Lal 
HILL TRIBES OF NORTH FORMOSA. ral 
of the skin and in the texture of the hair of the northern 
tribes there are no signs of negro extraction. ‘Their hair is 
invariably dark and lank, not curly or frizzled, their lips are not 
so thick even as those of Malays, and the high noses possessed 
by many approach often the HKuropean type. With these 
evidences before us, it is safe to assume that these savages have 
inherited an intermediate colour not apparently traceable to 
negro admixture. ‘The diversities of colour in men, whether in 
a civilised or wild state, have puzzled enquirers, | imagine, up 
to the present day, and it is impossible to say with any cer- 
tainty now, after all the speculations and theories enunciated 
in books on the subject, whether our first parents were created 
black or fair-skinned. The stronger reasons are in favour of the 
former colour, in any case the hot rays of the sun seem to have 
the effect of only tanning the skin brown, even in the tropics, 
and this effect in Formosa, where, in the valleys, it is extremely 
hot for more than half the year, would appear to have no here- 
ditary consequence on the colour of young savages who are 
launched into the world year after year. ‘The colour of the 
skin of all peoples must necessarily be a guide to descent, for 
it must be inherited, of course with modifications. I have 
considered it advisable to allude to this subject to prove that 
the savages of North Formosa are not apparently directly 
descended from the Hastern negro section of the human 
family, specimens of which are to be found in the islands of 
the South Pacific Ocean. It is well known that there are cer- 
tain dark curly-headed tribes in the Philippine group, and pos- 
sibly similar representatives of that class of people may later 
on be discovered in some of the numerous valleys of Formosa 
amongst the tribes to the South of the 24th parallel, when the 
whole of the country between Mount Morrison and the Sylvian 
Range has been thoroughly explored. The colour of the skin of 
all the Northern tribes I have seen appears to be of a uniform 
hue, without any variety, beyond a darker or lighter complexion 
observable when comparing bronzed and swarthy old men 
with younger members of the tribe who have never been much 
exposed to the weather. 
The general contour of the face resembles somewhat that 
