Abstract
In this article I should like to discuss a special group of people living in the Western Paiwan tribe. It is called 〞tcimo〞 or 〞tc'imo〞, Only a few Japanese ethnologists mentioned something about the tcimo, but they did not make a thorough study on its culture, position and origin. The materials presented here are based on my field trip to Western Paiwan in December, 1955-January, 1956. All the data given below will manifest that the tcimo is not a special branch of the Paiwan tribe as stated by some Japanese scholars but a different tribe from the Paiwan. I am going to discuss the subject in detail. The Paiwan, a main tribe of the Formosan aborigines, is distributed in the southern part of Taiwan from south of Mt. Tawu, down to Erluanpi, the extreme southern tip of the Island. At present, the tcimo live together with the Paiwan in two villages, namely, tc'ila?abus and bongarits, all situated on the western side of the Central mountain ridge. Both the tcimo and the Paiwan each occupy about one half of the district in each village. The settlement of the tcimo is called tcinimoan and located in the southern part of each village, while the Paiwan are settled in the northern section which is known as pinauianan: There is a narrow path running between the two settlements from east to west as their boundary. There are about five hundred tcimo out of 987 inhabitants in the village of tc'ila?abus, and about three hundred and fifty tcimo among the 718 'inhabitants of bongarits village. Intermarriage has been prevailing between the people of these two tribes ever since the beginning of their co-residence; they also have mixed with each other in the respect of culture to an final extent. However, they still preserve their hunting grounds, fishing areas, and cultivative lands separately. Each tribe has its own priests and magicians. Furthermore, the people of each tribe have a sense of 〞we-feeling〞 deep in their mind. In comparison with former conditions between these two tribes, marked differences still can be found. These differences will convince us to consider that the tcimo is a different group of people from the Paiwan and that it was first assimilated by the Paiwan and later formed an element of the latter 's original culture. I should like to explain my arguments in the following: 1. Legends that concern the situation of the tcimo people and have been prevailing in many Paiwan villages other than trc'ila?abus and bongarits indicated that the distribution of the tcimo was wilder in ancient times than nowaday, Accordingly, I consider that the ancient area of the tcimo which is the modern dwelling district of the Western Paiwan tribe might start from south of Penti River, a north branch of Ai-liau River, to north of Feng-kang River and that, when the original Paiwan tribe later came into the territory from northeast and assimilated the people of tcimo, the latter were compelled to reduce their dwelling land gradually to the two villages of tc'ila?abus and bongarits as their last bases. 2. The people of tcimo have their special genetic legends, which are different from those of the Paiwan. I have been told by tcimo informants that their ancestors were born from sun's egg, but that the Paiwan are either the children of snake or that of stone. These are the three types of legend that we can find existing side by side in every Paiwan village. But in my opinion, the prevalence of these legends is resulted from cultural assimilation of some tribes and these legends must be separately originated from three different tribes. My comparative study on the distribution of these three types of legend points out that the first type of legend, the legend of sun's egg, is originated from the ttsimo, that the second legend regarding the origination of the Paiwan tribe from snake is prevalent in most of Paiwan villages as the leading myth of the Paiwan Proper, and that the third one, which is a legend of stone origin, must have been influenced by the neighbouring Puyuma tribe. 3. The social organization of the Paiwan has developed a complicated caste system of landlords, or aristocrats, and the tenants. Each aristocratic unit rules independantly, levies taxes on its tenants, and exacts their tributes. For the succession of aristocratic right is passed down from father to the eldest child, regardless the sex of the child, the kinship system of this tribe belongs to the bilateral type. There is no such unilateral kindred group as lineage nor sib (or clan), but there is a group called malusiatsatsa which is composed of three generations of both paternal and maternal kinsmen. Marriage between two members of malusiatsatsa is prohibited. Today the social organization of the tcimo is similar to that of the Paiwan in the respects of class organization and bilateral kinship system. Nevertheless, still there are some differences between these two societies, and these also point out the different backgrounds and origins of these two tribes. 4. As to religious aspect, many differences can be found between these two stocks. Both the tsimo and the Paiwan have their own magicians and priests, and the spirits they worship are also different. Magicians of these two tribes differ in their traditions, instruments, performances, dresses and ornaments. Whenever necessary, they perform magics only for the sake of the group to which they belong. Priests of these two tribes separately share the responsibility for holding some ritual ceremonies. For example, the great ritual ceremony of maieuok (a ceremony performed once in five years) is directed by the priests of Paiwan; but, performance of the secondary ritual of pusau (a ceremony performed once in six years) and all other ceremonies concerning agriculture is the duty of the taimo priests. It seems to me that the tcimo is a people skilled in agriculture, for most of the agricultural rituals are performed by their priests. 5. Dresses, ornaments, household utensils, and the custom of the tcimo people were also different from those of the Paiwan. Moreover, according to legends of the Paiwan tribe, the people of tcimo were terrible cannibals in ancient times and they also liked to eat snakes, which are worshipped by the Paiwan but prohibited from being killed because they are the totemic animal of the Paiwan tribe. Thus, we can understand how divergent in custom the two tribes were. Judging from foregoing auguments, I think, it is reasonable to conclude that the tcimo is not only a special group of people but a different tribe from the Paiwan and has become a new cultural component of the Paiwan tribe. This comparative study will also support the assumption that Formosan aborigines in their present conditions represent the result of an amalgamation of many heterogenous elements, both culturally and physically.