FORMOSA. : 
with as much certainty as a European sportsman.could. Formosa, : 
4380 
Formos. sun is vertical, and the air is serene and-pure, cooled 
~~ even in the hot season with constant breezes, The 
soil is in mountainous, but naturally produc- 
tive. Besides most kinds of grain, which it, yields.in 
abundance, there are found in the country the princi, 
pal Indian fruits, such as aranges, bananas, cocoa-pyts; 
guavas, papaws, pineapples; and amany, of those which 
are common in E.urope,. particularly peaches, apricots; 
figs, grapes, pomegranates, water melons; cinnamon, 
ar, pepper, camphire, tobacco, are, also among the 
= oe y productions of the country; and the moun- 
tains contain mines of gold, silver, copper, and sulphur, 
There is no good water to be found in the whole island; 
and strangers are said to suffer greatly from. its bad qua- 
lities. There are’few horses, sheep, goats, ar hogs, on 
the island ; but the inhabitants breed a great. number of 
oxen, which they train for the parpont of riding ; and, 
being early accustomed to this kind of service, they are 
sail to go very securely and expeditiously. Domestic 
fowls are reared in great plenty. The finest deer wan- 
der in large herds through the country. . Tygers, leo- 
monkeys, and every kind of game, abound in the 
ts; and the rivers furnish abundance of fish. 
The Indians inhabiting the western. oat are en- 
tirely subject to the Chinese governor, and pay a regu- 
lar cient grain. They compose about forty-five 
villages, most of which are found in the more northern 
quarter of the province. In each village is stationed a 
Chinese officer, whose duty it is to learn their/language, 
and to superintend the collection, of the impost;ibut 
these agents of the government often, act im such \a ty- 
rannical manner, as to occasion. the defection of the in- 
habitants, who have sometimes. been driven to unite 
themselves with the independent tribes in the eastern 
part of the island. Even those which are most \sub- 
missive to their invaders, still retain some of theit, an- 
cient institutions ; and in every village three ‘or!four 
of the most upright and intelligent old-mén‘are chosen 
as judges and rulers, who, have the power of determi« 
ning all disputes, and. disobedience to whose decisions 
would be punished by perpetual banishment. from the 
community. In these villages subject to China, and 
which are the most populous, there is a great degnee ‘of 
civilization ; and the houses are built con furnished .af= 
ter the manner of the Chinese. They are‘ clothed; with 
the skins of the stags, which they kill in hunting,; and. 
Wear on their heads caps of a cylindrical shape, made of 
palm leaves, ornamented with a succession of crowns 
one above the other, and surmounted with plumes of fea- 
thers from the cock or pheasant. The dress of the wo-« 
men exactly resembles that of the men,, ex that 
their clothes are longer, and their heads more, i 
ed with finery. But the southern or eastern, island~ 
ers are still in a most savage state ; and their habita- 
tions are mere earthen huts, without any piece: of fur- 
niture, having only a kind of hearth in the centre’ upon 
which they dress their victuals. They are remarkably 
dirty in their manner of eating ; and generally devour 
the flesh before it is half dressed. Whatever they pre< 
pare is placed ona plain board or mat; and having 
neither plates nor spoons, they make use of their 
for conveying it to their mouths. They have no! bets 
ter bedding during night than fresh gathered leaves; 
and no other covering through the day than piece of 
cloth, which hangs. from. their middie to their knees. 
They subsist chiefly upon rice and the produce of the 
chace. Their favourite weapons are lances, which they 
throw with the greatest dexterity and precision to the 
distance of 60 or 80 feet. They use also bows and,ar- 
rows, with which they can kill « pheasant on the wing 
1 
ey nn, 
ascribe to a custom which 
knees and int with a close 
14, but whieh is, more probably, owing entirely to their 
constant practice in hunting, and roy estimation in 
which the qualification. is Those who are most 
swift and skilful in the chace, are pamee 7 1 by the 
honourable privilege of having figures of flowers, trees, 
or animals punctured on their skin ; and. the more or- 
dinary decorations consist in wearing bracelets; or 
crowns made of shells and crystal, and in staining the 
teeth with a deep black colour. The matrimonial con= 
nections of these islanders are remarkably simple and 
unconstrained, especially when compared with: of 
their Chinese neighbours, and are left entirely to the 
choice and arrangements of the young people. When 
a youth has fixed his affections, he appears for several 
days with a musical instrument in his hand, hoveri 
around the place where the young woman resides. If 
she is pleased with his. qualifications, she comes 
forth and joins him, when they settle together their fu- 
ture union. They then give notice of their intention to 
their parents, who the marriage feast, which is 
always held in the/brinle’s habitation, with whom the 
husband remains during life. ,. He transfers his filial dus 
ties to his father-in-law, and devotes himself ‘to the 
support of the new family, of which he has become a 
member. Hence the natives ofFormosa offer’ vows 
chiefly for female children,: who» ‘their’ sons-ins 
law to be the support of their old age.. ‘These: 
-— . mph rs iy eae P| — 
ip, and as guided by the pretended predictions of a 
set of priestesses or female jug ; but other aecounts 
seem to imply, that they are not without some ideas 
the; soul's immortality; :nor'so deficient in ci i 
and, ingenuity ; and many of them are said to retain a 
considerable portion of Christian knowledge, which had 
been communicated by the’ Dutch settlers. There is; 
in fact, very little known ing the eastern, or;as 
it is sometimes called, the southern part of the island 
and its inhabitants; and the accounts both of the Chi- 
and Dutch writers are filled with stories. so obvi+ 
'y fabulous, as, to discredit their whole testimony: 
Some of these accounts bear, for instance; that one of 
the natives was seen who had a tail above a foot in 
length, covered with red hair, and n that of an 
ox, and who declared that all the inhabitants of the ~ 
southern districts were born with similar aj ; 
that the:men do not marry till they are fifty years of 
age, ate hoon are not suffered to oe 
ildren till they have passed their thirty-seventh year, 
andshould any of a we before that pe 
riod, the priestess is summ ‘to produce abortion by: 
ing on their:-womb. One of the most extraordina- 
ry of these:histories, and» which was afterwards acknows - 
ledged by its author to be a mere romance, was publish« 
ed about the year 1710 by the ae oe, 
In ponsequence, it is supposed, dhe 3 mines. 
in the mountains, nen ee across prriecnars ta 
island, it is subject) to ent quakes ; and, in 
the year 1782; one of cheec shoukietn attended with: 
so tremendous a hurricane and swell of the sea, as to. 
threaten the total destruction of the Chinese settlements. 
See Grozier’s Description of China, vol.i, ; Collection of 
the Voyages of the Dutch India , vol, vs ; 
Du Halde's: History of China, vol, ii, 5 niv. Mod. 
Hist. vol, viii, and x,° (gq) . 
: 
+ 
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