清朝的苗栗,泰雅與漢人原來關係良好,相安無事。一次,二十名泰雅,十男十女,到卓蘭買東西。本來泰雅往返卓蘭頻繁,不料這次卓蘭惡棍竟然趁其不意,擄掠二十個泰雅,綑綁手腳,當場輪姦十位泰雅婦女,然後全部殺戮。殺害後,切肉論斤售予村民,因為當時漢人認為如果能夠吃到深山生番肉,一定很補。
部落的人看他們下山買東西,久久不歸,先派三個勇士下山探詢。三個勇士沿途問漢人,卓蘭遠郊與泰雅好的漢人說,看到他們往卓蘭走,沒看到他們回來。
勇士靠近卓蘭才聞得噩訊。二十遇難泰雅遺骸棄在原處,勇士確認其人,先回部落報告。
時漢民墾卓蘭,由大安溪上游引水灌溉,所以泰雅于源頭斷水。下游沒水,不能生存,所以必須到山上看水源。地方領袖募一千兩百人,六百人為兵,六百人修渠。泰雅埋伏山林中,預掘戰壕躲在裏面,等著鎗聲;頭目開鎗,勇士才能出擊。漢人料想山坡一定有泰雅埋伏,時常無的開鎗,但因為泰雅俯戰壕裏,不中。
漢人到源頭,完全看不到泰雅行跡,以為自己先到了,所以一千兩百人全脫下衣服到渠裏趕緊修理。全部忙著搶修時,頭目鎗一開,所有泰雅火力集中射擊漢人,殲滅殆盡,留一人回卓蘭報告,泰雅是為了報復殺人、強姦、吃人肉的仇,才如此爭伐漢民。
卓蘭人訴求于劉銘傳。劉發兵三萬人討伐泰雅,戰三年,清兵死者五千,瘞于義民廟。
久戰不果,所以劉銘傳求新竹泰雅Bayan Mahung媾和。(Bayan早失怙,故從母名。中譯白鳳凰。)Bayan未參戰,所以劉請他與苗栗的泰雅談,後來清廷賠了許多物品給泰雅,戰爭才結束,事情算擺平了。
mama Yupas收集苗栗大安泰雅老人口述歷史。
During the 19th century, in the Vali (Miaoli) area, central Taiwan, relations between the Tayal and the Chinese were generally cordial. Then a group of twenty young Tayal, ten men and ten women, went to Takulan (Chuolan, Zhuolan) to buy things, as was often done in those days. When they got to the town of Takulan, local thugs captured them and tied them up. The women were gang raped in front of the men, and then all twenty were murdered. The thugs butchered them and sold the meat, because many Chinese thought that eating the flesh of Aborigines from the deep mountains had strong medicinal properties.
Meanwhile, back at the tribe, the other Tayal waited and waited for the twenty to come home, but they never showed up. Three braves were sent to see what had happened. All the way to Takulan, they asked the Chinese farmers if they had seen the group. Farther from the town, relations were still friendly, and the Chinese said that yes, they had seen them going in to town, but never saw them again.
Only when they reached the town did the three scouts hear the awful news. The bodies of the murdered Tayal had been dumped on the spot, and the scouts were able to identify them. The scouts returned to the mountains to report.
The Chinese farmers irrigated their fields with water drawn from a spring in the mountains, so the Tayal first went to cut off their water supply. The farmers couldn't live without their water, so they organized 1,200 men to go up to the source; 600 went as soldiers, 600 to repair their ditches. The Tayal had already dug shallow foxholes in the mountainside, and were under strict orders not to shoot until a chief had fired first. The Chinese were expecting Tayal warriors, so they fired at random into the jungle, but never hit anybody, as the Tayal were hunkered down in their foxholes.
When the Chinese reached the source, there was no sign of any Tayal, so the Chinese thought they had arrived first. They all took off their clothes and rushed to fix their ditches as quickly as possible. When everybody was hard at work, the chief shot his gun, and all the Tayal concentrated their fire on the men in the ditches. They slaughtered all the Chinese but one, who they left to go back to town to report that the reason the Tayal fought was to revenge the murder, rape, and cannibalism of their fellows.
The people of Takulan went for help to Liu Ming-chuan (1836 – 1896), the administrator of Taiwan appointed by the Ching emperor (served in Taiwan from 1885 to 1891). He sent 30,000 soldiers to Miaoli to fight the Tayal. The war dragged on for three years, with a loss of five thousand Chinese soldiers, who are now buried in a Temple of Virtue.
Seeking to end the hostilities, Liu enlisted the help of Bayan Mahung, a Tayal from Hsinchu, further north, who had not fought in the war (Bayan had lost his father while he was still very young, so he took on his mother’s name, Bahung). Bayan served as an intermediary in negotiations, and Liu agreed to pay heavy compensation to the Tayal. This ended the war and stopped the hostilities.
Told to me by mama Yupas, who collected the story from Tayal elders in Vali.