Paiwan women are not tattooed on their bodies as the men of the tribe are, or on their faces as are Taiyal women; but only on the backs of their hands--little series of lines that approximate sometimes squares, sometimes circles. The women of the Lu-chu islands have a similar custom. Whether or not there has been any contact between the two peoples would be an interesting subject for investigation. The custom of circumcision does not seem to exist among any of the Formosan tribes, either as a rite of puberty or of infancy. Nor did I see any evidence while among them of finger mutilation, such as exists among certain peoples in Africa; and also, I believe, among some Australian tribes. Neither do young men pass through the extremely painful initiation rites that are demanded of the young “braves” of certain North American Indian tribes--notably the Sioux--such as hanging suspended from a rod which is passed through the flesh of the shoulders, walking over live coals, or the like. The most painful rite to which either the young man or the young woman is subjected is that of having the teeth extracted. This is usually borne with stoical fortitude, and afterwards the youth or maiden will proudly boast of the fact that the tongue can be seen through the teeth, and will lose no opportunity of broadly smiling to demonstrate the truth of the assertion. FOOTNOTES: [96] The ear-plugs worn by men of the Paiwan tribe are perhaps even larger than those worn by the men of other tribes. For this reason the Chinese-Formosans call the Paiwan _Tao-he-lan_ (“Big Ears”). [97] Needles obtained by barter from the Japanese are now sometimes substituted for thorns. CHAPTER XII METHODS OF TRANSPORT Ami Wheeled Vehicle Resembling Models found in Early Cyprian Tombs--Boat-building and the Art of Navigation on the Decline. This subject might be dismissed with a word--so little is any method of transport less primitive than that of human shoulders developed among the aboriginal tribes--were it not for two facts which raise interesting questions. One of these has to do with land transport; the other with transport by water. Regarding the former, the only tribe that uses any sort of wheeled vehicle, or that knows anything of a beast of draught, is the Ami. The vehicle of this tribe is a primitive two-wheeled cart, the interesting point about it being that the solid wheels are fixed to the axle, the latter revolving with each revolution of the wheels. In fact, the construction of the cart causes it to resemble an enormous harrow rather than any vehicle usually associated with transport. The Ami tribes-people, however, are inordinately proud of this invention, which they say was introduced among them by the “White Fathers” (evidently the Dutch) of the “glorious long ago.” This cart is drawn by a “water-buffalo,” a descendant of those said to have been brought to Formosa by the Dutch.[98]