SOCIAL ORGANIZATION
Head-hunting and associated Customs--“Mother-right” and Age-grade
Systems--Property Rights--Sex Relations.
The social organization of the Formosan aborigines presents many points
of interest, but the four which most forcibly impress the visitor or
student of aboriginal customs, and which, taken together, constitute a
somewhat unique system, are the following:
(_a_) _Head-hunting_ and the point of view of the tribes-people
regarding this custom.
(_b_) “_Mother-right_” more fully developed than is usual, even
among primitive people, at the present time.
(_c_) The _Communal System_--that of holding property in
common--which exists among several of the tribes.
(_d_) The _Chastity_ and _Strict Monogamy_ customary among these
“Naturvölker”; habits which strikingly impress one who goes
among them after having spent some time in China or Japan,
or in the Chinese and Japanese towns and villages in the
“civilized” part of the island.
One, or more, of these customs naturally exists among primitive peoples
in various parts of the world; it is the combination of these, welded
into a well-defined social organization, that makes the latter unique.
That “head-hunting” should be included under the head of “social
organization” may seem perhaps a contradiction in terms--head-hunting
not being exactly a social custom. I think, however, that anyone
who has lived among a head-hunting tribe will realize how closely
this custom is interwoven with the fabric of their whole social
organization. It regulates the social and political standing of the men
of the tribe; it is directly connected with marriage--no head, no wife;
and is reflected in the games, the songs, and the dances of the people.
Moreover head-hunting is regulated by a code as rigid as the code of
“an officer and a gentleman” in so-called civilized society--and is
rather less frequently broken.
Deniker, in speaking of the Dyaks of Borneo (see _The Races of Man_,
p. 251), aptly remarks: “A number of acts regarded as culpable by the
codes of all civilized states are yet tolerated, and even extolled,
in certain particular circumstances; such as the taking of life, for
example, in legitimate defence, in a duel, during war, or as a capital
punishment. Thus, in recalling examples of this kind, we shall be
less severe on a Dyak who cuts off a man’s head solely that he may
carry this trophy to his bride; for if he did otherwise he would be
repulsed by all.” The same charity for which Deniker pleads in judgment
of the Dyak may well be extended to the Formosan aborigine, who never
thus seeks private vengeance, whatever his provocation, on one of his
fellow-tribesmen,[55] private disputes being always laid before the
chief--male or female--of the tribe or before the chief-priestess, or
a convocation of the elderly women of the tribal group. Also when a
Formosan has voluntarily given his word to refrain from head-hunting,
it is said--and my personal observation would tend to confirm
this--that he never breaks it.[56]
The tribes among whom head-hunting still exists are the Taiyal, the
Bunun, and the Paiwan, though among the Bunun and the Paiwan to a
lesser extent at the present time than among the Taiyal. Among all
the other Chin-huan tribes it existed within the memory of the older
generation still living.
Among the Taiyal tribe--the great tribe of the northern part of the
island--one can tell at a glance who has “a head to his credit,” by
the presence, or absence, of the tattoo-mark on the chin. Occasionally
one sees the insignia of the successful head-hunter tattooed on the
chin of young boys. This indicates that these boys are the sons of
famous head-hunters and that their hands have been laid upon heads
decapitated by their fathers; or that they have carried these heads
in net-bags upon their backs. This, by tribal code, entitles them to
the successful head-hunter’s tattoo-mark. Incidentally, it must be
understood that while the Taiyal are--largely because of their peculiar
form of tattooing--usually regarded as a single tribe, they do not so
regard themselves, but are composed of a number of sub-groups (it is
said twenty-six), who regard themselves as separate units; and who
consequently go on head-hunting expeditions against each other.
When a boy attains maturity he is supposed to celebrate this by going
on his first head-hunting expedition.[57] Usually several boys of about
the same age go together on their first expedition, accompanied by
older and more experienced warriors of the same group, or sub-tribe.
Before going on such an expedition an omen is always consulted--usually
a bird-omen, of which I shall speak more fully under the head of
Religion--and it depends upon the favourable or unfavourable indication
of the omen as to whether the expedition is undertaken forthwith or is
postponed. The Taiyal consider it more auspicious to set forth on such
an expedition with an odd number of men. They seem to think the chances
will be greater of securing a head, which will count as a man, and
thus make up the “lucky even number” with which they hope to return to
the village.
During the absence of the warriors on one of these expeditions, the
women of the group will abstain from weaving, or even from handling
the material--a sort of coarse native hemp--which customarily they
weave into clothing. Except for the studious tending of the fires in
their respective huts--for if these were allowed to go out, it would
be considered a most evil omen--they do little until they hear in the
distance the cries which herald the return of the warriors. Then,
depending upon whether the cries denote victory or defeat, the women
prepare either for a festival or for a time of lamentation.
If the warriors have been successful--that is, if they have returned
with one or more heads of slain enemies--a great feast is prepared,
and partaken of by the men and women together. In this respect
Formosan feasts differ from the victorious warrior-feasts of many
other primitive communities, at which only the men are the revellers.
This difference also distinguishes the dance that follows the feast,
in which both men and women participate, the Formosan aborigines
forming an exception to the rule laid down by Deniker that Malay men
do not dance. As in feasting and dancing, so do the women also take
part in the drinking of wine--made by themselves from millet--and in
the smoking of tobacco. Among the Taiyal, as among most of the other
tribes, both men and women smoke bamboo pipes--more of the size and
shape of those smoked by Europeans than are the tiny pipes smoked by
the Chinese and Japanese. These are, however, for some reason which
they could not, or would not, explain, often held upside-down while
being smoked, the tobacco being very tightly “jammed” into the bowl to
prevent its falling out.
Among the coast Ami, only the men smoke pipes, the bowls of which are
often decorated with bits of metal--bartered from the Chinese--in
imitation of the features of a human face. The women of this tribe
smoke huge cigars.
How tobacco was introduced into Formosa, where now it grows practically
wild--the leaves being gathered by the women--is a mystery. Probably,
however, it was first brought to the island by the Dutch; and, once
having been planted in a soil favouring its growth, it continued to
flourish and to spread, in spite of what in Europe and in America
would be called lack of cultivation. Now smoking is universal among
all the tribes of the main island of Formosa. Among the Yami alone--of
Botel Tobago--it is, up to the present time, unknown; as is also,
apparently, the drinking of any intoxicating liquor. Another thing that
differentiates these gentle people from their neighbours of the main
island, just to the north of them, is the fact that none of them are
head-hunters.
[Illustration: TAIYAL TRIBESPEOPLE.]
[Illustration: SKULL-SHELF IN A TAIYAL VILLAGE.]
To return for a moment to the present chief head-hunting tribe, the
Taiyal. At the time of feasting and dancing in celebration of a
victory, the head of the victim is placed on the “skull-shelf” of
the village--being often the last addition to a pile of others--and
food and millet-wine are placed in front of it, food being sometimes
inserted into its mouth. The chief (often a woman), or high-priestess,
of the village offers to the last-decapitated head an invitation to the
following effect: “O warrior, you are welcome to our village and to our
feast! Eat and drink, and ask your brothers to come and join you, and
to eat and drink with us also.”
This invocation is supposed to have a magical effect in bringing about
other victories, and thus adding more heads to the skull-shelf (see
illustration).
The knives with which the heads of enemies have been cut off are held
in great reverence by all the tribes. Among one tribe--the Paiwan--it
is believed that the spirits of ancestors dwell in certain knives,
which have been in the possession of the tribe for several generations.
Among the Paiwan, and also the Bunun, the successful warrior is
denoted, not as among the Taiyal by certain tattoo-marking, but by
the wearing of a certain kind of cap which is made by the women of
the tribe. The Paiwan, whose domain formerly extended all the way to
Cape Garanbi, had--and have still in certain quarters--the reputation
of being cannibals, as well as head-hunters. A statement to this
effect is made in the _Encyclopædia Britannica_ (see article under
the head of “Formosa”). This, however, I believe to be a mistake; as
did also George Taylor, for many years light-house keeper at South
Cape (Garanbi), under the Chinese regime; one who probably knew the
aborigines more intimately than any white man since the time of the
Dutch occupation. The superficial observer, seeing a pile of skulls
in a native village--often several skulls over, or at the side of,
the doorway of a chief’s house[58]--is apt hastily to assume that
the villagers must necessarily be cannibals. But, while head-hunters
certainly, I do not believe that the Formosan aborigines are, or ever
have been, cannibals.
Among the Paiwan a tradition exists that in “days of old,” when their
territory extended to the sea-coast, “great boats” often came near
their coast, from which men landed; and that these men were in the
habit of capturing and carrying away numbers of the Paiwan people.
Whether these “great boats” were Chinese junks or Spanish ships from
the Philippines, I do not know. At any rate, among the Paiwan, the
killing of strangers--except those with fair hair and blue eyes (which
would indicate that the kidnapping invaders of the past were not
Dutch)--is alleged to be an act of self-defence, to prevent their
being carried away, “as their fathers were.” On what foundation of
truth--if any--this tradition is built, I do not know.
In this connection also the Paiwan claim that once, in those olden
days, when strangers were landing from one of the large ships, they
themselves (the Paiwan) took refuge in a “secret place among the
hills,” but they were betrayed by the crowing of a cock, which revealed
their hiding-place to the strangers, who killed many of them and
carried others away by force to their ship. This they give as their
reason for never eating chicken.
But as a neighbouring tribe, the Ami, also never eat chicken, and
assign for their abstention an entirely different reason--viz. that
“souls of good and gentle people dwell in chickens”--it is not
possible to give too great credence to Paiwan tradition, or to their
own explanation of their custom; this being one of the many instances
where various “reasons” are given by a primitive people in attempted
explanation of a long-established custom.
In passing, it may be mentioned that it is only among the coast tribes,
such as Paiwan, Piyuma, and Ami, that the raising of chickens, for the
sake of their eggs, has been introduced--apparently by the Chinese.
Among the Paiwan, as among the other aboriginal tribes, including the
Taiyal of the north, there exists the custom of two great festivals
during the year, one at seed-time, the other at harvest-time. During
these twice-yearly festivals there is much feasting, much dancing, and,
unfortunately, much drinking of millet wine. That which distinguishes
the Paiwan festivities, however, from those of the other tribes is
that once every five years on these festive days the Paiwan play a
game called Mavayaiya. This game consists of a contest between several
warriors, each trying to impale on a bamboo lance a bundle--now made of
bark--which is tossed into the air, the one who catches it on the point
of his lance being considered the victor. Tradition among them asserts
that in olden days it was a human head--that of a slain enemy--which
was thus tossed about, a mere bundle of bark being considered a poor
substitute. But Japanese laws against head-hunting are strict, for
Japanese themselves have suffered from these expeditions--punitive
usually--and knives, even sacred ones, are no match against modern
rifles, or against bombs thrown from aeroplanes.
Similarly with the neighbouring tribe--now a small one--that of the
Piyuma. On a festival day, held annually, a monkey--one of those with
which the woods of Formosa are filled--is tied before the bachelor
dormitory, and killed by the young men with arrows. After it is killed
the village chief throws a little native wine three times towards the
sky, and three times on the ground, near the body of the dead monkey.
Singing, dancing, and feasting follow. The old people of the Piyuma
tribe explain that in the “good days of old,” when their tribe was a
large and powerful one, a prisoner, captured from some other tribe, was
always sacrificed on these festal occasions, but now they--like the
Paiwan, with their Mavayaiya--have to be satisfied with an inferior
substitute. It seems that one of the reasons why a monkey is considered
so particularly inferior a substitute for a man is that the former can
at its death bear no message to the spirits of the ancestors of those
who slay it. In the good old days every arrow that was shot into the
body of the man bore with it a message to the spirit of the ancestor
of the man who shot the arrow. Apparently it was regarded as an
obligation, one that could not be evaded, on the part of the victim, to
deliver this message--rather these many messages--immediately upon his
arrival in the spirit-world.
Even among the Paiwan head-hunting is on the decline, being much less
practised by this tribe to-day than among the Taiyal. Many of the
honours which were formerly paid to the successful Paiwan head-hunter
are now paid to the successful hunter of game, and the latter is now
even wearing the cap of distinction at one time reserved exclusively
for the former.
In game hunting the aborigines use either the old guns, obtained from
the Chinese by barter, long ago, or--in the cases where these guns
have been confiscated by the Japanese on the ground of their owners
being “dangerous savages”--they have returned to the use of bows and
arrows such as were used by their ancestors before guns were introduced
among them. The bow is simple, usually made of wood of the catalpa
tree, the bow-string being made of the tough “China grass,” which grows
on the island. The arrow is made of bamboo, the arrow-head now being
of iron, this being pounded out from any piece of scrap-iron which the
tribes-people can obtain by barter.
An interesting feature of Formosan archery is that the arrows are not
feathered, as Japanese arrows are; also that in shooting the arrow,
this is always placed on the left side of the bow, whereas it is placed
on the right side by both Chinese and Japanese.
So much for the rather unpleasant subject of head-hunting, and those
customs which are associated with, or have sprung from, it.
[Illustration: TWO PAIWAN MEN AND A YOUNG WOMAN IN FRONT OF THE HOUSE
OF A PAIWAN CHIEF.]
Turning now to the subject of the general political and social
organization of the tribes, taken collectively, perhaps the most
striking feature may be summed up in the remark of the Japanese
policeman who escorted me on one of my first trips among the Taiyal:
“Their head-man is a woman”--which rather “Irish” remark holds true
not only as regards the Taiyal, but as regards other tribes as well.
One often sees the queen, or woman-chief, of a tribal group borne on
the shoulders of her subjects, as she goes about the village, so that
her sacred feet may not touch the ground. So closely, however, are
“Church and State” bound together--that is, so frequently are queen and
chief-priestess one--that descriptions of certain customs connected
with the “woman head-man” must be postponed until later, when these
will be dealt with under the respective heads of RELIGION and MARRIAGE.
Among the Paiwan--also the small neighbouring tribe of the
Piyuma--chieftainship seems to be hereditary, usually descending from
mother to daughter, although over some groups male chiefs rule; this
apparently being usual when the old queen has died without leaving a
daughter. Such instances are not infrequent among a people with whom
small families are usual. In this connection, reference may be made
to a statement which has been somewhat widely disseminated regarding
the children of the aboriginal women of Formosa. It has been said that
these women never allow their children to live until they themselves
are thirty-seven years of age.[59] This curious statement was made
by one of the old Dutch chroniclers of the seventeenth century, and
has been repeated, doubtless in good faith--on the strength of the
Dutch records--by more modern writers. Of this custom, however, I saw
no trace in any of the tribes during my residence among them. On the
contrary, I saw many young mothers--of various tribes--nursing and
tending their babies with greatest devotion. It is true that with them,
as with many primitive peoples, twins are considered “unlucky,” and
the weaker of the pair is usually killed at birth. Also, illegitimate
children are not allowed to live, Formosan standards--those of the
aborigines--being curiously rigorous on the latter point. Except in
these instances, I saw nothing that would suggest infanticide among
any of the tribes, and heard nothing of it. Both men and women seem
particularly devoted to their offspring. But, due apparently to the
present hard conditions of life among the aborigines, families are
small and comparatively few of the children born grow to maturity.
To revert for a moment to the customs of the Paiwan and Piyuma tribes.
A rather strict age-grade, or system of rank regulated according to
age, seems to exist among them. The older the man or woman, the more is
he, or she, held in reverence.
These tribes--and also the Tsuou, Yami, and Ami tribes--have the
“bachelor-house”[60] system. That is, when a young man reaches the
age of fifteen or sixteen, he is obliged to leave the home of his
parents, and sleep in the bachelor-house until he is married. This
bachelor-house serves as a sort of combination dormitory, military
barracks, and club house. So strictly is the age-grade system observed
among the Piyuma that there are two club-houses: one for boys from
twelve to fifteen years of age; the other for young men over fifteen.
In both bachelor-houses--that of the boys and that of the young
men--the strictest discipline prevails. A certain number of youths are
assigned the duty of keeping the fire supplied with wood (if the fire
were allowed to go out it would be considered an omen of disaster to
the tribe); others that of bringing water--which is usually carried in
great bamboo tubes, borne on the shoulders. Other duties are equably
apportioned. Each age-grade is supposed to obey without question the
orders of those of superior age.
The reasons assigned for having the young men live apart in
bachelor-houses are as various as are the reasons assigned for the
other customs previously referred to. The two explanations most
frequently given are: (_a_) that living apart makes the young men more
courageous and intrepid, especially as the bachelor-houses are usually
decorated with skulls of slain enemies of the tribe, or tribal group;
and (_b_) that it makes for chastity, and also for conserving the
delicacy of mind of the young women and children; that is, that the
latter may be surrounded only by staid, elderly people, and thus hear
no conversation unfitted for their ears.
These bachelor-houses are usually, though not invariably, built on
“piles” similar to Indonesian buildings, often ten feet above ground.
Entrance to these houses is by means of bamboo poles, up which the
young men must climb.
One of the customs of the young bachelors among the Paiwan tribe
recalls a custom of the Hawaians and other Polynesians--that is, on
festal occasions they wear about their necks long garlands of flowers.
Among the Ami a more complicated age-grade system prevails. In some
groups of this tribe there are ten age-grades; in others, twelve. Men
and women of the same age are accorded equal privileges, greatest
deference always being paid to the oldest. In some respects, the Ami
may be considered the most democratic of the tribes, seniority of each
in turn--rather than hereditary rank--conferring power and prestige.
With the Taiyal, each sub-group has its own chief, or “chieftainess.”
With this people, however, the office seems to be more elective
than hereditary, the choice usually falling upon a priestess whose
ministrations have been especially successful either in driving away
the rain-devil (to be spoken of more fully under the head of RELIGION)
or in interpreting omens which have led to successful head-hunting
expeditions.
The granaries, in which the year’s harvest of millet is stored, are
also under the charge of women, who deal out daily supplies of millet
to the women of the different families comprising the tribal group. It
seems tabu for men, certainly of the Taiyal tribe, to approach very
near these millet store-houses.
To just what cause the women of the Formosan aborigines owe their
ascendancy it would be difficult to say. As a people the aborigines
have reached the stage of “hoe-culture”--a stage which Deniker and some
other anthropologists sharply differentiate from “true agriculture”
(i.e. with the plough), and which usually precedes the pastoral stage,
whereas “true agriculture” follows it. Certainly this precedence of
order of culture is true of the Formosans (the aborigines). They
have no flocks or herds, no beasts of draught or of burden; they are
strictly in the “hunting stage” of civilization as regards the men;
yet the women scratch the ground with a short-handled primitive hoe,
and thus raise millet and sweet potatoes, besides digging away the
rankest of the weeds from about the roots of the tobacco plants.
Whether being concerned with the raising and storing of the staples of
life--millet and sweet potatoes--and with the gathering and curing of
the tobacco-leaves and the making of wine--life’s luxuries--has given
women the ascendancy which they undoubtedly possess is a question.
Personally I should be inclined to think it had (on the principle that
he who holds the purse-strings--or the equivalent--holds the power).
But Lowie, the American anthropologist, with some force of argument,
warns of the danger of too hastily assuming that an agricultural
stage (“hoe-culture” or other) of civilization necessarily implies
“matri-potestas,” pointing out the fact that among the Andaman
Islanders, who are in the most primitive “hunting stage,” women hold
a far higher position than among the present agricultural peoples of
India and of many other parts of the world.[61]
It may be that the “equal rights” (or superior rights) position of the
aboriginal women of Formosa is due to causes partly racial, for in
Guam, an island of the Marianne, or Ladrone, group also inhabited by a
people evidently of Indonesian extraction, the same state of affairs
seems to exist as regards the relation of the sexes. In Formosa this
certainly is not due to contact with a superior race, for among both
Chinese and Japanese--as is generally known--the woman is regarded as
being distinctly inferior to him who is with these races very literally
“lord and master.”
To whatever cause may be ascribed the dominance of the aboriginal
Formosan woman in both political and religious life--closely
interwoven as these are--the result seems to make for the happiness
of all concerned, within the tribal group. Disputes within the group
are of infrequent occurrence. When these do occur, they are almost
always settled either by the queen, or chief-priestess alone, or by a
“palaver” or meeting of remonstrance on the part of all the elderly
women of the group. Theft within the group seems unknown among any
of the tribes; this also applies to those who are accepted as guests
of the tribal group. Guests are regarded by them as friends, and the
fidelity in friendship of these “Naturvölker” is touching; as is also
their point of view regarding the sacredness of a promise. This is
especially true of the Taiyal and the other mountain tribes who have
come but little into contact with either Chinese or Japanese.
Regarding property rights among the Chin-huan (primitive or “green”
savages): all the members of each tribal group hold in common both
hunting-grounds and the grounds used for the cultivation of millet,
sweet potatoes, and tobacco--and more recently rice, since this has
been introduced by the Japanese. No dispute in connection with communal
property ever seems to arise. It is understood that each man who is
physically able will take part in the hunting, and thus contribute
his share toward keeping the group supplied with meat. Equally it
is understood that every woman not ill or aged will take part in
the cultivation, harvesting, and storing of food-stuffs. Millet and
sweet potatoes are kept in common store-houses, and--as explained in
another connection--these are given out by women who have charge of the
store-houses to the woman-head of each family, as she may have need
of them. The scheme of “from each according to his ability, to each
according to his need” seems to work successfully and without friction
among these people.
The only commodity, apparently, which among them is used as currency
is salt; and this has been recently introduced by the Japanese. Among
those who have never come into contact with the Japanese--that is,
those in the inaccessible mountain regions--it is said still to be
unknown.[62]
As regards the system of counting in vogue among them, in connection
with barter and otherwise, the _Chin-huan_--excluding those of the
Ami and Paiwan tribes, who live on or near the coast, and who have
been for some time in contact with the Chinese and Japanese--still
count by “hands”: that is, one hand equals five; two hands, ten, etc.
Or, occasionally, by a “man”; the latter, one learns in time, being
equivalent to twenty, that is, the number of fingers and toes, taken
together, belonging to each man.
A striking feature of the social organization of the aborigines is
their strict monogamy and their marital fidelity for the duration
of the marriage.[63] This custom is in marked contrast with that of
many other primitive races--Africans, Australians, Mongols, American
Indians: also with that of other Malay and Oceanic peoples, and most
of all with that of the Chinese and Japanese. One of the latter, a
government official in Formosa, with whom I was thrown into contact
in connection with my expeditions into savage territory, pitied the
_seban_ (savages) for not having a social organization sufficiently
highly developed to have room within it for a _geisha_ system (that of
professional singing and dancing girls) and that of a _yoshiwara_, the
latter term being too well known in connection with Japanese cities to
make explanation or definition necessary.
Among the “green savages”--those who have not come into close touch
with the Chinese and Japanese--adultery is punished with death, an
unfaithful husband suffering the same punishment as an unfaithful wife;
and prostitution is unknown.
FOOTNOTES:
[55] That is, of the same tribal group, which constitutes a social unit.
[56] This, of course, does not apply to a forced oath, extorted through
terror.
[57] This constitutes part of the puberty initiation ceremonies.
[58] See illustration of Paiwan skull-shelf, at the side of doorway of
chief.
[59] See _Formosa under the Dutch_, by Campbell.
[60] See illustration of bachelor-house facing page 97.
[61] See _Primitive Society_, by Robert H. Lowie, Ph.D., Assistant
Curator in Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History.
[62] Some groups of the Taiyal use pounded ginger-root, instead of
salt, for flavouring their food.
[63] This duration varies among the different tribes, as will be
explained in the chapter dealing with MARRIAGE CUSTOMS.