The editor of the description of the island of Formosa, from the memoirs of Psalmanazar, makes no mention of a people so very extraordinary; but says, that though the climate is exceedingly hot, the women, those especially who are not exposed to the rays of the sun, are exceedingly fair and beautiful; that with certain lotions they take particular care to preserve their complexion; that they are equally attentive to the beauty of their teeth, and instead of rendering them black, like the Japanese and Chinese, they use every effort to keep them white; that the men are not tall, but thick and strong; that they are commonly vigorous, indefatigable, skilful in war, and dexterous in manual exercises.
In their accounts of the natives of Formosa, the Dutch travellers differ from all those we have yet mentioned. Mandelslo, as well as the writers of the collection of voyages, which paved the way for the establishment of the Dutch East-India Company, informs us that these islanders are taller than the Europeans; that the colour of their skin is of a dark brown; that their bodies are hairy; and that the women are low in stature, but robust, fat, and tolerably well proportioned.
In few writers respecting this island do we find any mention of men with tails; and of the form and features of the natives, authors differ also prodigiously. With respect to one fact they seem, however, to agree, though it is not perhaps less extraordinary, namely, that the women are not allowed to bear children before the age of 35, though allowed to marry long before that period. In speaking of this custom, Rechteren thus expresses himself: “After the women are married, they must not become mothers till they have completed their 35th or 37th year. When they happen to be pregnant before that time, their priestesses trample upon their bellies with their feet, and thus occasion a miscarriage, as painful and dangerous, if not more so than the natural labour. To bring a child into the world previous to the age prescribed, would be not only a disgrace but an enormous crime. I have seen women who had suffered 16 of these forced miscarriages, and were only allowed to bring into the world their 17th child.”
The Mariana-islands, or the Ladrones, which are the most remote from the eastern coast, are inhabited by a people rude and uncivilized. Father Gobien says that, till the arrival of the Europeans, they had never seen fire; and that nothing could exceed their astonishment when, on the arrival of Magellan, they first beheld it. Their complexion is tawny, though less brown than that of the natives of the Philippines; in strength and robustness they surpass the Europeans. They are tall and well proportioned; and though they feed solely on roots, fruits, and fish, they are very corpulent, which however, does not check their nimbleness and activity. They live to a great age; nor is it uncommon to find among them persons who, strangers to sickness, have already reached their 100th year.
Carreri says, that the natives of these islands are of a gigantic figure, corpulent, and so strong that they can raise a weight of 500 pounds upon their shoulders. In general their hair is frizly, their noses thick, their eyes are large, and their colour like that of the Indians. The natives of Guan, one of these islands, have long black hair, large noses, thick lips, white teeth, long visages, and fierce aspects. They are also exceedingly robust; and it is said they do not in height measure less than seven feet.
Southward of the Mariana-islands, and eastward of the Malaccas, we find the country of the Papous, and New Guinea, which seem to be the most southern regions. Argensola tells us, that the Papous are as black as the Caffres, that their hair is frizly, and their countenance meagre and disagreeable. In this country, nevertheless, there are people as fair as the Germans; but their eyes are exceedingly weak and delicate. According to Le Maire, they are not only very black, but also savage and brutal; they wear rings in their ears and nostrils, and sometimes also in the partition of the nose; they likewise wear bracelets of mother-of-pearl above the elbows and on the wrists, and cover their heads with a cap made of the bark of a tree painted with several colours. They are well proportioned, have a sufficiency of beard; their teeth are black, as is also the hair, which, though frizly, is not so woolly as that of the negroes. They run very fast, and their weapons consist of clubs, spears, and sabres, made of hard wood, the use of iron being unknown to them. They also employ their teeth as weapons, and bite like dogs; beetle and pimento mixed with chalk make part of their food. The women are of hideous aspect; their breasts hang down to the navel; their bellies are extremely prominent; their arms and limbs are small; and in their visages they resemble so many apes.
Dampier says, that the natives of the island of Sabala, in New Guinea, are a class of tawny Indians, with long black hair, and whose manners are not much different from those of Mindanao, and the other oriental islands; but besides them, it is also peopled by negroes, with short woolly hair. Speaking of another island, which he calls Garret-Denys, he says, that the natives are black, vigorous, and well shaped; that their heads are large and round; that their hair, which they cut in different fashions, and tinge with different colours, as red, white, and yellow, is short and frizly; that their faces are large and round, and their noses thick and flat; that nevertheless their physiognomy would not be absolutely disagreeable, did they not thrust a kind of peg, about one inch thick and four inches long, across the nostrils, so that both ends may touch the cheek-bones; and that they pierce their ears with similar pegs.
According to the same author, the natives of the coast of New Holland, which is in the latitude of 16, and to the south of the island of Timor, are of all mankind perhaps the most miserable, and the most upon a level with the brutes. They are tall, erect, and thin; their limbs are long and slender; their heads are large; their foreheads round, and their eye-brows thick. Their eye-lids are always half shut; a habit they contract in their infancy to save their eyes from the gnats, and as they never open their eyes, they cannot see at a distance without raising their head, as if looking at something over their heads. Their noses and lips are thick, and their mouths large. They pull out, it would seem, the two front teeth of the upper jaw; for in neither sex, nor at any age, are they ever found to possess these teeth. They have no beard; their visage is long, nor does it contain one pleasing feature. Their hair is short, black, and frizly, like that of the negroes; and their skin is as black as those of Guinea. Their whole cloathing consists of a bit of the bark of a tree fastened round the middle. They have no houses, and they sleep on the bare ground, without any covering. They associate, men, women, and children, promiscuously, in troops, to the number of 20 or 30. Their only food is a small fish, which they catch by forming reservoirs in little arms of the sea, and to every kind of grain or bread they are utter strangers.