HILL TRIBES OF NORTH FORMOSA. 75 
British gunboats visitmg Tamsui, and has been much appre- 
ciated by every one fond of a pipe. 
Chinese cultivate the tobacco plant, and large quantities 
are exported in junks to the mainland, where it is “ cured ” 
according to Chinese taste, and in this form is re-imported for 
the use of Chinese only. ‘The plant seems to thrive in Formosa 
luxuriantly, and it is a wonder that no attempt has been made 
here to manufacture cigars and cheroots for foreign exportation. 
Judging from the quality and size of the leaf, there ought to 
be no difficulty in producing cigars equal to those made in 
Manila. 
The aborigines of the North one and all smoke tobacco. 
Men and women invariably do so, and even young boys and 
girls are addicted to this pleasant vice, and as the plant grows 
wild and Formosa is a feverish and aguish country, it is not 
astonishing that smoking is such a common habit amongst 
them. ‘Their pipes are made of hollowed bamboo and the stem 
(tuté bidnd kui) is also made of very thin bamboo reed, being 
about half a foot to a foot in length, according to the taste of 
the owner. The bowls are often very tastefully and prettily 
carved and are frequently ornamented with pieces of metal. 
When not in use, the pipe is generally stuck in the hair at the 
back of the head by both men and women. 
The clothing of these so-called savages living in the 
lower hills adjoining Chinese territory is, especially in the sum- 
mer months, very scant. It consists chiefly ofa coat, called Ji- 
kus resembling very much an enlarged singlet open in the front 
and as a rule without sleeves. Four straight pieces of native 
bempen cloth are sewn together two to the back and two in 
front, leaving room for the arms to pass through, sewn also at 
the top cver the shoulders, but open in front, exposing the 
chest and stomach. Sometimes they are buttoned across the 
chest, and sleeves are occasionally worn by border savages. 
These coats cover the back entirely, and reach down nearly as 
far as the knees, and although they are usually made of plain, 
coarse, bleached, hempen cloth, they are almost always em- 
broidered from the waist downwards, or interwoven with either 
blue or scarlet threads of long-ells, which they obtain from the 
