When I realized the reason for the regard in which I was held by these people a sense of the ludicrous overcame me. School-day struggles with Virgil--buried in some region of the subconscious--were recalled; these even more strongly when one day I overheard a discussion among some of the tribespeople regarding my walk. I neither hobbled as did the Chinese-Formosan women, nor did I walk with the toed-in, short steps of the Japanese women (a few of the coast aborigines had seen Japanese women). “Feet strangely covered, stone-defying. With no burden on her back, freely, with long steps, she walks, as must the females of the gods from whom we spring.” “_Et vera incessu patuit dea_,” etc. Curiously similar the idea, though the words in which this time it was voiced were those of this strange Malay dialect.... The childhood of the world! Still in odd comers it exists, and can, with seeking, be found. FOOTNOTES: [30] Rickshas--small man-drawn carriages--(see illustration) could be pulled only about the city and its immediate environs, and it was not city or suburban life in which I was interested. [31] See illustrations. [32] It is due to the efforts of Mr. Hosui and Mr. Marui that the skull of a recently decapitated member of the Taiyal tribe has been presented to the Museum of Oxford University. [33] See map. [34] Quite naturally, Christmas means nothing to the Japanese. Most of those who have not been missionized do not even know on what day this _seiyō-jin matsuri_ (foreign festival) falls; those who live in country districts have not even heard of it. Their celebration of the winter solstice is at the New Year, which is the great festival time of the year. At this season interesting ceremonies are observed, and quaint and picturesque games played by old and young alike. [35] See map. [36] See map. [37] See map. [38] See map. [39] See map. [40] See Part II of this book. [41] Winter is the rainy season in northern Formosa; summer the rainy season in the southern part of the island. CHAPTER IV THE PRESENT POPULATION OF FORMOSA Hakkas and other Chinese-Formosans, Japanese, Aborigines.