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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



the; beee-shaped earrings and chaplets of bone and beads indicate that 

 these savages belong to the vonum group 



According to a tribal legend, the Vonum Group of Formosan mountain savages lived in 

 the plains until the misfortune of an all-destroying deluge befell them. With the flood came 

 a huge serpent, which swam through the stormy waters toward the terrorized people. They 

 owed their deliverance from the great snake to the timely appearance of a .monster crab, 

 which, after a terrific battle, succeeded in killing the reptile. 



that the first industrial class of Chinese, 

 the agriculturist Hakkas, who were out- 

 casts in their own country, came to settle 

 in Formosa. After that, at the time of 

 the Tatar invasion, several thousand 

 Ming loyalists sought refuge on the 

 island. 



Then there has always been more or 

 less of an influx of immigration from the 

 overpopulated province of Fu-kien, just 

 across the Formosa Straits. These Chi- 

 nese from Fu-kien far outnumber the 

 others, and their speech, known as the 

 "Amoy dialect," is the vernacular of the 

 island. 



When the Japanese came into control 

 of the island after the Chino-Japanese 

 War, in 1895, a third element was added 

 to the population. 



THE WORK OE THE JAPANESE 



The Japanese have instituted great ma- 

 terial improvements in Formosa. The 



most important, of course, are the mod- 

 ern courts of justice in lieu of the old 

 mandarin courts, where the man with the 

 greatest "pull," which, needless to say, 

 spelled money, invariably won out. There 

 is also greater security to life and limb 

 now, for not only is the Japanese police 

 system a most thorough and efficient or- 

 ganization, but the sanitary measures 

 that they have adopted have practically 

 eradicated such diseases as malaria and 

 bubonic plague. 



AN ERA OP PROSPERITY 



Harbor improvements, railways, and 

 bridges have greatly facilitated traffic, 

 but the road systems, as yet, outside the 

 city of Taihoku, leave much to be de- 

 sired. 



Education, too, has been advanced, 

 but, owing to the policy of assimilation, 

 native schools are not encouraged, and 

 the percentage of Chinese children at- 



