158 



THE LIVING RACES OF MANKIND 



quality. There are no beds and no 

 chairs. The national hat is composed 

 of a framework of bamboo, covered 

 with an open kind of hair-cloth. It 

 affords no protection from rain, cold, 

 or sun, and is altogether very incon- 

 venient. The shoes or sandals are 

 of straw. 



FORMOSA. 



ONE of the chief advantages gained 

 by Japan in her war with China was 

 the accession of the Island of Formosa. 

 The settled Chinese and mixed popu- 

 lation is estimated at from 2,500,000 

 to 3,000,000, but it is impossible to 

 form any correct estimate of the 

 number of the savage tribes of the 

 centre and mountainous eastern dis- 

 tricts. Wild Malay tribes inhabit the 

 eastern side of the island. The 

 aborigines are divided into a great 

 number of tribes, each of which is 

 governed by a headman or chief. 

 Their language also is split up into 

 a great number of dialects very 

 different from each other. These 

 tribes exhibit great differences in 

 feature, complexion, and customs. 

 They wear large ear-ornaments of 

 bamboo, or of the bone of a cuttle- 

 fish. Circular pieces of this substance 

 are worn by the men in the centre 

 of the forehead, where they are held in place by a band of hemp-cloth tied round the head. 



In many tribes the women are more interesting than the men, for the girls and young 

 married women often possess inherent good qualities not to be found in their brothers or 

 husbands, and notwithstanding their wild surroundings they are well conducted, hard and 

 willing workers, and good wives. A curious custom among them is that of extracting the 

 eye-teeth of young girls, which gives them a lisp and certainly does not add to the attractive- 

 ness of their appearance. On the east coast the men do the same, but the inland tribes have 

 no such custom. Girls are tattooed on the face before marriage, the tattoo marks and lines 

 being so drawn as to produce the effect of a dark blue veil stretched tightly from ear to ear 

 over the mouth; the men also are tattooed on the face. Over the doorway of a house are 

 often suspended as trophies the skulls of wild boars, deer, and apes. It is recorded of an 

 unusually vain-glorious savage that he made display of a tuft consisting of six pig-tails of 

 human hair, which his own hand had cut from the heads of as many Chinamen. Notwith- 

 standing their barbarity, however, the people are capable of improvement, and it is said that 

 Christianity is here making some progress. 



THE LIU-KIU (OR LOO-CHOO) ISLANDS. 



THE natives of the Liu-kiu Isles betray their Japanese origin in both their speech and physical 

 appearance, but there is also an unmistakable Chinese strain. Possessing all the courtesy 



Photo by Messrs. Kajima & Suwo. 



THREE AINU WOMEN. 



