I have no details respecting the Babyanis and the Bashis. They have been noticed, however, as forming the tract from Luçon to—
FORMOSA.
Name.—Chinese Taï-ouan, originally Toung-fan.
Political Relations.—Western side, subject to China. Eastern side independent.
Languages.—Numerous dialects. The only known vocabulary, Malay.
Authority.—Klaproth. Description de Formose, Melanges Asiatiques, p. 195.
The knowledge of the island of Formosa on the part of the Chinese begins no earlier than the year 1430 A.D.; and its oldest name in Chinese, Toung-fan, means barbarians of the East. The later name means the Bay of Heights.
This term is explained by the geological structure of the island. It is bisected from north to south by a line of mountains, upon which snow lies during November and December. This range is a line of demarcation in ethnology as well as politics. West of it we have the district that pays tribute to the Chinese, and in which there is a standing Chinese army, and a number of Chinese immigrants—chiefly employed in the rice cultivation. In the mountains themselves, and to the east of them, are the Aborigines. These are said to approach the Negro type, and to differ from one another in language—a fact that we are now prepared to expect rather than to discredit. Their arms are the dart and bow; and their swiftness of foot is described by the Chinese as being equal to that of the swiftest dogs.
They are Malayan in stock, and apparently but little mixed. The Japanese, and the Lúchú on the northern part of the island, and the Dutch on the present Chinese locality seem to have been their chief visitors. Neither held their ground permanently.