74 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[December i, 1906. 



SAVAGE NATIVES OF FORMOSA. 

 where the mixture of wine and Ijlooil is dropping, and drink each 

 other's health. 



Naturally only a few men travel to the interior of Bankai, but 

 the government is endeavoring to tame the savages. If we can 

 get freely into Bankai we believe that enough rubber will be found 

 in the forests to be a valuable production of the island. I hope to 

 write again to report on our success before many years. Besides, I 

 hope that rubber planting will succeed. I .shall go again to For- 

 mosa this year to study for this work. I should like your idea in 

 regard to the climate of Formosa as suited for rubber. 



Our works are setting the new machines, which jou kindly in- 

 spected and some others, in a new building, and expect shortly to 

 be running them. Very truly yours, T. m.\TSUmoto. 



Tokio. J.Tpau. Sepleuiber 3, 1906. 



* * * 



Not much is known in detail of the flora of Formosa, ow- 

 ing to the fact of the island having been so little explored 

 by trained observers, though in the tangle of creepers and 

 forests which cover the greater part of its area of 15.000 

 square miles it is possible that important rubber j-ielding 

 plants may be found. The flora ot the island, however, is 

 known to be rich and varied, including some varieties — 

 among them the camphor tree — not found elsewhere. The 

 name Formosa was given to the island by the Portuguese, 

 as a Latin translation of its native and Chinese names, both 

 meaning beautiful. The island lies about 60 miles from 

 China, between 22° and 25° north latitude, and about 600 

 miles from both Manila and Hongkong. It is about 225 

 miles in length, north and south, and has a population esti- 

 mated as high as 3,000.000. Its people are of a mongrel 

 type, exhibiting all the most unpleasant features of the 

 Malay, Chinese, and Portuguese conquerors. Part of the is- 



land is mountainous, but the remainder is of great fertility. 

 The camphor trees are found in the central plateau, and at 

 places tea, rice, and sugar are cultivated extensively. But 

 the savage tribes, such as Mr. Matsumoto has described, 

 have retarded exploration and development. Formosan 

 weather is most uncertain. The rainfall varies greatly in 

 different parts of the island, being very heavy at places. 

 Certain sections are visited by destructive typhoons. The 

 climate is trojjical, though the higher mountains are snow 

 cov'ered in winter. As the result of the war a few years ago 

 between China and Japan, Formosa came into the possession 

 of Japan, the government of which has manifested an intelli- 

 gent interest in the development of its resources — something 

 which China had never been concerned about. 



* * * 



1,.\ST summer the United States consul at Tamsui, For- 

 mosa, Mr. Fisher, made a report to his government on the 

 existence on that island of a native rubber producing vine, 

 which had been designated by Hayata and Kawakami as 

 Ecdysatithera i/lilis. He sent to Washington a specimen of 

 rubber produced from it, a photograph of a portion of which 

 has been made for The India Rubber World, the result 

 being given in connection with this article. Little has been 

 published regarding the genus Ecdysajithcra as rubber pro- 

 ducing plants, but in a recent work (" Le Caoutchouc en 

 Indo-Chine ") Dr. Spire presents a study of several species 

 of this genus found in French Indo-China, some of which are 

 of considerable value as sources of rubber. No less than nine 

 species of Ecdysanthera are reported on, though E. iitilis 



PEACEABLE,.NATIVES OF FORMOSA. 



