FORMOSA'S HEAD HUNTERS

Evening Star, Issue 14932, 19 July 1912, Page 9

FORMOSA'S HEAD HUNTERS

Dr Inazo Xitobe, in an article in the 'Journal of Race Development,' dealing with the Japanese administration in Formosa, admits that the aborigines have done the colonisers more damage than the latter have i inflicted upon the savage little men m the mountains, who are of Malay cngin, and, ! strange to say, claim the Japanese as their kin. Formosa, which is the Portuguese lor Tai-wan, was one of the spoils of the war with China, Li Hung Chang cheerfully agreein" to the cession, because, from his point of view, the head-hunting tribes would always be a menace to social order; haraly less "of a problem was the suppression cf brigandage; the climate made colonisation on a largo scale impracticable; and the residents of the coastal regions were Y?,; less on account of their incorrigible habit Oi opium smoking. The great Chinese statesman proved a bad prophet, however. The success Oi the Japanese colonial administration is already assured In fact. Formosa is almost pasing for itself now. When Count Kabayama, the first Governor-General, landed he found a Republican Government in operation under the presidency of one Tang. "The republic, savs Nitobe, " lasted three or four months, leaving behind nothing but some postage stamps valuable to collectors." What became of the progressive Tang is not disclosed. During the reconstruction period the brigands plied their trade of blackmail at th? risk of encountering the Japanese troops at everv turn, and it soon became an unhealthy occupation.' To-day the country, except m the mountainous interior, is completely pacified. " A young girl," we are told, " can travel from one end of the island to the other, of course excluding savage or aboriginal districts." Opium smoking is rapidly diminishing, m spite of Li Hung Changes belief that nothing could bo done to eradicate the evil. The Japanese method of dealing with it was to take a census of those who used opium, and permit only the confirmed smokers to buy it from the Government; oihers were not allowed to smoke at- all. In the first _ 10 years many of the victims of the habit died, and their" places were not filled hy ths younger Formosans. Having established a monopoly, the Government are able to restrict the sale of opium. There is a steady decrease of smokers, and the disappearance of the vice is a question of 10 or 20 years. But more people died from the poison communicated by the bite of the anopheles or malaria-carrying mosquitoes than from the paralysing effects of opium. The Japanese began with Taihoku, the capital, filling the ditches, kcrosening the swamps, and putting in a modern sewage system, with the result that malaria is now an uncommon complaint in Taihoku. Sanitation was methodically extend-ed to smaller places. It was also necessary to deal with the bubonic plague. Thanks to the energy of Baron Goto, the civil Governor, a medical man. nothing is now heard of the plague in Formosa. Reducing tho head-hunting to submission is a problem that the Japanese administrators have not been able to solve ' These savages have a contempt for the Chinese, and defy the new owners of Formosa, of whom it may be said they want nothing but the heads of the intruders. Nevertheless, these Malays are a picturesque people, and have their virtues. It is estimated'that there are 115,000 of them in the mountains. In their habits they are. as clean and temperate as the Japanese themselves. The head-hunter constantly bathes in his mountain streams, and he is a, proud and self-respecting savage. His addiction to head-hunting is very much the same as a Western soldier's ardor to distinguish himself in battle, for the Formosan warriors cannot acquire merit or distinction or sit at the great tribal feasts unless they exhibit a head as proof cf prowess. Dr Xitobe rays they prefer a Chinese as a victim, because it is so easy to cut the head of a man who wears a queue. The doctor says that he knew of one savage " who had his rifle so placed on a rock that he could shoot any person who happened to walk past in just- a certain direction and at a certain height." By patiently waiting, this man of the mountains pulled the trigger one day and trot his head. "' With such people," says tin's student of Japanese colonisation, " it is practically impossible to do anything.'' What the Government tried to do, and fairly succeed in doing, is to confine the headhunters to the mountains. For a time barbed wire fences set up for miles along the ridges wro effective after a fashion, particularly when solders were about. But in the end it did not prove much of a barrier. The barbed wire was taken down, and in its place were installed four wires strum/ a foot apart on posts and heavily charged with electricity. There are now 300 of this fence, fho touch of which is paralysis, if not deaih, and the head-hunters have learned to give it a wide berth. The Government intend to surround the savages with electrified wires, but there is another means of taming them. Shut off from the seashore and th-? coastal settlements, they suffer from the lack of salt for their animals and themselves. "We will give you salt," say the Japanese, "if you will come down and give up your arms." Occasional!}- these fieroe" Malays crave salt so much that they submit, and the Japanese surprises and subdue Ihem by building houses for thorn, supplying them with tools and implements, and instructing them in intensive farming. Except in the pacification of the headhunters, the Japanese are making remarkable progress in administering their colony in Formosa. They have developed the native industries, increasing the sugar harvest fivefold; they -have constructed irrigation works on a large scale, improved harbors, built a railroad from one end of the island to the other, established schools, and i provided every town with a hospital. The English colonial system is their model. It seems to indicate a lack of familiarity with French methods in some parts of th.3 world when Dr Nitobe says: "Wo speak of French colonies as examples not to be followed."