ARTS AND CRAFTS
Various Types of Dwelling-houses Peculiar to the Different
Tribes--Ingenious Suspension-bridges and Communal Granaries
Common to all the Tribes--Weapons and the Methods of their
Ornamentation--Weaving and Basket-making--Peculiar Indonesian Form of
Loom--Pottery-making--Agricultural Implements and Fish-traps--Musical
Instruments: Nose-flute; Musical Bow; Bamboo Jews’-harp--Personal
Adornment.
To deal adequately with this subject would require a volume in itself.
In this book I shall speak only of those forms of arts and crafts which
are either peculiar to the Formosans or which seem to show their racial
affinity to other peoples.
First, as regards their dwelling-houses. The mode of construction of
these varies among the different tribes, and has already been referred
to in the preceding chapter, in connection with funeral rites. The
houses of the Taiyal--simple bamboo and grass shelters, having only a
doorway, but no windows[86]--call for little in the way of detailed
description. These huts are mere sleeping-places, the beds being
bamboo benches, built against the sides of the wall, at about two feet
elevation from the ground. Only in rainy weather is either cooking or
weaving done inside the house. The interior of the hut is in almost
total darkness, the doorway being both narrow and low; so low that even
a woman has to stoop in order to enter it. The smaller tribes whose
territory adjoins that of the Taiyal also build huts after the fashion
of their more powerful neighbours.
The Ami folk, certainly those living on, or near, the coast, substitute
roughly hewn planks or small saplings for bamboo. This may, perhaps, be
due to Chinese influence.
The houses of the Bunun and Paiwan are much more substantial, and are
constructed on an altogether different principle, these houses being
of the “pit-dwelling” type. With these tribes it is to _dig_ a house,
rather than to _build_ one, since a larger portion of the structure
is below ground than above it. A space about ten feet by twelve is
cleared of trees and jungle growth, and a pit is dug. This pit is
usually between four and five feet deep. The sides of the pit are lined
with slabs of slate, quarried by the tribesmen. These slate walls are
carried up about three feet above the surface of the earth, thus giving
a wall-height to the house of about seven feet. For the roof bamboo
poles are first laid across from wall to wall, then on top of these are
placed other slabs of slate, giving the house a substantial, but rather
cave-like, appearance.[87] The effect upon a stranger entering a Paiwan
village is to make him wonder, first whether he has been transported
into a land of gnomes, and secondly--and more seriously--whether or not
the gnome-tradition may have arisen from a subterranean-dwelling people
similar to the present-day Paiwan.
In all probability the slate pit-dwellings were originally constructed
as places of refuge from the warlike, predatory tribes of the North;
and judging from the number of enemy skulls in Paiwan villages,
these slate refuges were effective. Curiously enough, however,
the “bachelor-houses,” in which the young unmarried men live, are
built of wood, on high piles, or stakes. The mode of entry to these
bachelor-houses has already been described.[88] The young men are
supposed to have at least one of their number constantly on guard, in
order to detect the possible approach of an enemy. In such an event a
warning is given, when the women and children retreat within the slate
houses. The married men also repair to their houses, but only long
enough to collect their arms; when, having done so, they sally forth to
join the bachelors in an attack upon the enemy. Only, as a last resort,
when hard pressed by the enemy, do the men--in such an emergency,
bachelors as well as married men--retreat within the slate huts and,
firing through doors and windows, attempt to keep the enemy at bay.
Among the Paiwan the house of a chief has usually three windows, and
the house of a commoner always one, sometimes two; consequently this
mode of “aggressive defence” is often successful.
Among the peace-loving Yami--the inhabitants of the tiny island of
Botel Tobago--slate houses are not found. Family houses, as well as the
“long-houses” of the bachelors, are of the “pile-dwelling” variety.
[Illustration: PAIWAN VILLAGE OF SLATE.
_The houses are of the pit-dwelling variety; a larger portion of each
house is below ground._]
However the dwelling-houses of the different tribes may vary, the
millet granaries of all the tribes seem built after an identical
pattern. There is in each village of every tribe a communal granary--a
hut, built sometimes of wood, sometimes of bamboo, but always supported
on pillars, some five or six feet above the ground. Near the top
of each of the four pillars is a round piece of wood (among the
Paiwan slate is sometimes substituted for wood) supposed to prevent
rats and mice “and such small deer” from entering the granary.[89]
This _rokko_, as the Taiyal call the “rat-preventer” (to translate
literally), is found in the granaries and store-houses of many of
the Oceanic peoples--both in the Lu-chu Islands and in certain parts
of Melanesia; a coincidence which is not surprising. It is, however,
rather surprising to find the same device used among the Ainu of
Hokkaido and Saghalien. This fact tends rather to upset one’s theory
that the culture of the Formosan aborigines is of purely Indonesian
origin--unless perhaps one accepts the hypothesis that in this instance
the Ainu have borrowed a custom from their southern neighbours; or
again, unless it be a case of “independent origin,” a discussion of the
pros and cons regarding which theory cannot be attempted here.
Far more remarkable than the dwelling-houses or granaries of the
Formosan aborigines are the long suspension-bridges, which with
marvellous skill they construct of bamboo, held together only with
deer-hide thongs, or occasionally with tendrils of a curiously tough
vine growing in the mountains, and throw across the deep chasms and
ravines which abound in the interior of the island, especially in the
mountainous section inhabited by the Taiyal, Bunun, and Paiwan tribes.
These bridges are now imitated by the Japanese, as regards shape and
construction. Only the material is different, galvanized iron and wire
being substituted for bamboo and thongs. Ingenious bamboo fences are
also constructed by the Taiyal, surrounding their village communities.
The weapons of the men, bow and arrows and knives, have been referred
to before. Both knives and arrow-heads were formerly made of flint,
but for many years iron has been used[90]; this being obtained by
barter, until recently from the Chinese and now usually from the
Japanese. The few old stone knives still remaining among them are
regarded as sacred, and are used by the priestesses in warding off
evil _Ottofu_ at marriage ceremonies and on occasions of illness--as
has been described in preceding chapters. The knives are not of the
wavy “kris” variety used by some of the Malay peoples, but have one
curve, the cutting edge being on the convex side of this curve. The
scabbard of this knife consists of a single piece of wood hollowed
out to fit the blade. Across the hollowed-out portion are fastened
twisted thongs of deer-skin or strips of bamboo, or--when these can
be obtained--strips of tin, which hold the knife in place when it is
sheathed. Old tomato-cans and milk-tins are now eagerly sought for
this purpose, and much in the way of game and millet will be offered
for them. The scabbard of a chieftain or of an honoured and successful
warrior is decorated with coloured pebbles set into the wood; or, in
the case of the Ami, who live near the sea-shore, with bits of shell or
of mother-of-pearl. The handle of the knife is bound around with wire,
when this can be obtained. Wire is considered highly ornamental, and is
greatly prized, and eagerly bargained for. It is used for ornamenting
pipes as well as knives, and is also bound about the arms, and worn as
bracelets by both women and men; besides being worn as ear-rings by the
men--twisted into huge rings, and thrust through holes in the lobes of
the ears.
The intimately personal tool of each woman is her millet-hoe, which
has already been described.[91] But the pride of the woman of each
household is the loom belonging to that household. The construction
of this loom can be better understood by looking at the accompanying
illustration of a Taiyal woman at her loom than by detailed
description. Broadly speaking, the loom is of the Indonesian type, but
the trough-like arrangement--the hollowed-out log, around which the
warp is wrapped--seems to have been evolved in Formosa alone; I do
not know of its occurring elsewhere in Indonesia, or in Melanesia or
Polynesia.
The textile that is woven on this loom is made from a sort of native
hemp, which grows in the mountains. The only colouring matter
obtainable for dyeing the hemp is the juice of a tuber also indigenous
to the mountains. This tuber somewhat resembles a very large and rather
corrugated potato. The dye obtained from this tuber is of chocolate
colour. It is the custom to weave the textile in stripes, uncoloured
and dyed strands alternating. The effect is not displeasing, and the
material is very strong, lasting for years, and withstanding almost
any strain.[92] None of the tribes, however, are satisfied with the
subdued shade which their native dye gives; and most of them have for
years obtained, through barter, cheap Chinese blankets of brilliant
crimson, which they carefully ravel, and with the yarn thus obtained
they add fanciful designs in the weaving of their cloth. Much ingenuity
is displayed in these designs, which often express a sense of the
genuinely artistic, as well as the merely fantastic.[93]
Besides the cloth that is woven on looms, the women also make net-bags,
by means of a bamboo shuttle and mesh-gauge, not unlike those used
by American Indian women of the western plains--only the shuttle and
mesh-gauge of the latter are made of wood instead of bamboo. These bags
are of two sizes, the larger for carrying millet and other provisions,
the smaller just large enough to hold a human head. It is often upon
bags of this latter kind that the greatest amount of time and of
ingenuity is expended. Every warrior has one of these bags. Next to his
knife, it is his most treasured possession, one which he always takes
with him when going upon a head-hunting expedition. If successful, the
head of his enemy is brought back in it.
[Illustration: AUTHOR IN THE DRESS OF A WOMAN OF THE TAIYAL TRIBE.]
A woman who is not a good weaver or maker of bags is held in contempt
by the other women, as well as by the men; and as previously
stated--in the chapter dealing with RELIGION--it is believed that
such a woman after death will not be able to cross the bridge which
leads to the land of happiness--that occupied by her more skilful
sisters and by successful head-hunters. This feeling seems especially
strong among the Taiyal people.
In basketry and in the making of caps--a cap in Formosa being only a
sort of inverted basket with a visor--the women are as skilful as in
the weaving of cloth. This applies to all the tribes. Among the Paiwan,
the cap of the successful warrior--and now sometimes of the successful
huntsman--is decorated in front, just above the visor, with a sort of
rosette of wild boar’s tusks. This is a symbol of honour as significant
among the Paiwan as is the tattoo-mark on the chin of the successful
warrior among the Taiyal.
While both in the weaving of cloth and of baskets--including
basket-caps--the various tribes stand much on a level, there is great
difference in skill as regards the making of pottery. In this art the
Ami stand pre-eminent among the tribes on the main island.[94] Their
pots, however, are crude as compared with those of some of the peoples
of the South Pacific. The Ami do not use the coiling process in the
making of pottery, nor do they use a potter’s wheel. Their pots are
first fashioned roughly by hand; then, while the clay is still soft, a
round stone, held in the left hand, is inserted into the interior of
the pot. Around this the pot is twirled with the right hand; rather,
with a small paddle-like stick held in the right hand. This may perhaps
be called an approximation to the potter’s wheel. At any rate, the
finishing touches are given with the paddle-shaped stick, which is used
for smoothing and making symmetrical the exterior and interior of the
vessel. The pot is then dried in the sun, and afterwards baked in a
fire usually made of straw, i.e. dried mountain grass of a particular
kind.
The Yami of Botel Tobago are skilful pottery-makers, their pots
recalling in appearance those of the Papuans; but the other tribes
are crude and clumsy in their attempts at the making of pots. These
are roughly fashioned by hand, and, as they constantly break, are
apparently not sufficiently baked before being used. Consequently for
carrying water most of the tribes now use tubes of the great bamboo
that grows in Formosa. For cooking they use baskets coated inside and
out with clay, as a substitute for pots.
There is reason to believe that the skilful making of pottery was once
an art more widely spread among the different tribes than is the case
at present. Among many of the tribes there is a tradition that their
ancestors were mighty in the making of “vessels moulded from earth.”
The Tsarisen not only have this tradition, in common with the other
tribes, but also they have kept among them for many generations--just
how long there is no means of ascertaining--a few pots more skilfully
made than this tribe is capable of making at the present time. These,
they assert, were made by their ancestors, who, in turn, were taught by
the _Ottofu_ of their own ancestors. These pots are regarded as being
most sacred, and are kept in front of the house of the chief of the
principal tribal unit. So sacred are these particular pots that only
the chief, or members of his immediate family, and the chief priestess
of that tribal unit, are allowed to touch them. It is _parisha_ (tabu)
for anyone else to touch or even to come within a “body’s length” of
the sacred vessels. In Formosa--except among the Ami and the Yami
tribes--as in Polynesia, skilful pottery-making seems to be an art that
is rapidly dying out.
Implements connected with the harvesting and preparation of millet--a
short curved knife for cutting, formerly made of flint, now usually
of iron, a winnowing-fan of basket-work, and mortar and pestle of
wood--are not dissimilar to those used by other Malay peoples; nor are
they unlike those used by the Chinese and Japanese in the harvesting
and winnowing of rice. The aborigines, however, except those who have
come directly under Chinese and Japanese dominance, look with contempt
upon rice-eaters as being unclean--much as the latter regard eaters
of beef and potatoes. All tribes among the aborigines seem to regard
millet as a sacred food, the use of which was revealed to their
ancestors by “further away God-ancestors.”
The agricultural implements of the east coast Ami show greater skill of
manufacture than those of the other tribes, this perhaps being due to
contact with the Chinese.
The Ami living on, or near, the coast also make--and successfully
use--an ingenious fish-trap of bamboo having on the interior sharp
spikes or thorns, pointing inward. These act as barbs, and prevent the
fish which have entered the basket-like trap from leaving it.
[Illustration: A TAIYAL WOMAN AT HER LOOM.
(_See page 179._)]
[Illustration: WOMAN OF AMI TRIBE MAKING POTTERY.]
Mention has already been made of the bamboo jews’-harp, an instrument
which seems common to all the tribes. Besides this, the Taiyal and
Tsuou tribes have two other musical instruments, the nose-flute and the
musical bow. It is possible that these may be used by other tribes,
but I think not commonly so; certainly I have not found them elsewhere
than among the Taiyal and Tsuou. And with these tribes the nose-flute
is used only by the men; it seems semi-sacred in character, as it is
played only on festive occasions, usually when celebrating a victory
over another tribe or tribal unit. Not even a priestess will play
upon a nose-flute; to do so would be “bad form.” Playing upon this
instrument is the exclusive prerogative of the sterner sex--as much so
as is the decapitation of enemies, with the celebration of which it
seems closely connected.
The musical bow also is usually played by men, although priestesses
occasionally use it as an accompaniment to their chanting during
ceremonials connected with harvest festivals, and on similar occasions.
In the way of personal adornment, women of all the tribes wear, in
addition to the wire bracelets which have previously been referred to,
necklaces made of small rectangular bits of bone, carefully polished
and strung together on sinews. These bits of bone are usually cut from
the femur of the tiny Formosan deer, with which the mountains abound.
The Yami women also wear necklaces made of seeds, and sometimes of
shells.[95]
The most conspicuous adornments of the women, however, are the tubes of
bamboo inserted through holes cut in the lobes of the ears; brightly
coloured yarn--when this can be obtained; when not, dried grass--being
thrust into the bamboo, forming a sort of rosette at each end of the
ear-tube. This is considered highly ornamental by the tribes-people;
the larger the bamboo that the lobe of the ears will support without
being torn through, the more is its owner admired.
FOOTNOTES:
[86] See illustration.
[87] See illustration.
[88] See p. 124.
[89] Rats and mice are a greater curse on Botel Tobago than on the main
island of Formosa, as on the former there are not--or certainly were
not, up to a very short time ago--either dogs or cats. An opportunity
for a twentieth-century Dick Whittington suggests itself, although the
reward of the modern Dick Whittington would probably consist of flowers
and sweet potatoes--possibly of boiled millet, wrapped in banana-leaves.
[90] See Part I, p. 41.
[91] See p. 125.
[92] See illustration of author in the dress of a woman of the Taiyal
tribe.
[93] Cloth thus ornamented with crimson yarn is reserved for the making
of coats and blankets for successful warriors and hunters.
[94] See illustration of Ami woman making pottery.
[95] See illustration.