274 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



JAPANESE INFANTRY DESCENDING A MOUNTAIN IN THE 

 SAVAGE DISTRICT : FORMOSA 



The men employed to safeguard the camphor workers are known 

 as "Aiyue" (Guardsmen), and their outpost line as "Aiyu-sen" 

 (Guard-line): The line is established by cutting a path along the 

 crest of mountains, after which the jungle is cleared away for 18 

 or 20 feet on both sides ; guard-houses are established at strategic 

 points and wire entanglements charged with electricity are con- 

 structed. 



At present Formosa enjoys greater 

 freedom from savage attacks than ever 

 before in her history. This is due to the 

 fact that the Japanese have installed a 

 live-wire barrier from Karenko, about 

 midway on the east coast, to Pinan. in 

 the south, a distance of about a hundred 

 miles, to serve as a protection against 

 savage raids. 



The trees for twenty feet on both sides 

 of the barrier have been cleared away to 



prevent the savages 

 from crossing the 

 wire by felling trees 

 on it. 



At distances of 

 every half mile along 

 the route blockhouses 

 are stationed, and a 

 sentry paces, the beat 

 between two posts all 

 day long to see that 

 the wire has not been 

 tampered with or any 

 holes burrowed un- 

 derneath. 



At first the electric 

 current was turned 

 on only at night, the 

 usual time for a sav- 

 age raid, but the wily 

 head-hunters soon dis- 

 covered this, as they 

 noticed that no smoke 

 issued from the 

 power-house by day. 

 Then, as they turned 

 their night raids into 

 daylight expeditions, 

 the Japanese were ob- 

 liged to turn on the 

 current by day as well. 

 This device, a 1 - 

 though not exactly a 

 cheap one, has done 

 much to develop the 

 fertile plain to the 

 west of the barricade, 

 as many Japanese 

 agriculturists have 

 been attracted to this 

 region, now that they 

 can live there in com- 

 parative safety. 



Even now traders, 

 who go as far as the barricade to ex- 

 change small wares for deer horns and 

 tortoise shell, occasionally lose their lives, 

 when they venture singly or are careless 

 about going unarmed. 



There are two kinds of deer, Formosa 

 spotted deer and Swinhoe's rusa deer, 

 that roam in large numbers on the moun- 

 tains occupied by the savages, and on the 

 seacoast back of them are found enor- 

 mous turtles, varying from three to five 



