Sketches from Formosa.

XII
WITH THE BU-HWAN HEAD-HUNTERS
MR. T. L. BULLOCK of the British Consulate at Takow, and
a naturalist from America, recently accompanied me on
a three months' visit to the Po-li-sia region. They were
delightful travelling companions, full of quiet humour,
quite prepared for roughing it, and in thorough sympathy
with the work in which I was engaged. After my pastoral
visitation of the churches was completed, they were much
pleased when arrangements were made for paying a visit
to the wild Bu-hwan tribe among the mountains east
from Po-li-sia. It was not known at the time that this
tribe had a quarrel with the Po-li-sia Sek-hwan because
the latter had treated them unfairly in some of their
bartering transactions.
We had a long, hard day's walk before reaching the
village of Tur-u-wan, and were surprised to find that all
the male adults were away attending a war-council of the
tribesmen ; rumours being also in circulation that our
little party had come to make reprisals because of a raid
the Bu-hwan made upon the Po-li-sia people. As the
women and old men present refused to have anything
to do with us, we decided to return by mountain paths
a little further north, and set out before noon of the
following day. Towards dark, it became evident that we
would require to spend the night in some lonely spot ;
and a grassy knoll was chosen which enabled us to see the
path we had passed over, and also kept the valley away to
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