Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-08-07
JAPANs NEW POSSESSION
Features Of the Recently Acquired Island
+, of Formesa.
The People Who Inhabit 1t and Some
of Their Peculiarities and
Customs.


In subduing the tribes of savages which in
habit the interior of their newly acquired
Island of Formosa. These wild people
have maintained their independence for
centuries, refusing to be civilized or to
submit to the yoke Of the foreign invader.
They dwell in the Businesses of the noun
tains, and some Of them arc head hunters.
Bags of a peculiar network are manufac-
tured by them expressly for the purpose
of carrying such heads as may be secured
incidentally in their occasional warlike
forays. and enc Of their chiefs. when about
to be executed by the Chinese who had
captured him. said: 81 have no fear Of
death. / have taken ninety-fou heads. and
only wanted six more to mako the hun
dred."
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
alleged to have arrived. Their garb- ranges
from nudity to gaily colored garments Of
their own weaving, made from the 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 Cninamens
pigtails. 1t Is only in their territory, which
strangers rarely OaFS 10 luVdQc, tuaC Inc
camphor-bearing laurel grows. Conse
quently the camphor can only be obtained
with their consent, and money Is paid to
the chiefs to refrain from destroying the
Nevertheless, trouble frequently arises. and
the stills are constantly being destroyed.
The Camphor Trade.
Several European firms are engaged in
the camphor trade. and they negotiate with
tha <ha I,nka ~
the semi-civilized Hakkas or Hillmen.
They make advances to the Hillmen on
condition that the latter shall set up a
certain number Of stills and supply month
ly a fixed amount of camphor at a price
agreed upon. The laurel is large forest
tree. 1t Is felled and the trunk and
branches are cut into small pieces with
axes. the giant of the woods being soon
reduced to a heap of chips. The chips
cess of distillation, the camphor crystals
deposited in the condensing Jars being
scraped out and packed in baskets. Incl
dentally to the operation an essential Gil
is obtained which is exported under the
anne Of camphor oil and Is used for chem
ical purposes.
Formosa is 235 miles long and seventy
five 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 CT
tea produced. 1t is a great pineapple ccun-
try, and a beautiful 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 possession Of
Form in 1926, but were expelled by the
Dutch in 1912. In 1861 a Chinese pirate
chief named Koxinga drove away the
Dutch and proclaimed himself king. TWEEN
ty-two years later the Chinese dethroned
his successor. and from then until now the
island has been q province Of the Middle
Kingdom.
Race of Black Dwarfs.
Formosa is a part of the great archipel
ago, which includes the Philippines, long
possessed and misgoverned by Spain. In
Japan's newly acquired island have been
found skulls and skeletons Of people who
belonged to a race OF black dwarfs, doubt
less exterminated there by the Malays,
Pigmies Of the same race still inhabit the
Philippines. They were called Negritos. or
Little Negroes, by the early Spanish set
tiers. Some Of the smaller isles were en-
tirely peopled by them. They call them
selves Aetas: they are active, very dark,
woolly, 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 which the strongest
white man cannot string. They are won
derful runners and their senses are as
tonishingly acute. They distinguish by
their odor fruits hidden in the thick foliage
of the Jungle, and recognize by smell only
from what flowers the bees have gathered
honey.
These dwarfs are supposed to have been
the earliest Inhabitants Of the Malay archi-
pelago. They invented canoes the nauti-
cal qualities Of which have astonished
English sailors. Eventually they became
widely scattered over the seas Of that part
of the world, and on the mainland as we'll
Some tribes of them still exist in the most
inaccessible and unwholesome parts of In
dia, where they are known as IMAM apes"
or men Of the jungles." Once upon time
they were numerous in Java, where they
were wiped cut by Malays, who Joined to
murderous propensities civilization capa-
BILE Of erecting the thousands of gigantic
temples. whose ruins today amaze the
archaeological explorer in that island.
Some anthropologists are Of the opinion
that the remains of a so-called fossil man
recently found in Java are actually the
bones Of little negro. Bigger and strong
er people gradually drove out and killed off
these pigmies, who now are found occupy
ing the interior Of some Of the largest
islands, finding a refuge among the noun
tains, while the plains and coastal regions
are Inhabited by tntruding races.