A writer--signing himself “P. M.”--discussing the aborigines of Formosa, in the _China Review_ (vol. ii) for 1873, says: “Decay and death are always sad sights to contemplate, and when decay and death are those of a nation or race, the feeling is stimulated to acuteness.” If this feeling in connection with the aborigines was aroused in a European resident in Formosa in 1873, how much more strongly is this the case to-day--nearly half a century later--when the aboriginal population has dwindled from approximately one-sixth of the population of the island (an estimate given by Keane in his remarks on Formosa, in _Man Past and Present_) to about 3 per cent. of the entire population--a decline of 15 per cent. in less than fifty years. Under the present system of “benevolent assimilation” on the part of the Japanese Government the aboriginal population seems declining at an even more rapid rate than it did under Chinese rule, which ended in 1895. Hence if the mistake which was made in the case of the Tasmanians--that of allowing them to die out before definite or detailed information regarding their beliefs and customs was gained--is to be avoided in the case of the Formosan aborigines, all anthropological data available, both social and physical, should be gained without further delay. Up to this time apparently but little has been done in the way of scientific study of these people, in spite of the fact that, as Keane points out, Formosa “presents a curious ethnical and linguistic connecting link between the continental and oceanic populations of Asia.” Dr. W. Campbell, writing in _Hastings’ Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics_ (vol. vi) remarks: “The first thing to notice in making any statement about the savages of Formosa is the extreme paucity of information which is available.” If anything which I--the first white woman to go among certain of the tribal groups of these savages--am able to say will make less this “extreme paucity of information,” then I shall feel that the time spent in writing this book has not been wasted. I must add that I am deeply indebted to Dr. Marett, of Oxford, who most kindly read the greater part of the book in manuscript form; and again in proof. JANET B. MONTGOMERY MCGOVERN. Salzburg, Austria. _March 1922._ NOTE