East-India Travelogue (1659-1668) - Readings from 21st Century Perspective

Pescadores Island 漁翁島 ( "Fishermen's Island" in Portuguese）

天人菊 (Gaillardia pulchella) （Penghu county-flower)

17th Century Tainan. Siraya
A Tale of Three Tribes in Dutch Formosa (Chen Yao-Chang).

Top: Red-flower tree is 刺桐 (zaitun/zayton) (Erythrina variegata) Read  HERE. 

Bottom (right-hand): Deer Tree (lo-a) 鹿仔樹. Paper Mulberry tree. Read HERE. 

Eine kurtze Ost-Indianische Reiß-Beschreibung 

(Albrecht Herport)

Reproduction of Original (page 195-482)

Note - 

Translations (German-Chinese) are not sentence by sentence nor page by page.  They appeared (to me) carefully re-arranged. Page number used in this blogpost located in the original German script. Footnote number located in the Chinese translation.

Dutch East India Company (VOC) ships 'food rations' in the said journey four pages in German original is one and half in Chinese. 

Formosa/Tejoan (pp37-109)

Footnote 42 Formosa (useful information on 'Portuguese discovery' and 'Formosa' naming diverse opinion - academia sinica).

Herport's journeys on numerous occasions I can relate based on my travels since 2022 - Portugal in particular. India/Sri Lanka/South Africa contents all sound interesting, I can relate to some parts but not enough to make anthropological discoveries or connections (to Taiwan) as these places I have not been. 

Food tradition and culture descriptions immediately reminds me of this BRILL article on pre-colonial foodway. In that there is repeated mention of alcoholic drink, pigs (pork) and tubers (taro and sweet potato staple).

Faberlang (Favolong ) 1661 German script

Favolong food culture 

按啦粿 ah-lê-kué photo was taken in Taoyuan near Daxi.

Plains Indigenous 按啦粿 (ah-lê-kué) Papora (The Kingdom of Middag) Old Name 都都 (tu-tu) - Read HERE. 

Outdated Information (BRILL)- Read HERE. (king fish; taraun; dutch pea)

Massecauw (alcoholic drink) 

Alcoholic beverages (made from rice, millet and other grains)  is mentioned on several occasions in Brill's under sometimes similar spelling but different names. I wondered if there is a root word (for example - 'ma' or 'cauw' ) means 'fermentation' or 'chew'. And maybe a possibility derived from Sanskrit मषि (maṣi), to mash, grind or crack.

Massicau (made from millet) and Ubes (taro) were found in homes of Paiwan people. Earlier page mentioned slate-house and Cardanang 加祿堂 (Pingtung). 1661

Massecauw (alcoholic drink) - there is suggestion that its linguistic root is from Ambonese 安汶 (Footnote 59). 

The Ambonese are an ethnic group of mixed Austronesian and Melanesian. There are about 35000 Ambonese living in the Netherlands (Wiki).

Ubes (taro) is Malay "Ubi,-is" illustrated in 1744 Six Studies on Aboriginal Customs  番俗六考 （footnote 60).

I have something interesting to add (from Orchid Island Tao's Underground-House tour) - Taro women's 'Back Protector'. Which I have also seen in Palau - exactly the same. 

So 'back-protector' for Taro women existed in Taiwan's plain indigenous (in 18th century), Orchid Island's Tao and a Palau tradition. 

Furthermore - I think, Tao's male 'vest' (protector) is an extension of Taro-woman's back cover. I mean, the 'back' piece of female and male is practically the same. 

Very informative Japanese document (I came across these pages while buying the German travelogue in fact!) on 'alcoholic drinks' and  slate-stone-wall vocabulary. And only from here - I realized both Bunun word for 'stone wall' 石垣  and Tsou (Alishan) word for a ritual tool 山芙蓉 are practically Chinese (Mandarin).

chohumu; masucu (alcoholic beverage)

Biscuits or Baked Bread repeated occurrence on VOC ship food rations. Difference between the two in cooking process is 'Biscuits' is 'twice-baked'.

Biscuits or Baked bread. Brandy (in Dutch barrel). 
Food rations.

I have heartbreaking photos of WWI Army/Survival Biscuits from Huntley&Palmers Biscuits Museum in Reading UK. 

(Note - JAPAN, incidentally, is a fascinating place to learn about army/survival biscuits! The whole Japan bread and biscuit history and development is fascinating!)

Pineapples On Trees  (footnote 74) 

Pineapples don't grow on trees. Therefore, should be Pandanus. 

@Yaeyama Islands Japan

(Pandanus (Screw pine) Pro-Austronesian etymology

Adan (アダン / 阿檀) in Okinawa and Taiwan - "Pandan" originates from the Malay word pandan. The term is derived from the Proto-Austronesian word *paŋudaN.)  HERE.

'Champan' is from Hokkien 'Sampan' (footnote 73) 

Ipan - pan is Sampan. Cine is China refers to larger boat typically 10-12 paddlers similar size with Chinese dragon boat. (Orchid Island Traditional Boats)

Mandarin 

'Mandarin' is Malay origin, introduced to the West through Portuguese. On Tejoan/Formosa (footnote 87) (late 16th century (denoting a Chinese official): from Portuguese mandarim, via Malay from Hindi mantrī ‘counsellor’)

Joss

Chinese God 'Joossy' 喬西.  Jossy/Joosje - Portuguese 'deus/deos' means God.
Pidgin-English includes Joss (God), Joss-house, Joss-sticks. (footnote 76)

SOUTH AFRICA Mega-Biodiversity

Globalization - Cape of Good Hope role in globalization cannot be overstated. 

Animal intestines South African indigenous people are holding, by the context and descriptions  (pp12-13). Three mountains Tafelberg (Table Mountain), Lion Mt, and Wind Mt (or Devil's Peak)

Appendix I list old and current names - very useful.

 Caribbean Black Xmas Cake @Lisbon

On Christmas Day 1497, Vasco da Gama sailed past and named the region Terra Natalis.  Now KwaZulu-Natal - the region is roughly the size of Portugal.

Mahi-Mahi (Polynesian) common Dolphinfish 鬼頭刀

@Rapa Nui (Easter Island) Airport

Mahi-mahi and Flying fish @Orchid Island Taiwan 

(Frigate birds patrol above the water, while the high-speed mahi-mahi slice through the water below, all escape routes have been cut off for these flying fish.

David Attenborough narrates this spectacular chase scenes from “Hunger at Sea”, an episode of the BBC nature documentary series 'The Hunt'. Youtube. )

Tafelberg (Table Mt)

'Table Mountain' (Tafelberg) South Africa was named in 1503 by a Portuguese navigator António de Saldanha, the first European to land in Table Bay.

'Table Mountain' (Taffelberch) Taiwan  - In 1634, Dutch were confronted by Taccariangh 大崗山 (strong, tall aborigines in the south of a Kaohsiung port near 'de Tafel') 
Read HERE. 

 

Venison Biltong - 'Venison jerky' is one of Siraya deer trade exchange. Colonial influence on South Africa Biltong (originated as a preservation method for early Dutch settlers) is significant in that spices colonialists introduced changed Biltong process and flavoring for good.

Formosa preserve deer-meat (p102)

VIETNAM has become an increasingly sought-after archeological research location. It connects to Taiwan in both land and sea. 

Nipa (nipa palm  from Malay) Austronesian root I discovered recently with the Cham people in south-central Vietnam) (Established as early as the 2nd century, Champa was an influential Southeast Asian maritime power heavily influenced by Indian culture, Hinduism, and Buddhism)

Note 241  Tuba, Lamba, Nipa (palm /coconut) 

Malayo-Polynesian (Guam Philippines Vietnam) Austronesian Traditional Fermented Beverage. HERE.

Negrito from SE Asia in 10th century

Qulun (Kunlun) SE Asia

林邑 Linyi (Lâm Ấp) 

Recently on a TPE-LON flight I watched  ‘長安的荔枝  Chang'an's Lychee’. Tang dynasty Kunlun Slave history is told by a significant Kunlun 崑崙奴 character and specific storyline. What's also interesting is this kunlun slave came from (or is named) 林邑 Linyi (Lâm Ấp) （Lâm Ấp was a kingdom located in central Vietnam that existed from around 192 AD to 629 AD in what is today central Vietnam, and was one of the earliest recorded Champa kingdoms.）

Ancient Cereamic Road. Qulu. Qulun. Person. Read HERE and HERE.

Madagascar (p18)

The French exiled Emperor Duy Tân

維新  (born Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh San 阮福永珊），the 11th monarch of Vietnam’s Nguyễn Dynasty, to the Indian Ocean region. In 1916, at age 16, he planned an anti-colonial uprising. After the plot failed, he was dethroned and exiled to Réunion Island, a French territory located near Madagascar.

Madagascar's Austronesian heritage is a unique geographical and linguistic anomaly: despite being located just off the coast of East Africa, its primary national language belongs to the Austronesian family, and roughly half of the population's genetic ancestry traces back to Maritime Southeast Asia. (Wiki)

PECESCADORES (PENGHU) 

Piscatores . Pescadores is Portuguese. (footnote 49)

Laggimoi (xiao liuqiu) Tangooy (Kaohsiung) (footnote 44-46)

月港窰 Yuegang/Zhangzhou Ware

In a recent (and first) Penghu trip - I was most excited and grateful that my ceramic-ware expert friend Chien Yang-Tung 簡楊同 helped me collect sherds from Fengguiwei 風櫃尾 Castle site  (Taiwan's first western-style castle built by the Dutch in 1622. ) The castle was built on Snakehead Mt (蛇頭山) (shown on the photo) before the 1624 Dutch retreat and relocation to Fort Zeelandia in Tainan.

Chien identified these 17th century (if not earlier) ceramic sherds! 

蔡廷蘭 Cai Ting-lan 《海南雜著》

(Miscellany of the South Seas A Chinese Scholar’s Chronicle of Shipwreck and Travel through 1830s Vietnam University of Washington Press)

We visited Cai's ancestral home - one of the highlight of the trip.

Colonial globalization (plants)

Mexico- Spanish - Philippines - Dutch - Taiwan

Cactus - Introduced by Dutch in the 17th century for coastal defence. Penghu Cactus type is the same as Mexico's (the origin). I had tasted the fruit in Mexico, not very nice. Taiwanese mix it with berries, honey and other favorable ingredients into beverages and dessert. I tried ice cream - it was nice, tasted bit like raspberry. 

Mexico

Leucaena leucocephala 銀合歡

Introduced by Japanese

天人菊（Gaillardia pulchella) 1910
小葉南洋杉（Araucaria heterophylla) 1909
木麻黃 （Casuarina equisetifolia) 1897
瓊麻 (Sisal Hemp) 1890

Through Hokkien traders

Mexico -Spanish - Philippines - China - Taiwan

Peanut 土豆 (Hakka 番豆）

Fish Stove 魚灶 and Fish Sauce 魚露

In the past, many villages in Penghu built fish stoves 魚灶 to cook fish, before dried for long-term preservation. Fish sauce was the by-product of this tradition.

The benches are waiting area for villagers who came to collect from the rectangular sink  free 'fish sauce' produced in the cooking process. This is one of the fish stove location, reconstructed for tourism. 

@花嶼 Huayu Island. The oldest and the westernmost island

in the Penghu archipelago.