The Aborigines of Formosa and the Liu-kiu Islands

A European nation, during three and one-half centuries, has been in possession of the Philippine islands, but in spite of that fact there are even now independent tribes at the very gates of Manila; a n d the knowledge of the customs, languages, and history of the Philippine aborigines is like that of the Mexican Indians, also ruled by the Spaniards for about the same length of time, still very far from complete.It can therefore be no matter of astonishment that in Formosa, where European nations have founded only short-lived colonies and where the Chinese only during the last 200 years have gradually and painfully worked their way to the interior, and that likewise in the arnall, easily accessible Liu-kiu islands, untouched by modern investigation until 20 or 25 years ago, our knowledge of the aboriginal tribes should a9 yet be rather unsatisfactory.There is, however, no lack of learned works and pamphlets on the snbjeet, the literature on the Formosan natives alone comprising at least from 40 to 50 numbers; but the attempts to gather and sift the material and present it from broader views have been few, and the conclusions reached by different authors and explorers have by no means been identical.There is, on the contrary, a growing Conviction among experienced anthropologists, such as Joest atid Bastian, that we have not only to look at Formosa as a missing link i n the great development of the races of the socalled Malayan archipelago, but that the " fair island " has still many intricate problems in store for us.

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