J 889 J Geography and Travel. 533 
The Paiwans seem to have been the first settlers, and some 
are still head hunters, no youth among the wild tribes finding- 
favor with a girl unless he can show a head as a trophy. The 
Paiwans are a tall, fine-Hmbed active race of mountaineers, 
and the women, although small, are symmetrically formed. 
Their dress consists of nothing but two aprons, one in front 
and one in rear. Drunkenness is the prevailing vice of the 
tribe, and has already sapped the power of Paiwan rule in 
South Formosa. 
The Tipuns seem to have come from the north, perhaps 
from Japan. They must have had considerable civilization 
when they came, as they were the ruling people in South and 
East Formosa before the advent of the Chinese. In person 
they are rather shorter than the Paiwans, less angular, and 
more inclined to become fleshy. They wear leggings, waist 
cloths, and long overcoats of buff skin, are an agricultural 
people, can work in iron and silver, and often intermarry with 
the Chinese. They have a language of their own, but also 
speak the tongue of the Paiwans, with whom they are to a 
considerable extent merged. Pilam, where they first landed, 
was once the capital, and Tipun headmen were sent to the 
Paiwan villages. But afterwards the Southern Paiwans, led 
by some exiled chiefs of the Tipuns, rebelled, and established 
their independence. 
The Amias hold among the natives a lower rank, though 
they are more muscular and hirsute. They divide time into 
years, and hold their new year at the end of harvest. There 
is a tradition among them that they once had written char- 
acters, but no traces of these exist. 
The Pepohoans seem to be a mixed people, and have a 
higher civilization than the other tribes. Chinese stories 
make fun of their simplicity, but intercourse with the China- 
man has given them his astuteness. 
The young men of the Formosan natives live in a separate 
house called a padangkan, as in some African tribes. When 
a young man has obtained the consent of a girl, he leaves at 
the door of the parents a bucket of water and some wood. 
If they agree to the match, the wood and water are taken 
in, but if not, the lover has still undisturbed possession of his 
lady love if he can induce her to elope with him. 
The Paiwans bury their dead in a spot near his dwelling ; 
the grave is lined with stone, the clothes, arms and orna- 
ments of the deceased are buried with him, and the corpse i^ 
placed sitting, facing the nearest high mountain. The grave 
is then filled up and turfed over. The Tipuns have similar 
burial customs, but bury within their dwellings. Among the 
