"清代首任臺灣知府、諸羅知縣，各用不同的角度記載玉山，後者說玉山「在鳳山野番中」，更將原住民帶入玉山傳說之中。陳夢林〈望玉山記〉說玉山「不可以有意遇之」，開啟神秘的玉山傳說。《臺陽筆記》認為山下原住民出沒無時，源於「山之靈，呵護甚秘」、《噶瑪蘭志略》傳說玉山「不得輕入，恐遭天譴」，這些文獻反映出玉山的神秘性與神聖性，山中原住民的形象是：不識美玉、有山靈呵護、採金佩金、世傳寶物。在近代的採錄中，玉山是鄒族
與布農族躲避洪水、取得火種的聖山，也是群族分合的據點，而傳說的差異更顯出二族在族群發源、社會發展、文化習俗上的特色。

In the Qing Dynasty, the first Taiwan Prefect and Chulo magistracy, each used a different
angle to record Yushan., The Chulo magistracy said that Yushan is located among the “unruly
aborigine of Fengshan”, hence bringing the indigenous people into the Legend of Yushan.
Moreover, in the opening of On Gazing at Yushan, Meng-Lin Chen says “Yushan should be gone to
intentionally”. In the book Taiyang Diary, the author says the indigenous people inhabited the foot
of the mountain because, “the spirit of the mountain cares for and protects those indigenous people”.
In another book Outline of Kavalan，the writer says that there was a rumor that “One shouldn’t
enter Yushan without due consideration, otherwise one would suffer retribution from the gods”.
These documents and books reflect the mystery and sacredness of Yushan. Aboriginal mountains’
images include ignorance of Jade Mountain’s spirits care, wearing gold, and the mining of gold treasures from generation to generation. In the record of modern document collection, Yushan is the sacred mountain where the aborigine Tsou and Bunun escaped the floods and obtained kindling. It is also the point where the tribes unified and divided. The difference of diverse legends is even more evident in the two tribes (Tsou and Bunun) in ethnic origin, social development, cultural characteristics and customs. "