HILL TRIBES OF FORMOSA. 199 
parted in the middle, and either tie it up at the back or allow it to 
flow loose over the shoulders, whereas the mop-headed savages 
wear their locks long enough to cover the neck only, and cut the 
ends off straight, something in the style affected by Malay sailors. 
I have never observed, in any of the tribes of the north, any 
crispness or curliness of the hair. which might easily have resulted 
in the case of intermarriages in earlier times with Pellew Islanders 
or other castaways from the Polynesian Islands. It is said that 
SWINHOE reported, several years ago, that there was in the interior 
a tribe of woolly-headed negroes of a very diminutive stature, but 
as this information was probably derived (at the time he made 
the statement) from Chinese sources, it ought to be taken eum grano. 
It would be very interesting to learn, however, that there really 
was sucha tribe of negritos. It would assist us more than any- 
thing in crediting the theory that the aborigines of the hills are 
descended from a mixture of sources. and not from one pure stock. 
The report alluded to has not, to my knowledge, been verified by 
other travellers in either the north or south of the island. 
The peculiar manners and customs of the hill tribes would, no 
doubt, help to indicate the sources from which these people are 
sprung. but a description of them must be left to form the subject 
of another paper. 
. Another important factor in determining the question in point 
will be the various dialects spoken by the hill tribes, and, on com- 
paring the short vocabulary sent herewith to the Society with 
various languages spoken by the Archipelagan section of the world. 
philologists will probably discover a great resemblance to certain 
words used by the natives of New Zealand to the south and as 
far west as Madagascar, embracing the isles of the Pacific as well 
as Java, Borneo, Philippines, Celebes, &c., &c. It must not be 
supposed, however, that I consider the Tangao dialect a representa- 
tive dialect of the language spoken by all the hill tribes. It isa 
noticeable fact that in all the high ranges in the north, and as far 
south as the “Sylvian” and “Dodd” ranges, the tribes living 
high up in the mountains, differ somewhat, in their manners and 
customs, as well asin their language, from those occupying the 
lower hills and plains of the interior. In the very highest 
