The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1931, Page 107

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER

107

arm are wholly paralyzed. His left arm he still
may use, but it is not entirely well. Here is an-
other practical example of trust in God as the only
Physician who can administer help. As we ap-
proach him, he smiles and makes a laborious effort
to extend his left hand. After a little while he
succeeds in doing so. We inquire how he is feeling
on this bright and sunny day. He answers, “I’m
all right.” Through that smile two unsuppressed
tears trickle down his round cheeks. However,
after we have read to him a comforting psalm, he
is cheered again and expresses his great apprecia-
tion for our call. Before we leave, we usually also
sing a suitable song to these two men, thus making
an effort to lessen their burden of pain and sorrow.

Now our task for to-day has been completed,
and the inmates of the Henry County Infirmary
have again received a few selections of God’s Word
on which they may meditate during the following
weeks and strengthen one another. We hope and
pray that this seed may bear abundant fruit also
in the hearts of those who have not yet accepted
this blessed Word of the Cross.

The Henry County Infirmary is 244 miles
northwest of N. and is taken care of by the pastor
of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church of N. However,
a number of these services are conducted by the
student assistant of the pastor during the months
from September to June. H. L. K.

The Head-Hunters of Formosa.

Who of us has not heard it said, “I don’t believe
in Foreign Missions. I believe people ought to be
left alone and not disturbed in their ways and
customs and religious beliefs. I believe that the
religion people have is the one that is best suited
to them”? Of course, people that speak like this
have probably never seen a Foreign Mission station,
’ nor have they ever come in close contact with a mis-
sionary. If they have ever been in foreign lands,
their knowledge of missions is based, not upon per-
sonal observation of the workings of Foreign Mis-
sions, but upon things that other people tell them.
They do not see the blessings of Foreign Missions
because they do not look for them, nor do they see
the wretchedness of heathenism because they do not
go where it is to be seen.

Such and similar thoughts came to me when
I recently read about the fierce head-hunters of
Formosa, who in their mountain strongholds are

a constant source of peril to the dwellers on the
plains of their island home.

A Japanese official describes a recent visit to
the largest and fiercest of the eight aboriginal tribes
still holding the mountain fastnesses of the island.
He relates that their coming had been heralded
to the inhabitants of the village which they visited,
and as a result the fathers and grandfathers came
out to meet them, with wicked-looking knives
dangling about their hips and a fierce grin upon
their faces.

At the time of the visit the savages of Musha
(meaning Foggy Village) were on the war-path
with the members of another tribe; for the eight
tribes, though all of the same Malayan origin, differ
greatly in physical characteristics, speech, habits,
and customs and are enemies of one another.

All told, there are over a hundred thousand un-
tamed savages in the mountain fastnesses 0
island, and they occupy probably about hal
area of the island, 7,000 square miles of the 1
The Taiyal tribe, to which the people of the
Village belong, number about 30,000, and the
claim to approximately 3,000 square miles ith
northern part of Formosa. a rs}

It is no exaggeration to say that the us =
savage tribes look upon all strangers as deadly ot
mies and treat them as such. “All friendly Ss
tures made by strangers are scorned. When
Japanese took control of the island in 189 ape
tried to gain the good will of the savages by
them food and clothing; but while the wild tribe
men accepted the gifts, they continued to as
the people of the plains as they had done béfre®

The policy of suppression, next introduc Ne
the Japanese, was no more successful; fo e
tribesmen retired into their mountain refugespand
from there sallied out upon the plain whengot
expected, attacked villages, killed the people, and
carried away with them as much as they could in
the way of spoil. And when once they had entered
the primeval forests and entangling thickets, there
was no way of catching them. All that could be
done was to guard against their frequent sorties.

The Japanese official from whose narrative we
have gleaned these facts says that not all the native
tribes of Formosa are head-hunters, but the Tatyal

- tribe has looked upon head-hunting as a sort of

sacramental custom for centuries. For every re-
ligious ceremony a human head is required, and
for many other occasions it is regarded as a neces-
sary requisite. When, for example, a quarrel arises