當時,西方來的殖民者,就這樣滑著小船,沿著打狗川,在 150 年台灣南部的原始林裡探險。
只是,打狗川依舊,但打狗川邊的打狗社原住民,卻都已經消失了。
Kaohsiung, the second largest city in Taiwan in 1862.
The conquistadores and the adventurers from the West sailed boats through the wild jungle among the swamps of Southern Taiwan.
This was where the indigenous people, Makatto were supposed to be. But where had all of they gone?
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1862 年,一位途經過高雄(打狗)的英國人必麒麟(W.A. Pickering),就像這張圖片畫的一樣,在佈滿含羞草、棕櫚、紅樹林,和林投樹(阿美族捧油一聽到林投樹,精神都來了!)的熱帶沼澤裡旅行。
這裡是打狗川,我們現在呢,都叫它「愛河」。在幾百年前,曾經有一群馬卡道族的原住民悠閒自在地生活在這裡,並建立了一個部落叫打狗社。
但是 1862 年,必麒麟來到這裡時,已經不見馬卡道族人的蹤影了!
因為就在 16 世紀的明朝,有一位叫林道乾的海盜被官府的軍隊追殺,帶領了整批海盜來到高雄 -- 這些號稱「文明」的人,相信用人血造船,可以避邪。所以就獵殺打狗社的馬卡道族人,用他們的血塗抹在船身上造船,或是和著石灰補船身的裂縫。於是剩下的馬卡道人,只好逃到更南邊的屏東。這麼「文明」的事,在清朝《鳳山縣誌》裡記得清清楚楚......
我們常覺得原住民出草很殘忍,可是出於自衛與嚇阻作用的出草,怎樣都比不上許多文明人的屠殺啊!
The river, now we call Love River, used to be called the Takao River, was the home to many Makatto people in the tribe Takao centuries ago.
But when the English adventurer, W.A. Pickering, visited Kaohsiung as the picture depicted in 1862, the Makatto people were all gone. Where were they?
They story goes back to the 16th century, when a pirate called Lim To Khiam arrived to Southern Taiwan. Lim and his gang were then chased by the army of the Min Dynasty and fled to Takao, now Kaohsiung, the second largest city, and also the second capital in Taiwan.
These "civilized" people from China believed to apply the humans' blood to the ships could ward off evil spirits. So Lim and his people slaughtered the local indigenous people of Makatto in Takao and made ships with their blood. Many Makatto people died in the slaughter and the rest of them then escaped to Pintung, the southernmost end of Taiwan. The "civilized" slaughtered was all recorded in the history of China's Chin Dynasty later.
Many regard the practice of beheading of the Austronesian peoples, which used to be practiced for self-protection or prevention from other tribes' invasion, was cruel and inhuman. But how about the repeated massacres by the "more civilized cultures"?
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