烏托邦式的諷文
的確，身為一個外來物種，我不能自稱是台灣島上居留最久的住民，然而三十年——從未間斷——也算不壞了。相較之下，魯賓遜可也只在二十八年後，就離開了他那虛構的荒島。
你們還記得《魯賓遜漂流記》吧？還有，您當然一定也記得魯賓遜曾經造訪過台灣（福爾摩沙），對吧？我在開玩笑，是嗎？嗯，如果您不相信我，就請讀讀下面這段文字：
當航向大洋時，我們持續朝著東北方，就像要駛往馬尼拉或菲律賓群島般 ; 我們如此做是為了避免進入任何歐洲船隻之航道；然後我們轉向北方，直到抵達緯度22度30分之處，如此就直接到了福爾摩沙島。我們在此拋錨停下，以便補給水源和新鮮食物，那裡的人們態度非常友善，熱心供給我們所需，並正直而準時地遵守所有承諾和交易。這是在其他地方看不到的，可能是由於荷蘭基督新教傳教士曾經在此耕耘而餘留下來的基督教影響，而這也是我經常觀察到的證據。無論是否能有整救靈魂之效，但凡接受之處，基督的宗教會開化人民，並改善他們的禮儀。
為什麼這段歷史小插曲如此不為人知？理由顯而易見：它並未被放在我們熟悉而著名的魯賓遜漂流記》裡，而是被收錄在鮮少人知的續集《魯賓遜．克魯索再次探險》中。由於《魯賓遜漂流記》意想不到的成功，因此狄福又寫了兩冊續集。第二冊的《魯賓遜的嚴肅自省》，算是一本較有關於基督教教義道德的散文選集而非小說，然而《魯賓遜．克魯索再次探險》一書，告訴我們魯賓遜延續下去的生活和旅程。他再次造訪位於加勒比海、自己如隱士般居住了二十八年的小荒島。之後並繼續前往巴西、馬達加斯加，還有——你猜對了，中國。在駛往中國途中，他下錨於福爾摩沙。在由南往北穿越中國後，經由西伯利亞回到了歐洲。
《魯賓遜．克魯索再次探險》一書出版於1719年，描述1693年至1705年間的虛構事件。而1815年的版本中，收入了《地理註解》，還有一幅由《海軍編年史》水道測量部（Hydographer of the Naval Chronicle）所提供的福爾摩沙地圖。
魯賓遜是第一位拜訪福爾摩沙的虛擬角色嗎？如果他是，我也不會太驚訝。當然早期許多關於某個神秘小島的虛構報導，有可能是福爾摩沙島。在路多維其．亞里奧斯托（Ludovico Ariosto）出版的《瘋狂的奧蘭多》（Orlando Furioso）一書中，1516年，奧蘭多的堂兄弟、英國騎士亞斯多福，從羅吉斯塔島駛向波斯灣。有些推測認為這個島可能就是福爾摩沙，但這只歸猜測。在1544年，一艘葡萄牙船船上水手們看見一個 「美麗的島嶼」（Ilha Formosa！）之前，福爾摩沙不論是名稱或其想像都尚未存在於所謂的文明世界中。羅吉斯塔島，如在《瘋狂的奧蘭多》中所描述的，是善良仙女羅吉斯塔的國度，而她的島嶼和福爾摩沙可是毫無關聯。
比較起來，在魯賓遜．克魯索的書中，對福爾摩沙的描述與史實並未相距太遠。荷蘭人的確曾在他們的福爾摩沙殖民地傳道，並教育原住民至某種程度。魯賓遜有可能在1700年的台灣遇見謙恭禮儀和守時美德嗎？這時「紅毛番」（荷蘭人）應該已經離開四十年了，只剩下他們印有「番像」的銀幣仍通用於市場中。而島上的種族比例，理論上這時台灣是大清帝國的一部分，應該已經有所改變。有更多來自中國的移民，而其中許多為潛匿罪犯，這些人並非基督徒。漢番相互毆殺但也通婚，內亂頻繁。
理所當然地，歐洲人那時是無法由台灣西海岸進入的。大部份重建十八世紀福爾摩沙圖像的嘗試都留於虛構，因為實在缺乏足以取信的史料。但是1714年，康熙皇帝派遣了三名耶穌會神父前往台灣，任務為製作地圖。其中一位就是法籍神父馮秉正（Joseph-Francois-Marie-Anne de Moyriac de Mailla），之後他被封中國官位。他寫道：
在我們離開廈門（福建）之前，被告知在福爾摩沙島上有基督徒。我們依此查詢，當然在漢人中是沒有基督徒的；然而，似乎自荷蘭人佔有港口（安平、大員、台灣府，現在的台南）的原住民中，存有認識基督教的痕跡。我們遇見數位能說荷蘭語、讀荷蘭書，也有能用荷蘭字母書寫的人。我們甚至在他們手中找到了荷蘭文《摩西五經》的殘存片斷……
馮秉正神父的記事算是例外，因為它們顯得相當客觀。其他歐洲的訪客，不論早於十七世紀或晚至十九世紀，多傾向於誇張。他們以近乎聖經的語法，描繪島上的許多災難：地震是如此不尋常的巨烈，「村莊、山嶽和房屋，如船隻在浪濤上搖晃，好似整片土地就要如此全部沉沒般」；洪水幾乎「吞噬」整個島嶼，所有居民幾近全部消失；蝗蟲，摧殘著福爾摩沙，「如一片巨大的雪花瀑布從天而降，並覆蓋了整片大地」。其他關於原住民生活的描述，就更不用提了。
我「真的」懷疑狄福是從何處探索他的資訊？在許多關於本地生活的描述中，他可能從1627至1637年都住在島上德國籍牧師喬治•康地丟斯（George Candidius）所著的《印度群島中的福爾摩沙島嶼簡記》（Short Account of the Island of Formosa in the Indies ，或稱《台灣略記》)中，找到一些頗具異國情趣的風俗：
妻子在三十六或三十七歲以前禁生小孩；因此必須於子宮內殺死胎兒，他們是如此執行的：會有一位「尪姨」（女祭司）被叫進來，將有身孕的女人放在床上，並一直壓擠她，直至失去胎兒為止。如此讓她們受到比自然生產更巨烈的疼痛。她們聲稱，並非因為缺乏感情，而是因為被「尪姨」逼迫，並說服這些妻子們確信，沒有比犯下在三十六歲以前生小孩更嚴重之罪行。如此一來，代表著一年內會墮掉上千個生命。
一定是同一批「尪姨」(女祭司)，在祈雨祭中脫得精光。
一或兩個「尪姨」站起來，開始唸長咒恭請神明。唸咒時她們的眼珠轉動倒臥在地，悲慘大叫。於是神明附身，「尪姨」如死去般躺在地上無法站立，就算五、六人都無法移動她。當意識終於恢復時，她會痛苦異常地顫抖、無法呼吸……過了約一個小時，
「尪姨」爬上「公廨」屋頂，各站一角對著他們的神靈唸咒。最後脫去身上穿著的布塊，向神靈們展露她們的私處，並用力拍打（可不是神靈），叫人拿水來並清洗全身，在眾目睽睽之下她們裸身站立。大部分圍觀者都是女性，這時她們也都早已喝下許多酒，而且爛醉到幾乎站不住也走不動了。
我懷疑我們直言不諱的牧師是否仍然清醒？裸體，其實對原住民並非鮮事。每年特定期間，原住民為了祈求神靈賜雨，大約會有三個月的時間「在一個全身光溜溜的狀態中」。
Utopian Satire
Certainly, as a foreign subject, I may not claim the longest residency in Taiwan, but 30 years—no parole—is not too bad. In comparison, Robinson Crusoe left his fictional island after only 28 years.
You do remember Robinson Crusoe of course. And, of course you do remember Robinson visiting Taiwan [Formosa], right? I am joking, right? Well, if you don’t believe me, read this excerpt:
“When we were thus got to sea, we kept on NE. [Northeast], as if wewould go to the Manillas [sic] or the Philippine Islands; and this wedid that we might not fall into the way of any of the European ships;and then we steered north, till we came to the latitude of 22 degrees 30seconds, by which means we made the island of Formosa directly, wherewe came to an anchor, in order to get water and fresh provisions, whichthe people there, who are very courteous in their manners, supplied uswith willingly, and dealt very fairly and punctually with us in all their agreements and bargains. This is what we did not find among other people, and may be owing to the remains of Christianity which was once planted here by a Dutch missionary of Protestants, and it is a testimony of what I have often observed, viz. that the Christian religion always civilizes [sic] the people, and reforms their manners, where it is received, whether it works saving effects upon them or no.”
And why is this little episode soobscure? The reason is obvious: It doesnot appear in the famous Strange and Surprizing [sic] Adventures of Crusoe but in a much lesser known sequel, the Farther [sic] Adventures of Robinson Crusoe. The first book having been extraordinarily successful, Defoe wrote two sequels. The second one, Serious Reflections of Robinson Crusoe, is a collection of moral essays on Christianity rather than a novel, but the Farther Adventures tells us the continuation of Robinson Crusoe’s life and travels. He revisits his remote little island in the Caribbean, where as a hermit he had lived for 28 years, goes on to Brazil, Madagascar, and—you guessed it—China. He anchors at Formosa on his way to China. Having crossed China from South to North he returns to Europe via Siberia.
The “Farther Adventures” were published in 1719 and describe fictional events between 1693 and 1705. A later 1815 edition of Robinson Crusoe includes a “geographical annotation” as well as a map of Formosa by the “Hydrographer of the Naval Chronicle”.
Is Crusoe the first great fictional character to visit Formosa? I would not be surprised if he is. Of course there are earlier fictional accounts of mythical islands that may have been Formosa. In Ludovico Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso, 1516, the English knight Astolfo, a cousin of Orlando sails from Logistilla’s Island to the Persian Gulf. There is some speculation that this island could have been Formosa. But speculation it is. Formosa existed neither by name nor in the imagination of the so called civilized world before 1544 when sailors on a Portuguese ship saw an “Ilha Formosa”.
Logistilla’s Island, as described in Orlando Furioso, is the realm of the good fairy Logistilla, and her island has nothing to do whatsoever with Formosa.
By contrast, the description in Robinson Crusoe is not too far from historical reality. The Dutch indeed had a Protestant mission in their Formosan colony and they did educate the aboriginal population to some extent. Would Robinson have encountered courteous manners and punctuality in 1700 Taiwan? The “Red Hair Barbarians” [Dutch] would have been gone for 40 years. Only heir silver coins with the “barbarian pictures” were still in circulation. The ethnic balance of Taiwan, theoretically part of the Chinese empire by now, would have changed. There would have been much more Chinese immigrants, many of them criminals in hiding, who were not Christians. There would be savage fighting but also intermarriage and a lot of civil unrest.
Europeans would not have been able to enter through Taiwan’s west coast then. Most reconstructed images of 18th century Formosa must be considered fictional because too few historical sources can be trusted. But in 1714 the Emperor Kangxi sent three European Jesuits to Taiwan on a cartographic mission. Among them was the French Father Joseph-Anne-Marie de Moyriac de Mailla, who later became a Chinese Mandarin. He writes:
“Before leaving Amoy [Xiamen in Fujian], we had been informed that there were Christians in Formosa. Accordingly we made enquiries, and certainly there are none among the Chinese; but there are traces as if Christianity had been known among the aboriginals from the time when the Dutch were in possession of the port [Anping, Tayoan, Taiwan-fu, now Tainan]. We have met several who are able to speak the Dutch language, who read Dutch books, and who, in writing, use their characters. We have even found in their hands fragments of our five books [of Moses] in Dutch. […] ”
De Mailla’s Notes are exceptional because they appear to be objective. Other European visitors, earlier in the 17th or later in the 19th century, tend to exaggerate. They employ almost biblical figures to depict the island’s many plagues. Earthquakes are so unusually violent that “the valleys, mountains, and houses move like a ship on the waves, as if the whole of the land were about to sink altogether”. Floods almost “swallow” the island, sink “part of the mountain which divides the island”, and “nearly all inhabitants perish”. Locusts, which ravage Formosa, “fall down from the sky like a great fall of snow and cover all the ground”, to say nothing about the description of indigenous life.
I do wonder which sources Daniel Defoe had researched. Among the many accounts of indigenous customs, he could have found the quite exotic ones in the Short Account of the Island of Formosa in the Indies by the German turned Dutch Reformed Church missionary George Candidius who lived on the island from 1627 to 1637:
“Wives are forbidden to bring forth any live Children, till they are 36 or 37 Years of Age; wherefore they are oblig’d to kill their Children in the Womb, which they do thus; One of their Priestesses is called in, who lays the Woman with Child upon a Bed, and squeezes her so long, till the Child is forced thus from her, which puts them into more violent Pains, than if they brought forth a Child according to the regular Course of Nature: They declare, they do this not for want of tenderness to them, but because they are forced to it by their Priestesses, who perswade [sic] them that they cannot commit a greater Crime, than to bring Children into the World before the Age of 36, by which means many thousands are lost in a Year.”
These must have been the same priestesses, known as Inibs, who stripped naked during the rain-making festival:
“One or two of their priestesses will stand up and invoke their gods in a long sermon. During the invocation they roll their eyes and they fall down to the ground, wailing pathetically. Thereupon their gods appear. These priestesses lie on the ground as though dead and they cannot be stood upright, not even by five or six people. Then finally they come to their senses, shivering and trembling and very much out of breath. […] After one hour the priestesses climb on to the roof of the ‘church’ and stand one at each corner. Again they hold a long oration to their gods.At the end they take off the loincloth they are wearing, revealing their private parts to their gods and tapping on them [not the gods], and order water and wash their entire bodies, standing there naked in the presence of all the people. But the majority of those standing by are women, who in the meantime have been drinking so extensively that they can hardly stand or walk.”
I wonder if our candid Reverend remained sober. Nudity, actually, was not unknown to the indigenous people. At certain times of the year the natives, in order to make the gods send rain, went about for three months “in a state of perfect nudity”.
感謝
首先，當然我要感謝魯賓遜先生，因為如果沒有他，我就不會發現虛構的福爾摩沙島。其次，我以為基於謙遜，應該最後才感謝親人之幫助——若真要提及的話——然而，我親愛的太太葉綠娜，她的翻譯工作（加上姪女儷穎的協助）證實要比我的寫作來得更為巨大，因此我不得不隨即在魯賓遜之後提到她。也是經由她，或者其實該說是因我岳父的關係，得到中央研究院翁佳音教授之熱情相助，這位我唯一見過的真正荷屬福爾摩沙人，他檢查寫作內容、譯文，指出許多不正確處，並給予最寶貴的建議，而這一切只為一杯咖啡（說真的，這杯咖啡到現在還尚未到他手裡）。
美國理德學院（The Reed Institute）費德廉教授（Professor Douglas Fix）允許我引用譯文摘錄，並複製一些 The Reed Institute 網站上令人震驚的圖像，「福爾摩沙：十九世紀的圖像」是最具分量之十九世紀台灣遊記和影像收藏。而有關於清朝文人訪台遊記，我自鄧津華教授（Professor Emma Jinhua Teng）極聰慧而學術之著作《Taiwans Imagined Geography》一書，還有她充滿鼓勵之信函中得到許多靈感。感謝 Emory 大學的 Tonio Andrade 教授允許我自他最傑出的《How Taiwan Became Chinese》，還有攝影家石岱先生 (Stephane Ferrero) 准許我從他出版的《當 Jean 遇上福爾摩沙：一名法國小兵的手札》（Formose vue par un marin franç ais du XIXe siecle）書中節錄引用。
Daniel Teitler 先生，我的鋼琴學生，以校對英文稿來支付他的學費。
最後還有最重要的，要不是以台灣最高、最莊嚴山峰命名的「玉山社」傑出的出版工作，此書也不會在您的手上。
Acknowledgments
First of all, naturally, I would like to thank Mr. Robinson Crusoe because without him I would not have discovered the fictional island of Formosa. Secondly I believe that, out of modesty, one should acknowledge the help of relatives last—if at all—but the translating work of my dear wife, Lina Yeh (assisted by our niece Livian) proved to be much heavier than my writing and I cannot but mention her right after Robinson Crusoe. It was also through her, or actually through my father-in-law’s connection, that we secured the enthusiastic help of Professor Ang Kaim of Academia Sinica, the only genuine Dutch Formosan I ever met, who checked the writing, the translation, pointing out many inaccuracies, making most valuable suggestions, and all of this just for a cup of coffee (which, to be truthful, he has not even received yet).
Professor Douglas Fix of The Reed Institute has generously allowed me to quote from translated excerpts and to reproduce a few of the stunning images of The Reed Institute’s website, Formosa, the most substantial collection of 19th century Taiwan travelogues and images. Regarding earlier Qing travelogues of Chinese literati visiting Taiwan I was inspired by Professor Emma Jinhua Teng’s highly intelligent and scholarly Taiwan’s Imagined Geography as well as by her encouraging letter. Professor Tonio Andrade of Emory University allowed me to quote from his most excellent How Taiwan Became Chinese and photographer Stéphane Ferrero from his published letters of a French cabin boy in Taiwan, Formose vue par un marin français du XIXe siècle.
Mr. Daniel Teitler, my piano student, has paid his tuition by proofreading the English text.
Last not least you would not hold this book in your hands right now without the excellent publishing work of Taiwan Interminds, or “Yu Shan”, named after Taiwan’s highest and most majestic mountain.
2025專利防護中