One arm and one leg folklore of feared people

At the bottom of an 1890 map, I found an unusual piece of folklore written to warn anyone of heading into the South China Seas. It reads:

(Off coral tree island) There is a land of people, with one arm and one leg, of each man and woman. They came out of the forest and have fierce fielty unto themselves.

There are other folklores too, one about the fish people (mermaids) who when standing on shores of water and land look like they have legs, but they are in actual fact fishes when in the sea.

And others; the land of pigmy people. Which happen to be Homo Floriensis, a cousin of sapiens and possible closer to the Denisovans.

These people all exist. Homo floriensis is just being discovered in Indonesia, yet their descendants are in actual fact pigmy humans averaging 3ft tall. Perfectly proportioned, mountain forest people.

The mermaids as we know now, are the artisanal fisherwomen. The Ama of Japan, the Sea Gypsies of Philippines, the Cheju-Do of Korea, and the Dragon wives of China. So named because it was the father who stayed home to look after children, while the women hunted the seas. Men, became emasculated, and when the Jiaqing emperor heard of such rogue women, he deemed them improper for Confucian respectability and how a woman should be. So he persecuted these women also.

The map is dated 1894, the last decade of organized pirates. The mid 1800’s saw the rise of a formidable fleet of organized pirates, led by a woman called Shi, who fought equally as a man. Her nomadic example led many women to join the pirates from the lands of fisher women, for those who sought to avenge and protect their livelihood from the Western Trade ships.

Foreigners were never trusted to be alone in the waters, and they were fully escorted when navigating theough the straits and islands whatever their business was. The Chinese pirates, effectively ruled the seas, and had set up a sustaining eco-system of taxes and diplomacy that nurtured all the southern villages and water-towns.

But the Jaoqing emperor was angered at his loss of navy men who defected to join Shi’s fleets for a wholesome career of pillaging foreigners instead. And with the constant news and flurries to the South to fight these so-called terrible people, rumors began to circulate that these pirates banded by women, were indeed some kind of half man-half woman. As it was the only explanation befitting such a formidable female enemy. Women? Wielding swords? And fighting among men? And so here is the explanation of the folklore enscribed on the bottom of the map. The half-woman, half-man was a way to dehumanize the tenacity of women led pirates who were feared by the Emperors own navy.

At the peak of the fleets power and capacity, Shi realized, that without the blessings of the emperor, her pirates would always end up in battle with the emperors navy. She would always lead a life of fleeing. And she was tired, she now had two daughters and wanted out from being a fugitive.

So, she escorted 17 women and children of her Red clan, to make a treaty with the Jaoqing emperor. He could have slaughtered her right there, but instead he saw monetary value in these pirates, if he could get the forces to work for him, so he signed a treaty of immunity and truce with the pirates, on certain conditions;

That each head pirate captain of her 175 ship fleet, should immediately be executed, to prevent a mutiny against the emperor and prove this was indeed a truce, and one other rule. Shi, would have to give the Pirate daughters to the emperors discretion, to be married into his estates so that he would ensure the riches of the seas came back to him. With this agreement, Shi would be able to cease her nomadic life and return to land with their fortunes, as long as they married into nobility.

So Shi agreed. And as the daughters came of age, there were given to the emperor. The pirates disbanded as a working fleet, and returned each to themselves, no longer under the protection of Shi, and some women, remained at sea and rather risked their lives in fighting, than give up to the emperor.

Shi’s daughters would grow up accustomed to the organized fleet Pirate rules of Shi, and became good pirates by themselves. It was customary for head pirates to speak 6 languages, as they negotiated with the Dutch and tailed their presence.

A monarch of the Southern outposts of China, in Sumatra, spied the use of one particular daughter. He was enthralled by her beauty, and her wit and intelligence to speak with the foreigners and diplomatically escort their travels through the Seas. This, he thought, was a huge asset to have on his side of business, so he asked the emperor to have that daughter.

She was unwilling to join him but had no choice. So she instead commanded that he treat her, according to Pirate rules;

That unlike other nobles and monarchs, she was to be his ONLY WIFE. There would be no concubines. She was to be his equal in this marraige. And he heartily agreed, because she was all he wanted.

Secondly, she said, if we have a daughter, we will NOT BIND HER FEET. Foot binding was the principal signature of nobility among the educated high classed women. But the daughter insisted, that if they were to have a Princess, she would be raised the Pirate way, and given freedom to run and play. So the Monarch agreed, and he built her a beautiful blue mansion, on the island of Sumatra.

The daughter was born a Princess, and as agreed her feet stayed unbound. She was sent to school in the Netherlands with the Dutch Royal Family to learn to read and write English, Dutch and pick up several languages to ensure her diplomacy in future roles as Princess. This girl, was to become my grandmother. And to this day, I have her silver wedding bracelet, which had been passed down from the Pirate era. But on it, is an inscription in Oracle Bone, specifically Dragon Talisman Script, which is only practiced by the medicine tribes of the Miao women.

On it, it reads “Governess” which interpreted was to mean a governor among women, to lead and protect all women. With the date inscription of the last Qing emperor.