Among the Head-Hunters of Formosa

by Janet B. Montgomery McGovern

To return for a moment to the Chinese system of classification—one based on various degrees of culture (from the Chinese point of view) existing among the aborigines: The Pepo-huan are about as non-existent in Formosa to-day 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 indefinite term of Sek-huan is sometimes applied to those members of the Ami and Paiwan tribes who have come most closely into contact with the Chinese. Under the term Chin-huan are included all the other tribes of the island.

Both Keane (in Man Past and Present) and T. L. Bullock, formerly British Consul in Takao[53] (in China Review, 1873), speak of a portion of the Sek-huan as being of light colour, compared with the other aborigines, as having remarkably long and prominent teeth, large, coarse mouth, prognathous jaw, 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 led to non-survival in a country, and under conditions, where the law of “survival of the fittest” holds rigidly true. Certainly I could find no trace of these people—taken as a group—either in the mountains or on the east coast. Half a century makes a great difference in an aboriginal people, especially when contending against stronger, conquering races.

The only extant people among the aborigines who can truthfully be described as having a “fair complexion”—as far as I could discover—are a subdivision, or local group, of the Taiyal, called Taruko. The Taruko group live within a restricted territory in the north-eastern part of the island, just behind the famous high cliffs. Not only are the Taruko of lighter colour than the other aborigines, but they have more regular and more clearly 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 migrated to their present habitat. If this be the case it is possible that they may have a strain of Dutch blood. Certainly they are famous for their intrepid bravery and unbroken spirit. They came under Japanese domination only in 1914; it is said they were never under that of the Chinese. These people hold a myth as to their origin, differing from that held by the other aborigines. Of this I shall speak under the head of Religion.

Before leaving the subject of the ethnology of the aborigines, reference must be made to the moot question as to whether or not there exists in Formosa a pigmy people similar to the Aetas of the Philippines. Regarding this most interesting point, I can only say that I was never able to discover a race of pigmies—a tribe or group, however small. But I did find, while in the territory of the Taiyal, isolated instances of individuals with apparently a pigmy strain. This particularly in the case 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 whole shape of the body is more that of a child than is the case with most adult women, either among Formosan aborigines or others. The opposition between the great toe and the other toes is more marked than with the other aborigines. And—perhaps most significant feature of all—the hair of these women is distinctly “crinkly,” whereas that of the other aborigines of the main island, as of all Malay peoples, is absolutely straight—a fact of which the small women are evidently ashamed.[54]

The colour of these pigmy women—if such they may be called—is, however, not as dark as that of the Philippine Aetas or the Andamanese Islanders. On the contrary, it is rather lighter than that of the surrounding tribes-people.

Unfortunately, I did not take measurements of these small women—in fact, I had no instruments for accurately doing this—but I do not think their height can be over four feet two or three inches. An interesting point in connection 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 tribe where few divorces occur and seemingly little marital infelicity, all these tiny women whom I personally knew were divorced or separated from their husbands—Taiyal men; “mutual incompatibility” apparently being the cause.

What the true explanation is of the existence of these “pigmean” women, differing in colour, in features, and in physique from those of the surrounding tribe, I do not know. It is possible of course that the few whom I saw were merely anomalies—dwarf individuals of the tribe in the midst of whom they lived. But this would scarcely account for the difference in colour, still less for that in the character of the hair, even if it did for the more infantile 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, now almost extinct, of whom all the men have been killed, and of whom but a few of the women still survive. And as these few (certainly those with whom I came into contact) seem childless, it is obvious that within the very near future there will be no representatives remaining—that is, if this last explanation which I have suggested be the true one. This is one of the many points in connection with Formosan ethnology which would well repay further investigation.

It may be added that the speech of the women referred to—when they can be induced to speak at all—seems more filled with guttural “clicks” than is that of the full-blooded Taiyal men and women.

MAN OF TAIYAL TRIBE, AND WOMAN LIVING AMONG THE TAIYAL.