320 



DISCOVERY 



Between the Covers 



HEAD-HUNTING IN FORMOSA 

 Ix our Editorial Notes for last October we mentioned 

 that " the sudden stopping of head-hunting in the 

 Solomon Islands left so great a gap in the daily interests 

 of the natives that they very speedily lost their 

 virility." The extremely important part which this 

 custom plays in the social organisation of many 

 primitive or semi- primitive races is well illustrated by 

 the following account of its practice amongst the native 

 tribes of Formosa, the island, now governed by the 

 Japanese, which lies off the east coast of China. This 

 account occurs in Mrs. J. R. Montgomery McGovern's 

 newly published book, Among the Head-hunters of 

 Formosa (T. Fisher-Unwin, Ltd., 15s.): "I think 

 that anyone who has lived among a head-hunting tribe 

 will realise how closely this custom is interwoven with 

 the fabric of their whole social organisation. It 

 regulates the social and political standing of the men 

 of the tribe ; it is directly connected with marriage — 

 no head, no wife ; and is reflected in the games, the 

 songs, and the dances of the people. Moreover, head- 

 hunting is regulated by a code as rigid as the code of 

 ' an officer and a gentleman ' in so-called civilised 

 society — and is rather less frequently broken. 



" Deniker, in speaking of the Dj-aks of Borneo (see 

 The Races of Man, p. 251), aptly remarks : ' A number 

 of acts regarded as culpable by the codes of all civilised 

 states are yet tolerated, and even extolled, in certain 

 particular circumstances ; such as the taking of life, 

 for example, in legitimate defence, in a duel, during 

 war, or as a capital punishment. Thus, in recalling 

 examples of this kind, we shall be less severe on a Dyak 

 who cuts off a man's head solely that he may carry 

 this trophy to his bride ; for if he did otherwise he 

 would be repulsed by all.' The same charity for 

 which Deniker pleads in judgment of the Dj-ak may 

 well be extended to the Formosan aborigine, who never 

 thus seeks private vengeance, whatever his provocation, 

 on one of his fellow-tribesmen, private disputes being 

 always laid before the chief— male or female — of the 

 tribe or before the chief priestess, or a convocation of 

 the elderly women of the tribal group. Also when a 

 Formosan has voluntarily given his word to refrain 

 from head-hunting, it is said — and my personal 

 observation would tend to confirm this — that he never 

 breaks it. 



" The tribes among whom head-himting still exists 

 are the Taiyal, the Bunun, and the Paiwan, though 

 among the Bunun and the Paiwan to a lesser extent 

 at the present time than among the Taiyal. Among 

 all the other Chin-huan tribes it existed within the 

 memory of the older generation still living. 



" Among the Taiyal tribe — the great tribe of the 

 northern part of the island — one can teU at a glance who 

 has ' a head to his credit,' by the presence, or absence, 

 of the tatto-mark on the chin. Occasionally one sees 

 the insignia of the successful head-hunter tattooed 

 on the chins of young boys. This indicates that 

 these boys are the sons of famous head-hunters and 

 that their hands have been laid upon heads decapitated 

 by their fathers ; or that the}' have carried these heads 

 in net-bags upon their backs. This, by tribal code, 

 entitles them to the successful head-hunter's tattoo- 

 mark. Incidentally, it must be understood that while 

 Taiyal are — largely because of their peculiar form of 

 tattooing — usually regarded as a single tribe, they do 

 not so regard themselves, but are composed of a 

 number of sub-groups (it is said twenty-six), who 

 regard themselves as separate units, and who con- 

 sequently' go on head-hunting expeditions against each 

 other. 



" When a boy attains maturity he is supposed to 

 celebrate this by going on his first head-hunting 

 expedition. Usually several boys of about the same 

 age go together on their first expedition, accompanied 

 by older and more experienced warriors of the same 

 group or sub-tribe. Before going on such an expedi- 

 tion an omen is always consulted — usually a bird- 

 omen —and it depends upon the favourable or unfavour- 

 able indication of the omen as to whether the expedition 

 is imdertaken forthwith or is postponed. The Taiyal 

 consider it more auspicious to set forth on such an 

 expedition with an odd number of men. They seem 

 to think the chances will be greater of securing a head, 

 which will count as a man, and thus make up the 

 ' lucky even number ' with wliich they hope to return 

 to the village." 



THE HARNESSING OF THE JORDAN 



In view of the recent Rutenberg controversy in the 

 House of Commons, the following extract from an 

 article by Henry Woodward Hulbert on Irrigation and 

 Watcr-poieer in Palestine, which appeared in the 

 November number of our excellent contemporary the 

 Scientific American (Munn & Co., New York, 35 cents), 

 is of considerable interest : 



" For many years the water-power possibilities of the 

 vast depression of the Jordan Valley in Palestine have 

 been evident to all engineering observers, and especiallv 

 since Lieutenant Kitchener (later Viscount) completed 

 the survey of Western Palestine for the Palestine 

 Exploration Fund. That strange river rises but a few 

 hundred feet above the level of the Mediterranean and 

 soon is checked in its course by the extensive morass 

 of the Huleh Basin. As this can never be drained 

 successfully, it furnished the first opportunity for an 

 extensive barrage, below which is a drop of 700 feet 



