Among the Head-Hunters of Formosa

by Janet B. Montgomery McGovern

To deal adequately with this subject would require a volume in itself. In this book I shall speak only of those forms of arts and crafts which are either peculiar to the Formosans or which seem to show their racial affinity to other peoples.

First, as regards their dwelling-houses. The mode of construction of these varies among the different tribes, and has already been referred to in the preceding chapter, in connection with funeral rites. The houses of the Taiyal—simple bamboo and grass shelters, having only a doorway, but no windows[86]—call for little in the way of detailed description. These huts are mere sleeping-places, the beds being bamboo benches, built against the sides of the wall, at about two feet elevation from the ground. Only in rainy weather is either cooking or weaving done inside the house. The interior of the hut is in almost total darkness, the doorway being both narrow and low; so low that even a woman has to stoop in order to enter it. The smaller tribes whose territory adjoins that of the Taiyal also build huts after the fashion of their more powerful neighbours.

The Ami folk, certainly those living on, or near, the coast, substitute roughly hewn planks or small saplings for bamboo. This may, perhaps, be due to Chinese influence.

The houses of the Bunun and Paiwan are much more substantial, and are constructed on an altogether different principle, these houses being of the “pit-dwelling” type. With these tribes it is to dig a house, rather than to build one, since a larger portion of the structure is below ground than above it. A space about ten feet by twelve is cleared of trees and jungle growth, and a pit is dug. This pit is usually between four and five feet deep. The sides of the pit are lined with slabs of slate, quarried by the tribesmen. These slate walls are carried up about three feet above the surface of the earth, thus giving a wall-height to the house of about seven feet. For the roof bamboo poles are first laid across from wall to wall, then on top of these are placed other slabs of slate, giving the house a substantial, but rather cave-like, appearance.[87] The effect upon a stranger entering a Paiwan village is to make him wonder, first whether he has been transported into a land of gnomes, and secondly—and more seriously—whether or not the gnome-tradition may have arisen from a subterranean-dwelling people similar to the present-day Paiwan.

In all probability the slate pit-dwellings were originally constructed as places of refuge from the warlike, predatory tribes of the North; and judging from the number of enemy skulls in Paiwan villages, these slate refuges were effective. Curiously enough, however, the “bachelor-houses,” in which the young unmarried men live, are built of wood, on high piles, or stakes. The mode of entry to these bachelor-houses has already been described.[88] The young men are supposed to have at least one of their number constantly on guard, in order to detect the possible approach of an enemy. In such an event a warning is given, when the women and children retreat within the slate houses. The married men also repair to their houses, but only long enough to collect their arms; when, having done so, they sally forth to join the bachelors in an attack upon the enemy. Only, as a last resort, when hard pressed by the enemy, do the men—in such an emergency, bachelors as well as married men—retreat within the slate huts and, firing through doors and windows, attempt to keep the enemy at bay. Among the Paiwan the house of a chief has usually three windows, and the house of a commoner always one, sometimes two; consequently this mode of “aggressive defence” is often successful.

Among the peace-loving Yami—the inhabitants of the tiny island of Botel Tobago—slate houses are not found. Family houses, as well as the “long-houses” of the bachelors, are of the “pile-dwelling” variety.

PAIWAN VILLAGE OF SLATE.

The houses are of the pit-dwelling variety; a larger portion of each house is below ground.

However the dwelling-houses of the different tribes may vary, the millet granaries of all the tribes seem built after an identical pattern. There is in each village of every tribe a communal granary—a hut, built sometimes of wood, sometimes of bamboo, but always supported on pillars, some five or six feet above the ground. Near the top of each of the four pillars is a round piece of wood (among the Paiwan slate is sometimes substituted for wood) supposed to prevent rats and mice “and such small deer” from entering the granary.[89] This rokko, as the Taiyal call the “rat-preventer” (to translate literally), is found in the granaries and store-houses of many of the Oceanic peoples—both in the Lu-chu Islands and in certain parts of Melanesia; a coincidence which is not surprising. It is, however, rather surprising to find the same device used among the Ainu of Hokkaido and Saghalien. This fact tends rather to upset one’s theory that the culture of the Formosan aborigines is of purely Indonesian origin—unless perhaps one accepts the hypothesis that in this instance the Ainu have borrowed a custom from their southern neighbours; or again, unless it be a case of “independent origin,” a discussion of the pros and cons regarding which theory cannot be attempted here.