Plurk paste

CHAPTER VI
THE FERTILE PLAINS
Arrival at Taichu—Japanese gardens—Doing as Rome does—A Japaneso concert—We see the sights of Taichu—Lunch on an island in the lake—We leave for Taihoku, the capital—Fertile country—The rice-fields—Agriculture in Formosa—The land-laws—Tea-planting— Methods of preparing the leaf—Experimental stations—Tobacco— Indigo and oth?r economic plants—Wealth of Formosa as an agricultural country alone.
§ 1
On our arrival at Taichu, which is the third city of Formosa and has 30,000 inhabitants, we were met by two officials and the Governor's car. We were driven straight to the hotel, a Japanese inn.
It was a pleasant spot and this time our room was not spoilt by tables and chairs, while if we got tired of sitting on the floor we could go out on to the veranda, where there were rattan chairs.
Beyond the veranda was a tiny landscape garden.
Gardens are very typical of a nation's character.
Japanese gardens are small, fastidious, delicate, and charming. No one but a Japanese could make so much out of so little. But they are artificial, and to a nature-lover there always seems to be a striving after effect. Even the trees are dwarfs. Instead of utilizing the natural beauties of slope or stream, they import their rocks from all corners of the Empire, they teach streams to run, and they dump down little hills in appropriate positions. One longs for a good green stretch of English turf, and in a Japanese garden turf is one of the things one seldom sees.
126 JAPANESE GARDENS 127
Japanese gardens are essentially a product of the uncontaminated Japanese mind, and few foreigners could design one that would preserve the spirit of the original. There has been a fashion lately for making so-called Japanese gardens in England, and I have always liked the story of the polite Japanese who was being shown one by its complacent owner.
"Very beautiful," he said, "very beautiful. "We have nothing like this in Japan." After we had drunk a cup of tea on the veranda I asked Koshimura somewhat diffidently about a bath.
"I think better to wait till Taihoku," he replied.
"There are many guests to-night." "We did not need to be told what he meant this time and resigned ourselves to going unbathed.
It was here that I began to try experiments with the scraps of Japanese I had picked up from Koshimura.
A little fairy fluttered into the room.
"O-cha-kudasai," I said rather labouredly, although I didn 't really want an honourable cup of tea at all. It was the only remark besides sayonara and ohaio that I was quite sure about.
The maiden giggled delightedly at my attempt to speak her tongue.
"Hai, o-cha," she said at last, bowing, and presently brought back a tiny cup of green tea.
She had understood. I felt as Ali Baba must have felt when the cave door obeyed his 'Open Sesame.' There is a sense of glorious achievement when you have made your first attempt in a foreign language—and are understood. She might so easily have brought me a banana or a kimono.
That evening Koshimura dined with us in our room and we made another gallant attempt at Japanese 'eats.' Without, I must admit, much sue-128 THE FERTILE PLAINS
cess, although my wife plied her chop-sticks with far more skill than I—possibly because she has had considerable experience in manipulating knittingneedles. The raw fish still defeated us, and the little waitress who knelt on the floor beside her wooden tub of rice laughed in wonder when we only had our bowls filled once instead of the customary three times.
Adaptability is a great thing in the right place, but it is rather pathetic to see someone trying to do as Eome does when he hasn't the faintest chance of ever being a Eoman. It is no good trying to live the life (or eat the food) of another race for a night or two. In fact the Japanese themselves are inclined to set us an example of what not to do in these matters. They are far more dignified when they keep to their own customs, and often become ridiculous when they abandon them for ours. The French say, "II faut souffrir pour etre beau," but the Japanese often suffer merely to be ugly. Moreover so often, so very often, they suffer unnecessarily. If in this narrative I occasionally make mention of the peculiarities of Koshimura or his brothers, let it not be thought that it is with the intention of poking ill-natured fun. Both individuals and races are revealed by their idiosyncrasies rather than by their normal characteristics; the ways of the Japanese may not be our ways, but who shall say they are not just as good? It is a case of other climes, other manners, and it is because I think such distinctions illuminating that I set them down. As I once heard a dear old Japanese Admiral say in an English speech, "All people are the same at the bottom." But there are a good many differences between them elsewhere.
After dinner we were asked if we would like to A JAPANESE CONCERT 129
go to a Japanese musical performance which was being given in honour of the twentieth anniversary of the Taichu Press. We accepted eagerly, as, although we knew that we were not educated up to Japanese music, there seemed to be a prospect of some dancing being included in the programme.
I am not going to try to describe that performance.
There was no getting away from it; we were not educated up to it. To our barbarian minds both the singing and the music were ghastly, and what little dancing there was seemed to consist mainly of people running round the stage and stamping. I had hoped that there would be perhaps a kind of Cherry Dance such as is presented at Kyoto every year—a perfect and most beautiful thing of its kind and one which might make the fortune of a producer enterprising enough to bring it to the Empire for a London season. But there was nothing of the kind. However, the audience, which filled the great hall to overflowing, seemed to like it all. I amused myself by wondering how on earth the lady sitting in front of me managed to do her hair (Koshimura told me later that she didn't, but got a hairdresser to do it for her once a week) and by making friends with the Japanese spaniel belonging to my neighbour. I liked him for having brought his dog to the concert rather than leave it at home chained up; in fact, I liked him for having it at all, for one of the things that surprised me most in Formosa was the apparent scarcity of dogs. It is only re- cently that I have learnt that the police in Formosan towns periodically go round poisoning all dogs they are pleased to consider masterless.
§ 2
Next morning we each received by messenger a 9 130 THE FERTILE PLAINS packet of postcards from the Governor, and after breakfast I was taken by Koshimura to pay the customary call. As we reached the door of his residence, Koshimura suggested that since His Excellency lived in Japanese style it would be better for us not to go in, as it was a nuisance for us to remove our shoes. I was quite prepared to remove any amount of shoes and was looking forward to the pleasure of seeing the inside of a private Japanese house, but Koshimura was always so very tactful that I suspected there was something behind his remark and that our presence might cause embarrassment.
Our cards were taken by a servant, and as we waited, matters were complicated by a Japanese in Western clothes coming into the hall, slipping into his shoes with incredible rapidity and going out. He had been followed by an old gentleman in a kimono, who, I supposed, was a servitor showing him to the door. It was not till some moments later that I discovered it was the Governor. I felt as one does when one mistakes a newly-arrived passenger on the top of a bus for the conductor. But as I had not tendered His Excellency a penny, all was well, and after exchanging a few polite words through the medium of Koshimura, we said good-bye.
Then followed a morning of hard sightseeing. In company with one of the Governor's staff we paid a visit to the waterworks—things we had never seen before and shall probably never see again—and to the Commercial Museum, where we secured a set of quaint cedar ash-trays as a remembrance of Taichu.
So far our trip had been very economical, for we had never been able to find anything to buy. But Koshimura kept encouraging us to wait till we THE RICE SELLER.
130]
THE LAKE OP TAICBX PARK. AN ISLAND RESTAURANT 131
got to Taihoku, where, he assured us, we should find good shops. We were taken over another sugar-factory, and as this one was working we were able to see the whole process the sugar went through from the time it arrived as cane to the time it left as brown crystals or alcohoL It is a complicated business for which very expensive machinery is required, and it proved to me that the cultivation of sugar can only pay when undertaken on an extensive scale.
We lunched at a delightful little island restaurant set in the midst of the lake of Taichu Park. The room still showed traces of the decorations put up in honour of Sir Charles Eliot, the British Ambassador at Tokyo, who had visited Taichu a week before, and had had a strenuous round of sightseeing before visiting the famous hot springs at Hokuto for his gout.
After lunch we returned to the inn to collect our luggage. This time, instead of being presented with fans and postcards, the proprietress (it is always a proprietress) gave us a present of face towels, in neat paper wrappers—a gift as useful as it was unexpected. It may have been a symbolical apology for our not having been able to get baths.
§3
The journey from Taichu to Taihoku is through very lovely country which alone would justify the island's name. The towns of Formosa are, for the most part, anything but beautiful and their modern buildings are hideous. But beyond them we passed through mile after mile of terraced rice-fields, trim and fertile ; every now and then we crossed a wide and stony river which, although then dried up to little 132 THE FERTILE PLAINS
more than a stream, in the rainy season must thunder down in flood, so great is the catchment of water from the chains of hills which rise, forest-clad, away to the east. All over the smiling plains were dotted farm-houses with walls of mud and roofs of thatch, circled by a towering wall—hedge is too mean a word—of thick bamboo. These were the houses of the Formosan farmers. Here and there we saw one splashing through a wet rice-field as he guided a primitive wooden plough drawn by an ungainly water-buffalo through the ash-coloured mud.
Here and there, too, we saw little groups of women and children planting out the young shoots of palegreen rice from the nurseries, standing thigh-deep in the slush. There seemed hardly an acre of flat land which was not under cultivation. Even when the train slowly climbed up to 1,200 feet to cross a range of hills, the high land was all terraced too and little fields squeezed in where one would not have thought it possible to plant at all.
Agriculture in Formosa is almost wholly in the hands of the Formosans themselves. From the earliest times the soil has given them their chief means of livelihood, and the agricultural resources of the island were highly developed centuries before the coming of the Japanese, particularly as regards rice cultivation. In the days of Chinese rule such large quantities of rice were exported every year to the coast provinces of the Celestial Empire that Formosa came to be called 'the granary of China.' By undertaking extensive irrigation works the Japanese have increased the annual output of rice considerably and have improved its quality. At the present time the annual crop is about 40,000 tons; this, as well as supplying the needs of the local population, which is wholly a rice-eating one, is THE GRANARY OF CHINA 133
enough to allow 14,600 tons to be exported to Japan and some 12,400 tons to foreign countries. As one of Japan's most serious problems is the fact that the increase of population is greater proportionally than the amount of rice produced, these exports are invaluable.
The Chinese are unsurpassed as rice growers, and the Formosans follow the simple methods which have been practised in China for centuries. Nearly all the holdings are small ones of 2| acres or less; they are divided by low mud banks, often wattled with bamboo, the flow of water on to the fields being regulated by means of sluice-gates. Where the ground is not flat, the fields are carefully terraced.
Once the ground has been flooded and so become soft, it is turned up with a wooden plough drawn by a water-buffalo or, more rarely, a bullock. At the end of this process the water lies across the field in a calm and unbroken sheet; the young shoots are then planted out and grow in the standing water, being weeded periodically, and then, when they have grown into ear and are ripe for harvest, they are cut by hand. The southern districts of Formosa yield three crops a year, the northen two—a proof of the wonderful fertility of the island, for little trouble is taken to put back what is removed from the soil.
As well as helping to improve the quality and to increase the quantity of the rice production, the Japanese have completely reorganized the land laws, which were in a state of chaos under the Chinese.
Soon after the cession of the island they had all the small holdings and other privately owned lands re- surveyed and reassessed. The land taxes were then revised. In addition to this a trigonometrical sur- vey of the whole territory under Japanese influence 134 THE FERTILE PLAINS was made., An army of officials, surveyors and demarcators was engaged in order to complete the whole work in the shortest possible time, so that to-day in the area under Japanese control there is not a town, village, or rice-field whose exact position has not been determined. The course of every river has been mapped; and the contours of every hill. It was a tremendous undertaking, but it was carried out in a scientific manner without any serious opposition on the part of the Formosans themselves.
The total area of cultivated land was found to be 1,500,000 acres. 1 The Government then bought up the rights of the large landowners, who had come to acquire the position of feudal lords, and the farmers who were in occupation of the land became tenants of the State. 1
§4
These sweeping changes benefited not only the rice growers, but planters of all descriptions. Some account has been given already of the sugar planters ; next to them in importance came the tea growers, whose plantations extend northward from Taichu in the uplands and plateaus. The first cuttings of tea plants undoubtedly came from China, and the tea industry was a flourishing one when the Japanese took over the island, the light soil and the hot damp climate with its well-distributed rainfall of between 80 and 100 inches being admirably suited to the cultivation.
The plants are usually obtained from cuttings, more rarely from seed. The young plants are set out in rows two feet or three feet apart along the 1 The present cultivated area is something over 2,000,000 acres.
8 This subject is dealt with at length in Japanese Rule in Formosa, chap. v. THE TEA INDUSTRY 135
slopes of the hills. The amount of attention given to the construction of terraces or drains to prevent the fertile top-soil from being washed away depends on the industry of the farmer ; but weeding is essential if the young plants are not to be choked out of existence by the exuberant undergrowth, and, later, pruning is also necessary to give them air.
The leaves are considered ready to pick when the plant is three years old, by which time it has reached a height of two or three feet. The picking is not performed by the owner of the plantation, but by bands of professional tea-pickers, much in the same way as hops are picked in Kent. Cheap labour is absolutely necessary at this stage of the industry, and the planters mainly employ young girls, many of whom come over from China every spring for the tea-picking season, the work being popular and comparatively well paid.
Once the green leaves have been stripped from the bushes and brought in, they are spread out in the sun for the preliminary drying. They are then removed on circular trays, placed under cover and stirred until fermentation has begun. When the edges of the leaves show signs of turning the familiar reddish-brown colour, they are placed over a wood fire and stirred again until the whole leaf has become browned and curled. This drying process is continued until the moisture has disappeared, whereupon the leaves are packed in bags ready for re- moval to the market at Taihoku. At this stage the tea is taken over by the brokers and middle-men who throng to Formosa in the summer months.
Once in their hands, it is again spread out upon trays and fresh pickers sort out the pieces of twig, stalk, and bad leaf which have been overlooked.
These pickers are also girls, and during the season 136 THE FERTILE PLAINS there are as many as 12,000 of them employed in Taihoku. Unfortunately, although we saw hundreds of acres of tea plantations, we were not in Formosa at the time this sorting was in progress and so did not have an opportunity of seeing the girls at work. In The Island of Formosa Mr. Davidson gives a delightful description of them which, although written twenty years ago, is still as true, Koshimura told me, to-day: "To a stranger visiting Twatutia 1 during the summer months, nothing is more striking than the crowds of girls, who at noon and night simply overrun the place. Fortunately the tea-picking period is looked upon by these coy damsels as the opening of the social season as it were, and a younger sister is brought out with considerable eclat, not unlike the debut of a young lady attending her first social function at home. I say fortunately, for the slovenly and not always cleanly appearance which she exhibits in her own abode is quite the reverse of that shown when she blossoms out as a tea picker. The best clothes are none too good, and her toilet is most carefully prepared. The coiffure is oft-times a work of art and is extensively decorated with the strongly scented blossoms of the magnolia, while, with her feet bound up in the very smallest compass, she is prepared to dazzle the community. ' ' It is essential that every trace of moisture should be removed from the leaves before they are shipped, and so, as well as being re-sorted after they leave the hills, they are re-dried also. This operation is performed by means of intense heat from charcoal furnaces, of which the long firing-rooms have as 1 The quarter of Taihoku given over to the tea market. It is now called Daitotei. OOLONG TEA 137 many as a hundred and fifty. The tea is set over the fires in baskets for eight or ten hours, and is then, while still hot, packed in boxes of pine-wood.
Each box holds about forty pounds of tea and has a lining of lead which, when soldered, becomes airtight. The tea is then ready for shipment.
The best of the tea produced in Formosa is known as Oolong. 1 The name, which means in Chinese 'dragon or serpent as black as a crow,' is said to be derived from the tradition of a Fokien farmer who once found a black snake coiled round a teabush. Thinking that there must be something peculiar about the plant, he picked some of the leaves and made tea from them. He found the taste exquisite, and the fame of the tea spread far and wide.
It came to be planted everywhere and was called 'oolong,' after the black snake which had been the cause of its finding popularity. "What exactly induced the Fokien farmer to act as he did is not quite clear. I am not at all sure that if I saw a snake—whether it were black or green or pink— coiled round a bush, I should go and make tea of the leaves, but perhaps that is because I am not a Fokien farmer. Anyhow, many people have cause to be grateful for his intuition, for the profits derived from 'Formosan Oolong' are considerable.
In former days there was no port in Formosa available for large vessels, consequently all tea intended for export was shipped from Tamsui to Amoy and thence reshipped on ocean-going steamers to its destination. Since the improvement of Keelung harbour, however, the tea can be carried direct to the Pacific coast of North America, and through the Suez or Panama Canals to the Atlantic coast.
1 Oolongs are only slightly withered or fermented before being cured, •whereas black teas are thoroughly fermented. 138 THE FERTILE PLAINS
During the summer months large British and other steamers call at Keelung for tea cargoes.
Almost the entire export goes to the United States, and the amount which reaches Europe is mainly used to flavour other teas, Oolong having a pungent, aromatic flavour of its own. A considerable quantity of scented tea is also manufactured and exported to China and the East Indies. This is known as Pouchong or 'wrapper tea. ' It is simply the lower grade Oolong artificially flavoured with the scent of flowers—especially jasmine and gardenia— by mixing masses of the blossoms with the tea, which is then carefully covered up and left for several hours. Green teas, those preserved as nearly as possible in their natural state, are prepared for Japanese consumption, the leaf being grown mainly in the hills north of Taichu.
The important tea industry is the only one in Formosa the Japanese have not got into their own hands. The Formosans, it is true, plant all the rice and sugar grown in the island, but the Japanese handle the raw material when it leaves the farmers.
The Government derives a very large revenue from tea, which is subject to a manufacturing tax (practically an export tax) of 2.40 yen per pikul of 133 lb.
The money thus raised is largely expended, not always judiciously or to the best advantage, in advertising Formosan teas in the United States; but while the actual cultivation is, like that of rice and sugar, done by the Formosans, the export business is mainly in the hands of foreigners. There are also innumerable Chinese and other middle-men, all anxious to get a finger in the pie, so that although the consumer has to pay a high price for his tea, the percentage that goes to the actual producer is very small. The Formosan Government has long MODERN METHODS 139
realized the necessity of eliminating as many of these middle-men as possible and is contemplating the establishment of a central tea market, to which all tea would be brought for sale.
With a view to preventing the export of inferior teas the authorities also propose, from the beginning of the 1923 season, to establish a Government inspection office to which all teas destined for export must be submitted. In addition to this, they have determined to modernize the antiquated and uneconomic methods of producing and marketing tea in Formosa. For the existing system of peasant proprietorship they propose to substitute large tea estates on the Indian or Ceylon model, to be worked by associations of tea-growers. These associations will be assisted by subsidies, grants of seedlings, and fertilizers, and will also be encouraged, by the loan of tea-firing machinery, to adopt mechanical methods of manufacture instead of those at present employed.
The authorities attach much importance to the adoption of machinery, for they hold that it will never be possible, without it, to secure the standardization of quality and the reduction of producing costs at which they are aiming; and although opponents of the scheme hold that the peculiar and delicate Oolong flavour can never be secured by mechanical methods, the Government is determined to try the experiment.
"We take a great deal for granted in modern life.
I imagine that if one had never heard of the sun and woke up one morning and suddenly saw it for the first time, one would want to know a great deal about it. As it is, one just knows it is there every day (even if one cannot see it) and one thinks no more of it. It is very much the same with the ordinary cup of tea. How often, for instance, do 140 THE FERTILE PLAINS you who read these lines, having drunk your earlymorning cup (let us suppose of China tea), lie back on your pillows and, as you munch your piece of thin bread-and-butter, speculate on the adventures of those leaves which have just refreshed you for the onslaughts of another day? How often? Never.
Yet if you did, what a charming picture you might make of it. Hoi polloi, you would decide, came from China. "With them, for the moment, you are not concerned. But one little odd-shaped chap, you would feel sure, was a piece of Oolong from Formosa, put in, like a cherry in a cocktail, to round off the tout ensemble. And then would come a vision of a sunny hillside with rows and rows of dark-green bushes, and clustered about them Chinese maidens in pink tunics and blue tunics and trousers to match, their black hair, glossy with coconut oil, made blacker still by nestling creamy blossoms— all picking tea for you so that you might drink that early cup. You would see the drying, the firing, the bagging in the hills; the bickering of the merchants ; the haggling of the farmers in their efforts to get another sen a pound; the red-hot heat of the final firing-house; the packing of the lead-lined teachests, the long sea-voyage from the other side of the world to your grocer's ... to your kitchen . , . to your early-morning cup of tea.
Probably the gong would go before you came out of your reverie, but even though you were late for breakfast it would be worth it. For if you ever got as far as that you would pass on the story of the little brown leaf to the children, and then the drinking of a cup of tea would to them (until they forgot) be tinged with the scent of romance. But do you do it? No. You finish your bread-and-butter, take EXPERIMENTAL GARDENS 141 another gulp, mutter ''too strong," and then turn over and go to sleep again.
§ 5
The climate of Formosa is so favourable and the soil so fertile that almost every known tropical and sub-tropical plant will grow and thrive on the island.
The authorities, ever ready to make the most of their new colony, have long established agricultural stations and experimental gardens where the possibilities of economic plants are investigated in a scientific manner. In this connexion it may be of interest to mention that a private Japanese rubber company operating in North Borneo has established there an experimental station where all manner of tropical plants are cultivated; for some years this was the only station of its kind in the country, but the example of the Japanese has at last induced the Government authorities to start one of its own.
In Formosa the experimental stations have been particularly useful. The Formosan agriculturists are prone to cling to the methods of their ancestors.
But at the same time they are born gardeners, and, as such, when practical proof is given them of what more up-to-date and scientific methods of cultivation can do and produce—selection of seed, use of fertilizers and labour-saving devices—they are glad to avail themselves of them. Much has been done by the introduction of new species of sugar-cane. Successful experiments have been carried out with new species of indigo. Coffee, many new fruit-trees, and even American grapes have been obtained.
Japanese and American tobacco plants have been tried and do well.
Formosa may quite possibly have a future as a 142 THE FEETILE PLAINS
tobacco-growing country, although at the present time the authorities are concentrating their attention on sugar. The aborigines grow tobacco in a crude way in their hills, but they are ignorant of the narcotic principle of tobacco and their curing and preparation of the leaves is primitive. The Formosans grow a certain amount, mainly in the Taichu and Tainan Provinces and the Kwarenko Prefecture. The area under cultivation is about 4,000 acres, and the annual crop 4,250,000 lb. This is insufficient for the needs of the island and large quantities of tobacco are imported annually for local consumption.
Formosa lies in the same latitude as Cuba, and it is possible that conditions in the south of the island might be suitable , for the cultivation of the valuable wrapper leaf, which at the present time can only be grown successfully in the East on the Deli plain of Sumatra and the alluvial flats of North Borneo. The whole secret of success in tobacco planting is to have the right rain at the right moment : an untimely drought or deluge may spoil the whole crop. Droughts are uncommon in Formosa and the rainfall regular and well-distributed, so that the planting of the wrapper leaf, which, although more of a gamble, gives profits far in excess of those derived from ordinary tobacco, might well engage the attention of the Formosan Government.
The situation of the island is probably too far north for such purely tropical trees as rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) and the coconut. I did not see any rubber trees in the island; the coconuts I saw in the south were poor and unhealthy, but they were obviously neglected and full of beetles, and moreover coconut trees will not flourish as a rule in the vicinity AGRICULTURAL WEALTH 143
of sugar-cane. The palm is said to thrive on the island of Botel Tobago, a few miles east of the South Cape of Formosa, and with care and attention could probably be brought into bearing in the Takao Prefecture. If so, it would probably prove immensely profitable locally, owing to the many uses which can be found for every part of the tree as well as for the copra itself.
The tapioca plant and the areca (or betel) nut grow in the south, also the silk cotton tree, or kapok, which is now attracting much attention in the East.
The fleecy substance from its pods is used for stuffing pillows and mattresses; it is one of the easiest trees to cultivate in the world. The soap tree, the fruit of which can be used for washing purposes, is found all over the island, but is not cultivated. Of the oil plants the soya bean is the most important, and harvests can be obtained two or three times a year in the central and southern districts, while ground-nuts, a crop ever dear to the heart of the Chinese market gardener, are also planted in large quantities. The castor-oil plant grows wild, and sesame is cultivated both by the Formosans and the aborigines. Indigo was a flourishing form of planting when the Japanese took over the island, and even now, although it has been crowded out by tea and has depreciated in value owing to synthetic substitutes, there is a large local demand for it—indigoblue clothes being as fashionable among the Formosans as they are among the Chinese.
Of the fibres, some attention is paid to the cultivation of jute and ramie, or more properly China grass, and sisal hemp. For the latter particularly there are almost unlimited possibilities, for the plant will thrive on soil which would be unsuitable for any other. Fibre is also made by women from the leaves 144 THE FERTILE PLAINS
of the pineapple plant, which flourishes in the southern part of the island, for manufacture into grass cloth.
All this, and much else besides, will grow: the agricultural treasures of both tropic and temperate zones are poured into Formosa's lap. This is where she has the advantage over most other Eastern lands. It is easier to say what she cannot grow than what she can. If she had no other resources than those of agriculture, she might well be counted an island of vast potential wealth. CHAPTER VII
TAIHOKU: THE MODERN CAPITAL We reach Taihoku—A gathering of officials—The Railway Hotel— Comfortable quarters—The wrestler—I spend the next morning calling —The Government offices—The Governor-General's powers—DeBcription of Taihoku—Places of interest—Lack of shops—Japanese development of Formosa—Surprising changes in twenty-eight years— Contrast with conditions under Chinese regime—Gold, coal, and other minerals—Formosa a self-supporting colony—Comparison with State of North Borneo.
I § 1 WE arrived at Taihoku in a blaze of glory.
A host of officials was waiting for us on the platform as the train drew in; there seemed to be a never-ending procession of them as they were introduced, card in hand. Among them were Mr. Kamada, head of the Foreign Section (the immediate chief of Koshimura, who now effaced himself), Mr. Hosui, also of the Foreign Section and chief interpreter to the Governor-General, Mr. Yoshioka, an official of the Monopoly Bureau, and Major Akamatsu, who was on the Headquarters Staff of the Formosan garrison.
All but the latter spoke English and all were very anxious to do everything they could for us. On the train Koshimura had discovered the manager of the Railway Hotel; he had been brought up and introduced and had obligingly taken the checks of our baggage, volunteering to look after it for us, so that when we arrived we did not even have to find a porter. "We walked across from the station to the hotel, which exceeded our hopes. It is a very fine 10 145 146 TAIHOKU: THE MODERN CAPITAL
building conducted entirely upon "Western lines, and we found that its management combined courtesy and efficiency in an admirable fashion. Many hotel keepers in Europe might well take lessons from the Taihoku Railway Hotel; nor, as prices went in Eastern caravanserais, were the charges unduly high —we paid £2 10s. a day for a double bedroom and food, while in Japan prices were then ranging between £3 and £3 10s. for similar accommodation.
Our bedroom was large and well furnished, opening on to a wide veranda; the only drawback about the latter was that other bedrooms opened on to it as well, and in the mornings it was used by visitors as a convenient promenade on which to take an early constitutional before dressing. The bathrooms were excellent. For the first time in eighteen months we revelled in baths we could lie full length in; and then we sat down to a dinner as well cooked as it was served. 1 Except ourselves, there were no foreigners staying in the hotel—we had by now become accustomed to regarding ourselves as 'foreigners'—and the only other occupant of the dining-room was a Japanese wrestler. This was an enormous man, his kimono making him look even larger than he really was; his long hair was dressed in a top-knot in the fashion laid down for wrestlers, who in Japan are a race apart; he kept to the old traditions of dress, and even his cast of countenance was that of an oldtime warrior. He looked as if he had stepped out of a Japanese print. It seemed incongruous that he should be sitting on a chair plying a knife and fork, but nevertheless he was an awe-inspiring person and, as R. L. Stevenson said of Frangois Villon, 1 1 speak of the hotel as I found it. Other visitors, I am told, have not fared so well. AN UNEXPECTED MEETING 147 "I would not have gone down a dark road with him for a large consideration." I could not help thinking what an inspiration he would have been to an old-fashioned nurse, and I leant over and whispered to my wife : "If you don't eat up your dinner like a good girl, I shall give you to the wrestler !
' '
$2
On the following morning we found that the Foreign Section had planned a formidable day for us. I spent a couple of hours in a perfect orgy of card-shooting and calling upon various officials.
Each gave me the usual ceremonial cup of tea ; had they been whiskies-and-sodas I shudder to think what would have been my fate.
The headquarters of the Government at Taihoku are situated in a magnificent building which is lavishly decorated with marble and cost £300,000.
Koshimura took us up into a little tower which surmounts the building so that we could see the view. It seemed to us a rather violent (but very typical) piece of extravagance that it should have been fitted with a special lift, used for no other purpose than to save would-be sightseers like ourselves the trouble of walking up a few stairs. Having got a very good bird's-eye view of the town and having had the principal buildings and places of interest assiduously pointed out by Koshimura, we descended, and on emerging from the lift were sur- prised to find ourselves confronted with an ample figure in a frock-coat and a silk hat. It was as unexpected as if one had met someone in a kimono in Bond Street. Indeed, it was the only 'topper' I had ever seen east of Suez and we found that the distinction of owning it belonged to the United States 148 TAIHOKU: THE MODERN CAPITAL
Consul, who was the first white man we had met since we had been on the island, The white foreign community in Formosa is a very small one and, with the exception of the missionaries and the British Consul, is concentrated entirely in Taihoku. Besides the United States Consul, it consists of the representatives of three British and three American tea-export firms, one British and one American firm of general export and import merchants, and one British and one American oil company. There are also a couple of teachers of English in Japanese schools. There is a foreign club in Taihoku with a membership of about twenty, but in the winter months the community is very small, since the tea men are all away.
The Governor-General of Formosa, Baron Denn, was in Japan when we reached Taihoku, but Koshimura took us to call upon his Chief of Staff, the Director-General, who, however, was at the time also absent from the capital on a tour of inspection with the Commander-in-Chief* The Governor-General, who is appointed directly by the Emperor, is invested with the government of the island under the control of the Prime Minister of Japan. In the last few years his powers have been curtailed considerably, Formerly the appointment could be filled only by an admiral or a general, but now a civilian is eligible. If a civilian Governor is chosen, he is not given the supreme command of the local forces and has the right to call upon the Commander-in-Chief for military aid only when he deems it necessary for the preservation of public order. Laws in force in Japan are now applied, wholly or in part, to Formosa by Imperial ordinance, and the Governor-General may not issue edicts having the force of law save in exceptional - M
THE GOVERNMENT OFFICES, TAIHOKU.
148]
THE PAT.ACE OF THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL. THE GOVERNOR'S PALACE 149
circumstances, and even then the validity of all such edicts is subject to Imperial sanction.
The Governor-General's Palace, although perhaps not quite so grand as it sounds, is yet a residence of considerable dignity. Mr. Takekoshi has some interesting remarks to make upon its construction: "Many objections were raised at first to the ex- penditure, but it seems to me quite justifiable. The fact is that both our Chinese and Formosan subjects are very materialistic, seeing nothing great save in the glitter of gold, a gorgeous military display, pompous ceremonies, and magnificent buildings. A Chinese poet in the Tang dynasty once sang, 'How shall the people realize the Emperor's majesty, if the Imperial palace be not stately?' In order to establish the national prestige in the island and eradicate the native yearnings after the past, it is most fitting that the authorities should erect substantial and imposing buildings, and thus show that it is their determination to rule the country permanently," 1 ; >- : ;' The Japanese, although a simple-living people even in what are known as 'the highest circles,' nevertheless understand the psychology of the people they have come to rule. Perhaps it would be more correct to say that they understand the psychology of human nature. The enormous sums which were formerly spent by Germany on the housing and surroundings of her representatives, on 'gorgeous military display' and 'pompous cere- monies,' were undoubtedly a very important contributory cause of her successful diplomacy; and when one considers how badly our own representatives, especially consuls, are sometimes housed in foreign countries, one cannot help saying, in paraphrase of 1 Japanese Rule in Formosa, p. 16. 150 TAIHOKU: THE MODERN CAPITAL the Chinese poet of the Tang dynasty, "How shall foreign people realize the Empire's majesty if it cannot give its own consul a decent office f" On the other hand, the political conditions under which the Formosans live need improvement. Although the Japanese profess to consider Formosa an extension of the ' homeland,' they neither give the Formosans any votes for a delegate to the Imperial Diet, nor have they established any local assembly in which the Formosans may air their views. Since 1920 the Formosan Government Advisory Council has been composed of officials and non-official members, among the latter being a number of Formosans ; but it is a purely consultative body, and its sole function is that of delivering an opinion on matters expressly referred to it by the Governor-General.
A section of the Formosans has been agitating recently for the establishment of a separate Parliament for the colony, but petitions to the Diet, as was only to be expected, have been refused. Not content with this refusal, however, the Japanese authorities in Formosa have caused those responsible for the petitions to suffer for their audacity in various ways —such as dismissal from subordinate posts, en- forced resignations, deprivation of privileges, or financial pressure. Such a policy, although repugnant to the Anglo-Saxon mind, is a contrast to some of our own politicians ' easy tolerance of Indian agitators and Irish gunmen.
Another point to be noticed is that not a single Formosan occupies anything but a very subordinate official position. It seems clear that the Japanese have no desire to train the natives of the island to occupy posts of responsibility, and that they consider that safety and efficiency lie in retaining all power in their own hands. This state of affairs RESTEICTION OF THE PRESS 151
does not, however, make for the happiness and contentment of the governed, who have no outlet for their feelings even in the carefully controlled local press. It is said that the only way to find out what really is going on in the island is to subscribe to a newspaper published in Japan, where the freedom of the press suffers less restriction.
Taihoku, the seat of the Formosan Government, has some 173,000 inhabitants. Until 1922, when the whole city was amalgamated and the streets given Japanese names, it was divided into three sections —Daitotei, Manka, and Jonai. In Daitotei, which extends along the banks of the Tamsui River, are located the Tea Market and the offices of foreign firms, the population being almost entirely Formosan. Manka, to the south, the oldest part of the city, is also occupied mainly by the Chinese and Formosan sections of the community, both as a residential and as a commercial quarter. Jonai is the modern and most prosperous section, containing the Government offices, Japanese banks and commercial houses, hospitals, and hotels, and also the private houses of the Japanese.
It was round Jonai that Koshimura hustled us in rickshaws, anxious that we should miss nothing that was (in his opinion) worth seeing. We visited the Museum, where there was an excellent collection of the weapons, utensils, and arts and crafts of the aborigines, on whom Mr. Mori, the curator, is an authority. There were also many exhibits from what the Japanese call the South Sea Islands and what we call the East Indies and Malaya. The first time Koshimura told me he had been sent on an official tour of the South Sea Islands, I asked him what he thought of Samoa, and only then discovered that he was referring to Java and Sumatra. 152 TAIHOKU : THE MODERN CAPITAL At my special request we were taken over the printing office of the leading Taihoku newspaper, which, like all others in the island, is printed in Japanese characters. All the type-setting was by hand. "We came to the conclusion that the lot of the Japanese compositor who has to cope with thousands of different ideographs must be a bitter one and that of the Japanese proof-reader more bitter still. It is unlikely that the Japanese will ever abandon the institution of their national writing for the more convenient Roman characters of Western nations, yet it must be admitted that their conservatism in this matter makes modern education in the Empire much more formidable than it might be. It takes something like eight years of study for a Japanese to learn to read and write his own language with any proficiency, and although the fact that he does accomplish this task and much else besides is a testimony to his industry, the foreigner cannot but feel that the time spent in learning merely to interpret the written or printed word might well be utilized in other ways. In competition with the "Western student the Japanese has a handicap of plus eight in years.
Afer leaving the printing office we saw the Government Laboratory and the Government Hospital, both excellent buildings equipped with modern appliances. In the hospital the Japanese sisters looked very attractive in their white uniforms. In the operating-rooms we saw one thing that certainly was not copied from the "West, for at the top of the walls were panes of glass, through which the relatives of the unfortunate victims are allowed to gaze while the surgeons are at work.
In spite of all the imposing buildings and in A STREET IX TAIHOKU.
THE MUSEUM.
1521 A TRANSFORMATION 153
spite, too, of Koshimura's previous assurances, we found the Taihoku shops, from our point of view, very disappointing. There was nothing to buy.
Nothing, that is, of any interest to a mere foreigner.
We could not even find a bar of chocolate. Although foreign cigarettes, imported by the Monopoly Bureau, are on sale, the only ones we could find were Formosans, though these are certainly harmless and not unpleasant. The lack of the type of shops which attracts the foreigner is a proof of how few travellers go to Formosa, when one thinks of the number of establishments in Japan which exist solely to batten on the European or American by catering cunningly for his taste in curios, silk or damascene work. When I told Koshimura that I did not think his Taihoku shops came up to what he had led us to expect, he simply put his head on one side and said: "I think better to wait till you arrive Tokyo." Although its shops are built on the usual diminutive plan, Taihoku is undoubtedly laid out on a finer scale than any other city in the Japanese Empire, with wide streets, spacious parks, and public buildings which would not disgrace any capital in the world. Before the Japanese came to the island Taihoku was little more than a dirty Chinese village. Now it is a thriving city. As the populations of cities go, its inhabitants are not numerous, but it has been built with an eye to the future. Millions of yen have been spent upon its reconstruction; there has been no hand-to-mouth building because funds were inadequate—it was decided that Formosa should be developed on an elaborate scale and that the capital should be in keeping with this development. It is a model of what a colonial city should ]be. The Japanese have been mindful of their 154 TAIHOKU: THE MODERN CAPITAL
national prestige, and by creating a capital worthy of the island they have shown that they intend to foster the development of the country in every possible way.
Much of this development of the island as a whole has been accomplished already. In fact in twentyeight years the Japanese have done marvels. I doubt whether any colony of like size could show such progression in so short a period. Nor have the Japanese been in the position of dwarfs standing upon giants' shoulders; they have not built up the prosperity of the island on foundations laid by others. All they have had has been the rich natural resources of the island, which, save for sporadic attempts on the part of the Chinese, had been in an undeveloped state for centuries. When they took Formosa over from China, few civilized institutions existed. The Government was corrupt and unstable ; life and property were insecure; the country was ravaged by bands of brigands who wandered about and plundered at will. There were few, if any, modern buildings. The sanitary condition of the towns was typical of the Chinese, who are notorious for the filthy conditions under which they are content to live. Epidemics were common, and these, coupled with the fact that there were no hospitals in the island (except for those of the foreign missions) and only the ordinary quack Chinese doctors, kept back the increase and prosperity of the population. Education was no less primitive. Only 62 miles of badly constructed railway line existed, and nothing but earth roads which in wet weather became impassable for traffic. No efforts had been made to improve by artificial means such harbours THE EWE LAMB 155
as the island possessed, so that trade suffered in consequence. The agricultural, mineral, and forest resources were not exploited in a scientific manner with modern machinery ; large tracts of fertile land remained uncultivated, and the eastern hills were for the most part unknown territory, inhabited by wild tribes which had been made so hostile by countless acts of tyranny and oppression that no one cared to venture near them, much less make any attempts to bring them under Government control.
This, then, was the position of the island on the arrival of the Japanese, after having been under Chinese rule for two centuries. The new-comers were confronted with a difficult task; it was more difficult than if they had taken over a land merely inhabited by aborigines, for on every side they met with a stubborn resistance, at first active and subsequently passive, from the conservative Chinesebred Formosan settlers. On the other hand, they had two very material aids. One was a large and hardworking agricultural population, which, once persuaded to accept the reforms in its own interests, was invaluable in the development of the island. The other was the fact that Formosa was a ewe lamb. Japan had for many years longed to have a colony of her own, as a childless woman longs to have a baby. Once she had got it she was prepared to lavish every care upon it; expense was a small consideration if she could but make it all that a colony should be. Formosa, as an only child of Japan, was given everything necessary for its upbringing, whereas had it been one of a large family (such as the British Empire) it might have had to go without.
From the first the Japanese realized the possibilities of Formosa; indeed they had realized them, 156 TAIHOKU: THE MODERN CAPITAL
one may be sure, many years before the island came into their hands. From the first they were intent upon progress and they wasted no time. Once the upstart republic had been broken, the brigands put down, and the country (all, that is, save the 'savage' area) pacified, the civil administration of the island was organized on the lines of the Imperial Government Service in Japan. Courts of justice were established, whereby crime was efficiently dealt with and private individuals were enabled to obtain re- dress for their wrongs. Modern prisons were built ; a police service was organized with small stations all over the island. Public buildings were erected and measures were taken to improve the streets and the sanitary conditions of the towns. Fifty thousand pounds were spent on hospitals. Waterworks, artesian wells, and reservoirs were made. Precautions were taken against outbreaks of epidemics, such as cholera and smallpox, so that there is now no danger of them sweeping through the country like a fire as they were wont to do in days of old.
The Japanese have undoubtedly influenced the increase of the population, which has risen from 2,500,000 in 1896 to 3,250,000 at the present time. A considerable proportion of this increase is, of course, due to immigration; at the same time the death-rate has been materially reduced, and although malaria is still a prevalent disease, it is probable that as swamps in the neighbourhood of towns are drained, conditions will be further improved.
Under Japanese administration life and property became secure and the economic position of the labouring class also became less unenviable, for as development went forward wages increased, until now they are between twice and three times as high as they were under Chinese rule ; moreover, as wages COMMUNICATIONS 157
increased the farmers found that they could obtain almost double for their products. This was not an artificial inflation of prices, but rather a natural increase in the standard of living for all classes.
Careful attention was given to the problem of education, with the results that have already been shown, and in time the people came to be benefited considerably thereby. The whole question of communications was gone into. A system of telegraphs was established, and there are now over 3,000 miles of line in the island, while telephones are in use in the towns and there is wireless communication between Keelung and Japan. 1 The construction of railways was taken in hand energetically and also the construction of the even more-needed roads, The Japanese, it must be admitted, do not excel as roadmakers—most of the road over which I have travelled in Japan are bad or, at the best, indifferent —but even indifferent metalled roads are better than earth roads or no roads at all. In Formosa much of the early roadmaking was done, as it usually is under such conditions, by the army. At the present time there are said to be over 6,000 miles of public roads in Formosa, the payment for the work having been made partly by the inhabitants by a system of local taxation in kind, but outside the big towns the roads are not good, A trunk road which will run through the island from north to south is contemplated and a good road is under construction between Keelung and Taihoku, but at present there is not even a bridge across the Tamsui Eiver at Taihoku. There was one a few years ago, but it was washed away and has never been rebuilt. The hill districts, where it has been impracticable so far to 1 A new installation is contemplated, to be placed in the tower of the Government offices at Taihoku, 158 TAIHOKU: THE MODERN CAPITAL
make roads, have been opened up by means of 'pushcars' on light trolley lines.
To ensure an adequate service of communications by sea large sums were spent on making the existing harbours possible for ocean-going steamers to enter, and the Government subsidized two of the principal shipping companies in Japan, the Nippon Yusen Kaisha and the Osaka Shosen Kaisha, to run boats connecting Formosa with Japan, China, and the East Indies. At the present time the island is ex- tremely well served in this respect: comfortably equipped N.Y.K. and O.S.K. passenger steamers run from Kobe to Keelung twelve times a month; the O.S.K. boats on the Kobe-Hong Kong-Java line touch at Keelung and Takao monthly; there is a service every ten days from Keelung to Shanghai, and a weekly one from Keelung to Hong Kong, while another boat runs from Takao to Canton every fortnight. Local services also maintain communications with the east coast ports, the Pescadores, the Loochoos, and other outlying islands.
§ 5
Every effort was also made by the Japanese to exploit the natural riches of the island. As time went on the salt, camphor, and tobacco industries were taken over by the Government as State monopolies. Agriculture was fostered and inducements were held out to plant up fresh land. The timber resources, till then hardly tapped at all, were worked and attention was devoted to the exploitation of the minerals.
The mining industry in Formosa is one that so far I have not mentioned. It is both rich and important, although when the Japanese first came to the island they were so preoccupied with other GOLD 159
matters that less attention was given to the speculative pursuits of minerals than to the more assured profits which were to be gained from agriculture and timber.
The most important minerals found hitherto in Formosa are gold, copper, coal, and oil. The gold occurs mainly in the north of the island. Although its presence is said to have been discovered by the early Japanese settlers, by the Dutch, and by the followers of Koxinga, each party seems to have carried the secret away on leaving the country, for the Chinese had been in occupation for two hundred years before they discovered alluvial gold. This occurred in 1890, when the railway bridge over the Keelung Eiver was being built. A rush of goldwashers followed and subsequently gold deposits were found in other localities as well.
At the present time both gold-washing and quartzmining are being carried on successfully, but only Japanese subjects are allowed to engage or even to have an interest in the industry, licences being issued by the Government under strict supervision. The value of the gold output increased from £4,000 in 1897 to £200,000 in 1916; in 1920 it had dropped to £70,000 and is still decreasing ; but to my mind there are great possibilities of gold being discovered in far greater quantities than hitherto when the hill countries are opened up. The rivers of the east coast are known to be rich in gold-bearing sands, and the alluvial gold, which is found over a wide area, increases in richness as one ascends the rivers.
There are very early traditions of the aborigines knowing and working gold, a fact which aroused the cupidity of the Chinese, who not infrequently perpetrated the most barbarous atrocities to obtain possession of it. It seems probable that when the 160 TAIHOKU: THE MODERN CAPITAL
* savage' area is sufficiently opened up for proper mineralogical explorations and surveys to be made, large reefs of gold-bearing quartz may be found, the parent rock from which so much of the alluvial deposits come. The same may be said of the copper, which was not mined at all before the Japanese occupation. Considerable deposits have been found in close proximity to the gold, and the annual value of the output is about £60,000.
Coal is far more widely distributed than gold; it occurs all over the island and even in the Pescadores, although the northern deposits have so far proved the most valuable, 90 per cent, of the output coming from the neighbourhood of Keelung. Although of inferior quality and unable to compete with that produced in China or Japan, it enjoys an increasing export, Hong Kong being the principal market. The value of the coal produced annually has increased from £10,000 in 1897 to £1,000,000 in 1922, the total output for that year being over a million tons.
Many indications of petroleum have been found, and, although there are no wells being worked on a large scale, there seems to be a good chance of valuable discoveries being made in the future. As long ago as 1866 Mr. John Dodd found that the Chinese were collecting oil in an area close to the native border ; realizing the possibilities, he induced the owner of the land to rent it to him for the purpose of sinking wells, but the authorities soon came to hear of his undertaking and, not content with ex- pelling him from the district on the pretext that it was unsafe owing to the raids of the aborigines, they even went to the length of beheading the unfortunate farmer for leasing his land to a foreigner.
Several sulphur pits exist and are worked in the UNTAPPED RESOURCES 161
island, especially in the extreme north, where, in the hills and amidst traces of craters and extinct volcanic action, there occur hot sulphur springs.
The best known of these is seven miles north of Taihoku at Hokuto, which has been turned into a health-resort and a sanatorium by the Japanese.
Silver, which has been found in unimportant quantities (the annual output is about 20,000 ounces, valued at £5,000), makes up the total of the minerals which have so far been discovered in Formosa.
The full mineral wealth of a country is not located in a decade, nor yet in a century. The area which remains to be searched is vast and what lies beneath the surface of those jungle hills still held by the aborigines no one can tell. It will be surprising if they do not yield treasures which will add immensely to the colony's prosperity. Meanwhile the known minerals are being worked on an increasingly large scale every year and their annual value is over a million sterling.
§ 6
Thus have the Japanese exploited their island colony. Everything they have touched seems to have turned to money. Hardly a yen seems to have been spent in vain. They have proved themselves efficient colonial administrators in every department save, in my opinion, one : and that is the pacification of the aborigines, a matter to which further reference will be made in later pages. Even here, it must be admitted, they have made great improvements on the conditions which existed under the Chinese administration.
With the exception of the settlement of the aborigines, however, the Japanese have done what they set out to do. They have made Formosa pay. Just 11 162 TAIHOKU : THE MODERN CAPITAL as one may pour water into a pump to make it start functioning, so the Japanese poured money into their colony to make it start producing revenue.
They have succeeded, for most of the industries which have received Government support now produce handsome profits and yield a large amount of revenue, so that since 1905 the colony has been selfsupporting. Even in the previous decade it had only received £3,000,000 from the Mother Country, and now, besides having enough revenue for its own needs, it is in a position to render material assistance to the Treasury of Japan; for example, since 1914 the tax on all Formosan sugar consumed in Japan has been paid to the Imperial Treasury. Direct taxation cannot be said to be heavy, for it only averages sixteen shillings per head, yet the total revenue of the colony has increased from £1,000,000 sterling in 1897 to £11,000,000 at the present time.
Imports have risen from £1,500,000 in 1897 to £13,000,000, exports from £1,500,000 to £15,000,000, the principal imports (in order of importance) being oil-cake, cotton and silk textiles, raw sugar, rice, dried and salted fish, iron, cotton cloth, and machinery, and the most important exports sugar, rice, tea, coal, bananas, camphor, and alcohol.
There are now seven main Japanese banks operating in the island, and these have played a considerable part in its financial and economical progress. Credit in this respect is particularly due to the Bank of Taiwan, which was established in Taihoku in 1899 with a capital of half a million sterling, and soon attained the status of an institution such as the Bank of Japan. Its capital is now £6,000,000 sterling. It has been of inestimable value to the colony in extending accommodation to trade and private enterprise; it has supplied funds for THE BANK OF TAIWAN 163
industry, and if its rates of interest have been high, borrowers would have been forced to pay still higher rates to private lenders. 1 Acting for the Government, it has reformed the currency and circulates its own notes. It has branches in China and Malaya, and every day many Londoners who pass its massive offices in Old Broad Street must wonder vaguely, as they glance at the legend 'Bank of Taiwan,' where on earth Taiwan is. Two of the main reasons for the rapid increase in the prosperity of Formosa have been the efficiency of the banking institutions and the stabilizing of the monetary system, for these things, together with the maintenance of public security, induced Japanese capitalists to turn their attention to the new possession. For example, in 1899 there were only four public companies operating in the island ; now there are over two hundred.
All the development, brought about in so short a period and with such profitable results, was particularly interesting to me, for I had just come from a country which, after having been administrated for forty years by the British North Borneo Company (incorporated by Royal Charter), still has less than 1 per cent, of its area opened up. Formosa was to me an object-lesson in what can be done with sound administration and enterprise, and —most important of all—money. A colony may have sound administration, but that, although it may improve the conditions of the people, can alone never make for economic prosperity, while enterprise can 1 The Bank, however, lost vast sums in the post-war slump ; loans were advanced on inadequate security and money was wasted on unprofitable enterprises in the East Indies and elsewhere. It is now announced that the Bank will confine itself once more to its legitimate sphere of business. 164 TAIHOKU : THE MODERN CAPITAL
do no more without capital behind it than a churn can make butter without milk.
The Chartered Company has done much in North Borneo, but how little compared with what the Japanese would have done, for I doubt if Borneo is a naturally poorer country than Formosa; agriculturally it certainly is not, in timber it is richer, while if its minerals have so far proved elusive, that is probably because no one has hunted for them on a large scale. Yet after forty years there are no more than forty miles of State roads in North Borneo, while the Japanese have made 6,000 miles in less than three decades; there are a little more than 100 miles of railway, while the Japanese have 500; there are two saw-mills and a cutch works, while in Formosa industrial factories can be numbered by the hundred; there are only twenty-five public companies operating in North Borneo, and in Formosa there are nearly ten times as many.
These comparisons are not made with the intention of belittling North Borneo, a country which I love, nor of disparaging the work of the Chartered Company, which has struggled bravely, often against adverse and difficult conditions. But it is illuminating, and not unprofitable, to see what can be done with a young and undeveloped country when the necessary money is available. The Chartered Company's nominal capital is only £2,000,000 sterling, whereas the Formosan Government had the wealth of the Japanese Empire behind it. There is no doubt that had Japan, instead of a small body of English gentlemen, secured North Borneo in 1878, the country would present a very different spectacle to-day. It is true that North Borneo was not as fortunate as Formosa in having a considerable population of Chinese-bred agriculturists, but one may AN INDUSTRIAL CONQUEST 165 be sure that the Japanese would have spared no pains and expense to induce emigrants to come from China. How the native population would have fared at their hands is another matter.
There can be no doubt that, if the capital is available, the Japanese way of opening up a country as far as possible without waste of time is the right way. In such a case the Government is in the similar position to that of a landlord who acquires a dilapidated block of flats. As a man of sense he has them repaired and refitted; he installs electric light ; he puts in lifts. In consequence the flats are not long without tenants and he rakes in his returns.
But had he chosen, or been compelled, to do up one flat at a time in the hope that the rent from each would pay for the repairs to the next, his profits would be small indeed.
In the profitable expansion of a colonial possession that has come into their hands by the fortune of war the Japanese have nothing to learn from anyone.
Their accomplishment in Formosa is all the more extraordinary when it is remembered that, al (.hough the success has been achieved by Japanese brains and Japanese capital, the labour has not been Japanese. Mr. J. 0. P. Bland, in writing of Korea, which has also been extensively developed by the Japanese, mentions the same thing: ''The fact stands out that all this development is administrative, and that most of the work is done by native labour. It is part of the Japanese Government's liberal policy of feeding Japan's home industries by the establishment, with all possible safeguards for the future, of new markets for the consumption of Japanese manufactures. It is a conquest by bank and railway." ' 1 Japan, China, and Korea, p. 149. 166 TAIHOKU : THE MODEEN CAPITAL
In some respects this is equally true of Japan's development of Formosa, though there she has the advantage of obtaining through her foresight large exports of much-needed supplies such as sugar, rice, and salt (to say nothing of the camphor with which she supplies the world), as well as finding markets for her own commercial product. At the same time, it must be remembered that Japan has not colonized the island in the sense that Great Britain colonized Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, or, for that matter, as the Chinese colonized Formosa itself.
The Japanese does not go to Formosa to work with his hands. He goes as an official or as a merchant or as a planter, just as an Englishman goes to Ceylon or an American to the Philippines. CHAPTER VIII
THE DIRECTOR-GENERAL'S DINNER-PARTY
The invitation to dinner from the Director-General—Our apprehensions—The British Consul and his wife—Our attractive hostess— Dinner served in Chinese fashion—Our host makes a speech in Japanese —The response—The question of Japan's overspill—Japanese the most unwanted race in the world—An open door in North Borneo—Japanese modern life—The influence of the West—Where the Japanese fail.
ON our return to the Eailway Hotel after a slightly exhausting day we had to dress for a dinner-party to which we had been bidden by the Director-General.
Mr. Hosui, of the Foreign Section, had told us on our arrival that His Excellency wished to give an entertainment in our honour. He thought it would be rather dull, he said, if we were to have Western food, and asked me whether I should like to dine in Japanese or Chinese fashion. As I knew that neither my wife nor I would have any success with Japanese food, I replied (I hoped tactfully) that as we had had the opportunity of sampling one or two Japanese dinners, a Chinese one would be a greater novelty to us. Mr. Hosui agreed, and later a messenger brought the invitation, beautifully written in Japanese characters on a card embossed with the crest of the Formosan Government.
Koshimura was unfortunately away when it arrived, so that I had to get the obliging hotel manager to translate it for me, learnt that we were expected at
167 168 DIRECTOR-GENERAL'S DINNER-PARTY
6.30 that evening, and sent an acceptance by the waiting messenger.
I had spent so much time in calling on Japanese officials that it seemed the least I could do would be to drop one of my last cards on Mr. G. H. Phipps, the British Consul. As he lived at Tamsui, fourteen miles away, this was rather difficult, so I telephoned to him instead, and then found, with some relief, that his wife and he were also to be present at His Excellency's dinner-party. They were kind enough to call for us at the hotel before we started, and I sounded Phipps on the possibility of speeches being sprung upon us. He thought that I was safe, as the occasion was an informal one, and postprandial oratory unlikely. This I found very comforting.
§ 2
When we arrived at the Director-General's we were met by Mr. Hosui, who ushered us into a sitting-room where all the guests were assembled.
The Director-General himself, we found, had been prevented by urgent business from returning to the capital, but his wife acted as hostess, and Mr. Suyematsu, his deputy, who had himself paid a brief official visit to North Borneo, welcomed us in his stead. Besides our host and hostess, the Consul and Mrs. Phipps, my wife and myself, there were six guests, most of whom talked English. Each of them was presented in turn. One was a very old gentleman who appeared in a frock-coat instead of uniform or evening dress. He had a large round face which reminded me of ex-President Kruger without a beard, and he must have had a very dull evening, for I did not hear him utter one word of English OUR HOSTESS 169
or any other language the whole time, nor did I ever discover what high office of State he held. I can only hope that he enjoyed his dinner. The other guests were known to us already—Mr. Kamada and Mr. Hosui, the genial staff-major, Mr. Murota, military interpreter, and Mr. Yoshioka, the chief of the camphor section of the Monopoly Bureau.
The room in which we were received was furnished in Western fashion and was therefore not particularly beautiful. Excellent cocktails were handed round, and then we went in to dinner in an adjoining room. On a little table was a plan of the seats; there were name-cards at our places. The dinner was served at a table and we sat on chairs : so far everything savoured of the West.
My wife sat between Mr. Suyematsu and Mr.
Hosui; I between my hostess and Mr. Yoshioka.
Mr. Suyematsu spoke a little English and Mr. Hosui spoke it excellently, so that my wife fared well.
But unfortunately my hostess spoke not a word of either English or French. TJngallantly enough, I had to abandon all attempts at conversation and leave her to the Consul, who talked to her in fluent Japanese, much to my envy, for she was delightfully attractive. She was dressed most becomingly in a dark kimono, the only Western thing about her a beautiful sapphire marquise ring, and every now and then her calm face was ruffled into smiles by little gusts of laughter.
Mr. Yoshioka I found very easy to get on with.
He was a man of the world; he had travelled much; he had spent several years in England, and he had a better knowledge of English literature than many Englishmen. Scott, he told me, particularly appealed to him as a novelist, for he found so many interesting parallels between the times of which he 170 DIRECTOR-GENERAL'S DINNER-PARTY
wrote and the days of the old daimyos, or feudal barons, of Japan. We were passing the time very pleasantly when suddenly the Major, warming to the influence of a good dinner, burst out into English, of which he had previously disclaimed all knowledge. "We all chaffed him, and he rocked to and fro in his seat with merriment, after which proceedings became much less formal.
Course followed course in tiny bowls with metal covers. The latter had their advantages, for if you disliked the contents of the bowl you could toy with them for a bit and then pop the lid on, so that nobody noticed what you had left. Chopsticks were provided, but besides them forks had been thoughtfully laid for us. I made no bones about using mine, but my wife put in some useful work with her chopsticks, much to the delight of our host. In sherry glasses was served what at first I took to be hock, gently warmed, and it was not until I had drunk two glasses that I discovered it was sake. Then came some Burgundy, and our host rose. Mr.
Hosui rose with him. I thought that the dinner was at an end and was just going to grab my glass to gulp down my Burgundy before getting up myself, when, to my horror, Mr. Suyematsu began a speech in Japanese.
§ 3
There are perhaps few more trying social ex- periences than to have a speech made at you in a tongue of which you know absolutely nothing. You may attempt to look intelligent, but only succeed in looking idiotic. There are pitfalls on every side.
You are bound to smile in the wrong place and you A SPEECH IN JAPANESE 171
are certain not to smile when you are expected to, which is worse.
Our host, however, did not intend to keep us long in ignorance of what he was talking about, for, after his oration had lasted two or three minutes, he paused, and Mr. Hosui, who stood at his side, translated for our benefit. While he was doing so, Mr.
Suyematsu remained wrapped in thought, and when the translation was ended took up the thread of his discourse again. This process was repeated several times, and it seems to me an excellent recipe for successful public-speaking. One has plenty of time to think out well-turned phrases and there is little danger of leaving out anything one wants to say.
Mr. Suyematsu 's speech lasted about fifteen minutes, during which the most admirable sentiments were expressed. He described how kindly he had been received on his visit to North Borneo and how pleased he was to be able to show Japan's island colony to visitors from that pleasant land. He en- larged upon the advantages of close friendship, national and personal, between the British and the Japanese, and ended by exhorting us to come to Formosa again.
While this speech was in progress there was a good deal of thought going on in the DirectorGeneral's dining-room; for if our host was thinking out a fresh paragraph while Mr. Hosui was interpreting his last, I was thinking still harder while Mr. Suyematsu was making his observations in Japanese. To all but the accomplished after-dinner speaker the knowledge that one has to make a speech before one can leave the table is enough to spoil any meal. Mercifully I had been spared this prolonged apprehension (thanks to Phipps), but I was 172 DIRECTOR-GENERAL'S DINNER-PARTY no little exercised in my mind to think of something to say that would please our hosts.
However, when Mr. Hosui had interpreted the last passage and, with his chief, had sat down, I rose and thanked them for the kindness their Government had shown us two passers-by. I must say that I did this whole-heartedly, for no people could have been more hospitable than they were being to us; there are few countries in the world where any traveller could meet with so warm a welcome, no matter who he was or what his credentials were. As an American would say, everything had opened and shut for us. Then I went on to tell them how the number of their countrymen had increased in North Borneo in recent years, what peaceful settlers they made, and how much they had done to assist in opening up a part of that little-known land, and how one of their rubber estates now had a larger acreage under rubber than any in the State.
"I hope you will go on coming to North Borneo,' ' I said. "It is a young country. There are thousands of acres of good agricultural land to be had on easy terms. There is enough elbow-room for everyone, and you will find a welcome." No one interpreted for me, as all those present (except the old gentleman in the frock-coat) could understand English, though one or two did not venture to talk it, and so I had to get my discourse off in one spasm. Phipps, however, told me afterwards that I could have hardly said anything that would have pleased them more than to tell them there was indeed a country in which Japanese were not unwelcome.
I assured him that I had meant what I had said.
When you have a country the size of Scotland, with its valuable resources largely uncultivated, it would WHY JAPAN IS FEARED 173
surely be a dog-in-the-manger policy, as well as a very foolish one, to keep out anyone intent upon genuine enterprise, whatever his nationality. In a country which has been exploited already, and where life has become the game of grab it does under such conditions, it is another story. One may sympathize with those who, having come first and taken the risks, fear that others may wrest from them what they have so hardly obtained. One may sympathize, too, with those who, living in the country which has only a limited amount of work for its white population, fear that an influx of Asiatic labour would swamp and undersell the existing settlers. In such cases, it may perhaps be admitted, the policy of 'what I hold I keep' is right. But in North Borneo there is more agricultural land lying idle than is likely to be taken up by Europeans for the next halfcentury, there are many possible industries which have been waiting for years for someone to come and work them. There is no white labour in the country, so that the problem of Asiatic competition does not exist, in fact the crying need of the territory is increased population.
Even if this were not so, there would be no danger of Japanese labour becoming a menace, for the simple reason that the Japanese coolie class does not thrive in the tropics as the Chinese coolie does.
The experiment of importing Japanese labour for Japanese estates has been tried and it has failed.
The Japanese who go to North Borneo are either the small shopkeeper class or those who come as employers of labour. The latter are either small planters or employees of large companies who follow in the wake of Japanese capital.
The competition to be feared, then (if it is to be feared), is that of capital, not that of labour. Now, 174 DIRECTOR-GENERAL'S DINNER-PARTY North Borneo lias been awaiting European capital for forty years with open arms. A certain amount has come, but not enough. There is room for a hundred times as much. And if the Japanese see opportunities in this tropical country which lies so much nearer to their own than it does to ours, if they care to put down the money and to take the risks, there appears to be no reason why they should not be encouraged. It seems to me that under the circumstances there is only one ground on which they could be discouraged, and that is that a large colony of Japanese might be a potential danger to the State in the unlikely event of a war breaking out between Great Britain and Japan. To my mind this is a risk not worth thinking about; no State would deserve to succeed if it allowed itself to be dominated by such craven fears. Even if a state of war ever did exist between ourselves and Japan, it is unlikely that there would be sufficient numbers of Japanese in North Borneo to overcome or even seriously embarrass the Government and military police. It is unlikely that they would try, for Borneo would be at the best an ephemeral possession until the British Navy were swept from the seas; and if that happened the Japanese could walk in anyhow.
So I say with conviction that North Borneo should welcome the Japanese, who will, in my opinion, do nothing but add to its economic prosperity. They are well-behaved and law-abiding settlers. They work hard, they are enterprising, and they have money to spend. They give no trouble, and they are an acquisition to the population of any tropical country, whether one happens to like their individual characteristics or not.
To anyone who did not know the prejudices that JAPAN'S OVERSPILL 175
exist in most countries against Japanese settlers, all this might seem obvious. But at the present time the Japanese are the most unwanted race in the world. Japan has a large and growing population; the urge of emigration is upon her, just as it has been upon us for centuries. She has a just need of expansion, and what has been well called her * overspill' has to be accommodated somewhere.
1 ' When we are dealing with the problem of the Far East," said a leader-writer in the Spectator recently, 1 "we ought, for fear of misunderstanding, to say that we have no desire that Japan should be shut up in a water-tight compartment. It may be that in Korea and the other territory which she has acquired during the last twenty years there is room for the overspill of her population. But if this is not so, then most assuredly Japan must have some area marked out for the future accommodation of her surplus inhabitants. This need for new homes must not, of course, be allowed to disturb the communities which prefer their own special forms of growth and development ; but, on the other hand, Japan must not have her just claims for ex- pansion met with a mere veto." The point is, however, in which direction Japan can extend. Her labouring classes do not readily adapt themselves to climatic conditions different from those prevailing in their native land : Formosa is too hot for them, Korea too cold. Outside her own territory nobody wants her. Where, then, are you going to let her go? Give her a chunk of Australia? The Australians, intent upon a 'White Australia, ' would say, ' ' Never. ' ' Part of the Philippines? She might like it, but the Americans would
i June 16, 1921. 176 DIRECTOR-GENERAL'S DINNER-PARTY not. Honolulu? There are too many Japanese there already. She is not wanted in British Columbia, nor in California, where the climate is such as suits her people well. She is not wanted in China.
Yet you cannot stop her flow of population. The taps are running full, and unless something is done to catch the overspill there is going to be a nasty mess.
"The results of economic pressure in Japan," says Mr. J. 0, P. Bland, "are far-reaching, but the problem itself is very simple. It is merely a question of providing food for a population which already exceeds the limit that the country's soil can support, and which is debarred by our Exclusion Acts from seeking its livelihood in less congested countries overseas." 1 Mr. Bland goes on to give some interesting figures to support his argument. It appears that the birthrate in Japan is 32 per 1,000, which is equivalent to an annual increase of 750,000. During the last ten years the population has risen from 50,000,000 to 57,000,000, or 12 per cent., so that it is now 380 to the square mile, whilst during the same period the land under cultivation has increased only 5 per cent, and the rice output 4 per cent.
Thus the problem becomes increasingly difficult every year; and every year it is becoming harder to solve it by means of imported food. The time is coming, if it has not come already, when the Japanese must emigrate or starve.
There are two main objections to the presence of Japanese in other lands, anyhow in 'white lands.' One is the deeply rooted prejudice of colour, and the hatred, right and understandable enough, against mixed marriages. The other, and in most cases the 1 Japan, China, and Korea, p. 137. JAPANESE SETTLERS 177
strongest, objection is the cheapness of Japanese labour. A Japanese, like any other Asiatic, can live on far less than a white man, and so can work for lower wages ; in fact, in manual labour the white man cannot compete with the Japanese and he dare not admit him to equal competition in the labour market.
This objection, then, is also understandable enough, for every country should preserve the interests of its own people as against those of the foreigner.
The Japanese themselves are behind no one in this matter. It is, for instance, economically impossible for the Japanese to compete with the Chinese in manual labour, even in Japan itself, and consequently Chinese are forbidden to engage in manual labour outside the former foreign settlements.
Again, it is impossible for Japanese settlers to lose their separate identity and to amalgamate with the people of the country in which they settle. In Australia or the United States immigrants from, say, Scandinavia may themselves retain their own national language, but, generally speaking, it is difficult to distinguish their children from those of native citizens. With the Japanese this is not so. Being Asiatics and being also intensely nationalistic, they remain a race apart, and form, if they are present in sufficient numbers, a regular imperium in imperio, as in California. So that in 'white' lands it is really their very cardinal virtues—industry, frugality, and patriotism—which render them objects of suspicion and dislike.
In tropical settlements, such as the British Crown Colonies, the prejudice amongst white residents against the Japanese is due rather to the feeling that they belong, as it were, to a national army, directed and controlled from headquarters in Tokyo and aided, by semi-official banks, and heavily subsidized 12 178 DIRECTOR-GENERAL'S DINNER-PARTY
steamship companies, in an unfair competition against British traders. No discrimination is exercised by British Colonial Governments against the Japanese. They have 'a fair field and no favour,' whereas European merchants in Japan complain that they are not only obstructed and spied upon by the Government, but are also hampered by unfair taxation, by secret subsidies being granted to native competitors, and by the dilatory working of the Courts. How far such complaints are justified I express no opinion, but they are widespread, and the Japanese Government would do well to look into them. Japan cannot have it both ways : if she discriminates against foreign merchants and settlers, she cannot expect her own people to become popular when they themselves settle abroad.
The Japanese realize well enough how unwelcome their presence is—except as visitors—in other countries. Indeed, it would be strange if they did not, for no one goes out of his way to keep the fact from them and often it is rammed down their throats with distressing bluntness. They are proud of being Japanese, but they are sensitive. They know that although they can and have shown themselves capable of producing men who will equal those of the white races in art, in science, in military ac- complishments, and in commerce, there is one thing they cannot do, and that is to change the colour of their skins. And this, they feel, is the reason why the doors of most countries are shut fast in their faces, often with a slam. The Japanese do not hold themselves any less men because they are yellow men, and, their country having reached the position it has, they resent their exclusion as unjust, not always pausing to think that the white countries have to consider the existence of their people as AN OPEN DOOR 179
much as Japan has to consider the existence of hers.
Thus it was, I think, that my few words, spoken genuinely enough, gave my hosts some small satisfaction. They said little to me, but some time later I came to realize how intensely the Japanese feel on this subject. When we reached Kobe, after leaving Formosa, the editor of a Japanese paper, the Kobe Shimbun, having heard that I had come from North Borneo and Taihoku, called upon me and asked me to give him an interview. He was a dear old gentleman, and, having described to him the courtesy and hospitality which his Government had shown us in Formosa, I added that there was an 'open door' for Japanese in North Borneo. He looked at me, and for a moment I thought he was going to burst into tears.
1 ' Then yours is the only country in the world that wants us," he said.
Mr. Suyematsu and his brother-officers were too proud to say this in so many words, but I think they felt something of the kind.
M Soon after my little speech was ended, fruit and cakes were handed round. Then we adjourned to the sitting-room, where coffee was served, and, directly after it, tea. After a few minutes' conversation Mrs. Phipps made a move. It had been arranged that this difficult point should be left to her, for when one dines at 6.30 and has finished soon after eight, it is a little hard to know when to go. We were afraid of letting our hosts think we were bored by leaving too soon and at the same time we were anxious not to outstay our welcome. Mrs.
Phipps, however, managed with admirable tact, and 180 DIRECTOR-GENERAL'S DINNER-PARTY
as we were saying good-bye our charming hostess asked her to say to my wife : " How sorry I am I speak no English and can only look at you!" I felt that I should have liked to say to this gracious little lady how sorry I was that I could speak no Japanese, but that I had enjoyed looking at her very much.
We went back to the hotel feeling that we had had a delightful and most interesting evening, which had not been, thanks to the moral support of the Consul and Mrs, Phipps, nearly the ordeal we had expected.
As one looks back on it now, it was a strange party which sat round the shaded candles of that dinnertable—our hostess in her kimono, the white women in evening dress, the Government officers in their quiet and serviceable dark uniforms, Major Akamatsu in khaki, red collar, medals, and gold lace, Phipps and I in white ties and boiled shirts, and the silent old gentleman in his frock-coat. In a sense it was a half-way meeting of East and "West, not only in personalities but in surroundings. The Eastern dinner in European setting was so typical of life among the Japanese of the better class to-day.
The modern Japanese leads a strange existence.
To paraphrase Mr. Kipling he is a kind of ruddy harumphrodite, Eastern and Western too, for if ever East met West it is in the house of a Japanese who has acquired ' foreign' habits. And they meet without merging softly into one another, but with a very sharp dividing line. Some Japanese may have developed a real liking for Western style of living and for Western food and cooking, but I think the majority of them dislike it all intensely. They feel, I suppose, that in order to meet the West on equal terms they must conform in some measure to JAPAN'S TRANSITION 181 Western customs, but they are few who do not shed their lounge suits for kimonos (small blame to them) on the first opportunity or eat Japanese food when they can. National dress and national modes of life are largely a matter of climate and environment. They do not always thrive when transplanted. I do not think the Japanese gain in dignity when they give up even partially their own dress and style of living and adopt ours. Our gracious hostess, for example, was dignified and natural in the costume of her ancestors; in a Western evening dress she would have been spoilt and certainly less at ease. Since that evening Mr. Phipps has been kind enough to send me some notes on this subject, and I quote his remarks in full: "It would, I think, have been quite impossible for the Japanese not to have adopted foreign ways to a greater or less extent, if they wished to be considered a first-class Power. To attain the position they aspired to among the nations of the world they needed education on Western lines, money, and military power. None of these was obtainable without learning from Western nations. The kimono may have aesthetic charm, but it is highly unsuited for an office chair or the conning-tower of a battleship.
With the even partial adoption of Western dress, modifications are inevitable in other spheres, for example in domestic architecture. The Japanese of good position needs one room at least furnished in Western style where he can entertain his foreign acquaintances or Japanese friends who have learnt to adopt foreign ways through long residence abroad.
Once Japan threw open her doors to Western civilization in a way no other Oriental nation had done, the process of increasing Westernization was a neces-182 DIRECTOR-GENERAL'S DINNER-PARTY
sary consequence. Lovers of the ancient picturesque civilization of Japan and the more conservative elements of the nation regret the tendency, but it is none the less inevitable. " Outside the Court, the women fortunately show little sign of giving up their charming national dress, but even here considerations of practical convenience require its abandonment in certain cases: hospital nurses, for instance, would find the long sleeves of the kimono an intolerable nuisance for their work.
In point of fact, I believe the kimono has serious drawbacks; it is very costly, particularly the obi, and if the corsets of a European woman are apt to oppress the wearer, the tight and heavy obi is considerably worse. The tightness of the skirts, too, hampers the legs and prevents free action. As a thing of beauty, however, the kimono of the Japanese lady takes a high place.
"Some modification of women's dress is probable in consequence of the spread of outdoor games among Japanese schoolgirls. What form the modification may take is difficult to tell, but it may be in the direction of a wider adoption of the loose skirt (hakama) worn both by teachers and pupils of a Japanese girls' school." The Japanese character is so much a part of its peculiar customs, its dress, its houses, its way of living generally, that this change which is taking place is a very violent one. I often wonder if it is good for the national character, which is so intensely developed and so essentially a part of the Japanese.
It may be necessary from some points of view, yet it seems hard that the Japanese should have to adopt changes which, as a rule, do not suit them, changes which, until their prejudices have become dulled by custom, they do not like. LOOKING FORWARD 183
The Japanese themselves are the best judges of that. Yet the world respects a nation which clings to its own traditions, for deep down in our hearts we are all conservative, and I believe that by abandoning the ways of their fathers, even though the cultivation of Western fashions is mainly superficial, the Japanese lose more than they can gain.
It is not unreasonable to suppose that, now Japan has taken her place in the world as a first-class Power, the pendulum may swing back again; there may be a revulsion of feeling, and the Japanese will go back to the ways of Japan—and keep to them.
Anyhow, after our return to the hotel, Phipps and I decided that we would stick to our own traditions that night, and the whiskies-and-sodas with which we upheld them tasted very good indeed. CHAPTEE IX
CAMPHOB, OPIUM, AND TOBACCO Visit to the Camphor Bureau—The camphor industry—Chinese methods improved by Japanese—Future prosperity depends on pacification of aborigines—The opium monopoly—Control of opiumsmoking—Japanese efforts and their success—Comparison with opium regulations in British colonies—The tobacco monopoly—Success of the Government monopolies as a whole—The Taihoku prison—We leave Koshimura and visit Tamsui—Early Spanish occupation of Tamsui and Keelung—Spaniards surrender to Dutch—The British Consulate —A gardener's paradise—A Japanese golf-course.
4 i ON the morning after the dinner-party Koshimura called for us in a Government motor at 9 o'clock. The hour was of his proposing, and it promised to be another strenuous day. We were still confronted with the problem of obtaining money. In Tainan we had, with great difficulty and thanks chiefly to Koshimura 's persuasive powers, extracted a hundred yen from the Bank of Taiwan, but no more. We drove to the head office in Taihoku hoping for better things. But once there we found ourselves up against a stone wall. Although we produced an English letter of credit and a statement from the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation showing a credit in Yokohama, the bank merchants were obdurate. The Bank of Taiwan was not mentioned in the letter of credit, though it contained a list of apparently every other known bank in the world, and this seemed to touch the Taihoku authorities on the raw. They would have none of us. Koshimura 's card and ex
184 THE CAMPHOR INDUSTRY 185
planations produced no effect. Not a yen could we get, even on the strength of being guests of the Formosan Government. Bitterly did I curse the skipper of the Sourabaya, whose economical use of coal had given us no time to make the necessary arrangements in Hong Kong, and left the bank disgruntled, hoping, however, for better luck with the Taihoku agents of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank.
§ 2
After being worsted in our contest with the bank, we made our way to the Camphor Bureau, where we were met by Mr. Yoshioka, to whom I had sat next at dinner the night before. He was most kind, and under his guidance we were able to see the whole process of manufacture.
Camphor is certainly the most interesting of the Formosan industries. The Formosan camphor laurel, from the chips of which the camphor of commerce is obtained, grows upon the eastern hills, either within the area inhabited by the aborigines or upon the borders. As Mr. Davidson suggests, it would be an inviting subject for a statistician "to figure out how many drops of human blood are represented in the few ounces of camphor which the human young lady purchases to keep her dainty garments free of moths, or how many lives are lost that some decrepit old gentleman may be cured of his rheumatic pains." ' For the working of the camphor has always been carried on in the teeth of bitter opposition on the part of the aborigines, who, even now, view incursions into their territory and the felling of their trees with consternation and dismay.
1 The Island of Formosa, p. 398.
.*-. 186 CAMPHOR, OPIUM, AND TOBACCO Camphor was worked in Formosa long before the coming of the Japanese. During the Chinese occu- pation the industry was so jealously guarded by the authorities that, not content with proclaiming it a Government monopoly, they imposed the deathpenalty for the unauthorized felling of a single tree.
This was no idle threat, for, ineffectual as the Chinese Government was in many ways, it was never lacking in energy when it came to punishing its subjects. It is recorded that in a single year over 200 persons lost their heads for infringing the camphor law; this led to a rebellion, with the result that, although the monopoly was retained, the laws governing it were revised and made more lenient.
In the middle of the nineteenth century the camphor trade attracted the notice of foreign firms, and after many struggles with the authorities the traders obtained the abolition of the monopoly. This gave an immediate impetus to the industry, until the hostilities between the aborigines and the Chinese employed in the manufacture became so violent that the export trade was almost killed. Even though military forces were sent out against the natives, little was accomplished, and sometimes the soldiers met with disaster. In one case a force of 180 Chinese were taken unawares, and all killed with the exception of one boy, who hid in the long grass until the massacre was over. The Chinese methods of obtaining camphor were as wasteful as the methods of the aborigines in planting crops. The trees were felled wholesale and no attempt was made to replant the areas so denuded.
The result was that when the Japanese took over the island they found large tracts of what had once been camphor forests worked out. It was neces-METHOD OF PREPARATION 187
sary to go farther and farther afield, following the ebb of the camphor tide.
The camphor forests which are most easily worked to-day stand on the northern hills, where the trees attain enormous height and girth. The tree is of a different species from that found in Borneo, where deposits of camphor are found in a kind of pocket inside the tree or else distributed throughout the grain in the form of small crystals. The Formosan species appears to be impregnated with camphor, and this is obtained by chipping small pieces from the tree while it is still standing and after it has been felled. The chips are then placed in stoves erected near the timber workings, the camphor vapour given off passes from the chip-retort (which holds about four hundred pounds) through a cooling-box into a condenser and so becomes distilled.
The chips are changed every twenty-four hours. The tiny white crystals formed in the condensing-box are removed and packed in bags, while the camphor oil, a by-product from the chips, is despatched in kerosine-oil tins, over a mountain of which we had to climb to get to the works.
In the old days adulteration had to be guarded against continually, and Mr. Davidson tells a story 1 of how an enterprising Formosan camphor worker, coming upon snow at close quarters for the first time in his life during a severe winter, filled some baskets with it, mixed enough crystals to give it the smell of camphor, and forthwith hurriedly disposed of it to the nearest merchant. The buyer did not discover the fraud until, returning to the vat in which he had dumped his purchase, he found that with the exception of a few pounds it had disappeared. Nowadays, however, adulteration can
1 Op, cit., p. 433. 188 CAMPHOR, OPIUM, AND TOBACCO easily be detected, and it is not worth a worker's while to try any imposition, no matter how ingenious it may be.
During the early years of the Japanese occupation, the Formosan Government contented itself with levying a tax on the amount of camphor produced, but in 1899 the manufacture was made a monopoly with the twofold object of increasing the revenue and obtaining a firmer control of the valuable camphor forests. The camphor, which only the holders of Government licences may manufacture, is now bought up from the local workers by the monopoly officials at a fixed rate, repacked, and sent down to be re- fined in the Taihoku factory.
It was here that we saw the crude material being cleaned by the huge distilling plant which the Japanese have installed. Great heaps of snowy camphor lay outside the distilling oven, into which they were being shovelled. By means of intense heat the vapour is made to pass again into a condensing chamber and recrystallizes. The flaky crystals are massed together and subjected to hydraulic pressure, and thus are transformed into solid opaque blocks, similar in appearance to those one may buy in miniature at a chemist's shop. These blocks are packed into lead-lined boxes marked with the Government label and are then ready to be exported to the selling agents in all parts of the world. By the time we reached the packing-room our eyes were streaming and we were taking our breath in great gasps, so powerful is the exhalation given off.
Formosa is the greatest camphor-producing country in the world, and now that camphor plays so important a part in the manufacture of celluloid and smokeless gunpowder, to say nothing of its ordinary medicinal uses, the demand is very large. FEESH SUPPLIES 189 The Japanese have much increased the prosperity of the industry since they took it in hand. They have improved the quality of the material, promoted the manufacture of camphor oil, and by a careful control of the supplies have rendered the worker's life less precarious than it was formerly. Consequently, although the exports decreased from 6,800,000 lb. in 1894 to just under 4,000,000 lb. in 1922 1 (on account of the control), the industry is on a sound and stable basis, good prices are obtained, and it is said that the monopoly brings in to the Government coffers an annual revenue of no less than £800,000, The all-important matter of reafforestation has also re- ceived attention, but of course no supplies from this source can be anticipated for several years and the existing camphor resources of the island are naturally becoming less and less every year. There is no immediate danger of their becoming worked out, it is true, but vast supplies still lie within the savage area, unworked, and until the whole of the aborigines have come under Government influence the main problem of the camphor industry cannot be said to have been solved.
§3
Having got outside the camphor factory we wiped our eyes again, and I asked Mr. Yoshioka if we were to be allowed to see the opium factory as well.
Our guide's face immediately assumed that wooden expression which is the sole refuge of those who, speaking a foreign language well, find their proficiency an embarrassment.
"I do not understand," he declared. " Opium factory," I said, breaking into that insensate English one uses when trying to make one's i In 1921 the export was only 915,000 lb. 190 CAMPHOR, OPIUM, AND TOBACCO tongue intelligible to a foreigner. "Not allowed?" "Not allowed," echoed the Chief of the Camphor Section.
That was all there was to it. Koshimura, ever anxious to do his best for us, murmured something about "special pass," but I thought it more tactful not to press the point. After all, it was their opium factory. There was no earthly reason why they should let me see over it if, for reasons of their own, they didn't want to. They had shown me so much that it would have been churlish to complain.
All the same, I was disappointed. I should have liked to look into that forbidden chamber, for the opium question is a very interesting one, and I had heard so much about it in Formosa that I was anxious to see the methods by which the opium paste is prepared. When the Japanese obtained possession of the island they found opium smoking very prevalent among the Formosans. For years opium had been subject to heavy duties, but that had not prevented its importation, and, moreover, large quantities were smuggled in. The Japanese realized that if the practice were to be allowed to spread it would have a deteriorating effect upon the population, but they also realized, very wisely, that they would lose far more than they would gain by attempting to abolish opium smoking wholesale. Seven per cent, of the population was addicted to the use of the drug, and the danger of incessant friction, increase of smuggling and emigration that would result from prohibition was altogether too great to be run.
It was obvious, however, that some steps must be taken in the matter. Accordingly the Government decided to establish a control over the amount of the drug imported, manufactured, and consumed, OPIUM MANUFACTURE 191
and consequently in 1896 opium was proclaimed a State monopoly. The private importation, the manufacture, and the sale of opium were made punishable by five years' imprisonment or a fine of £500.
The cultivation of the opium poppy was forbidden, and anyone found smoking opium without a licence became liable to three years' imprisonment or a fine of £300. The licences were only granted to confirmed smokers, and by these means it was considered possible to abolish, or at any rate substantially reduce, the practice within a generation, every effort being made at the same time to demonstrate the evils of the drug by educational propaganda.
Having taken the manufacture of the raw opium into their own hands, the authorities were confronted with serious obstacles. They had no one who understood the system of preparation, and they found themselves in the humiliating position of having to learn from the Formosans, who naturally had but a primitive process, simply boiling the raw material in kettles over small charcoal stoves. It was not long, however, before more scientific methods were learnt in British India and Persia and modern machinery was imported. To-day the factory at Taihoku is, I believe, as well equipped as any in the world.
But difficulties of manufacture were not the only ones with which the authorities had to contend. Even greater difficulties were experienced in the registration of the confirmed opium smokers, the only persons to whom licences were granted, for each one, having made his application, had to be examined and certified by a Government doctor. The work of registration was begun in April 1897, and although it was thought at the time that it would be finished in a few months, it was not until September 1900 that 192 CAMPHOR, OPIUM, AND TOBACCO it was done, the completed register showing 170,000 opium smokers in the island.
Once licences had been granted to these, every effort was made to confine the drug habit to those known to be under its influence. And it was here that almost insuperable obstacles arose. It was a formidable enough undertaking to register all the confirmed smokers in the island, and it was only rendered possible because the smokers knew that they would be faced with the problem of obtaining supplies if they did not declare themselves. There was, however, a large number of Formosans who, although they did not come under the category of chronic takers of the drug, were nevertheless addicted to its use to a more moderate extent, Many of these presented themselves as confirmed smokers, to whom deprivation would mean death. Their claims for licences were in most cases proved by the medical authorities to be unjustified, but there are no ends to which a drug taker will not go to obtain the object of his craving, and the inevitable result of refusal to licence was that, in spite of the penalties to which unauthorized smokers rendered themselves liable, secret smoking became very prevalent.
Moreover, members of a family in which there was one licensed smoker easily acquired the habit, and others, flying to the drug as a relief from pain in times of sickness, also became victims.
This secret smoking increased to such an extent, and would have entailed such wholesale prosecution, that at the end of 1904 the authorities decided that there was nothing for it but to grant licences to those who had acquired the habit in a clandestine manner, and accordingly 30,000 fresh licences were issued. At the same time a new system was introduced, whereby a licensed smoker was required to CONTROL OF OPIUM SMOKING 193
produce a pass-book every time he bought a supply of opium, and, since his daily consumption was known, he could thus be checked from disposing of the drug to others. In spite of this, and in spite, too, of many prosecutions, the further increase of 16,000 licences was found necessary ; but even taking into account these increases, the total number of smokers in 1908 was 42,000 fewer than in 1900, and at the end of 1922 was 42,923. A certain proportion of this decrease is due to the habit having been abandoned, but a greater proportion is due to death, for the death-rate among the opium smokers is nearly twice as high as the rate for the whole island. 1 When the opium regulations were first introduced, licences were granted to Formosans only, that is to the settlers of Chinese descent who had become Japanese subjects on the cession of the island. By 1904, however, the consumption of the drug had been got well under control, and since large numbers of labourers were coming in from South China owing to the increase of private enterprise and development, it was decided that, rather than discourage the Chinese coolie class from immigrating, it would be prudent to grant them also licences for smoking, renewable yearly. Happily the habit is confined to the Formosans and the Chinese; so far as is known it has not spread among the aborigines, and it is a very rare thing to find a Japanese opium smoker.
The Opium Ordinance provides that opium paste for smoking purposes may only be bought (at prices fixed by the Government) from authorized dealers, who are supplied by wholesale agents of the Monopoly Bureau, the appointment of both dealers and agents being very carefully supervised. The manu1 Control of Opium in Formosa, p. 10. 13 194 CAMPHOR, OPIUM, AND TOBACCO facture of opium-smoking implements and the keeping of premises for smoking are also licensed, and Japanese are prohibited from engaging in anything connected with the trade. The sale of morphine and of opium for medicinal purposes is controlled by the Government, morphine injections and the sale of powdered opium being forbidden except on a doctor's prescription. The opium poppy is now cultivated in Formosa, but the Monopoly Bureau imports the bulk of the raw material from India, Turkey, or Persia; at the factory the latter is crushed, steamed in vats, and boiled, the opium paste so obtained being packed in tins, labelled, and despatched to the wholesale agents. A certain quantity of morphine is also manufactured and, it may be supposed, exported. This seemed to me, although I may be quite wrong, to be rather a "hush" business. In any case I am not in a position to give any details either of the amount of morphine exported or its destination, for, although officials appeared quite prepared to give me all the information I wanted about opium, at the mention of morphine they either became suddenly evasive or singularly dense, and I am inclined to think that it was on this account that my visit to the factory was so definitely discouraged.
In the Report of the Advisory Committee to the League of Nations on the traffic of opium, dated August 8, 1922, it is stated that there were 8,018 lb.
of morphine manufactured in Formosa in 1920, 7,833 lb. in Japan, while 48,689 lb. were imported into Japan. The report declares: "It is clear from the figures supplied by the Japanese Government in its reply to the questionnaire that Japan has been importing, for several years past, quantities of morphine far in excess of the normal legitimate require-OPIUM SMUGGLING 195
ments of Japan itself. . , . After making allowance for the increase in the medical requirements during and after the war, the Committee can feel little doubt that much of this morphine has found its way into China." It is hardly necessary to point out that smuggling to China from Formosa would be a good deal easier than smuggling to China from Japan.
M Whatever mysteries may enshroud its external policy, there can be no doubt that the Japanese have handled the opium question in Formosa itself in a very efficient manner. All the more credit is due to them because they have done so without having had any previous experience in such administration.
The United States Government recognized their success several years ago when, perplexed by the opium problem in the Philippine Islands, they paid the Japanese the compliment of sending commissioners to Formosa to investigate the methods of opium manufacture and to study the regulations dealing with its distribution and control. 1 Opium smoking is now prohibited in the Philippines.
It is improbable that opium smoking will ever be stamped out in Formosa; as the large number of annual convictions for offences against the opium laws show, it is improbable that even secret smoking will be stopped. The love of opium seems to be ingrained in the uneducated Chinese, but the taking of the drug is being kept under control and, while the population of the island is increasing steadily, the percentage of opium smokers amongst it is decreasing.
In my opinion the Japanese have adopted the right 1 Japanese Rule in Formosa, p. 159. 196 CAMPHOR, OPIUM, AND TOBACCO course in controlling, and in not attempting to abolish, opium smoking. Everyone who has studied the subject knows that opium prohibition in China is little less than a farce. As Mr. Bland says : "The 'opium-abolition' movement has put an end to the bona-fide importation of the Indian drug and checked the transit trade in all its former channels, merely to direct it into new ways, more directly profitable to the mandarin. ' ' Moreover, in the Report of the Opium Committee referred to above the following passage occurs: "The Committee regret they can only come to the conclusion . . . that at the present moment there is a large and widespread cultivation of the poppy in China." Where a habit has become chronic with a certain section of the community, it is surely wiser and more humane to deal with it comparatively. "What I like about the Japanese is that they are not hypercritical sentimentalists. They take human nature as they find it. They impose the control they consider best fitted for the proper administration of their territory and the welfare of its inhabitants, and, while they certainly do keep the opium habit within bounds, they do not hesitate to pocket a large revenue which would otherwise be lost—a clear annual net profit of £100,000. Philanthropy as a revenue-producing proposition should surely be the aim of every civilized State. Yet only too often State philanthropy simply spells large inroads upon the Treasury. I rather fancy that if, on account of the drug habit spreading in England, it is found necessary to establish an Anti-Dope Ministry, it would cost the State a deal of money, instead of producing a comfortable contribution to the income of the country, as it is made to do in Formosa.
1 Japan, China, and Korea, p. 290. POPPY CULTIVATION 197 The Japanese, I take it, know perfectly well that there is only one possible way to stop opium smoking, and that is to stop the cultivation of the opium poppy except on a scale which would be adequate for medical requirements. If there were no poppies there would be no opium and no smokers; as long as there are poppies there will be opium and, in one way or another, smokers will obtain it. The suppression of the poppy is never likely to take place so long as the Government of India leads the way as a producer of raw opium. Vast sums of money are made every year out of the sale of the drug by various Governments, including those of the British Crown Colonies and Protectorates. They cannot afford to abandon this revenue and therefore, as supplies are procurable without difficulty, they maintain the trade, while throwing as much dust as possible in the eyes of those interested in stamping out the traffic in the drug.
I have discussed the opium monopoly in Formosa at some length because it seems to me that the authorities there have adopted a policy which might well be followed by their neighbours. In the Federated Malay States, Straits Settlements, Hong Kong, and North Borneo, for example, where there are large numbers of Chinese colonists and labourers, opium is a State monopoly. The Governments import the raw material and sell the manufactured paste to licensed retailers. There the control ends.
There is no limit to the amount which the dealer can buy, smokers are not licensed, and although the dealer may sell only to an adult Chinese, there is nothing to prevent that adult Chinese from buying as much as he wants and passing it on to his friends, for he does not have to produce a pass-book for the 198 CAMPHOR, OPIUM, AND TOBACCO amount of his purchase to be entered up.
1 So that in this case the control simply amounts to the fact that the Governments as importers are the wholesale merchants, and as such make the greatest profit.
As to this profit, I confess that I am not one of those who think that it is anything about which Colonial Governments need be ashamed. Needless to say, they are not ashamed of it, but the ever- present fear of a bogey who makes it his business to ask awkward questions in Parliament sometimes makes them act as if they were. It is obvious that as long as supplies are available, opium smokers will get them. It is obvious, too, that if the drug is to be sold at all, large profits will be made. If profits are going to be made, it is as well that the Governments concerned should make them, to enable taxation to be kept down. Moreover, a Government monopoly renders difficult many abuses, such as smuggling on a large scale, which would arise if it did not exist. But let us have no hypocrisy about the matter; let it be admitted openly that Government trade in opium is a revenue-producing affair and that the object of any control it imposes is to make money at least as much as to administer effi- ciently. Otherwise, if the decrease in opium smoking were the objective, methods similar to those adopted by the Formosan Government could be introduced without difficulty ; even then, as I have shown, the revenue might still be considerable.
At the present time the Governments of certain Crown Colonies increase the price of opium periodically with the avowed object of decreasing consump1 The Government of Burma, however, protects some of its people in this manner : each Burmese consumer has a pass-book, and the supply he can obtain must not exceed a fixed limit or a certain proportion of his pay. REVENUE FROM OPIUM 199
tion. Incidentally by this means a drop in the revenue is avoided. This would be very well if it achieved its object, for then we should see philanthropy going hand in hand with revenue, but it does not. Experience shows that a drug-fiend will get his drug somehow, whatever the price he has to pay.
The lengths to which he is prepared to go and the sacrifices which he is prepared to make are notorious.
Once a man has been in the habit of smoking a certain amount of opium daily, it is almost impossible for him to decrease his consumption; the tendency is to increase it. He will go without food and proper nourishment, he will steal and cheat and leave his debts unpaid to get that daily ration. The expense of the drug may conceivably deter some smokers who are not confirmed in the habit, but the chronic smoker, to whom the greater proportion of the sales are made, will not be so deterred, or, if he is, he will have ruined himself first. Accordingly, when the price of opium has been raised, the usual result has been that, so far from remaining stationary, the revenue has risen. No normal person who knows anything of Chinese opium smokers would expect it to do anything else; yet when it happens one feels one is expected to form a mental picture of the Colonial Secretary ringing up the Treasury and saying, "Look here, it's an awful thing, but this Excise revenue has gone up again. What on earth are we to do about it? " The whole point is that if there were fewer sentimentalists about, there would be no need for all this cant and throwing dust in people 's eyes, so that the bogey in the House might be less likely to get upon his feet. There is plenty of work for these well-meaning people to do nearer home, and personally I doubt if the percentage of homes ruined by 200 CAMPHOR, OPIUM, AND TOBACCO opium is so great as the percentage of homes ruined by beer and whisky. To many Chinese a pipe of opium is no more than a whisky-and-soda is to a European; then there is no reason why he should not have it. The chronic smoker will get opium as long as opium exists—so let him have it too. And let the system under which he obtains it be supervised by the authorities. This seems to me to be the attitude of the Colonial Governments who trade in opium. So far, so good; few reasonable people who have lived in the East would quarrel with the view. The trouble is that the matter does not stop there, and this is a point that even the would-be reformers do not always realize: the aborigines of most Eastern countries have quite enough to thank the white man for already in the shape of the diseases that follow in his wake and benefits of civilization, such as gin and whisky. In Formosa the opium smoker, as far as is possible, is isolated, for by the pass-book system it is dimcult for him to infect others. But until the supply of opium to Colonial Governments is rationed and the smokers are all checked in some manner, there is nothing to prevent the habit spreading among the natives (to say nothing, of course, of its spreading among the Chinese), and this is a possibility which seems to be quite deplorable. For this reason alone (if for no other) the stricter regulations in force in Formosa might well be adopted by British Colonies and Protectorates with large Chinese settlements.
§ 5
Details of the salt monopoly have been given already. The remaining department of the Monopoly Bureau is that of Tobacco, which came under State control in 1905. Tobacco is a monopoly in GOVERNMENT MONOPOLIES 201
Japan, with a duty of no less than 355 per cent, on imported foreign tobacco, as everyone who has travelled in the Island Empire knows to his cost, and the monopoly in Formosa is conducted on similar lines. As I have mentioned, the plant is being grown with success in the island, and with the imported leaf (for the local supply is not yet enough for local needs) is made into cigarettes, cigars, and cut tobacco at the Taihoku factory. The industry is a flourishing one, and the annual value of tobacco sold by the Government is over half a million sterling.
When it is considered that from the date of their being taken over to the present time the five industries under State control—salt, camphor, opium, tobacco, and alcoholic liquors—have increased in value to the revenue from £430,000 to £21,000,000, with a clear annual profit of over £800,000/ it will be seen how immensely profitable these Government enterprises are. Over 60 per cent, of Formosa's revenue is derived from State undertakings (of which, besides the monopolies, the railway and forest profits are the most important), and this renders direct individual taxation comparatively light. The proof of a monopoly is in the working; if it can be made to pay and so keep down taxation which would otherwise be necessary, it surely justifies its exist- ence. Formosa undoubtedly owes much of its prosperity to the revenue-producing monopolies, which have helped to provide money to develop it on a large scale.
In a young country such as Formosa, where immense sums are required for opening up the country, 1 Whether this figure includes official salaries and depreciation of plant and machinery is not disclosed, nor what percentage of profit it shows on the capital outlay. 202 CAMPHOR, OPIUM, AND TOBACCO a monopoly may result in a practical and commercial success, and, if it does, Government authorities can hardly be blamed if they make the most of the colony's resources, rather than wait (perhaps in vain) for enterprising capitalists to come and do it for them.
Whether it is in its highest interests for a State to engage in trade is a question which is certainly open to argument from an administrative point of view. Moreover, it may also be admitted that monopolies tend to act in restraint of trade by increasing the number of officials at the expense of private industry and by removing the stimulus of open competition. Government enterprises are seldom managed so economically as those under private control, and it is possible that greater efficiency and perhaps greater revenue might now be obtained in Formosa by leaving the salt, camphor, tobacco, and liquor industries to private enterprise and taxing them.
In this way the State would not risk heavy losses in lean years, such as the Camphor Bureau must have sustained through the slump in 1921. There is no doubt that the authorities feel they have enough upon their hands at present, for when, in the disastrous period of 1921-2, those with sugar interests tried hard to get sugar monopolized, the Formosan Government refused to take any action.
§ 6
After we had taken leave of Mr. Yoshioka we drove with Koshimura to the Taihoku Prison. Here my wife had to be left behind in an ante-room (a book of picture-postcards was thoughtfully given her to look at) while I went round with Koshimura and a superintendent.
The building is a very fine one, made of stone, THE PRISON 203 and cost £30,000; all the passages and floors are of cement, and there is accommodation for 1,200 prisoners. The system of penal administration appeared humane and up-to-date; the prisoners are set at useful work which brings in revenue to the State, and I saw all kinds of manufactures going on, such as the making of baskets, boots, clothes, and furniture. Corporal punishment, formerly in force even for petty offences, has recently been abolished, and I was told that the death-sentence is only carried out in cases of what one may call aggravated murder, of which there is an average of five a year.
Ninety per cent, of the prisoners were Formosans, and on the day of my visit there were no aborigines undergoing sentence.
Criminal offenders in Formosa are dealt with by Courts presided over by Japanese judges and magistrates, who administer justice under the Japanese Criminal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure.
A code that has been drawn up to suit the requirements of one country, however, does not necessarily suit another, any more than a coat made to fit Brown will fit Jones. These codes are therefore supplemented by local ordinances and regulations, and account of native custom and usage is taken by the Courts. This was particularly advisable in the early days before the Formosans had become accustomed to Japanese rule, for acts such as the murder of female or deformed children by a mother were, according to Chinese customs, considered perfectly legitimate.
It is said that the Japanese Courts are impartial and innocent of 'graft,' though it seems that the Government might do well to pay its judicial officers, who are all Government officials under the authority of the Governor-General, a wage that would lift 204 CAMPHOR, OPIUM, AND TOBACCO them above temptation. The Chinese, of course, are firm believers in the power of bribery, and Mr.
Takekoshi relates 1 how, when the first Japanese Court was opened in the island, the complainants, finding their proffered bribes declined, promptly withdrew their cases; it appeared obvious to them that the judge had already accepted larger bribes from the other side, and so to have gone on with their cases would, they thought, have been nothing but a waste of time. This attitude has long since been changed, and at the present time the legal system enjoys the confidence of the Formosans, and since, like Pathans and Punjaubi Mahommedans, the Chinese mind dearly loves any form of litigation, they are not backward in bringing their cases into Court.
§ 7
On leaving the Prison we went for a drive round the Botanical Gardens and Taihoku Park, the latter laid out, as Koshimura told us proudly, in European fashion. Then we bade a temporary adieu to our attache and caught the train to Tamsui, where we had been invited to lunch with the Consul and Mrs.
Phipps.
As we parted from Koshimura, we felt like a pair of children who have got away from a governess.
That may sound ungracious, but, kind as our hosts were, we felt sometimes that we should like an hour or so to ourselves. At heart the Britisher is an undisciplined creature and very soon chafes if his day 's amusement is drawn up for him. He finds an irksome restraint in working to a time-table. Unlike many Americans, he dislikes a programme of ordered sightseeing. He wants to wander round on 1 Japanese Rule in Formosa, p. 172. TAMSUI 205
his own account and poke his nose into odd corners.
He likes exploring, and the parts of a foreign town that are most worth exploring are not always the museums and the public parks.
Tamsui is 14 miles north of Taihoku, an hour's run in the train. It is situated at the mouth of the Tamsui River and was once a busy port, but has now been cut out by Keelung, one of the causes of this being that the river has a troublesome bar and can only be entered by ships drawing less than 14 feet of water, even at high tide.
The first European settlers at Tamsui were Spanish, who came early in the seventeenth century.
The Spaniards, although they were in possession of Manila, had been cut out of the Japanese trade by the Dutch, and decided that a station in the north of Formosa would be a convenient halfway house between the Philippines and Japan from which to renew it. Accordingly in 1626, two years after the Dutch had established themselves at Tainan, an ex- pedition was despatched from Manila consisting of two Spanish galleons and a dozen Chinese junks, in which were embarked three companies of infantry and some Dominican friars.
On reaching the northern coast of Formosa the Spaniards discovered the harbour of Keelung, which appeared to suit their requirements in every way. It was given the name of Santissima Trinidad, a fort, San Salvador, was built on an island (now known as Palm Island) at the mouth of the harbour, and the banner of Castile was raised. Seldom had the occupation of territory proved so easy. What was more, the colony was not molested, and the friars set to, zealously making converts among the natives in the usual way. Encouraged by their success, the Spaniards turned their attention three 206 CAMPHOR, OPIUM, AND TOBACCO years later to Tamsui, built a fort, named San Domingo, on a hill above the river, and established missions.
Although the Spaniards made no attempt to interfere with the activities of the Dutch, asking for nothing better than to be allowed to trade in peace, it is not to be supposed that the Council at Fort Zeelandia watched with any complacency a foreign nation calmly entering the island and building forts, for the policy of the Dutch in the Eastern seas was to secure the whole of the Oriental trade for themselves. It must also be remembered, in justice to them, that the whole island had been complacently ceded to them by the Chinese.1 For several years, however, they were too much concerned with their own affairs to take any active steps to oust the Spaniards from their settlements, and it was not until 1641 that the Governor of Keelung received a peremptory demand from Zeelandia to surrender all possessions in the north of the island. This demand was met with a spirited refusal. The Dutch immediately sent an expedition against the Spanish forts, but the defenders put up so stout an opposition that the attacking party was forced to withdraw without accomplishing its design.
It was obviously only a matter of time before the Dutch came again in stronger force. Yet the authorities at Manila seem to have viewed their Formosan settlements with the same indifference as the Dutch authorities at Batavia viewed theirs, not recognizing them (once they were planted) as convenient outposts for checking the influence of their enemies as well as important trading-centres in themselves.
After the Dutch attack, so far from sending reinforcements, they recalled three of the four companies
i See p. 33. SPANISH FORTS SURRENDER 207
at Formosa for a campaign against the natives of the Philippines. On learning this, the Dutch immediately began to make preparations for a second expedition, and when the Spanish commander sent an urgent appeal for more troops, one ship was despatched from Manila containing a certain amount of provisions and ammunition and the magnificent contribution of eight soldiers.
On August 3, 1642, a Dutch squadron appeared off Tamsui. The Spanish forces were not strong enough to oppose a landing, and without much difficulty the Dutch obtained possession of the suburbs of the town. They occupied a small hill overlooking the fort and captured it after a bombardment of six days, in spite of the gallant resistance made by the Governor and the little garrison. Keelung fell a few days later, and the Dutch then celebrated their first victories over the Spaniards in the Eastern seas. The surrender of both settlements was unconditional, and booty amounting to over a million Spanish dollars fell into the victors' hands. The members of the garrisons, including the missionaries, were taken to Zeelandia and thence to Batavia, where they were kindly treated. They were eventually released and given permission to return to Manila, and all but the Spanish Governor availed themselves gladly of this concession. The Governor, poor man, preferred exile to a dungeon. It did not do to lose battles in those days, however honourably, and he was probably shrewd enough to know that the clearer it became that the surrender was due to the policy of his superior officers at Manila, the more unenviable was his position likely to be.
Every small boy who is told that 'history repeats itself wonders what exactly is meant by that wellworn phrase. He may even turn to an omniscient 208 CAMPHOR, OPIUM, AND TOBACCO parent for information and is probably met with an evasive reply. But the fate of Spanish and Dutch settlements in Formosa are curious and exact ex- amples of how history can repeat itself even in a few years.
In each case outposts were established, isolated and 'in the air.' In each case they were threatened with attack—the Spanish by the Dutch, the Dutch by Koxinga—and appealed to their headquarters for assistance, saying that they could not hold out for long with the forces at their disposal. In each case the governors concerned were betrayed by their superior officers, who, secure in long-established colonial capitals, recked little of the dangers of their pioneers. Both settlements, after making a gallant resistance, were forced to surrender, and with their surrender the glorious opportunities of founding flourishing colonies in a fertile land were swept away.
Moreover, in each case, although there was talk of retribution and revenge, no steps were ever taken to wipe out the stain on the national prestige.
Having evicted the Spaniards, the Dutch established factories at Keelung and Tamsui. In place of Fort San Domingo at Tamsui they built a massive fort of red brick and stone, with walls 8 feet thick, commanding the river. It was a substantial piece of work and, as the British Consulate, still stands intact to-day.
The first British Consular office in Formosa was opened at Tainan in 1861 ; in the same year, owing to the port's dwindling trade and unhealthy climate, it was transferred to Tamsui, the Vice-Consul's first abode being a hulk in the Tamsui River. In 1865 the Vice-Consul, Mr. Swinhoe, transferred his office to Takow (and, later, to Anping), but the Tamsui Consulate was continued as a subordinate agency, THE BRITISH CONSULATE, TAMSUI
THE TAMSUI RIVEII FROM CI iV-II.ATE. THE BRITISH CONSULATE 209
and in 1867 was established in the old Dutch fort, where it is still located. It was here that we found our host. The building has been kept in a very good state of preservation. One can still see the dungeons and the high-walled yards where prisoners were wont to take their solitary constitutionals, while from the top of the great tower, where now floats the Union Jack in place of the standard of the Dutch East India Company, a magnificent view of the sur- rounding country can be obtained. Also it is a splendid place for a small boy, as the elder Master Phipps found to his great content.
§ 8
The British Consul's house is close to the consulate and on the same hill—a house of red brick, mellow with years, with tiled floors and surrounded by verandas on both stories. Here we spent a delightful afternoon. The Phippses were the first Europeans we had met since leaving Borneo, and their house, so different from the wooden tropical buildings, raised on piles and with roofs of palm-leaf thatch, which we knew so well, had an atmosphere of its own. As we sat in the drawing-room and gloried in the cheery fire that was burning in the grate (we had not seen one since leaving England), we felt that we were at home again.
To the exile in the tropics the merry flicker of a fire is perhaps more symbolical of Home than anything else. In the wilds each of us has his own pet dream. For some it is the bustle of Piccadilly or the stately slope of St. James's Street, for some a backwater on the Thames on a sunny afternoon. But I think that what one longs for most of all, and what one appreciates most when one gets back, is an evening with just enough chill in the air to make one sure 14 210 CAMPHOR, OPIUM, AND TOBACCO one is well away from the land where it is always summer, a deep arm-chair and oneself therein gazing in contentment into the changing depths of a glowing fire, preferably of logs.
1 ' Surely everybody is aware," wrote de Quincey, "of the divine pleasures which attend a winter fireside—candles at 4 o'clock, warm hearth-rugs, tea, a fair tea-maker, shutters closed, curtains flowing in ample draperies on the floor, whilst the wind and rain are raging audibly without. ' ' That is a wonderful picture which would be nothing but for the image the fire conjures to one's mind. Yet to dwellers in cold countries fires are such ordinary things that they forget how much they owe to Prometheus, who stole fire from Olympus and was condemned by Zeus to be chained to the summit of a lofty mountain, there to be preyed upon by an eagle for countless years. It was the most splendid theft either in myth or in history, even though the price that the unfortunate Prometheus had to pay (and for all I know pays still) was rather stiff, and if they had to light their fires with a flint instead of merely by striking a match people would perhaps appreciate it more. It takes a returning exile from the tropics to appreciate the glories of a fire, and as I spread out my hands to the one in Mrs. Phipps's drawing-room I proposed and sec- onded a hearty vote of thanks to the son of Iapetus.
Tamsui, it is true, is almost as far from England as it is possible to get, but so long as there is a season when you can enjoy a fire, you can still recapture the atmosphere of Home. Moreover, in a climate where fires are necessary, children retain their rosy cheeks, and, after you have lived under a yellowing tropical sun, rosy cheeks make England seem very near. But if our hosts' house seemed like a corner of A GARDENER'S PARADISE 211
our own country, their garden was one of the strangest I have ever seen. It sloped steeply down the hill, and one walked from the temperate zone into the tropics. At the top, near the house, were strawberries and nasturtiums and sweet peas ; below were bananas, pommoloes, papayas, and hibiscus. Could any garden do more than grow the products of both hemispheres? It was a gardener's paradise.
It has been proposed to move the British Consulate from Tamsui to Taihoku. Fortunately (as I thought) for the Consul, there are obstacles in the way. The Japanese would prefer to have the Consulate at Taihoku, and, for official reasons, it undoubtedly should be there. But owing to the decadence of Tamsui, property there is worth next to nothing, and were the present building disposed of it would realize but a small fraction of its value.
Suitable premises cannot be leased in Taihoku, and therefore the erection of a new building would mean heavy expenditure which circumstances do not justify.
A Consulate in Taihoku might be more central, but I am sure it would break the heart of any consul's wife to leave that garden, to say nothing of that mellow veranda-girt house which looks out across the Tamsui River. And despite 'the exigencies of the service,' consuls' wives are very deserving of consideration.
After tea we went for a walk over the hills, green and undulating as the swelling downland of Wiltshire. To my surprise we suddenly walked on to a golf-tee. I was just starting an eulogy on the enterprising Britisher who makes a golf-course wherever he goes, when Phipps stopped me.
"Not a bit of it," said he. "It's Japanese." For some reason it had never occurred to me that Japanese played golf, anyhow in Formosa. But 212 CAMPHOR, OPIUM, AND TOBACCO they do. Moreover, they have a nine-hole course at Tamsui on which large numbers from Taihoku come and play—and I learnt that no foreigners are allowed to join their club. This fact struck me with rather unpleasant force. It seemed that the Japanese were not quite so indulgent to the stranger who dwells within their midst as they were to the casual passer-by, but it is only fair to add that since 1922 a new rule has been made and that foreigners are now allowed to play. CHAPTER X
THE ABORIGINES OF FORMOSA Wo Bet out for the country of the ' savages ' with Koshimura— Toyen—The push-car—Communications in hilly country—Journey to the mountains—Arrival at Kapanzan—The Government station— We put up at the rest-house—The school—Education of aborigines— A Japanized community—The aborigines of Formosa—A friendly people in olden days—Persecution by the Chinese—Their flesh sold in the public market—Japanese efforts to pacify aborigines—The guard-line—Electrified wire entanglements—Punitive expeditions— The problem still unsolved.
§ 1 1WAS particularly anxious, before leaving Formosa, to see something of the aborigines in their own villages, and the officials of the Foreign Section were kind enough to make arrangements for us to visit Kapanzan, a Government outstation in the 1 tamed' savage area. We left Taihoku by train at 10 o'clock one morning and, travelling west, reached Toyen in half an hour. The remainder of the journey was to be made by 'push-car' and, determined to travel light, we had brought only a small suit-case between us. I noticed, however, that Koshimura had beaten us, for he brought no luggage of any kind. So far as I could see, he had solved satisfactorily one of the most difficult problems of travelling, the baggage problem, by taking nothing. How much pleasanter, how much less worrying, a roving life would be if one could only educate oneself up to this standard. There would be no packing and unpacking, no complications caused
213 214 THE ABORIGINES OF FORMOSA
by superfluities which get crowded out, no porters, no tips. On the other hand, certainly, no pyjamas and no change of clothes ; but one cannot have everything, and, as I have mentioned, Japanese inns are very helpful about providing kimonos, slippers, and even toothbrushes. So that light travel is made easier for the Japanese, especially as they do not have to shave much. Even on the long journey from Takao to Taihoku, Koshimura's luggage consisted of nothing more than a small attache case, and I noticed that that was mostly full of books.
We were met at Toyen by the usual officials, who had push-cars and coolies ready waiting for us. The push-car is simply a light trolley with brakes. On the flat one coolie can get it along, running behind and shoving until it is well under way, and then getting on until it begins to slow down. Going up hill two coolies are necessary, but it is when you are going down hill that the fun begins and you have all the thrills of a prolonged journey on a kind of private (and rather flimsy) scenic railway.
The track is a very light line of about 18 inches gauge and the sleepers are mere billets of wood. At present only the main towns of Formosa are connected by roads, and the outlying districts, even up to the hills, are linked up by means of these push-car lines, of which there are over 550 miles in the island. Whoever first thought of opening up the country in this manner was a genius, for in a land where there are few horses the push-car line is far more useful than a bridle-path would be, and moreover it forms an admirable method of transporting produce, such as camphor, from the hills.
From Toyen a double track is laid, like a tramline, alongside the road. On the trolleys sedan chairs had been placed for our benefit, and my wife and I TRAVEL BY PUSH-CAR 215
took the first, muffled in rugs (for it was cold), while Koshimura and the suit-case followed in the second.
Thus we set off. We found it a delightful mode of travel.
After a long run across the plains we gradually ascended to the summit of a hill which overlooked the Tamsui River, and then started merrily down the slope at a splendid pace. The track became a single line; there were many sharp turns, and more than once we met a trolley crawling up, but the brakes were good and we always had time to stop and leap off. Once we overtook a string of cars heavily loaded with sugar-cane ; here, too, we had to get out to let the coolie trundle the trolley along the road and put it on the line again beyond the obstruction.
After a run of an hour and a half we reached the banks of the Tamsui, here little more than a stream ; it flows down a wide, stony course and is spanned by a long and rather crazy bridge on piles, constructed by filling large rattan cages with loose stones, an example of ingenious and inexpensive engineering.
To give the coolies a rest we walked up a steep hill on the far side, on the slopes of which is perched the little town of Taikokam. The sub-prefect of Taikokam administers the district as far as Kapanzan. We met his deputy and the district Chief of Police (complete with sword), and then, having had the foresight to bring sandwiches with us, we had what is known as an al-fresco luncheon at a little summer-house in the park. The authorities very kindly sent along a policeman with a supply of tea, cigarettes, and cigars. I thought the devil I knew would be better than the devil I didn 't, and stuck to cigarettes, but Koshimura recklessly helped himself to a Formosan cigar. It may have been my imagina-216 THE ABORIGINES OF FORMOSA
tion, but he seemed to become unusually quiet after a few minutes of it, and I noticed that he deposited it half-smoked in an azalea bush when he thought nobody was looking.
The sub-prefect then very kindly placed at our disposal, as guide and interpreter for the rest of our trip, a Japanese sergeant of police who, we were told, had been in the district for thirteen years. He was a smiling, cheerful person, but spoke no English and, as I discovered later, very few words of the native dialect. However, he made us feel important and was better company for Koshimura than the suit-case.
"We left Taikokam at 12.30, and as we were now getting up into the hills we took on another coolie for each trolley, much as trams in the old days used to take on a second horse. The sedan chairs were lashed securely on the framework of the trolleys, so that, as Koshimura observed, they would be less likely to overbalance when going round corners. "We prepared for the worst. We zigzagged up and up, Koshimura 's trolley now in the van, sometimes with a run down, the fertile valley of the Tamsui, far below us, looking, with its closely packed rice-fields of irregular shape, for all the world like a gigantic jig-saw puzzle that had been put together by a clever hand. Up, up we climbed, now winding round the swelling sides of those switchback hills. Leaving the terraced fields, we came to more isolated cultivation—patches of tea and rice, with the little thatched mud-houses of the Formosans clustered here and there upon the slopes. We stopped for tea and bananas at a wayside police-station, whose trim garden was abloom with roses and azaleas, and at last, having climbed 1,500 feet, we reached the little 10 OCR PUSH-CAR.
.Mr. ECoshimura, the Aurhor. and Japanese Police Sergeant.
A WAYSIDE POLIl
-
.TWN. KAPANZAN STATION 217
station of Kapanzan at five o'clock, glad to stretch our legs after our seven hours ' trip.
§ 2
Kapanzan stands on a plateau high above the Tamsui, now nothing but a mountain torrent. The hills all round, covered with a tangle of forest, and here and there with a brown patch of cultivated land, might have dropped out of Borneo. Far below, on the banks of the foaming stream, was another policestation, while high above it on the hillside, like a swift's nest on the side of a cave, was a solitarynative house.
We were lodged in the Government rest-house, which overlooked the deep-cleft valley and was built in the usual Japanese style. Close by was the palace which had been erected some time previously for an expected visit of the Crown Prince, which, however, did not take place.
The Chief of Police took us round the station.
Everything was very neat and clean; the barracks and police quarters were spotless. But what sur- prised us most was to find that, even in this faraway outpost in the hills, there was electric light. We went on to the school for the children of the 'tamed' aborigines. The schoolmaster was one of the police. The children, who were out working in the fields on our arrival, were summoned by a bell and came dashing back. They were all dressed in uniform grey kimonos and peaked caps, and they proceeded to give us an exhibition of musical drill with flags, the singing being in Japanese. Japanese fashion, they bowed profoundly when the parade was over. I only noticed three girls amongst them, one of whom politely brought us some tea.
A few mothers, who are allowed to come and visit 218 THE ABORIGINES OF FORMOSA
their offspring, were strolling about, placidly smoking long pipes with tiny brass bowls ; they wore long cloths of brilliant colours hanging from the shoulders to the ankles, and their faces were tattooed in an extraordinary fashion — broad bands running down the centre of the forehead to the bridge of the nose and across each cheek from ear to mouth. They formed a picturesque contrast to their children, who might have been a class of Japanese.
After the parade Koshimura intimated that it was usual for visitors to give a donation to the children, so five yen was produced, on receiving which the eldest boy came up and bowed in the approved Japanese manner. I looked at him.
"My hat," I murmured to myself, "and you the son of a perfectly good headhunter ! ' ' The Japanese are very proud of these schools, of which there are over thirty in the island. They point to them as a sign of progress, as a testimony of their benevolent influence over the 'savages.' To me, however, it seemed pathetic to see these children of nature being, to coin a word, Japanized. They appeared happy enough; they were clean and well cared for. The conditions under which they live are undoubtedly improved, but whether by the process of assimilation (which is admittedly the object of the administration) they do not lose more than they gain is a moot point. Education is not compulsory, but Koshimura told me that although the children did not work on Sundays, they had no other holidays and came to the schools for five years without returning to their villages. This means that they are cut off from their homes during the five most impressionable years of their lives; they lose their own traditions, they forget their customs. In A HOLIDAY FOR THE SAVAGES 219
fact they leave their villages simple up-country native children, and in five years they return Japanese citizens.
At the time I found Koshimura's statement difficult to believe and I was careful to verify it, for I found that our attache, with the best intentions in the world, was occasionally apt to be inaccurate.
This was due, I think, sometimes to his natural dislike for displaying ignorance, sometimes to a desire to give the answer he thought one wanted. For instance, on our arrival at Kapanzan he asserted that my wife was the first foreign woman to visit the station, but on looking through a kind of visitors' book we came across in the rest-house we saw the signatures of several missionary ladies, and probably scores of other foreign women have been there.
Anyhow, although those unfortunate children might have to work for five years on end, on this particular occasion I was determined to get them a day off. Ever since I had been a small boy I had envied the important people who came to visit a school and were able to demand a half-holiday for its scholars. I had always had an ambition to soar to this height of power and benevolence, and at Kapanzan I was able to do so for the first time.
The master promised that my request should be granted, but whether it was or not, or whether, having got a half-holiday, the children appreciated it, I shall never know.
§ 3
Kapanzan lies on the fringe of the 'savage' country, into which we were not allowed to go. Koshimura intimated that if we did go we should probably leave our heads there. I was sceptical about this, but at the same time the area whose inhabitants are 220 THE ABORIGINES OF FORMOSA
still wholly outside Government influence is a very considerable one and comprises the greater part of the eastern highlands, where occur most valuable stands of camphor trees.
The inhabitants of these hills, who may be called the aborigines of Formosa, for want of a better word, are descendants of a race which has probably been in the island for at least two thousand years.
Their origin, although doubtful, was almost certainly from the eastern mainland of Asia, and for the most part they are of Malayan stock. At the same time the various groups of which they are now composed did not all reach the island during the same period, and it is also likely that there were immigrations from Polynesia and the east as well.
It is only within recent years that their passion for human heads has begun to wane, and the following legend, told by a Taiyal native, describes how the custom is believed to have begun. I am indebted to Mr. Phipps for it, and give it as he translated it : "Our ancestors formerly lived in the hill-tops, but as their numbers increased there was no longer room for them all, and it was decided that some of them should remove to the plains. They had no means of counting their numbers, but it was arranged that they should divide into two parties and gather on two contiguous hills. Each party was then to shout at the top of its voice, and the one that shouted loudest would send some of its members to the other party and thus secure the greatest possible equality of numbers. They accordingly took up their positions as arranged, and one party led off with a mighty shout. The other party re- plied, but the sound was so feeble that it did not reach the other hill. The leader of the first party accordingly detached some of his number and sent KAPAXZAX STATION.
.. •*! Ut THE FORMOSA!* HILL-. ORIGIN OP HEADHUNTING 221 tliem over to the other aide as agreed. The truth was, however, that the leader of the second party, who was a cunning fellow, had concealed half of his men behind the hill in order to deceive the other side, and when the time came for the second exchange of shouts he called the men out of their hiding-place and this time bade them shout their loudest. The first party then realized the fraud that had been practised, and their leader called upon the men he sent over to the other side to return immediately.
The second leader, however, refused to let them go and sent back word that if they wanted them they could come and 'hunt for their heads.' This message infuriated the first party and led directly to the commencement of the practice of headhunting.
"Our ancestors were the smaller party who re- mained in the hills, and whither the party that stayed in the plains went to we know not. Perhaps they became the ancestors of the present semi-civilized tribes." Before the coming of the Chinese to Formosa there is no question that many of the aborigines were in possession of the fertile western plains and that they only took to the hills at a later date as a refuge from the persecutions of the new settlers. This is the usual and almost inevitable process which takes place when a country has to bear the brunt of successive waves of inhabitants, the numbers of the first-comers being gradually reduced—unless indeed they are powerful enough to withstand invasion, which is not usually the case. Even when the Dutch first came to Formosa there were considerable numbers of the natives in the neighbourhood of Tainan, and the Spaniards found them close to the coast in the north. The Dutch especially appear to have found them a likeable 222 THE ABORIGINES OF FORMOSA people and were at pains to make friends with them by treating them well, promoting new industries amongst them and appointing administrative officers to supervise the affairs of each tribe. Many were converted to Christianity. The Rev. G. Candidius, who was the first ordained Dutch missionary in Formosa and lived in the island from 1627 to 1631, described ' the southern tribes with whom he came into contact as friendly and good-natured, hospitable to foreigners and (except in their methods of warfare) not treacherous. When they were at war with another tribe, they fought according to the usages and customs of their fathers, taking heads from young or old and preferably by stealth; but they did not practise headhunting in an indiscriminate manner or kill any stranger who crossed their path as they are pictured doing in later days.
The next reliable account of the natives is by the Jesuit Father de Mailla, who visited the island in 1714 at the request of the Chinese Imperial authorities. He travelled through the island from north to south, and confirms the fact that the natives had been tractable under the Dutch administration; but he found that those who lived on the plains and had submitted to the Chinese were being robbed and cheated by the petty officials set over them. He gives in detail one particularly barbarous atrocity committed by the Chinese, and this was, in all probability, by no means an isolated case. After the Chinese occupied the island, efforts were made to find gold, of which they had heard many stories on the west coast, but without success. The east of the island was the wholly unknown territory, but a party of Chinese adventurers fitted up a small boat and made their way by sea to the east coast, 1 Formosa under the Dutch, p. 9. CHINESE ATROCITIES 223
where they landed and met with a friendly reception from the natives. They were given houses to live in, were supplied with food, and were allowed to go where they wished. They remained a week with their hosts searching for gold, but could obtain no information as to its presence in the neighbourhood.
Then, just as they were about to abandon their search, quite by chance they found in one of the native houses a few gold ingots, by which, however, the owners seemed to set little store. At once the cupidity of the Chinese was aroused. Instead of bartering for the gold, which they could probably have obtained for next to nothing, they prepared their boat for the return voyage and then invited the natives to a farewell banquet, in gratitude, as they said, for the hospitality that had been shown them. They supplied their unsuspecting guests liberally with arrack and, when they were all drunk, massacred them to a man, seized the coveted gold, and set sail.
No notice was taken of this outrage by the authorities, but it would have been well for the Chinese themselves had the murderers been brought to justice. Tidings of the atrocity spread through the native countryside and retaliation followed. Bands of aborigines invaded the Chinese settlements, killing in cold blood every man, woman, and child they met, burning villages, destroying crops, and looting everything they could find.
From that day the most bitter enmity existed between the natives and the Chinese, and increasing warfare was waged along the native border for hundreds of years. The attitude of the natives towards strangers underwent a complete change, as well it might, and every foreigner, whatever his nationality, was regarded as an enemy. The Chinese 224 THE ABORIGINES OF FORMOSA
officials made no serious attempts to conciliate the native districts or to bring about a cessation of hostilities and a peaceful settlement: their only policy was that of extermination. At one period they did go so far as to construct an embankment on the line of what was supposed to be the native border, beyond which the settlers were directed not to go. It is not to be supposed that this action served any useful purpose. It did not prevent a greedy Chinese making an incursion after camphor, or anything else he thought he could get, nor did it prevent the natives making raids upon their selfappointed enemies, even though guards were placed at intervals along the border. But it was an unequal struggle for the natives. They were driven farther and farther into the hills as their fertile territory on the plains and lowlands was wrested from them by the oncoming tide of Chinese settlers, especially by the camphor-workers, who pushed farther inland as the areas near the coast began to be worked out.
A favourite trick of the camphor-workers was to capture a party of natives by a ruse. They then sent for the wives and children, whereupon the men were released and the others detained as hostages until the area of camphor had been worked. It was not surprising that when the natives came upon small parties of Chinese working in the forest they seldom let slip the chance of taking their revenge.
The Chinese atrocities, however, far exceeded any committed by the natives. The latter took heads, it is true, but the former ate and even traded in their victims' flesh. "Impossible as it may seem," says Mr. Davidson, "that a race with such high pretensions to civilization and religion should be guilty of such barbarity, yet such is the truth. After SALE OF HUMAN FLESH 225
killing a savage, the head was commonly severed from the body and exhibited to those who were not on hand to witness the prior display of slaughter and mutilation. The body was then either divided among its captors and eaten, or sold to wealthy Chinese and even to high officials, who disposed of it in a like manner. The kidney, liver, heart, and soles of the feet were considered the most desirable portions, and were ordinarily cut up into small pieces, boiled, and eaten somewhat in the form of soup. The flesh and bones were boiled, and the former made into a sort of jelly. The Chinese profess to believe, in accordance with an old superstition, that the eating of savage flesh will give them strength and courage. To some this may appear as a partial excuse for this horrible custom; but even that falls through, if one thinks that superstitious beliefs are at the bottom of cannibalism as practised by the most savage tribes of the world.
During the outbreak of 1891 savage flesh was brought in—in baskets—the same as pork, and sold like pork in the open markets of Tokoham before the eyes of all, foreigners included; some of the flesh was even sent to Amoy to be placed on sale there." 1
§ 4
In such manner was the friendly disposition of the natives changed by the tyranny and barbarity of the Chinese and by the weakness and inefficiency of the Government. Iron entered into their souls and they killed a Chinese at sight. This was the state of affairs when the Japanese took over the island, and, once they had put down the Chinese rebels and bands of roving brigands who infested the country1 The Island of Formosa, p. 255. 15 226 THE ABORIGINES OF FORMOSA side, they were confronted with the problem of how best to settle the aborigines.
In my opinion, they have not succeeded. In my opinion, the 'savage question' is the one problem in Formosa which the Japanese have failed to solve, and that is because they have not set about solving it in the right way.
Once the Japanese had established law and order in the territory which had been under the influence of the Chinese Government, they turned their attention to the aborigines. A committee for exploring the savage area was formed and a department for dealing with native affairs established. No unauthorized persons were allowed to enter the savage area without special permission, and an ordinance was promulgated forbidding anyone to occupy or lay claim to any land within the native territory without special authority.
The frontier between the savage territory and the rest of the island was only vaguely defined, but it was understood to follow roughly the line of the old embankment constructed by the Chinese. A few small stations were established in the native districts, but the inhabitants, probably misunderstanding the motives of the strangers or mistaking them for Chinese, often raided these posts and killed the garrisons. After this, the policy of the authorities seems to have been for some time to confine the aborigines within their boundaries and to let them work out their own salvation; that is to say, they ignored nearly half their new territory (for the savage area was estimated at 7,000 square miles), containing they knew not what possibilities and hidden wealth.
They soon found it necessary, however, to establish guards along the frontier to protect the camphor-THE GUARD-LINE 227
workers, and they revived the old institution of the Chinese, which had fallen into disuse. The guardline, or aiyn, as reorganized by the Japanese, consisted of outposts of military police; in 1895 it stretched for 80 miles and was extended later to 300. The line was advanced into the native territory when an opportunity arose, and the inhabitants who had been 'suppressed' were then 'tamed'—to use Koshimura's expression. Agricultural implements were given them; they were taught to plant rice instead of the millet which had hitherto formed their staple food ; their sick were attended and supplied with medicine ; salt and other necessaries were exchanged for the game and forest products they brought in.
The guard-line was made by cutting a track through the forest, called the guard-road. It usually followed the summit of a range of hills, the trees being felled for some distance on the native side, to make it possible to give warning of the approach of any aborigines and to afford a field of fire. At strategic points guard-houses, of which there are now over 800, were established and garrisoned, the average distance between each being a quarter of a mile, They were constructed from material on the spot—wood, bamboo, earth, and stone; the walls were loop-holed and surrounded by trenches and palisades. In the Report on the Control of the Aborigines in Formosa, published by the Formosan Government, it is stated : "Where it becomes necessary to perfect the defensive arrangements, wireentanglements, charged with electricity, are used or i mines are run. These have great effect in giving an alarm of the invading savages. Grenades are very often used in the course of fighting. Telephone lines are constructed along the guard-road, and in 228 THE ABORIGINES OF FORMOSA
certain important places mountain and field guns are placed. One gun is sufficient to withstand the attack of several tribes." 1 The italics are mine.
The guard-line system is still in force. The guardsmen are paid by the Formosan Government and are recruited from the Formosan Chinese, with a small sprinkling of Japanese. They are provided with uniforms and are paid from 7 to 15 yen sl month. If a guardsman is wounded, he is given a bounty ranging from 40 to 100 yen upon recovery ; and should one be killed in the performance of his duty, his family receive 100 yen as compensation.
There are usually from two to four guardsmen in each house, whilst every fourth or fifth house is a branch superintendent's station under a Japanese or Formosan policeman ; a police inspector, or assistant inspector, is in charge of every four or five branch stations. In districts where barter is officially permitted, an exchange office is attached to the superintendent's station, controlled by an official who is assisted by a native interpreter.
The Formosan guard-line is simply a line of outposts. Beyond the outposts stretches what is looked upon as enemy country. Behind are the Formosan villages which are to be protected. The guardsmen are essentially a fighting force, although for the most part they are a defensive one. They keep watch from their little strongholds day and night; they patrol the line between the guard-house continually.
Neither natives nor Formosans are allowed to pass the line without special permits. "Even the savages who have permission to travel and communicate freely," say Mr. Takekoshi, "are not allowed to approach the lines except at certain fixed points.
i p. 16. A CHOICE OF EVILS 229
The sentinels have full permission to use their rifles whenever their challenge is disregarded." 1 Again the italics are mine.
This state of affairs has existed since the guardline was reorganized by the Japanese until the present time. Under the existing methods of administration it may continue so to exist for many years to come.
Mr. Takekoshi likens the lot of the garrisons of the isolated guard-houses to the life "led by those unfortunates in China, who in olden times were assigned to the garrisons far beyond the Great Wall, where they had ever to be on guard against the ravages of the furious Huns, a constant menace for so many years to the peace and tranquillity of the Middle Kingdom. The hardships they suffered and their lonely existence were a favourite theme with Chinese poets, who loved to descant upon the hard fate of these guardians of the public peace. The life of the Formosan guards is well worthy of being sung by our poets, and would furnish them with many a touching incident. ' ' 2 It is a pathetic picture. But anyhow, the Formosan guards are there of their own free will.
Moreover, they are outside, not inside, that electrified barbed-wire entanglement. Taking it all round, I think I would rather be a Formosan guardsman than a Formosan savage.
§ 5
From time to time, as I have mentioned, the guardline is advanced, and the territory so occupied is then available for development once it has been settled. In some cases the natives have themselves
1 Japanese Rule in Formosa, p. 214.
2 Op. cit., p. 215. 230 THE ABORIGINES OF FORMOSA
realized the advantages of living under settled Government, and then the occupation presents no difficulties. At other times every possible obstacle is put in the way of the advance, and a guerrilla warfare ensues in which the natives usually have the best of it, in spite of the troops equipped with the devices of modern warfare sent against them.
The attacking force has an imperfect knowledge of the territory to be entered ; the country consists of range upon range of steep hills, densely clad with jungle ; transport difficulties are very great, and there is perpetual danger of troops falling into an ambush.
The native warrior on his own ground can make rings round the heavily equipped Japanese soldier, who is unused to jungle work or to climbing hills.
Under such conditions it is not to be wondered that the ordinary guardsman, who, although he wears a uniform, is far from being a trained and disciplined soldier, frequently deserts before an advance takes place.
The attacking force, the strength of which naturally varies with the objective and, when opposition is anticipated, with the estimated numbers of the enemy, consists of a main body, usually under the command of the Chief Police Officer of the Prefecture, a patrol detachment which acts as an advance guard, a transport section, and an engineering section, to which is entrusted the duty of felling jungle, making new guard-houses, roads, erecting telephone lines and wire entanglements.
Even an advance under peaceful terms means a considerable undertaking. For example, one of the most successful, which was made in 1904 and re- sulted in an area of 300 square miles coming under Government influence, involved a campaign of 99 days, the employment of 700 officers and men, and the PUNITIVE EXPEDITIONS 231 expenditure of £5,000. On another, undertaken in 1907 against the Taiyal tribe in the Taikokam district, through which we passed on our way to Kapanzan, stubborn opposition was encountered, and the expedition, which consisted of two forces of 1,000 and 500 men, sustained heavy casualties both among police, trained guardsmen, and baggage coolies.
After an arduous campaign lasting nearly four months, the line was advanced and 90 square miles of new territory were occupied, this time at a cost of £12,600.
In these cases the line was advanced by the police working in conjunction with the Formosan guardsmen. On other occasions, however, it was considered necessary to send Japanese infantry on punitive expeditions against the aborigines, and, since the troops were unaccustomed to the conditions under which they had to fight, they did not always meet with success. In 1898, after a police detachment of an officer and nine men had been murdered on the east coast by the Taruko, a branch of the Taiyal tribe, on account of the violation (as the natives said) of a tribal custom, a battalion of infantry was despatched to take punitive measures, but, owing to the heavy casualties inflicted by the natives, it was forced to withdraw, and the expedition was abandoned. For some years the Taruko continued their activities unchecked until, in 1906, they made a sudden raid and killed the Chief Police Officer of the Kwarenko district and 30 camphorworkers. It was then decided to take operations against them on a large scale. A year later, two cruisers bombarded their villages from the sea, after which they were attacked on land by Japanese troops working in conjunction with a band of 500 'tamed' natives. Forty of the Taruko were killed, six vil-232 THE ABORIGINES OF FORMOSA lages were burnt, and the standing crops were destroyed. 1 As a rule the punitive expeditions, which have been frequent, achieved their objects, inasmuch as a certain number of natives were killed and a certain number of villages were burnt. Sometimes the pacification of the district resulted, but usually it did not, for the natives, having inflicted what casualties they could upon the attacking force, took to the jungle, where they were secure from pursuit. The Japanese, having destroyed everything there was to destroy, then withdrew and matters went on very much as they had gone before. The modern infantry soldier has everything against him under such conditions, the native everything in his favour. Usually the police and guardsmen attained far better results than the military, from the point of view of the Formosan Government.
In some cases the failure of an expedition did more harm than good, for it left the natives defiant and with even less respect for the Government than they had had before ; in other cases, although a display of force was made and certain villages received punishment, the effect was not lasting, since the district could not be occupied, so that lives were lost and considerable expenditure incurred without any useful result. And the fact remains, as even the Formosan Government must itself admit, that in spite of all these efforts and operations, in spite of these expensive expeditions and desultory campaigns extending for nearly thirty years, the natives of the Formosan hills, numbering less than 100,000, are still able to keep the Japanese out of half their colony and prevent them from developing what may yet prove to be the most valuable part of the island.
1 Report of the Control of the Aborigines of Formosa, pp. 34 and 39. THE JAPANESE DEFIED 233 The Japanese showed themselves a match for the Chinese, they were able to beat the Eussians and they captured Tsintau from the Germans, but they are still being defied and excluded from the territory over which they hold nominal sway by the primitive people of the Formosan hills. For that reason I say that the Japanese have failed, and failed utterly, in their endeavours to solve the important question of bringing the natives under their influence. It is easy enough to pick holes in the policy of others, and so far my criticism has been purely destructive, but I shall try to show in the following chapter how, in my opinion, they might have succeeded and how they may still succeed.