Forty-five nautical miles off the southeastern coast of Taiwan, to which it belongs, the island of Irala consists of a compact, circular chain of high hills linking at least two extinct volcanoes. The island has virtually no plains; its lopes are short and steep. It has a surface area of only thirty square miles. Known by many names throughout history, the Taiwanese now call it Lan Yu Tao (Orchid Island). In the local language, it is referred to as Pongso No Tawo (island of the people) or Irala (land, in the sense of a landward direction when navigating). Irala is more frequently used in the local folklore.
Irala's indigenous people, the Yami, belong to the Malayo-Polynesian group of peoples. They speak a Bashiic dialect that is part of the large family of Autronesian languages. The Yami rarely had any contact with Formosa during the Ching Dynasty (1644-1912). The Japanese, who occupied the island from 1985 to 1945, declared it an open-air museum for ethnological research and closed it to the public. Yami culture therefore remained one of the most authentic in Southeast Asia.
Although several epidemics have reduced the population since the beginning of this century, at present there are about twice as many people as there were in 1946, but the exact figure is not known. Less than two thousand natives live in six villages on the coast, each containing about three hundred people. There are no settlements in the interior. Including the Taiwanese working on the island (educators, military personnel, and technicians from the one power plant), the population is about three thousand people.
Farming and fishing
Farmers and fishermen, the Yami rely for subsistence on a large annual catch of flying fish and on wet taro, yams, and millet. Fifteen different kinds of taro are grown on wet terraces are harvested throughout the year. Because of the destructive force of the annual typhoons and the damaging effect of the brackish sea spray, no vegetables grow on the island except for root crops. Fruit is also scarce. Most common are bananas, coconuts, papayas, and the fruit of the chayi tree.
Taro fields can be owned by families or lineages but can also be used by the entire village. Rituals of house inauguration or boat launching, which are like potlatch ceremonies, cause the biggest strain on one's taro crops. On these occasions, the roof of the new house, or a new boat, is covered with taro. Many tubers need to be removed from the water terraces at the same time. In order not to abuse one's existing root-crop supplies, the Yami clean, flood, and plant new patches of land with taro three to four years (the length of time the roots require to mature) prior to house or boat building. This practice ensures that the demands for taro in inauguration rituals will not conflict with the safety limits of the food supplies. If there isn't enough taro, boats cannot be carved, painted, and inaugurated in the traditional manner.
Seafood is an important part of the daily diet. Several times a week, women gather shells, seaweed, and small fish from the holes of the coral near the shoreline. All other fishing is performed by men. Spearfishing is done with homemade spears propelled by thick rubber bands released from a simple wooden mechanism. They Yami also practice small- and large-net fishing. Both methods drive schools of fish into U-shaped
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