1862.] MR. R. SWINHOE ON THE MAMMALS OF FORMOSA. 363 
Chinese for the nutriment they afford in cases of debility, just as 
they prize other gelatinous substances, such as birds’ nests, nests of 
certain species of small Swifts (Collocalie), sharks’ fins, fish-maws, 
&e. After the velvet is removed, the horn is dried, pared thin with 
an instrument like a nutmeg-grater, and boiled into a soup, in which 
state it is used. The velvet is not wasted, but is set aside to deal 
out in small quantities to matrons of the family to aid them in their 
convalescence after child-birth. The skin of the Deer is not thought 
much of, nor is the flesh much valued. 
The central or higher range of mountains, which are in parts 
covered with perennial snow, are inhabited by the Cervus taivanus. 
These heights abound with large masses of tangled forest, in which 
the gigantic Laurus camphora (the tree whence the drug of commerce, 
camphor, is distilled) forms no inconspicuous part. These heights 
are tenanted by tribes of half-clad Indians, of the Malay type, blood- 
thirsty and savage in the extreme, who keep up a constant war- 
fare with the Chinese colonists of the plains, and resist with atro- 
city any inroads into their mountain territory. On the lower hills, 
however, that define the land of the colonist from that of the abori- 
ginal, dealings on a friendly footing are carried on in bartering Chinese 
commodities for deers’ horns, venison, and other results of the chase. 
To these aborigines, money has no value as a medium of exchange. 
They live on the flesh of deer and other wild animals, which they 
only partially broil before eating. They obtain, by barter, from the 
Chinese matchlocks and gunpowder, which they use to wound the 
deer, when approached within a few yards by creeping through the 
thicket. The wounded animal is then surrounded by a closing ring 
of half-naked savages, and, scared by their wild shouts, falls an easy 
prey to their metal-headed javelins. When powder fails them, they 
sometimes manage to intercept one from a herd, and driving him into 
more open country, scatter a loose and wide-spread ring of humanity 
round him ; the ring rapidly closes in as before, and as the frightened 
beast attempts to leap or break it, spears are hurled into him from all 
sides, and he can rarely effect his escape. Other means of capture 
are also practised, but less successfully, the commonest of which, 
when the beast is required to be taken alive, are slip-nooses attached 
to a stake, and so adjusted as either to take him by the leg or by the 
horns. But the animal captured when full-grown rarely survives ; 
and therefore the young are sought for the purpose of rearing. 
They are nurtured with great care till a year old, when the horns 
begin to form. They are then conveyed to the borders and bartered 
to the Chinese, by whom, as I before stated, they are much valued. 
In the city of Taiwanfoo I procured two bucks and a doe of this 
species, and forwarded them, vid Hongkong, to the Gardens of the 
Society ; but unfortunately only one, a buck, reached England in 
safety. This was enough, however, to establish the species, which had 
hitherto been described only from the skull. Any one visiting the 
Gardens can now have an opportunity of making himself acquainted 
with this lovely animal as nature has moulded him; and as the 
Japanese species, Cervus sika, is confined there in an adjoining cage, 
