Among the Head-Hunters of Formosa

Among the Head-Hunters of Formosa

Among the Head-hunters of Formosa contains the substance of observations made during a two-years stay in Formosafrom September 1916 to September 1918. The book is written for the general reader, rather than for the specialist in anthropology or ethnology. Hence many detailsespecially those concerning minor differences in manners and customs among the various aboriginal tribeshave been omitted; for these, while perhaps of interest to the specialist, would prove wearying to the layman. Inadequate as the treatment of the subject may seem to the anthropologist, I venture to hope that such information as the book contains may stimulate interest, and perhaps encourage further investigation, before it is too late, into the tribal customs and habits of a little-known, and rapidly disappearing, people. A writersigning himself P. M.discussing the aborigines of Formosa, in the China Review (vol. ii) for 1873, says: Decay and death are always sad sights to contemplate, and when decay and death are those of a nation or race, the feeling is stimulated to acuteness.[16] If this feeling in connection with the aborigines was aroused in a European resident in Formosa in 1873, how much more strongly is this the case to-daynearly half a century laterwhen the aboriginal population has dwindled from approximately one-sixth of the population of the island (an estimate given by Keane in his remarks on Formosa, in Man Past and Present) to about 3 per cent. of the entire populationa decline of 15 per cent. in less than fifty years. Under the present system of benevolent assimilation on the part of the Japanese Government the aboriginal population seems declining at an even more rapid rate than it did under Chinese rule, which ended in 1895. Hence if the mistake which was made in the case of the Tasmaniansthat of allowing them to die out before definite or detailed information regarding their beliefs and customs was gainedis to be avoided in the case of the Formosan aborigines, all anthropological data available, both social and physical, should be gained without further delay. Up to this time apparently but little has been done in the way of scientific study of these people, in spite of the fact that, as Keane points out, Formosa presents a curious ethnical and linguistic connecting link between the continental and oceanic populations of Asia. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 53746
Author: McGovern, Janet B. Montgomery
Release Date: Dec 16, 2016
Format: eBook
Language: English