: ILL TRIBES OF FORMOSA. 197 
ideas, but, in course of time, confusing or changing somewhat the 
original type and adding, no doubt, to the original language many 
words previously unknown. 
Everything connected with these hill savages, which I have 
noticed, goes against the idea of a Chinese ancestry, and although 
Malay blood has undoubtedly found its way into the mountains in 
many directions, and Malay words are to be found in several of the 
dialects, the root of the language is decidedly not Malay, and most 
certainly the very opposite to the Chinese local dialects spoken in 
Formosa. The type of face and figure, and the manners and customs 
are as distinct from Chinese as if an ocean separated them instead of 
mere mountains and forests. No doubt certain new ideas have, 
from time to time, filtrated through the strata of Chinese pioneers 
(called Hakkas, immigrants from the South of China, who are sur- 
rounding the savages and driving them back slowly but surely) 
and ofthe Pepowhans, who inhabit many of the plains adjoining the 
savage districts, and it is most probable that these ideas have, espe- 
cially of late years, penetrated into the savage substratum, and, to 
a certain extent, metamorphosed the character and changed 
somewhat the customs of the aborigines living on the borders of 
Chinese territory, who, at certain times, are on friendly terms 
with the Hakkas and other Chinese neighbours; but it is a most 
extraordinary fact that although the Dutch had a firm hold on 
many parts of the western and northern coasts, and possibly pene- 
trated into the hills in numerous directions, and although the 
Spaniards and Japanese are said to have had a footing at Kelung in 
the north, or thereabouts, and though the Chinese have been 
colonising and annexing territory in all directions for two or three 
centuries, the impression made by contact with these various peo- 
ples has not extended further than the thin shp of borderland, 
acquired year after year from the aborigines by the pushing but 
often treacherous Hakkas. ‘These remarks apply to the north end 
of the island. In the extreme south, I understand, it is different, 
and certain chiefs of tribes there are descended from Chinese, and 
actually wear the plaited appendage called a tail. In the north 
and centre of the island, I have met savages belonging to inland 
tribes who have never seen a Chinaman, and only know from 
