260 MAN : PAST AND PRESENT. [CHAP. 



ments may now be accepted as an established fact. The long- 

 standing reports of Negritoes also, like the Phi- 

 lippine Aetas, have never been confirmed, and 



nesians in ^ dismissed from the present consideration. 



* 



Formosa. 



Probably five-sixths of the whole population are 

 Chinese immigrants, amongst whom are a large number of 

 Hakkas and Hok-los from the provinces of Fo- 

 Kicn and Kwang-tung 1 . They occupy all the 

 cultivated western lowlands, which from the ethno- 

 logical standpoint may be regarded as a seaward outpost of the 

 Chinese mainland. The rest of the island, that is, the central 

 highlands and precipitous eastern slopes, may similarly be looked 

 on as a north-eastern outpost of Malaysia, being almost ex- 

 clusively held by Indonesian and Malayan aborigines from 

 Malaysia (especially the Philippines), with possibly some early 

 intruders both from Polynesia and from the north (Japan). All 

 are classed by the Chinese settlers after their usual fashion in 

 three social divisions :- 



1. The Pepohwans of the plains, who although called 

 " Barbarians." are sedentary agriculturists and quite as civilised as 

 their Chinese neighbours themselves, with whom they are gradually 

 merging in a single ethnical group. The Pepohwans are described 

 by M. Ibis as a fine race, very tall, and " fetishists," though the 

 mysterious rites are left to the women. Their national feasts, 

 dances, and other usages forcibly recall those of the Micronesians 

 and Polynesians. They may therefore, perhaps, be regarded as 

 early immigrants from the South Sea Islands, distinct in every 

 respect from the true aborigines. 



2. The Sekhwans, "Tame Savages 2 ," who are also settled 

 agriculturists, subject to the Chinese (since 1895 to the Japanese) 

 administration, but physically distinct from all the other For- 

 mosans light complexion, large mouth, thick lips, remarkably 

 long and prominent teeth, weak constitution. M. Ibis suspects 



1 Girarcl de Rialle, Rev. (TAnthrop. Jan. and April 1885. These studies 

 are based largely on the data supplied by M. Paul Ibis and earlier travellers 

 in the island. Nothing better has since appeared except Mr G. Taylor's 

 valuable contributions to the China Review (see below). 



- Lit. "ripe barbarians" (barbares mltrs, Ibis). 



