The ancient Yami tribe on tiny Lanyu (Orchid) Island still clings to its traditions, displaying prized silver helmets and meticulously carved boats, but the modern world's nuclear waste, alcohol and alien society are mutating tribal values and beliefs.

Thousands of years ago, the Yami people occasionally fought battles against islanders to the south. But today, international politics has drawn an invisible line across those waters so that the fate of the Yamis on Lanyu Island is now linked to the Chinese and others who make up the nearby larger island of Taiwan. The Yamis' southern rivals, who were also trading partners, have meanwhile fallen under the control of the Philippines. Though the divide appears mostly on maps, the actual behavior of the Yamis is now being dominated by Taiwan's Chinese who view Lanyu Island as a nuclear dumping ground and tourist site, fit for anthropological study of a people who some Chinese used to consider mere "savages."

Yamis still display their silver helmets during ceremonies when mature men boast about the value of their helmet, and seek to gain more silver coils to enlarge it, before handing it down to the next generation, from father to son. The valuable inheritance is kept and transported in a large, special "orisan" basket. But Yami silversmiths, who once enjoyed respect for their handiwork, are now a dying breed. Earlier, the ceremonial helmets were such a coveted item, that if a father had several sons, then the helmet's silver coils would be broken apart and divided, so that each son would have a piece of the metal hat which would then need to be repaired and rebuilt by finding more silver coins which could be hammered into coils—to once again form a completed helmet.

On an island where banks were unheard of, Yamis displayed their wealth by wearing ornaments during ceremonies. Tribes would open their orison baskets and extract their helmets, along with gold and silver jewelry, which usually appears in the shape of a disc that adorns a person's chest. Other gold and silver baubles include expensive bracelets. Such decorations are important when welcoming guests who arrive by walking from village to village, or by paddling their ubiquitous canoe-like boats which are protected with a hardened hull to prevent destruction on Lanyu Island's rocky shoreline. The boats carry up to 10 people, and its wood is elegantly decorated with carvings.

Ancient Yami tribesmen not only showed off their riches during festivals, they also held "machi vai-vait" competitions to prove who was the wealthiest of all. A family would select from among its relatives to find the best one capable of representing their dynasty, and then adorn that person in their finest silver helmet, chest discs, bracelets and other fancy items. The decked out individual would strut into a village, receive a ceremonious welcome, and grin delightedly while the village praised the person's status in special songs. This was not just for fun and games. Whoever could muster the most silver and gold—compared to other villagers who also competed—would then be assured of achieving a social superiority that would honor the lineage for generations.

Such strutting of one's stuff not only made it clear who was the richest atop the island's social pyramid, but it also fulfilled an aesthetic purpose by ensuring the traditional helmet and other jewelry would be enshrined as key elements of Yami culture, not to be abandoned or ignored. This was vital because the Yamis did not possess money. Any silver coins that they did gain from stray visitors to their island, or by trading with nearby islanders, would soon be melted to make jewelry. The Yami economy was based on a barter system, in which Yamis would construct pottery and clay figurines, which attracted Japanese and others who gave them an array of foreign items in exchange, including metal tools and cotton cloth.

Among sailors to Lanyu Island, the Japanese in the late 1800s apparently made the biggest impression, before Lanyu came under Taiwan's control in the mid-20th century. Japanese visited the island, 45 miles southeast of what was then called Formosa Island—today's Taiwan—and were intrigued by the bizarre, cone-shaped helmets which male Yamis wore during festive occasions. The Yamis signaled to the Japanese that silver and gold were needed by the tribe to add more coils to the helmets, and soon the Japanese were offering coins and other basic goods. The Japanese also discovered that only men wore helmets, while women preferred silver discs.

Ironically, though Yamis could see Formosa Island through the mist above the water, they mostly ignored the people there and instead headed south when it came time to barter or fight. What is today the northern Philippines' Batan archipelago was for the Yamis their main link to the outside world and other tribes, especially from the 16th century until 1959 when Taiwan convinced the Yamis that they best distance themselves from the Batan tribes and instead look northwest to Taiwan. According to Yami stories, 1959 marked a peak in hostility between Lanyu Island and the Batan islands, though the reasons are no longer clear as to why the former trading partners became enemies. Yamis, however, remember with fondness their southern friends who helped them secure fresh gold, and taught Yamis how to heat and hammer it into thin foil to cover Yami chest ornaments in gold plating. Batan is also credited with introducing the sensitive hand-held scale used to weigh light pieces of gold, and also introducing wood containers, shaped like an animal's horn, to keep the gold and other small precious items.

Unlike other tribes, Yamis did not advance their jewelry-making expertise much more than cooking gold over a fire and hammering it into pliable sheets. Silver—which Yamis called "perak"—arrived earlier on the island in the 16th century, when Spanish explorers exploited silver mines in Mexico, loaded it onto galleon ships and transported it to their colonial coffers in the Philippines, where silver was used as coins to trade with the Chinese. So much silver began circulating around the South China Sea that it was soon being used as a standard currency, especially because it was also accepted by British and Dutch colonialists and traders in the region. Though Lanyu Island was not a main shipping stop, the annual typhoons occasionally forced Spanish ships to temporarily dock at unexplored islands in the South China Sea where the Spaniards and other foreign crews were often met by hostile tribes who were terrified of the Europeans or simply sought to rob them of whatever cargo the big ships held.

Chinese records from the early 18th century include rumors that the Yamis were fierce fighters who tipped their spears and arrows with gold points, which they allegedly made after seizing booty from such ships. Chinese who investigated the rumors went to Lanyu but couldn't communicate with the Yamis and instead killed many of the tribesmen. The Chinese then escaped to Formosa Island where they gathered mercenary tribesmen there and returned to Lanyu to mount a larger invasion against the Yamis. According to that story, the Yamis, seething with anger, slaughtered the Chinese, and the Formosa tribesmen, soon after they landed on Lanyu Island.

Future Chinese sailors avoided Lanyu for about 150 years because of the perceived dangers which lurked on the tiny island. They apparently also heard a vague tale about a wrecked foreign ship which landed on an uninhabited island five miles away. The Yamis then supposedly arrived at the island, robbed the stricken ship of its abundant silver and gold, and abandoned the foreign crew to die of starvation. But the Yamis' own legends don't mention such clashes, which apparently existed only as folklore by foreign sailors, believed by most but impossible to confirm by historians who later visited the Yamis.

Some anthropologists suspect that the Yamis don't talk about such raids and killings because in Yami culture it is forbidden to mention a dead person's name or the way a person died. Such talk could animate the dead person's spirit. This would be especially problematic if the person had been murdered because then the spirit might want revenge.

As for the Yamis' fabled gold-tipped spears and arrows, anthropologists found that the Yamis actually used foreign iron to make all such weapons, including knives. If they couldn't get iron from trading with outsiders, the Yamis resorted to making weapons from lead or tin. Such base metals were also used sometimes to repair their jewelry, and even women's ceremonial hats, called "rangat." Carnelian and other beads also eventually fell into the hands of the Yamis, whose women liked to make strands to wear.

Though the Yamis' silver helmets remain their most prized possession, there is no confirmation about its origin. Older Yami men appear to have bigger helmets, because over the years they were able to add more silver coils to the original hat. When a helmet is considered complete, the owner arranges a feast, slaughters a pig, and sprinkles pig blood on the headgear. The helmet and the family's other valuable jewelry, including any beads, are then placed outside, before dawn, so the rising sun's rays strike the valuable items while the family prays for wealth and a long, healthy life. Friends are invited to marvel at the helmet's beauty, and they all sing songs praising the hat and the family.

As a result, the helmet is empowered with animist powers and must be respected. It is lovingly placed in a special basket and stored in the rear of the home. Whenever a new boat is about to set sail for the first time, a new home is constructed, or any other ritual is to be performed, male guests don their helmets and gain prestige. Similar to the competition by villagers to display their helmets as proof of superior wealth, people will also examine the headgear to compare size, workmanship, and the hat's other aesthetic attributes.

The helmets are believed to have so much power that when Yami fishermen celebrate the start of the annual fishing season, they wave their helmets along the coast to welcome the fish. If they catch a huge load of fish, they will hang the fish to dry and also hang the helmet up alongside, to honor the dead fish and prove to the fish still in the ocean that the catch is treated with respect. Occasionally, before sitting down to eat a feast of tubers and other vegetables, a father might bring out the family's helmet and move it over the meal as a prayer to give thanks to the plants' spirits. Anthropologists believe that the helmets serve as an animist totem to bless Yami homes, boats, fields and fish, and thus serve an important social and religious function.

Yamis are quite appreciative of other unusual objects as well. For example, when light bulbs first began washing up on the shore—long before electricity arrived on Lanyu Island—Yamis who found the strange items on the beach had no idea what they were for, and thus began using them for decorating their homes.

Building homes is also a vital tradition for Yamis. The ideal home has a large room where the family lives. This is dug into the earth as a spacious pit, so that the roof is nearly level with the surface of the surrounding earth, to provide protection from typhoons. An attached, smaller workshop room juts out on another terrace level. But the workshop is formed by a much shallower pit. The home also includes a platform, on an additional terrace, which is covered by a roof, but left without walls. This platform is raised on thick foundation posts so that the floor is about two meters high, ideal for sleeping on during hot weather. These terraces descend lower and lower in the direction of the coastline.

Now that Taiwan has established control over Lanyu Island and has decided to modernize the lives of the Yamis, most of them live in government-built houses. Some Yamis have complained that these homes are too small, can't be expanded, and don't offer room for a workshop. But other Yamis have been able to add a kitchen to the back of their house.

Some anthropologists say the Yamis arrived on Lanyu Island more than 800 years ago, by sailing north from the Batan archipelago. Yamis and Batanese can still understand each other's language. Of the estimated 100 aboriginal tribes who lived in and around Taiwan Island during the 17th century, only about 20 groups are officially recognized today. Of these, less than 10 tribes continue to speak their own language and live by their original cultural traditions. Yamis are said to be the most authentic of these tribes, because their relative isolation on Lanyu Island has enabled them to keep much of their culture intact.

In 1945, when Lanyu Island became part of Taiwan, it was officially designated as a township comprised of four villages, complete with a mayor and village headmen. The hilly island boasts eight mountains, which peak more than 400 meters above sea level. The island has a narrow flat zone, between the mountains and the shore, but Yami villages rest on slopes at the base of mountains near the sea. The primeval rain forest in the central, mountainous region provides wood for the Yamis' boats and homes.

About 3,000 Yamis live alongside 1,000 Taiwanese on Lanyu Island today, though some Yamis have moved to Taiwan for employment in factories and construction sites, and other opportunities. Many older Yamis still speak their Bashiic language, which some anthropologists link to Malayo-Polynesian. But the new generation speaks Mandarin Chinese, which is Taiwan's official language.

Flying fish provide the main course of the Yamis' diet, along with millet, taro and potatoes. The fish are also sacred creatures to the tribe, and form part of their rituals and taboos—which include when to catch and eat the seafood. Yamis believe in an array of animist and other deities, though most Yamis have embraced Christianity. But an annual sacrificing of a chicken or pig, and smearing the blood on pebbles along the beach, is still believed to ensure a healthy crop and village. As the modern world envelopes Lanyu Island, many Yamis who only possessed a traditional gondola-shaped boat, now also own a motorcycle or car.

Men used to wear only a loincloth, while women sported a woven skirt and breast covering, but that too is starting to change among younger Yamis who are getting used to Western style pants and shirts. And while Yamis previously only sang songs—musical instruments did not exist on the island— the new generation has started to enjoy pop music via radio and television. Basketball courts have also appeared in Yami villages. Drinking alcohol has become fashionable during the past 20 years, resulting in serious health problems, fights, traffic accidents and, for some Yamis, an inability to work.

Other modern day problems include abuse by some Taiwanese who were sent to the island as prisoners or demobilized soldiers. Land was expropriated and the Yamis allegedly had no real way to achieve justice over many of their perceived problems. Taiwan also dumped nuclear waste from its power stations onto Lanyu Island, in cement trenches, without asking the Yamis. All these modernizations are set to accelerate in the 21st century, thanks mostly to a tiny airstrip which provides a link for tourists and others who wish to fly to the island from Taiwan instead of travelling by boat.

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Richard S. Ehrlich has a Master's Degree in Journalism from Columbia University, and is the co-author of the classic book of epistolary history, "HELLO MY BIG BIG HONEY!" -- Love Letters to Bangkok Bar Girls and Their Revealing Interviews.

His web page is located at http://www.oocities.org/glossograph and he may be reached by email: animists *at* yahoo dot com