Chau Ju-Kua - University of Oregon Libraries

1,46 ISLAND OF HAINAN. 183
have their cheeks finely tattooed; this is called «emhroidering the face» (|§
and, when the tattooing is completed, the relatives and friends assemble
^),
to offer congratulations. Female slaves do not «embroider» their faces ^^
The women's work is spinning and weaving, for which purpose they
5 buy Chinese coloured silk stuffs, draw out the coloured threads and weave
these with tree-cotton (tJ; j^^) into single curtains (^ ^); they also make
excellent cloth of (both kinds of) cotton.
They sacrifice to the gods oxen, dogs, fowls, and pigs, often as many as
an hundred (at a time). As there is neither salt nor iron, fish, nor shrimps
10 (in their country), they barter for them with the neighbouring Chinese settlers
with gharu-wood, unbleached cotton cloth, tree-cotton, and hemp (Hff^ ^),
for they do not make use of coined money.
Their dwellings have bamboo frames; the ground fioor is occupied by
their live-stock, the inhabitants live in the upper part. The men carry usually
15 a long wooden-handled knife (fg) and a long bow (5§ ^ ); they do not take
a step without them. They delight in taking revenge and killing (their ene-
mies), they call this «seizing» (:^ \^j)- ^^ the case of a relative being killed,
they lay hold of and fetter some member of the family of the (dead man's)
enemy or of his village, and, for a fetter, they use a piece of hchee-wood six
20 feet long and in shape like a foot-pestle (^^). Then they demand of the
prisoner, before they will release him, either a cow, wine, silver, or a pitcher
(^),
to «ransom his life» as they call it^^
On the conclusion of a marriage contract they break an arrow in
two as a proof of good faith. The festivals are held with beating of drums,
25 dances and singing. When a person dies they always kill an ox as a
sacrifice ^'.
Among the native products of this country the ch'on-shui and fong-lai
(varieties of gharu-wood) take the first rank in the Hiang-p'u (^ |f )^*.
The mountains are covered with areca and cocoanut palms; there are also
30 ponies, kingfishers' feathers, and yellow wax^^ It often happens that traders
from Min (i. e., Fu-kien), driven on the coast by storms and having lost
everything in the wreck of their junks, have gone into the Li country to make
a living by tilling the soiP®. "When Chinese officials or people are travelling
to the native villages, they can expect perfect security when they stop in the
35 houses of (these Chinese inland-settlers).
Military posts of the four departments (^fj) of Hai-nan keep guard
outside the (territory of the) Tame Li in the four quarters (pg |5^), along
a line of a thousand U. There is a road like a connecting ring (between