FORESTRY IN FORMOSA 



489 



THE "GOD TREE" IX THE FOREST OF ARISAN, FORMOSA. 

 THE DIAMETER OF THIS TREE IS ABOUT TWENTY-TWO 



FEET. 



sticks and furniture making. They are 

 found over the whole island except in 

 the mountain districts. 



Since seventeen years ago when For- 

 mosa was ceded to Japan, what has the 

 Government done to the forests of For- 

 mosa? The great difficulty in exploring 

 the forests of the island is that most of 

 the commercial forests are found in the 

 savage districts, where the inhabitants 

 have a very cruel habit of head-hunting, 

 as is also found in some islands of the 

 South Sea. The savage people extend 

 over nearly 2,900 square miles; cover- 

 ing perhaps CO per cent of the island 

 and there is great necessity felt for 

 defence against them. We are resort- 

 ing to various measures of bringing 



pressure upon them and of gradually in- 

 ducing them to submission. 



So the more this region is tranquil- 

 lized, the more the timber industry will 

 spring up. 



At present, there does not exist any 

 special work on the forestry of this 

 island excepting those under described. 



One of the most important items of 

 Formosan forestry is the camphor in- 

 dustry. The trees are found usually in 

 mixed forest together with other ever- 

 green broad-leaved trees, and most of 

 them are now in the savage districts. 



The camphor product here is prac- 

 tically the monopoly of the world, and 

 now forms one of the principal exports 

 of the island. It has been in the Gov- 



