a pigmy people, no

ey can be induced to speak at all-seems more filled with guttura

E, AND WOMAN LIVIN

f pigmy blood. Note difference of features,

ING NOTES OF TAIYAL DI