592 
add little to our knowledge of them ; but it appears that 
they have no written language, although a few understand 
Chinese. Their language is distinct from any Chinese 
dialect. Beyond these few details nothing is known of 
the Iu, and they and their country appear destined to 
remain a mystery for some years to come. 
But beyond question the most interesting and valuable 
chapters in the book are those dealing with the island of 
Hainan. This has been hitherto in great measure a 
terra incognita. The late Mr. Swinhoe succeeded in 
going a few days’ journey from the coast, and vessels 
occasionally touched at one of the ports. But it was not 
until a few years ago that its position was properly 
settled ; before that time it was twelve miles out on all the 
charts. Mr. Henry, with a Danish gentleman who had 
already made a circuit of Hainan on foot, travelled into 
the heart of the island, and making a long detour returned 
to the port of Hoihow on the north, He thus travelled 
through a considerable part of the mountainous region in 
the centre, which is the abode of the Lis, or aboriginal 
population, and had ample opportunity for studying their 
habits. The information given in this book about the 
island and its people is, as far as we know, the first | 
detailed and definite account published in any European 
language. The whole northern half of the island he 
describes as a plain, level to a great extent, but mostly 
undulating, and broken ina few places by isolated hills 
and low ridges. The central and southern portions are 
mountainous, the highest elevation being reached in ranges 
called the Five-Finger and Li-Mother ranges, from which 
all the larger streams take their rise. The flora of the island, 
though but slightly investigated, is known to be of great 
variety and interest. Mr. Henry noticed about 100 
species of plants which he recognised as well known, while 
he brought back 200 species which are now in process of 
determination. From what is now known, the flora seems 
more nearly allied to that of the islands of the south than 
to that of the adjacent mainland. The number and variety 
of Hainan birds is suprising. Mr. Swinhoe noted 172 spe- 
cies, 19 of which proved new to science, and were first 
described by him; but as his journey was only of a few 
weeks’ duration, and chiefly along the coast, it is probable 
that many new discoveries in ornithology will be made 
when the interior is better known. Of the mammals even 
less is known, and the variety of fish around the coast is 
endless. The meteorology, too, is noteworthy. Hainan is | 
the home of the typhoon, and earthquakes are of frequent 
occurrence. In the latter case the axis of disturbance runs 
directly across the island from one side to the other. Of 
the people Mr. Henry is able to give us much more in- 
formation. The Chinese immigrants have peopled the 
coast opposite the mainland, and all the low-lying lands 
up to the base of the hills, which latter are inhabited by the 
Lis. But between the two is a people speaking a Loi dialect, 
the origin of which is unknown. They are like the Chinese 
in many respects: they wear the same dress, live in the 
same kind of houses, eat the same food, and intermarry 
freely with them, but they hold to their peculiar dialect 
with remarkable persistence. There is a theory that 
these people are descendants of Miao-tsze, brought ages 
ago from the highlands of Southern China to act as 
mediators between the Chinese and the aborigines of 
Hainan. How far they resemble any tribe on the main- 
NATURE 
[ Oct. 21, 1886 
land remains to be determined, but they are wholly dis- 
tinct in physique, language, and customs from any of the 
Li tribes. The ubiquitous Hakkas from Canton have 
also established themselves in Hainan, pursuing agricul- 
ture under the most forbidding circumstances, and convert- 
ing the jungle into cultivated fields with their usual tenacity 
and success. But the main interest of the Hainan portion 
of the book centres around the Lis. Here, as everywhere 
else that they have come into contact with aborigines, the 
Chinese have adopted the simple classification of “ tame” 
and “wild,” “ripe” or “green,” to distinguish those who have 
succumbed to Chinese influence and those who have not 
They wear the hair twisted into a knot on the top of their 
heads. The women are all tattooed with blue lines over 
the face. The process of tattooing is very simple. An 
incision is made with a sharp knife to the shape 
of the pattern given; and, while fresh, ordinary 
Chinese ink is introduced, which gives a blue tinge, and 
in a few days the wound begins to heal. The Chinese 
say that the same pattern is preserved for generations in 
the same family, not the slightest variation being allowed, 
lest the husband’s ancestors should not recognise the 
wife after death. Ina Chinese account of the Lis, trans- 
lated by Mr. Henry, it is said that their custom is not to 
cry when their parents die, but to swallow quantities of 
raw meat, which is their mode of expressing great grief,— 
a curious circumstance, which possibly may be accounted 
for by the statement made in the same account, that the 
Lis originally belonged to a race of birds and beasts, and 
that being derived from an egg they remained im- 
pervious to Chinese civilisation. However this may be, 
Mr. Henry found them a simple, kindly, hospitable 
people, who appeared to think nothing too much trouble 
when assisting the stranger. No idols, or other religious 
symbols, or indeed trace of a religion at all, was found 
amongst them, although the traveller looked carefully for 
them. A curious custom among them is for the young 
people to have authority in the house, and every question 
of food, lodging, or purchase of articles is referred to 
them. The father and mother appear to efface themselves 
inside the house. At meals the whole family is united. 
They greet a guest by extending the arms, placing the 
open hands with the finger-tips touching, or nearly so, 
and draw them inwards with an inviting motion. They 
bid farewell in a similarly graceful fashion, extending the 
open hands with the palms upwards, and slightly inclined 
outwards, in a movement as if handing one on his way. 
Their features are rather square, the nose not being so 
flat as that of the Chinese, and the eyes of a different 
type. No sign of graves was seen anywhere, and 
all inquiries failed to elicit any intelligible account 
of what they do with their dead. The substance 
of all that the travellers could learn was that they place 
the body without a coffin in any secluded spot, taking 
care to replace the earth, and cover it over so that it may 
not be recognised. They are free from many of the 
superstitious and idolatrous practices of the Chinese ; 
they have no ancestral worship, and no knowledge of 
geomancy. They seem to be divided into fifteen or six- 
teen tribes, which are known under different names, and 
differ more or less in dress; language, and customs, but 
all evidently belonging to one homogeneous race, bound 
| together by common ties, and as a rule living on friendly 
