The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1895-10-09

The japanese will accomplish a
task hitherto deemed hopeless il they
succeed in subduing the tribes of saw
ages which inhabit the interior OF
| their newlyacquired island OF For
mosa. These wild people have main
tanned their independence for CEN
turies refusing to be civilized or to
submit to the yoke of the foreign in
vader. They dwell in the fastnesses
of the mountains, and some of them
are head-hunters. Bags of peculiar
network are manufactured by them
expressly for the purpose of carrying
such heads as may be secured Incl
dentally in their occasional warlike
forays, and one of their chiefs, when
about to be executed by the Chinese
who had captured him, said: ''I have
no fear of death. / have taken ninety
four heads, and only wanted six more
to make the hundred"
These savages are of Malay stock.
They say that they did not belong
originally in Formosa, and described
their origin by pointing to the south
and showing copies of the canoes in
which their ancestors are alleged to
have arrived. Their garb ranges from
nudity to gayly-colored garments of
their own weaving, made from fibers
of the banana and ramie plants. They
tattoo their faces and build elegant
huts of bamboo, over the doorways OF
which are hung as trophies skulls of
wild boars and apes, and sometimes
tufts Of Chinamen's pigtails. 1t is
only in their territory, which strang-
ers rarely dare to invade, that the
camphOr-bearing laurel grows. Con-
sequently the camphor can only be
obtained with their consent, and
money is paid to the chiefs to refrain
from destroying the distilling plants
set up in their country. NeYerthe-
less, trouble frequently arises and the
stills are constantly being destroyed.
Several European firms are engaged
in the camphor trade, and they nego-
tiate with the savages through the
intervention of the miciviIi2ed
Hakkas or Hillmen. They make ad-
vances to the Hillmen on condition
that the latter shall set up q certain
number of stills and supply monthly a
fixed amount OF camphor at q price
agreed upon. The laurel is large for
est tree. 1t is felled and the trunk
and branches are cut into small pieces
with axes, the giant of the woods be
ing soon reduced to a heap OF chips.
The chips are subjected with water to
a crude process of distillation, the
crystals deposited in the
cOndensiDg jars being scraped out and
packed in baskets. Incidentally TO
the operation an essential oil is OBJ
tanned, which is exported under the
name of camphOr oil and is used for
chemical purposes.
Fosmosa is 235 miles long and 70
miles wide, being as big as Sardinia
and Corsica rolled into one. Estimates
of the population vary from 100000
to 100000, because the number Of
savages is unknown. The soil is
bursting with fatness, and nowhere is
a finer quality of tea produced. 1t is
a great pineapple country, and beau
tiful fiber is obtained from the leaves
of that plant. The eastern half of the
island is covered with jungles, in
which grows the valuable creeper
called rattan. The Spaniards took
were expelled by the Dutch in 1912.
In 1861 Chinese pirate chief named
KoxiDga drove away the Dutch and
himself king. Twenty
two years later the Chinese de-
throned his successor, and from then
until now the island has been u pro
vince of the Middle Kingdom.
Formosa is part of the great archi-
pelago which includes the Philippines,
long owned by Spain. In Japan's
newly acquired island have been found
skulls and skeletons of people who be-
longed to q race of black dwarfs,
doubtless exterminated there by the
Malays. Pigmies of the same race
still inhabit the Philippines. They
were called Negritos, or Little Ne.
groes, by the early Spanish settlers.
Some of the smaller isles were en-
tirely peopIed by them. They call
themselves Aetas; they are active,
very dark, woody, small-headed and
average only four feet and seven inches
in height. They are distinct from any
other known people. Though so tiny,
they are very muscular, using with
ease bows that the strongest white
man cannot string. They are won
derful runners and their senses are
astOnishIngly acute. They distinguish
by their OdOr fruits hidden in the
thick foliage of the jungle, and recog-
niZe by smell only from what flowers
the bees have gathered honey.
These dwarfs are supposed to have
been the earliest inhabitants Of the
Malay Archipelago. They invented
canoes the nautical qualities of which