高砂族の生業(<特集>台湾研究)

抄録

The Formosan aborigines make their livelihood mainly by agriculture, stockbreeding, hunting, fishery, handicraft and, in recent times, though partially, by wage labor, the former two being the most important for their daily life subsistence. They cultivate land chiefly by shifting method, though in combination with a more or less reasonable rotation of crops and, notably among the northern and central tribes, also with some measures of reforestation. The "kinds" of plants, including those raised as seedling for reforestation, which they have cultivated since relatively olden times, amount to 46, of which those found throughout most tribes and localities are italian millet (Setaria italica), sweet potato, taro (Colocasia esculenta), sugar-cane, ginger (Zingiber officinalle), banana, ramie, gourd (Lagenaria leucantha var. gourda). From the distributional viewpoint concerning cereals, it may be of some interest to find among these 46 "kinds" the Chenopodium sp. (Seiban-akaza in Japanese) which is akin to the Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) of South America. The wet-rice cultivation was introduced relatively in later days, presumably less than a half century before, from Chinese and Japanese. But it is found mainly among the eastern plain tribes, and rather sporadically in the foot-hill regions among the mountain tribes. The habitat of the Formosan aborigines is divided into the temperate or subtemperate and subtropical zones, with variation of temperature, according not only to latitude but also to altitude. The harvest of their farming activity, consumed mainly for self-supporting, is consisted, broadly speaking, of cereals and tuber or root-crops, respectively of various kinds. The general trend is that the tribes who dwell in the temperate or subtemperate zone depend primarily on cereals and secondarily on tuber or root-crops, whereas it is just the reverse among those whose habitat is situated in the subtropical or tropical zone. Yet, some cultural factors seem to be involved here. Thus, for instance, the Bunun in the central Formosa often cultivate their land up to the height as far as the raising of millet of various kinds is possible, seemingly disregarding the wide areas of lower land where the harvest of tuber or root-crops are highly promising. On the other hand, the Paiwan to the south inclined generally to raise crops in the relatively lower valleys, notwithstanding that there are considerably wide areas for raising millet in higher slope of mountains and that, in some regions, population pressure is becoming a serious problem under the primitive farming by shifting method. Those which are important in husbandry are dog, pig, goat, buffalo (of recent times), wild fowl (Gallus gallus), fowl (Gallus domesticus), and wild honey-bee. Among them, the pig is found throughout all tribes, whereas the dog and fowl are lacking only in the Yami of the Botel Tobago Island. The rearing of wild fowl is peculiar to the Yami.