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SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

SKETCHES FROM
FORMOSA

REV. W. CAMPBELL, D.D., F.R.G.S.,

Member of the Japan Society.

MARSHALL BROTHERS, LIMITED,

LONDON, EDINBURGH, NEW YORK.

TO THE

Bops and Girls

OF THE
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF ENGLAND

FROM A FRIEND WHO IS NOW

IN THE FORTY-FOURTH YEAR OF HIS

MISSIONARY SERVICE IN FORMOSA.

340813

" The need of the hour is not more Christians, but better
Christians ; not the extension of Christianity, but the intensifi-
cation of it where it has only a nominal existence. A genuine
revival would certainly result in sweeping from the Church that
mass of merely nominal Christians by whom it is continually
encumbered and betrayed ; it would leave behind it only those who
could stand fire. The discipline which has ceased to be, must be
revived ; and QUALITY, not quantity, must be the motto of all
missionaries." — PRINCIPAL JAMES DENNEY, D.D.

PREFACE

SOME of the following Sketches appeared as an appendix
to my book on the work of the early Dutch Mission in
Formosa,* and two or three others had a very limited
circulation as separate papers ; but all of them have been
re-written, and many new pieces have been added for
the present issue, my intention being to take at least one
way of marking the fiftieth year since our English Presby-
terian Church began work in this important, although still
little-known, island of the Pacific.

On turning over the pages my young friends in the
Church will have an eye mainly to those incidents which
are amusing ; while other readers — including perhaps a
few who do not habitually betake themsleves to the
perusal of such books — may find some things which are
informing, and of more enduring interest. In any case,
I hope it may serve some useful purpose thus to furnish
another opportunity for seeing the Missionary with his
lustred West-of-England and dog-collar actually off, so
to speak ; thus to submit these first-hand statements
regarding his methods of work, his difficulties, his en-
couragements ; and, most important of all, regarding
the way in which God is pleased to use weak things of the
world for the accomplishment of His own great and
glorious purposes.

TAINAN, FORMOSA.
May, 1915.

* Missionary Success in Formosa (Trubner & Co., 1889. Out ofprittt.)

CONTENTS

PAGE

I. ARRIVAL IN THE ISLAND 15

II. HAVING A BRIEF HOLIDAY .. .. .. 21

III. BROUGHT INTO A WEALTHY PLACE . . . . 28

IV. THE SEK-HWAN ABORIGINES . . . . . . 33

V. FAR AFIELD NORTHWARD . . . . . . 46

VI. TROUBLE FROM JAPAN IN 1874 .. .. 70

VII. INCIDENTS IN KA-GI CITY . . . . . . 74

VIII. CONFIRMING THE CHURCHES . . . . . . 84

IX. NARROW ESCAPE AT PEH-TSUI-KHE . . . . 93

X. ANOTHER JOURNEY TO THE NORTH . . . . 102

XI. CONTROVERSY AMONG THE CONVERTS .. 112

XII. WITH THE BU-HWAN HEAD-HUNTERS .. 115

XIII. ATTACKED BY " CHINA'S MILLIONS " .. 118

XIV. SAVAGE BOY'S GORY BUNDLE . . . . 1 20

XV. CANNIBALS AT CHIU-SIA-HUN .. .. 121

XVI. FINDING OF HUMAN BRAIN-CAKES .. .. 122

XVII. EXPEDITION OUT FROM PO-LI-SIA .. .. 123

XVIII. FORDING THE TAI-AN RIVER .. .. 125

XIX. SUBMERGED NEAR TAI-KAH . . . . . . 1 27

XX. HEADER INTO A DEEP DITCH .. .. 128

XXI. CHASED OVER THE LIN-LOK PLAIN .. .. 130

XXII. BREAKFASTING ON RATS 131

XXIII. MONKEY CUTLETS FOR DINNER .. .. 132

XXIV. LIVING ON POTATOES AND WORMS . . . . 134

XXV. MY ( LY ATTEMPT AT JAM- MAKING .. 136

XXVI. PO-TSAI "AYE FINNIN' BITS o' THINGS " . . 138

XXVII. GRAVITATION PILFERING OUR CANDLES . . 140

XXVIII. CHINESE PATIENTS CAN BE GRATEFUL . . 143

XXIX. MORE ABOUT THE CANADIAN MISSION . . 147

XXX. FRENCH BLOCKADE OF FORMOSA .. .. 154

XXXI. PLEASANT BANISHMENT TO AMOY .. .. 159

CONTENTS

PAGE

XXXII. PIONEERING IN THE PESCADORES . . . . 168

XXXIII. IN JEOPARDY AT CHIANG-HOA .. .. 183

XXXIV. WELCOMED BY THE TSARISEN TRIBE . . 193
XXXV. OUT AGAIN BY THE HIGHWAYS AND HEDGES 206

XXXVI. SEED AMONG THORNS AND ON GOOD GROUND 214

XXXVII. REPORT FROM COLPORTEUR Li PA . . . . 228

XXXVIII. STUDENT LAU-SENG IN THE PULPIT . . . . 232

XXXIX. ORDINATION AT AW-GU-LAN 237

XL. OUR LANGUAGE PROBLEMS AND LITERATURE 241

XLI. CHURCH PRAISE IN FORMOSA . . . . . . 244

XLII. WOMEN AND CHILDREN OF THE ISLAND . . 247

XLIII. EDUCATION AND WORK FOR THE BLIND . . 254

XLIV. A RETROSPECT AND A FORECAST . . . . 261

XLV. BRITISH ALLIANCE WITH JAPAN . . . . 287

XLVI. EUROPEANS GET FAIR-PLAY OUT HERE . . 292

XL VII. THE JAPANESE AS COLONIZERS . . . . 302

XL VIII. WORK OF THE EARLY DUTCH MISSION . . 336
XLIX. PRESENT POSITION OF THE CHRISTIAN

MOVEMENT . . . . . . . . . . 360

L. MEMORIALS OF SOME WHO HAVE GONE

BEFORE 365

ILLUSTRATIONS

THE AUTHOR

MOUNT MORRISON

SAVAGE FROM MOUNT MORRISON . .
REV. W. CAMPBELL AND NATIVE WORKERS
A FAMOUS SEK-HWAN CHIEF OF FORMOSA
PEARL ISLET AT THE SOUTH-WEST END OF
LAKE CANDIDIUS ....

THE SOUTH FORMOSA MISSIONARIES
Miss CAMPBELL'S SUNDAY SCHOOL SCHOLARS
ADMIRAL COURBET .....
FIRST MEETING OF THE SYNOD OF FORMOSA .
ORDINATION OF MR. TSAN AT AW-GU-LAN
MR. AKIYAMA AND HIS BLIND PUPILS .

SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND AT TAINAN — The
Prefect of the City is on Mr. Campbell's
right

REV. D. GRAVIUS .....

REV. ROBERTUS JUNIUS ....

frontispiece
facing page 1 5

24
42

68
84
123
173
192
237
256

260

34°
346

To face page 15.

ARRIVAL IN THE ISLAND

HAVING finished my theological course at the Free Church
College, Glasgow, I was licensed by the Presbytery there
in June, 1871, and on igth July the London Presbytery
solemnly set me apart in Islington Church (Rev. Dr. Thain
Davidson's) as the first ordained missionary to Taiwan-fu,
then capital city of the island of Formosa.

After getting some insight into the language from
Mr. Carstairs Douglas, I left Liverpool on 7th September
(Rev. R. H. Lundie being the only friend who came on
board to see me away), and reached Hong Kong towards
the end of the following month. It was necessary for me
to change into a small coasting steamer at that port, but
I was told that the master of the one I booked by could
not properly navigate his ship unless he was half tipsy ;
and one proof of this was that, after clearing the islands,
he took down two pairs of boxing gloves, and seemed
much displeased because I persistently refused to go on
deck for a bout or two. The only benediction he gave
me when parting from him at Amoy was to say that he
very much feared I was a " softie " who would soon be
eaten up by the savages of Formosa.

As there was no steamer to take me over from Amoy,
I was the only passenger to cross the channel in a tiny sail-
ing ship ; my experiences in which must have been very
like Jonah's, for that great wind sent by the Lord caused
our evil-smelling craft to shake and bounce about in a

To face page 15.

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ARRIVAL IN THE ISLAND

HAVING finished my theological course at the Free Church
College, Glasgow, I was licensed by the Presbytery there
in June, 1871, and on iQth July the London Presbytery
solemnly set me apart in Islington Church (Rev. Dr. Thain
Davidson's) as the first ordained missionary to Taiwan-fu,
then capital city of the island of Formosa.

l6 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

most alarming way. Another little item was that, when
several miles east from Amoy, we crashed into a large
fishing junk, and I seem still to hear the yells of those
poor drowning Chinamen.

On coming within sight of Takow, a bamboo catamaran
ventured out to take me off, and in a few minutes more,
the small hand-bag I had with me was thrown over, I
slid down the rope myself, jumped across, and got my
hands well fastened round the open bars of the raft.
The two oarsmen had a hard job in making for the harbour,
for there was no ceremony shown by the scud from
those great tumbling waves which kept pressing upon us.
I reached the jetty in a very limp condition about dark,
but only to be told that my colleague stationed at Takow
was visiting some stations thirty miles off. Next morning,
however, Commander Bax of H.M.S. Dwarf generously
gave me a passage up to An-peng, the Port of Taiwan-fu.

The native Christians soon heard of my arrival, and I
cannot say how happy and relieved I felt when, through
old Elder Bun, they united in thanksgiving for my safety,
and in beseeching the great Head of the Church that I
might go forward to my work in the fulness of the blessing
of the Gospel of Christ. I also felt grateful and much
encouraged on seeing the way in which God had blessed
the Hospital work of Dr. Maxwell, and the occasional
visits of Mr. Ritchie to this part of Formosa.

As to Taiwan-fu itself, I may say that the brick wall
which surrounds it is about fifteen feet in thickness,
twenty-five in height, and some five miles in circumference.
Lofty watch-towers are built over the four main gateways,
and large spaces within the city are given to the principal
temples and yamens — or quarters occupied by the civil
and military mandarins. There is much need in Taiwan-
fu for the carrying out of a City Improvement Scheme.
Pleasant walks, no doubt, there are, and some of the shops

ARRIVAL IN THE ISLAND 17

have an appearance which is decidedly attractive ; but,
as a rule, the streets are narrow, winding, ill-paved, and
odorous.

In passing along, nearly everything is fitted to arrest
the attention of a new-comer. The beggars seem to be
a very miserable class, and many of them are far gone
in leprosy. They sit down on the roadside in the most
business-like way, uncover their sores, and resort to
every means for creating sympathy in the hearts of their
more fortunate but unsentimental fellow-countrymen.
Buddhist priests — poor effeminate looking creatures — are
frequently to be met with ; and, in Taiwan-fu, the Chinese
literati appear to be more numerous than in other crowded
centres I visited on the mainland. They can always be
seen, sweeping past in their long blue robes ; proud
evidently, and in no wise disposed to conceal their
deepseated hatred of the foreigner.

The extreme civility of the common people is very
noticeable. It is not here as at Chin-chiu and Chiang-
chiu, where the by-passers would sneer, and make remarks
about us which were the reverse of being complimentary.
There can be no doubt that the British Consular action
taken during the Formosa troubles of 1868 goes a long
way to account for this. Acting -Consul Gibson then took
a very direct method of insisting on the right of English
merchants and missionaries to obtain protection while
engaged in the pursuit of their callings, and instant quiet
was the result, with even a measure of goodwill from those
who had been bitterest in their opposition. Thus, how
stimulating the thought that a most inviting opportunity
is now placed before us among the multitudes of this
heathen city, and how much need there is for Divine
grace for us to live and labour so that many of them may
be brought into the glorious light and liberty of the
sons of God !

l8 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

Our Taiwan-fu chapel is a comparatively small oblong
building in one of the busiest thoroughfares of the city.
The people enter it by a wide door next the street, which
is always kept open during the hours of public worship.
On such occasions, the first or outer compartment contains
a crowd of Chinamen who stand and listen to what is
being said, or stupidly stare and wonder at worshippers
singing and praying into vacancy. Those mere outsiders
have been attracted by the sound of the preacher's voice.
They keep coming and going during the entire service ;
so that beggars, priests, shopkeepers, coolies, and all sorts
of people may be found there at times, jostling one another,
and eagerly desirous to see and hear something about
this New Doctrine. A low wooden barrier separates the
outer from the inner compartment of the chapel, which
latter is larger, seated with forms, and reserved for the
accommodation of male members and candidates for
baptism. At its further end, a number of chairs are
placed with tables for sacramental purposes ; and on
either side there are high frames covered with blue cloth
to screen off the third or innermost compartment, in
which our female fellow- worshippers are accommodated.
The small open pulpit is placed in the middle of the passage
a few feet within line of the two screens, and is the spot
from which my beloved colleagues have often been
enabled to speak in the power and demonstration of the
Spirit.

The missionaries' dwelling-house, hospital, and students'
rooms form a collection of one-storied Chinese buildings,
which also lie within the city walls, about ten minutes'
walk from the chapel in a north-easterly direction. They
are mortgaged from one of the leading families of the
place, and immediately adjoin a wide space of ground,
where the banyan spreads out its massive branches, and
where the betel-nut palm and the orange tree may be

To face page 19.

SAVAGE FROM MOUNT MORRISON.

ARRIVAL IN THE ISLAND 19

seen. It is not necessary to attempt a minute description
of these buildings, with their gardens, courts, halls,
sleeping-rooms, and almost endless variety of out-houses.
One of the courts has a deep well with an abundant supply
of cool, excellent water ; another is given up to those
young men who are in training for the preachership ; a
third affords accommodation for servants and native
visitors ; while the Hospital (including chapel, surgery
and medicine-room) has ample space for the treatment of
fifty or sixty in-patients. My own two rooms are on
the right of the main building facing the entrance ; those
on the left being occupied by Dr. Dickson, my only
colleague in Taiwan-fu, Dr. Maxwell's ill-health having
prevented him from returning to Formosa, when he left
a few months ago.

A fine view is obtained from that part of the city wall
which lies nearest to our house. Looking eastward the
eye travels over a wide plain, which, with the exception
of roads and a few temples, may literally be spoken of
as one vast field of sugar-cane. Further inland, the
country is also very fertile, although less suited for
agricultural purposes on account of its great uneven-
ness. The rising ground commences a few miles east
from Taiwan-fu, and gradually ascends into range upon
range of hills which culminate in the majestic peak of
Mount Morrison, " a name which endears it to the
Christian missionary, and acts as a refreshing stimulus
as he pursues his arduous labours among the debased
heathen at its foot."

I feel more than ever thankful that God has led me
hither. The kind reception I met with deeply moved me,
and I have seen much that is fitted to make one think
most hopefully of the future. Although it is only two
years since stated Christian work was commenced in this

20 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

part of Formosa, there are already not fewer than three
hundred persons who are striving to push forward on
the way heavenward : some of them in the midst of sore
temptation, and others in the face of persecution, almost
unto death. May God indeed uphold them, and may the
good, accomplished up till now, soon appear to be as drops
before the abundant shower.

HAVING A BRIEF HOLIDAY

IT was about the middle of the fourth month after my
arrival in Taiwan-fu that I started for Takow, to accom-
pany Mr. Ritchie through that part of the field under his
care, and then return by way of the four hill-stations
I visited at the close of the year. My Chinese teacher
did not travel with me, but I found Mr. Lim Kiam-kim
(a young man who had come over from the Pescadores)
very helpful in enabling me to continue my study of the
language. When within about three miles of Takow,
the pleasantness of the change began very speedily to
be felt. The hot, sultry stillness of the city is left behind :
the mere sight of Ape's Hill and of the lagoon is a treat ;
while the sea, with its cool, refreshing breezes, affords the
welcomest relief after one's first months of Taiwan-fu.

The day after my arrival a circular notice was sent to
the various places of business, announcing that I would
conduct an English service on the following Sabbath ;
but, from the shipping in the harbour and about half a
score of European residences, only four persons responded
to the invitation. I fear that our fellow-countrymen in
the East have their own difficulties to contend with in
trying to live up to the full measure of their responsibilties.
Where the community happens to be large, an English
Chaplain is usually engaged, and business matters are so
arranged that the Sabbath can really be a day of rest
in the Scripture sense of the word. At small isolated
centres, however, no stated religious services can be

22 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

held : mercantile pursuits are often followed on Sabbaths
as on week-days, with the result that heathen sur-
roundings only too soon begin to exert their deadening
and pernicious influences. Of course, the grace of God
can be made sufficient for His people at all times, but
the fact remains that discipleship in a place like Takow
must require no ordinary amount of courage and self-
denial.

During the first few days of my sojourn with
Mr. Ritchie, we paid missionary visits to Tang-kang and
Tek-a-kha. The former is about twelve miles south from
Takow, and is a considerable market-town at the mouth
of a river of the same name. Christian work began there
in 1870, and those of the inhabitants who have cast in
their lot with us appear to be making steady, if not very
rapid, progress in the knowledge and profession of Christ.
At the time of our visit, they were just recovering from
the effects of a serious fire which had taken place. It
commenced in an accidental way, and could not be got
under till two hundred shops and houses — including
the chapel — had been burned to the ground. It is
pleasing to add that the suffering which followed was
greatly lessened through practical sympathy shown by
the European residents at Takow, and by native brethren
at several of the other stations. On the evening of our
visit, a goodly company gathered and listened with close
attention to the earnest words addressed to them by
Mr. Ritchie.

Tek-a-kha is a country village about five miles east-
ward from Tang-kang. We spent the Sabbath there,
and were well accommodated in rooms adjoining the
neat little chapel. Over sixty adults and a number of
children attended the services ; many of them remaining
afterwards for catechetical instruction, and to be supplied
with small supplies of medicine for curing fever and other

HAVING A BRIEF HOLIDAY 23

such ailments. They all belonged to the small crofter
class, as we would say in Scotland, and most of them
seemed to be people of good ordinary intelligence,
although very illiterate. I greatly enjoyed my visit to
Tek-a-kha, it being a positive treat to meet with brethren
who are so hearty and sincere. Some of the small-
footed women walked long distances to come to worship
that day.

On returning to Takow, we found Mr. lap Han-chiong
awaiting our arrival. He is a native minister of the
American Reformed Church at Amoy, and had come
over for a short change, and to see a little of the churches
in Formosa. Of course, he was most cordially welcomed
as an esteemed co-labourer in the work of the Gospel.
Pastor lap has occupied his present position for many
years, is quiet in manner, a very capable man, and one
who cannot fail to be wielding an extensive influence
for good among his fellow-countrymen. He accompanied
us on our second journey, and assisted us in every way
he could.

Soon after starting again, we reached our quarters for
the night in the walled county town of Pi-thau. The
converts there have recently passed through some very
trying experiences. Twice has the chapel been torn
down by lawless mobs, and one of the native preachers
lay seven weeks in Pi-thau jail for nothing save his
faithfulness to Christian duty. And yet, matters seem
now to be in a thoroughly hopeful and prosperous con-
dition. I spoke to several who endured severe perse-
cution about a couple of years ago, and they impressed
me as being humble and earnest men who would be an
ornament to any such little company of believers.
During the course of conversation, they remarked that
the administration of the present Chief Magistrate is so
oppressive that even former enemies of the Church are

24 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

beginning to be interested in a religion which enjoins
men everywhere to manifest the spirit of fairness and
sympathy with each other. They added that the Sunday
services were always well attended ; some coming out
of mere curiosity, others from selfish and worldly motives,
and still a third class that they might render acceptable
worship and be better fitted for growing into the likeness
of their Lord and Saviour.

Our next halting-place was in the market-town of
A-li-kang, about twelve miles northward from Pi-thau.
There we spent the Sabbath, and there our worthy
Chinese colleague received a most hearty welcome from
the brethren. He seemed to have great power in
speaking to them at our forenoon service. I noticed
the crowded audience sitting spell-bound under his long
and stimulating discourse ; and no wonder, for the
preacher displayed a remarkable fulness of knowledge
regarding the beliefs, the customs, and the needs of the
people before him. Whilst listening to him, one could
not but feel the importance of having an educated native
ministry in every part of China. Men like Pastor lap
are able to adapt themselves in a way the missionary
can never do, and to overcome difficulties which must
always hamper any mere sojourner in the country. The
afternoon meeting took the form of a Communion service,
presided over by Mr. Ritchie. Between fifty and sixty
adult members were present and partook of the sacred
symbols. I had little effort in following the greater part
of Mr. Ritchie's most suitable address ; and, altogether,
the occasion was one to be remembered, a time when
the presence of the Beloved Himself imparted new
strength and melted the soul into gratitude and joy
unspeakable.

A good walk of sixteen miles to the north-east on
Monday morning brought us again into that hill region,

To face page 24.

HAVING A BRIEF HOLIDAY 25

where I trust the Lord may graciously prosper my own
ministry for many years to come. We had no sooner
arrived at Bak-sa than arrangements were made to
commence the important duty of examining candidates
for baptism. This work occupied the greater part of the
week, and was found to be rather tiring, but also very
interesting. We always began early and sat till late,
being able to overtake only nine or ten names in the
course of the day. It was a matter of the most joyful
surprise to me that so many people were there, and with
reasons so substantial that their names should be entered
upon the baptismal roll. Some of them were well known
to Mr. Ritchie, and had long been members of the
Communicants' class ; and they all appeared to have,
at least, a clear enough head-knowledge of the way of
salvation. After mature deliberation, it was decided
that the three men and eleven women whose conduct
the native Elders were most satisfied with, ought to be
received into Church fellowship on the approaching
Sabbath.

I was very much pleased with the examinations at
Kam-a-na. Many of the answers given to our enquiries
were touchingly simple, and came — so far as one dared to
judge in such matters — from those " who were born not
of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man,
but of God." Some of the artless replies they gave
appear still to be ringing in my ears. " No, baptism
would not save them ; they were saved by faith in Christ,
and because of His work ; but they wished openly to
confess Him and to grow in the knowledge of His
doctrine."

There must have been about five hundred persons who
took part in the services at Bak-sa on Sunday. Many of
the Kam-a-na brethren were there to witness the solemn
admission of another company into the visible Church of

26 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

Christ, and, especially to receive instruction from the
lips of our much esteemed Chinese co-ad jutor. He
conducted the forenoon service and administered the rite
of Baptism, while Mr. Ritchie dispensed the Lord's
Supper in the afternoon. There were joyful hearts in
the Bak-sa valley that evening. God had caused His
salvation to pass before us, and we lay down to rest
making mention of His goodness, even of His only.

On Monday we crossed over to Poah-be ; and there also
we had much to assure us that God's mighty Spirit is still
working amongst these Pi-po-hwan aborigines. Four
men and six women were passed for baptism. I was
very sorry for one aged brother who wished to be received,
but whose knowledge of spiritual things was most pain-
fully defective. He appeared to have no conception of
the Scriptural meaning of sin, and of his need of pardon
through the merits of Another. One felt sorry for the
poor old man. He appeared to think that some sort of
magical change would be wrought upon him by the water
of baptism, and in no way concealed his dissatisfaction
and surprise at being advised to delay his coming forward
at this time. We had large meetings at Poah-be on the
Sabbath.

Our next visit was to the village of Kong-a-na, where
we examined thirteen candidates, and saw our way to
admit three of them to the membership of the Church.
Things are not so prosperous with the brethren there
as they once were. This may largely arise from the
fact that it has not been possible for some time to have
a properly qualified preacher residing amongst them.
Every available worker was required at other churches,
and until the three young men now under training in the
city are somewhat further advanced in their studies*, we
are shut up to allow several of the older stations to suffer
a little temporary loss.

HAVING A BRIEF HOLIDAY 27

After our visit to Kong-a-na, the time came when our
own small company had to separate : Pastor lap going
back to his post on the mainland, Mr. Ritchie to Takow,
and myself out westward to headquarters at Taiwan-fu.
We parted from each other more than ever vigorous for
the work to which God was calling ]us.

Ill

BROUGHT INTO A WEALTHY PLACE

I FEEL deeply thankful for being able to say that I have
just had the great privilege of dispensing the Sacraments
in the city and at our four hill-stations.

At Taiwan-fu two men and two women were added to
the number of Christ's professing people. They had
been hearers of the Gospel for nearly two years, and
such evidence of their knowledge and behaviour was
given that the Session cordially approved of Elder Bun's
proposal to admit them.

Brother la was formerly a wicked man, persecuting
God's people and revelling in every form of evil. He has
now brought no small trouble upon himself by refusing
to open his shop for trading on Sunday. His neighbours
have annoyed him, but he manifests a spirit of meek
forbearance. He has made considerable progress in the
knowledge of Christian doctrine. Ong Kia is a much
younger man — a native of Chin-chiu — and was brought
under religious impression through the preaching of
Mr. Douglas of the Amoy Mission, although he could not
say it was during his residence on the mainland that he
was led into the enjoyment of spiritual peace. He has
been under our eye for more than a year ; and what we
have seen of him, especially during the past six months,
is all in his favour and constrains us to believe in the
sincerity of his profession. He is an intelligent reader
of the Bible in Chinese characters, and a man who may
yet become most useful in the Church.

BROUGHT INTO A WEALTHY PLACE 2Q

As for the two women, it was apparent that their
knowledge of Scripture indicated a very fair amount of
diligence upon their part. One of them, whose husband
is blind, resides at a distance of about three miles from
the chapel, but her place on Sabbath is never vacant.
She attended the Mission Hospital at a time when
Dr. Maxwell was in charge, and came then for the first
time to know something of the reality of Divine things.
The other applicant also gave evidence of having come
through a genuine spiritual experience ; and they both
showed deep concern when informed that the Session
had decided to receive them.

These four persons were solemnly admitted to Church
membership at the close of Dr. Dickson's discourse on
the forenoon of 23rd September, 1873. All the afternoon
service fell to myself. I spoke from i Peter 3. 18, and
can truly say that I seldom, if ever, had so sweet an
assurance of God's willingness to use the weak things of
this world in carrying on His own great and gracious
purposes. A large interested audience filled the outer
part of the chapel, while the members themselves seemed
to be actuated by a very proper spirit. It was the first
time I came forth to administer the rite of Baptism, or
invite my fellow-believers to join in that sacred act which
calls to mind the dying love of Him who finished the
work which His Father had given Him to do. I shall
always think of the occasion as being the fulfilment of
many a prayer, and the earnest of yet greater things to
come.

Only a few notes need be added regarding our some-
what similar work at the four hill-stations. On reaching
Bak-sa, seven persons presented themselves for examina-
tion, and three women were passed for baptism. One
of them was in very weak health. Her husband left her
some years ago, but she has been a consistent follower

30 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

of Christ for more than eighteen months. Although the
two others were rather dull, they had learned to read the
New Testament, and the office-bearers thought that they
too ought to be admitted.

At Kam-a-na, we saw our way to select only one
person from the five candidates who came forward.
This poor woman had met with much affliction in her
family, her four children having died within little more
than a year. The Sacraments for those two companies
of worshippers were dispensed on Sabbath at Bak-sa,
where a congregation of about five hundred met in the
newly-erected chapel. A fine earnest spirit was shown
during the Communion service, and we ourselves, at
least, could say that the Lord was with us of a truth.
I may mention that the contributions of the native
brethren in the afternoon amounted to within a trifle
of ten dollars.

At Poah-be the examination of eight persons resulted
in three of them being recommended for baptism, namely,
Kan Tsu and his wife Kui Ki, with a young woman
called Li Tsu. The two first gave good evidence of their
acquaintance with Bible truth, Kui Ki in particular
replying satisfactorily to our questions. The elders said
that they were all very quiet and well-behaved people.

At Kong-a-na, seven persons were examined, but our
way did not seem open for the admission of any of them
at this time. Several had never seen the Sacraments
dispensed, while others spoke in an unmistakably legal
way, as if they had yet to learn that a man has to be
justified by faith in Christ before he can speak of rendering
acceptable service. Of course, we tried to explain both
the easiness and the difficulty of the way of salvation.
Our chapel was crowded at forenoon and afternoon diets
of worship, many of the Poah-be members having come
over to spend the day with their brethren in Kong-a-na.

BROUGHT INTO A WEALTHY PLACE 31

It was good to be there, and those of us who were present
at the Thanksgiving Service in the evening were again
assured of the merciful lovingkindness of our Heavenly
Father.

There is, indeed, much cause for gratitude in looking
back upon this season of renewed Communion at our
various little churches. No doubt, we have had fewer
baptisms than upon any previous occasion, but we feel
that the enlargement of our Membership Roll is not the
only way by which true progress can be indicated. It is
quite possible to have an important preparatory move-
ment going on outside of the Church, and for a work of
education in its higher sense to be advancing within her
pale, while the number of baptisms may be far from
showing the real extent of this.

What I do regret is the non-intelligent and almost
superstitious way in which baptism is still regarded by
many of our people. They think of it too much as a
mere terminus ad quern which should call forth their
energies up till the time it is obtained, and then leaves
them waiting to see what sort of substantial worldly
good may afterwards come along. Some of them even
go the length of supposing that the water of baptism is
able to confer blessings which the Spirit of God alone
can give.

In writing thus, however, I do not by any means wish
to convey the impression that we are despondent, or that
some remarkable defection has just been brought to light.
I would only be reminded that the very peace which we
enjoy, the vague desire of hundreds to become connected
with the Church, and what might be called the excitement
resulting from this rapid extension of interest in a new
religion, while far from being an evil in itself, ought
certainly to increase our watchfulness, and make us
strive with all our might to keep the movement under

32 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

due control. " All power is given to Me in heaven
and on earth , . . Lo, I am with you alway, even unto
the end of the world/' Here must we ever find our
strength, our comfort, and our hope. There need be
no fear for the work. A time of reaction may set in,
even persecution may arise, but none of these things
should move us. God will surely watch over His
own, and will not fail to uphold His people in every
time of need.

THE SEK-HWAN ABORIGINES

ON i4th October, 1872, Dr. Dickson and myself left the
city to visit our stations among the Sek-hwan, who
occupy the northern part of the county of Chiang-hoa.
Our party consisted of eighteen persons, and was made up
chiefly of brethren from the villages of Toa-sia and Lai-sia.

All along the way we enjoyed very favourable oppor-
tunities for open-air preaching, and for disposing of large
quantities of Christian books and tracts. This part of
our work was most interesting. Hundreds of people
gathered about us in the more populous towns through
which we passed, and listened with great goodwill as we
spoke to them of God's love in sending His Son to save
them. No sooner, too, had we halted for the night at
any roadside inn, than crowds would collect and refuse
to go away till we came out and told them something of
the object of our visit. I was pleased to see that those
Chinamen always acted with civility, and were even
profuse in their hospitality at some places, treating us to
tea, fruit, sweetmeats, and curious cakes made up with
choice little morsels of rank pork fat.

Our chapel in Toa-sia was reached about noon on the
I7th, after an entire journey of nearly a hundred miles.
Of course the converts gave us a most hearty welcome.
The last pastoral visit paid to them was in March, and they
had been looking forward to the present one with much
expectancy. From the thirteen candidates for baptism
we examined, it was thought that only two might be
3 33

34 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

received : the preacher's wife, and an old woman who
stumbled a good deal in her answers, but whose character
was so well spoken of that we willingly consented to her
admission. As compared with our examinations among
our Pi-po-hwan aborigines in the south, there was con-
siderable difficulty in conducting this part of our work
here from the fact that many of the elderly people knew
little Chinese, only one or other of the native dialects
being intelligible to them. All meetings for worship in
the chapel are conducted in Chinese, but in speaking
among themselves the villagers still make use of the more
easily understood Sek-hwan tongue.

I was one of a small party which started for Lai-sia
on Monday morning, our way lying through a hilly
country for the first few miles, and then over a wilderness
of loose boulders, when we forded several streams and one
rapid river which we crossed on a large bamboo raft or
catamaran.

The village of Lai-sia is situated in a lovely valley
twelve miles north from Toa-sia, and about an hour's
walk from those mountain ranges which separate the
civilized aborigines from the savages of the interior.
The latter sometimes pay a midnight visit to the out-
lying houses of their Sek-hwan neighbours, so that every
hamlet has to be stockaded, and otherwise secured
against a sudden surprise. All the male inhabitants of
the valley carry arms when going out for firewood, or to
engage in any kind of outdoor work.

We had good cause for thankfulness at the spiritual
progress made by our brethren in Lai-sia. The sub-
stantial little chapel was put up last year almost wholly
at their own expense, and, during our stay, over one
hundred adults met in it every evening to worship God,
and to hear our exposition of His Word. Of twenty-three
candidates who came forward, no fewer than thirteen

THE SEK-HWAN ABORIGINES 35

were considered worthy of being received into Church
fellowship, and I was glad to see that the Christian
education of the children was not being neglected. Many
of those were already able to read the Chinese New Testa-
ment, and a class for learning the Romanized form of the
language had some bright lads in it, who may yet become
useful schoolmasters or preachers of the Gospel.

We regretted that an engagement to be in Toa-sia on
Sabbath evening prevented us from spending the whole
day at Lai-sia, but our two short services in the early
morning proved to be most helpful. At the former, Dr.
Dickson preached from Rom. x. 1-4 before the thirteen
enquirers were baptized ; and, on reassembling soon
after, I simply tried to narrate the events of " that night
on which He was betrayed." While looking over the
large and deeply interested audience, one could scarcely
realize that, only two years ago, tfye very name of this
village was unknown to the outside world, and that
every man and woman before me was then an ignorant
worshipper of heathen gods. It was truly worth the toil
of all our long walk to have the privilege of even seeing
the change which had taken place.

The brethren were very sorry when the time came for us
to leave. On account of the distance from headquarters,
and there being only one clerical member of the Mission
at Taiwan-fu (myself), they cannot have more than two
pastoral visits during the course of each year, while our
stay with them on the present occasion had been most
helpful to every one. I suppose the whole of the inhabi-
tants lined the way to the gate of the village when we
were about to start : I could see tears in many an eye.
They kept signalling after us till our little company was
out of sight, and took every way of showing their deep
appreciation of our visit. I shall not soon forget my first
brief sojourn at Lai-sia. It is a cleanly, sequestered, and

36 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

most lovely spot, while in not a few of its poor homes, a
work is being done which must tell throughout this part
of Formosa. " Lift up your eyes and behold the fields,
for they are already white unto harvest."

After a smart walk we reached Toa-sia in time to conduct
evening worship and administer the rite of baptism.
The condition of things at this aboriginal village is not
quite so satisfactory as at Lai-sia. Not that the people
fail in attending the services, or show any lack of willing-
ness to become members, but that little headway is being
made in getting them to understand the spiritual nature
and functions of the Church of Christ. It would almost
seem as if the petty officials and older people of the place
had taken the matter into consideration, and had decided
in favour of Christianity because no loss, at any rate,
could arise in following the advice of foreign teachers
who were quite as influential and far more sympathizing
than the Chinese around them. This theory would
account for the easy acquiescence of the younger people,
and the irrepressible desire for baptism by many who do
not possess the slightest knowledge of its meaning.
In any case, what we require is more personal action, as
opposed to any mere general movement or acceptance of
Christianity in the slump, clearer views of the Divine
character, a deeper sense of sin, and, in short, all that
which comes to a man " not by might nor by power, but
by My Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts." Still, there are
encouragements. A good beginning has been made, and
one must not forget that every Lord's day our assistant
delivers God's message to a congregation of nearly two
hundred persons.

On Tuesday morning preparations were made for
continuing our work at three more churches in the central
part of the Island, away eastward from Toa-sia. As the
visit to this Po-li-sia Plain involved two days more of

THE SEK-HWAN ABORIGINES 37

hard travel through a wild and uninhabited region, where
bands of head-hunting savages kept roaming about,
fifty-eight of the Sek-hwan brethren, armed with guns
and long knives, volunteered to act as our body-guard ;
but, on declining the use of their services, they said their
weapons were only meant to secure some of the heavy
game we were sure to meet with on the way. I may say
that our opposition was afterwards withdrawn on account
of the little we ourselves knew of the true position of
things, and because travelling in this somewhat militant
style received a certain amount of sanction from the
Chinese mandarin who joined our party for the sake of
the escort.

We walked single file, and the party presented quite a
warlike appearance in passing along. For the first few
miles our course lay in a south-easterly direction. Soon,
however, the last houses were left behind, and we struck
inland to begin the real work of climbing over hills and
wandering through jungle and water in what seemed the
most aimless and zigzag fashion. There was no trace of
a road here, and the knives of the advance-party had
constantly to be used in clearing our way. Although it
required a considerable amount of exertion to keep
together, the greatest good-nature prevailed, and every one
seemed willing to help his neighbour. At one stage we
had to break up into small companies while breasting the
waters of a deep rushing river ; at another, the least false
step over the great shelving rocks we had to cross would
have hurled us into the tarn beneath ; while, further on,
we walked through narrow gorges from which the light
of the mid-day sun was well-nigh excluded by over-
hanging masses of thick foliage. So far as the magnificent
scenery of this part of Formosa is concerned, I cannot
attempt even a brief description. The luxuriant brightly-
coloured vegetation, the forests with their tangled

38 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

masses of climbing plants, and the vast fields with their
long rank grasses, all lonely and deserted, with not a trace
of the presence of man, made a very deep impression on
us, and furnished a spectacle which, to one member of
the party at least, was surpassingly grand.

When we halted for the night about sunset, our stalwart
travelling companions piled arms and made themselves
useful in every way they could. Some cleared the ground
which was to do duty as our four-poster ; some collected
a welcome heap of leaves and dry brushwood ; while
others kept combing the stream and several neighbouring
pools with their little hand-nets. The three large camp-
fires which soon lighted up the valley added greatly to
our comfort. On two of these the rice was cooked, the
third being reserved for preparing an abundant supply
of newly-caught fish. It need hardly be said that our
humble fare was much relished, and partaken of with very
thankful hearts. There was a little pleasant chat after-
wards, with two or three blood-curdling tales about the
savages whose territory we had invaded ; but, before
long, we all came together for evening worship, which was
conducted in Chinese throughout, as no one present could
lead in the better understood Sek-hwan tongue. Relays
of men kept watch during the night, and we spent some
five hours of refreshing sleep under the open sky.

An early start was made the following day, during which
we walked as hard as the nature of the ground would
allow. Towards noon, however, it became evident that
another night would require to be spent in the mountains ;
and, this time, we had to undo our burdens in a specially
dangerous part of the aboriginal country. I chose my
sleeping-place at the foot of a tree, and wondered what
would be the best protection against the enormous snakes
which abound in Formosa. That night, our commissariat
and evening worship arrangements were somewhat less

THE SEK-HWAN ABORIGINES 39

elaborate than the night before. Owing to greater
fatigue, incessant chirping of insects, and the occasional
crash of some animal or savage through the woods, we
got very little sleep, and, accordingly, we were again on
the move by the faintest streak of light.

It was a stiff pull to reach the summit of the high moun-
tain before us, and even the descent on the other side had
its own little incidents : the whole reminding me of a
climb I once had to the top of Ben Nevis minus the
footpath. I think I can still hear the loud cry which
startled us after leaving the base of this mountain. It
came from no great distance, and appeared to be a
rallying call, or the signal for some horrid onslaught of
savages. In an instant, all of us were brought to a
standstill, guns begun to be unslung, and silent prayer
to ascend that God would interpose. What a relief it
was at that moment to see some of our own brethren
emerging from the wood, and showing their unbounded
delight at the sight of their friends ! A hunting party
brought them word that we had started, and made the
suggestion about coming out to meet us. They now led
the way till, to the satisfaction of every one, we reached
Aw-gu-lan, the first of our Po-li-sia stations.

A few words may be said here about Po-li-sia itself.
The name is given to a large, beautiful, and well-watered
plain in the heart of those lofty ranges which divide the
Island from north to south. As the road winds, it lies
about thirty miles eastward from the county city of
Chiang-hwa. It is peopled by an almost exclusively
Sek-hwan race, one of the two main divisions of the
civilized aborigines of Formosa, the other being the Pi-po-
hwan, among whose settlements no fewer than six of
our southern churches have been planted. There are
thirty-three little villages and hamlets scattered over
the Po-li-sia Plain, and from inquiries made while visiting

40 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

twenty-nine of them, I should say that at present the
rapidly increasing inhabitants number about six thousand.
Any reliable statement as to the extent and population
of Po-li-sia can be made only after following the line of
march along the base of the high hills, and engaging in
conversation with intelligent people in each of the villages.
The circulation of false rumours by a number of anti-
missionary Chinese pedlars, led myself and two of the
native preachers to be thus engaged for more than a
week, and the information we obtained regarding the
tribal languages, manners, and distribution of the popula-
tion was not less interesting than useful for the further
extension of our work.

The introduction of Christianity into Po-li-sia is only of
recent date, and took place under the following circum-
stances : Mr. Pickering, the agent of a mercantile house
at Takow, happened to be spending some days at Toa-sia
about two years ago, and mentioned to some sick people
that there was a foreign doctor at Taiwan-fu, who was
both able and willing to help them. Soon after, a party
of far-travelled strangers presented themselves at our
Hospital for relief. One of them was a native of Po-li-sia
named Khai-san, who had relatives living at Toa-sia, and
who came now to place himself under the skilful treatment
of Dr. Maxwell. No difficulty was experienced in dealing
with his bodily ailment, but the poor idolater was spoken
to about his spiritual disease, which required the help
of another Physician, who would not at all resort to the
use of bandages or medicines. His interest was aroused,
and his conscience said to him : '" Thou art the man."
Much prayer was offered on his behalf, and in less than
three months the heavenly light and peace broke in upon
his soul. On returning to the North, he lost no time in
speaking to neighbours and friends about his new-found
treasure. He produced God's Word ; and, although no

THE SEK-HWAN ABORIGINES 4!

scholar himself, others assisted him in deciphering the
more difficult Chinese characters, and in translating
several little Gospel leaflets, which were read and re-read,
and talked over by all sorts of people. Khai-san had also
to explain about praising God, and tell what was meant
by people meeting together for worship without any sacred
object being placed before them. A new thing was now
seen in Po-li-sia. One here, and another there, gave up
the practice of idolatry ; some of our simple Church hymns
came to be familiar, and in one village an attempt was
made to hold weekly Christian services. Thus, the move-
ment had fairly commenced, and through the influence
of this earnest simple-minded man at least thirty adults
were now waiting to have expounded unto them the will
of God more perfectly.

It was a considerable time before rumours of all this
reached the city, and not till July 1871, that two native
preachers were sent from Taiwan-fu to make full investiga-
tion. In due time they reported that a movement,
favourable to Christianity, had really taken place ; that
the people were kind, attentive, and thankful for their
presence ; and that even already some appeared to have
received the Gospel, not in word only, but also in power
and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance.

Mr. Ritchie and Dr. Maxwell visited this northern
region of Formosa in September 1871, going first to
Toa-sia ; where it was found that, both in depth and
extent, the work of grace exceeded their fondest hopes.
Nine persons were baptized there, and arrangements made
for building the present neat and commodious little
chapel at Lai-sia ; but, owing to continued heavy rain, it
was found that the journey could not be continued on to
Po-li-sia.

In the following March Mr. Ritchie, Dr. Dickson, and
Mr. Mackay of the Canada Presbyterian Mission at

42 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

Tamsui, visited Toa-sia, and were afterwards led inland
to Po-li-sia. The joy and hospitality with which they
were received was overpowering. Hundreds of people
crowded round them from day to day, to whom medicines
were dispensed, and the words of eternal life declared
with all earnestness and sympathy. Of course, no one
would say that this interest proceeded wholly from
well-understood and genuine religious feeling. In such
circumstances, we never meet with a sudden and wide-
spread desire to embrace the Gospel for its own sake,
and I hardly know any truth which requires to be
pondered more frequently by those who are labouring on
the Foreign Mission field. The people need to be led
out from their gross heathenism ; they need to be kindly
and persistently spoken to about God, and sin, and faith
in Jesus Christ; and especially must the Spirit teach
them, or results will go very little beyond the indignant
and ostentatious breaking up of their pretty little shrines.
Yet, the opportunity was most precious, and fitted us in
every way to praise God, and think very hopefully of the
days to come. My brethren remained with the people
for about a week, admitted twenty-two persons by
baptism to the Church of Christ, and saw preparations
made for erecting chapels in the villages of Aw-gu-lan,
Gu-khun-soa, and Toa-lam.

The second missionary visit to this remote region is the
present one by Dr. Dickson and myself, about which
only a little need now be said. At Aw-gu-lan we had a
good report from Brother Teng-iam, the preacher who
has been in charge for about a year. His work seems
to have prospered, as twenty-three of the children were
able to read, and ten able to write the colloquial Chinese
in Roman letters. At Toa-lam, one of the Church
members had to be placed under Church discipline for
improper conduct ; while at Gu-khun-soa, we had

To face page 42.

A FAMOUS SEK-HWAN CHIEF OF FORMOSA.

THE SEK-HWAN ABORIGINES 43

endless opportunity for preaching and speaking personally
to a most willing and guileless people. In all, thirty-five
candidates for baptism were examined, and seven of
these were received into Church fellowship.

While crossing the Plain one day, we passed a company
of wild half -clothed men, who were said to belong to the
Bu-hwan tribe of savages to the east of Po-li-sia. They
were now on friendly terms with the Sek-hwan, and had
therefore no fear in coming this way on their bartering or
head-hunting expeditions. In many respects, they are
a very fine race, tall, muscular, self-possessed, and not
by any means so degraded as one might have expected
them to be. From enquiries made afterwards, it would
appear that they are strictly upright in their dealings with
each other, and with the Sek-hwan. They greatly
dislike the Chinese, who encroached on their fair lands
on the western side of the Island, and have driven them
to their mountain fastnesses of the interior. Their
language seems to be a very simple one, as we had no
difficulty in noting down about four hundred of their
words. Here are the ten numerals : — Khial, Dahah,
Turuh, Supat, Rimah, Matuvuh, Mapitah, Mashupat,
Mugarih, Machal.

Two days' hard walking brought us out again to
Toa-sia. As we had still a long journey before us we set
ourselves to this on the morning of the loth. The
county city of Ka-gi was reached on the evening of the
second day ; and here we thought it best to separate,
Dr. Dickson going on to Taiwan-fu to see how matters
had gone during our absence, and I to two Pi-po-hwan
stations which had not been visited for some time.

It was far on in the night before I arrived at our chapel
in Peh-tsui-khe, a quiet little hamlet near Pillow Moun-
tain, and about five miles eastward from the market-town
of Tiam-a-khau. A small congregation meets there

44 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

every Lord's day, and the people are showing an evident
desire to grow in the knowledge of Divine things. One
man received baptism on the Sabbath of my visit ; the
first-fruits, I trust, of a large and genuine spiritual
harvest.

After some fifteen miles' walk in a south-westerly
direction, I reached Hwan-a-chan, the other station,
about noon on Monday. Our work there continues to
be in rather a backward condition. The brethren have
to work very hard for a daily living, and are probably a
little more dull than those we had been seeing. They
proposed themselves, however, to put up a chapel and
preacher's rooms that would enable them to dispense
with the present insufficient and most shabby accommo-
dation. Poor people ! they certainly need to be en-
couraged, and I hope the Doctor or myself may soon
be able to take up our abode with them for a week or two.

Before returning to the city, I spent a night in the
large village of Ka-poa-soa. The preacher from Peh-
tsui-khe accompanied me, and spoke to an attentive
audience on man's duty to God and how to perform it.
Allusion having been made to the divinity of our Lord,
one hearer ventured to remark that the speaker was
contradicting himself in talking about one God, and then
referring to another named Jesus. My native friend
replied by saying that red-hot iron contained both light
and heat at the same time, but he immediately became
so animated that it was impossible for me to catch the
full drift of his argument ; while the objector seemed to
be only very partially convinced. At the close, several
persons nodded assent in a rather half-hearted sort of
way, whereupon I added a few words on matters about
which there could be no dispute. It is not by any means
a source of regret that we meet with interruptions of this
kind. They show that our auditors are paying close

THE SEK-HWAN ABORIGINES 45

attention to what is being said, and surely that is far
better than pre-occupation, idle curiosity, or hopeless
ignorance.

The population of Ka-poa-soa is Pi-po-hwan, with
a sprinkling of Chinese. It contains quite a crowd of
fine promising boys and girls ; and this fact, I dare say,
has had its own share in deciding that Brother Teng-iam
should take up his residence there on Wednesday first.
Many of the people were most friendly, and we can only
hope and pray that our Brother may receive strength
to carry on as good work there as he was doing in Po-li-sia.
His wife's infirm state of health was one reason which
influenced us in thinking that he might profitably have
this change to the South.

I reached Taiwan-fu on Thursday last after an absence
of six weeks, and was glad to find that everything had
been making quiet progress during our absence. What
a privilege to be engaged in such work, and what
abundant cause we have for gratitude to our Heavenly
Father !

FAR AFIELD NORTHWARD

I HAVE just returned from a long spell of pastoral and
evangelistic work in the North. It was the time for my
Spring visit to Po-li-sia, but I wished to take the oppor-
tunity of extending my journey to that part of Formosa
occupied by our sister Mission from the Presbyterian
Church of Canada. Mr. Mackay has been labouring
single-handed there for about a year ; and I knew that,
in the circumstances, this call upon him would both be
pleasing to ourselves, and helpful to the native Church.
My original plan was to travel overland to our own
Sek-hwan stations, and then continue the journey by
going on to the more distant region. On being told,
however, that the Norwegian barque Daphne was about
to leave An-peng for Tamsui, I had my things taken on
board, and we set sail a few hours after. As there was
not sufficient sea-room at this time of the year to beat
up against the monsoon in the narrow Pescadores channel,
the Captain decided to double South Cape, tack up the
eastern side of Formosa, and thus reach Tamsui from the
north.

We had a very stormy passage, so much so, that my
servant boy and the Chinese preacher (Chiu Paw-ha)
who accompanied me, were dead sick during the seven
days we were at sea. While labouring off the Island of
Botel Tobago, our mainsail was torn in pieces ; and, for
several days, every other great sea we faced threatened
to engulf us. I was sorry for the poor ship-hands, who

FAR AFIELD NORTHWARD 47

had to work hard, and be content with mere snatches of
time for food and sleep. It was only through repeated
drenchings, and with firm holding on, that I succeeded
in getting a good look at the land which came now and
then into view.

Every one was interested as we approached Botel
Tobago. The last European visit to it was by a surveying
party from H.M.S. Sylvia in 1867. It stands about
twenty-six miles out from the south-eastern end of
Formosa, is seven and a half miles long, and densely
peopled by an aboriginal race. We saw their huts, and
could make out rows of little canoes or rafts drawn up on
the beach.

We sighted also the Island of Samasana, which is
thirty-four miles north of Botel Tobago, and fully fifteen
miles east from the Formosan village of Po-song. Consul
Swinhoe supposes that it is inhabited by fishermen of
Luchuan origin ; but Captain Belcher, of H.M.S.
Samarang called there in 1845, and found the population
to consist of about a hundred and fifty Chinese from the
region of Amoy. They were then gathered into one
village, and have greatly increased since that time.

I was in some hope that, on one of our long tacks, we
might have come within view of Kumi, the westernmost
island of the Miyako Sima group. It lies about sixty
miles east from Dome Point, and has four villages. Two
or three of the islands lying further east have a much
larger area than Botel Tobago, and the population of the
entire group is estimated to number about ten thousand.
They are said to be a poor but contented and unarmed
race, in appearance similar to the Luchuans (to whom
they are subject), but resembling the Japanese more in
manners, customs, and language.

It will thus be seen that the inhabitants of the above-
named islands are completely shut out from all Gospel

48 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

influences. No one seems to care for them, and one
generation after another has passed away without their
once having had an opportunity of listening to the words
of eternal life. Of course, every one admits that much
Christian effort is needed for dealing with such a great
imperial race as the Chinese ; but surely the claims of
the weak, the solitary, and the few, ought also to be
acknowledged. By so doing, we follow in the very foot-
steps of Christ, while it would be difficult to name a more
patent means of blessing to the Church itself than the
labours of men like Williams in Erromango, of Gardiner
among the Patagonians, or of those noble Moravian
brethren who labour at many isolated parts of the Foreign
Mission field. In the present case, it may be suggested
that the junk which brings tribute annually from
Miyako Sima by way of Fuh-chau, might afford an
opportunity to the many missionaries in that Provincial
city for something being done.

There is almost nothing to remark about the occasional
glimpses we had of the land on our left. It is such a
shelterless rock-bound coast that we were compelled to
stand well out to sea, and only at Black-rock Bay and
Dome Point did the objects on shore come well into
sight. Immediately north of these, the great wooded
mountains rise six and seven thousand feet from the
water's edge, while, little more than a mile off, no bottom
can be found after running out one hundred and fifteen
fathoms of line. It will thus be seen that what with
strong currents, a very deep sea, and want of harbour
accommodation, Formosa can never be advantageously
developed from its eastern side.

On arriving at Tamsui, I called a small boat and was
rowed across to the residence of Mr. Mackay. He gave
me a truly Highland welcome. The thinness of our
ranks here tends all the more to increase the joy of

FAR AFIELD NORTHWARD 49

fellowship when we do happen to come together. It
took some time to have my cases of books and other
things brought ashore ; but, in a few hours, the native
assistant, my servant-boy, and myself, felt very com-
fortable in every way, and thankful that our seven days'
tossing had come to an end.

Tamsui, the north-western port of Formosa, was
opened to foreign trade by the Treaty of Tientsin in 1860,
and a few European places of business have been erected
there, the residents being about equal in number to
those in the southern port of Takow. Lofty hills on
each side of the estuary at once attract the visitor's
attention. The harbour is entered through a deep, but
narrow channel, which opens out into a broad, lagoon-
like river. At first sight, the place might be taken for
some district in Perthshire, but a nearer look dispels the
illusion. Over there, nestling among the broad banana
leaves, the peculiarly pointed roof of the Chinese joss-
house presents itself, clumps of waving feathery bamboos
are seen higher up ; while the people, and all the
surroundings of the dirty little village, at once reveal
that this is not one's own dear native Scotland.

Mr. Mackay arrived in Formosa a short time after
myself. The Foreign Missions Committee of the Presby-
terian Church of Canada having given him liberty to fix
on some eligible field of labour in China, his attention
was turned to this Island, whilst sojourning with our
English Presbyterian missionaries at Swatow. A decision
in favour of North Formosa was made during his sub-
sequent stay at Takow, where full advantage was taken
of the opportunity for linguistic study, and becoming
acquainted with all practical details of the evangelistic,
pastoral, educational, and medical work carried on there.
It was a great joy to Mr. Ritchie and Dr. Dickson that
they were able to accompany him, and see him com-
4

5O SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

fort ably settled down in his chosen field of labour. It
was then also arranged that Brother Dzoe, one of our
Takow native preachers, should proceed to the North,
and thus enable Mr. Mackay at once to begin the work
of the Mission.

On the Sabbath after my arrival, we rowed eleven
miles up the river to the village of Gaw-khaw-khi, where
Mr. Mackay has a neat little chapel erected, and where
the Gospel is preached every Lord's day. At the time
of our visit, the prevailing feeling among the people seemed
to be one of mere curiosity, and I was sorry that even
the converts appeared to have such worldly notions
regarding our work and everything connected with it — a
mistake the Chinese easily fall into, but one which eats
like dry rot into our efforts to build up a fine spiritual
Church.

The following day we went to Bang-kah, a large town,
where Mr. Douglas of the Amoy Mission preached during
that memorable visit in 1860, a visit which led to the
commencement of stated Christian work in Formosa.
We tried repeatedly to have open-air meetings there,
but with very little success. The march of two red-haired
barbarians through the crowded streets seemed to awaken
a great amount of wonder and suspicion, and several of
the huge ill-favoured curs which abound in every Chinese
city kept barking after us as if their bodies would burst.
One more stand was made with the view of having a little
quiet talk on the truths of Christianity, but it was no
use, and we were simply hounded out of the place.

Walking a few miles further on we reached a consider-
able village beautifully situated on the banks of the
Tamsui River. We had been travelling for several
hours rather badly protected against the fierce rays of
this eastern sun, and felt faint and hungry ; so that
grateful feelings arose on our being directed to the house

FAR AFIELD NORTHWARD 51

of an influential Chinaman who came to a knowledge of
the Gospel during his residence on the mainland. He
certainly treated us that day with all the simplicity and
kindness of an earnest-hearted Christian. I believe that
A-chun is one of God's hidden ones. He lives a consistent
life before his heathen neighbours, and even his enemies
regard him with respect. We came afterwards to know
that he has supplied funds for helping one of the mainland
missionaries to bring out a Bible Dictionary in Chinese.
O, that God would speedily raise up hundreds and thou-
sands of men like this ! It must be largely through such
an instrumentality that the compacted mass of heathenism
around us will be broken up, and the kingdom of our
glorious Redeemer established in its place. Lord, speed
the day ! It is sure to come. The first glimpse of dawn
can now be seen, and the full reviving flood of glory
must soon flow in to dispel the gloom of poor benighted
China.

We had proceeded on our way for only a few miles
when another village, of five or six thousand inhabitants,
lay before us. A few stragglers passed, and then we were
surrounded by a good-natured crowd of persons who
began to criticize our dress, and to speculate on the
business we might have on hand. The greater number
seemed pleased to think that the outlandish-looking
individuals before them knew something of their language.
Some invited us to come and rest before going farther. As
it was a gorgeous evening, and the villagers had just
concluded the work and bustle of the day, we went
forward to an elevated piece of ground near a Buddhist
temple, where a large orderly crowd soon gathered.
Proceedings were commenced by singing one of our
beautiful Christian hymns, and then Mr. Mackay and
myself tried to make them understand something about
repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

52 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

The difficulties of such an undertaking are tremendous ;
so great, indeed, that one is thrown back on the guidance
and strength of Him in whose name we speak. When the
people do show anything like sustained attention, their
puzzled expression shows plainly that they have failed
to catch our meaning ; while any announcement of the
more distinctive truths of the Bible, such as the birth and
resurrection of our Lord, often leads them to ask what
proof we have for making statements of that kind.
Again and again have I noticed the look of disapprobation
on referring my hearers to the Book I held in my hand
as being the rule of life, and the fountain of all moral
and spiritual truth. Even on the present occasion, a
number of the people made no effort to conceal their
opinion that some of the things we said were both
incredible and of no practical value. Before leaving we
distributed a packet of leaflets, and one quiet, intelligent-
looking old man invited us to repeat our visit. As that
whole region is lying in deep spiritual darkness, there can
be no doubt that an outpost in Chiu-nih might prepare
the way for gaining an entrance into Bang-kah itself.

We returned to the Port on Tuesday, and were engaged
in study of the language till Saturday. I preached to the
European residents on Sunday morning, and to our
Chinese brethren in the afternoon. The latter have not
yet succeeded in securing proper chapel accommodation,
but premises have been rented, which may serve for a
time. A medical colleague is expected about the end of
the year, and on his arrival arrangements will doubtless
be made for the erection of suitable buildings. It is,
of course, still the day of small things at Tamsui — small,
however, not in the sense of remaining long in that con-
dition. The seed planted in good ground and properly
cared for soon springs up, and so will it be with this welcome
sister Mission in Formosa.

FAR AFIELD NORTHWARD 53

Mr. Mackay's third and only other place of worship is
in a village called Sin-kang, where Brother Dzoe is now
rendering good service. That village is not to be mistaken
for an old Dutch township of the same name in the county
of Taiwan. It stands at the head of a fertile valley
three days south of Tamsui and eighteen miles north from
Lai-sia. Its inhabitants are Sek-hwan, who came first
to know something of the Gospel through their fellow-
aborigines at our southern stations. They have just
completed the erection of a neat little chapel, and things
look as if the work would rapidly extend inland from this
promising centre.

Meanwhile, I was beginning to feel a little uneasy about
my long absence. Having had eight days' pleasant
intercourse with Mr. Mackay, and having seen the initial
stage of a most hopeful movement, I wished to be off and
into the midst of that work which was awaiting me at our
own stations in the Chiang-hoa county. He agreed to
accompany me as far as Sin-kang, and we made an early
start on the first Tuesday of April. Till about noon, our
way lay over a high table-land, where the richness of the
soil and the sparseness of the population were the more
noticeable features. A score of farmers from any country
district of Ireland or Scotland settled there would soon
bring the agricultural wealth of the place to light.

We halted for the night at Tiong-lek, a market-town
about twenty miles south from Gaw-khaw-khi, and only
some three or four from the western coastline. The
landlord of the inn gave us the use of what he called his
best bedroom, which turned out to be rather a poor affair,
with damp earthen floor, no glass in the windows, and not
by any means free from the usual entomological accompani-
ments. After resting, we came out and strolled to the
end of the main street, where a party of villagers met us
and listened so attentively to our remarks that we

54 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

returned with them to Tiong-lek, and preached to a
large crowd about the kingdom of God having come nigh
to them. Another good meeting was held in the back
hall of the inn, our landlord kindly providing seats for
any who wished to be present. The people of Tiong-lek
are Chinese from Fukien, with a very small sprinkling
of aborigines and Cantonese Hakkas. They certainly
treated us with much civility, and admitted both the
reasonableness and the importance of what we had been
saying.

The next day's journey brought us to spend the night
at Tek-cham, an important county town, and headquarters
of the Civil Government in North Formosa. Being a
Hien, or city of the sixth order, it is walled, and has a
small garrison. Some of its streets are very busy, and
lined with shops which have their goods displayed in
great variety and profusion. Except in the cloth-shops,
very few foreign articles could be seen. I was much
struck with the different kinds of fish and native fruits
which were exposed for sale. As Tek-cham is seldom
visited by Europeans, our presence created no small stir,
and quite a crowd followed us wherever we went. Several
times we did try to say something about there being
" one thing needful," but the curiosity and excitement
were so great that it was impossible to proceed. One's
heart could only yearn for those dear brethren of mankind.
I do feel for the bright laughing boys who always turn out
on such occasions. How long, O Lord ? O Church of
Christ, how long ?

On Thursday afternoon we reached Sin-kang, and had
the pleasure of meeting those who received us as the
humble messengers of peace and blessing to this people.
Service over in the evening, I gave them a short account
of our work at the southern stations. They seemed
greatly to relish this, and expressed their joy that many

FAR AFIELD NORTHWARD 55

besides themselves in Formosa were striving to be God's
witnesses for the truth.

We were early astir the following morning, and after
a hearty farewell to Mr. Mackay our own little company
set forward for the remaining part of the j ourney . Towards
mid-day we halted for slight refreshment at Ba-nih, a
busy market town with a Hakka population. Those
settlers from the Canton Province are an intelligent,
prosperous, and pushing race, and are found scattered
all over the western side of the Island. Their spoken
language differs very considerably from that used by the
other Chinese peoples of Formosa, and their women do
not conform to the stupid practice of binding the feet — a
seemingly unimportant matter, but one which exerts
a most deteriorating effect on the physical and social
condition of those who follow it.

About five o'clock in the afternoon, and while we were
toiling across the spur of a high mountain, our eyes were
gladdened with the first sight of Lai-sia. Away in the
distance we could see the stockaded village which contains
our chapel, and which — better still — contains not a few
earnest souls which have become temples of the Holy
Ghost. We knew the welcome that awaited us, and
walked no longer with toilsome lagging steps. So soon
as our approach became known small parties came out
to meet us, and very soon we were filled with joy at the
kindness and warmth of our reception.

It was with gratitude I learned that church matters
in Lai-sia were continuing to prosper. On their own
suggestion the converts had erected a house to be used
by the visiting missionary. There are three rooms in it,
and it is situated just within the village gate. The
native preacher has also been diligent, as nearly every
child from twelve years of age and upwards was able to
read and write. Sixteen candidates for baptism were

56 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

examined on this occasion, and of these six were received
into Church fellowship. I thought, too, that the time had
come for the members to choose three of their number
to act as office-bearers. Of course, the importance of the
step was fully explained to them. The choice they made
called forth my own warm approval, and every one was
pleased at the ordination of A-ta-oai and Bun-Hong to
the Eldership, and Ka-pau to the Deaconship of the
congregation.

There was no interruption to this feeling of encourage-
ment during my subsequent visit to Toa-sia. I found
that the chapel there had been enlarged to more than its
original size, and that other premises had been added,
which latter include a school-house, preacher's rooms,
and accommodation for ourselves. Moreover, all this
extension is due to the liberality and exertion of the
native brethren themselves. Nor were indications of
true spiritual progress wanting. I baptized six adults,
among them being a young man of much promise, with
the wife of the Thong-su or Sek-hwan civil officer who
resides there. This woman possesses a good intellectual
apprehension of saving truth, and her character is said to
have recently undergone a very marked change for the
better. I regret that the preacher now in charge is
himself rather defective in his knowledge of Scripture
facts and doctrines. He seems, however, to be sincere,
and God is evidently blessing his work.

I arrived in Po-li-sia on 23rd April with a party of
forty. We made a very early start from Toa-sia on the
22nd, and passed the night under some trees in the moun-
tain region east from Chiang-hoa. Soon after reaching
our Aw-gu-lan chapel, about dark the following day, a
large missionary meeting was held, at which I spoke of
God's work in the South, and at the stations of the
Canadian Mission in Tamsui. The brethren at Aw-gu-lan

FAR AFIELD NORTHWARD 57

have commenced the erection of what promises to be the
neatest place for Christian worship in the Island. A
special feature of it is that one of the little side galleries
is to serve as a sleeping-room and study on the occasion
of our own visits. The arrangement is a very important
one. While moving about over this wide field in all kinds
of weather, we sometimes require to spend the night in
dark filthy dens which cannot be wholesome. On such
occasions any discomfort arising from the presence of
lizards, cockroaches, mosquitoes, and even of the active
persistent little flea can easily be got over if one keeps
strong, and there is water at hand for having a good
bathe. So far as climate is concerned we have really
nothing to fear, and yet the missionaries are often laid
up with fever, while mercantile residents at Takow and
An-peng enjoy a fair amount of health. To put the whole
thing right it is only necessary that other brethren should
imitate the considerate action of our friends in Po-li-sia.
One upper room at each station would be an immense
advantage . We cannot afford to have invalids in Formosa .

The morning after my arrival I went over to Gu-khun-
soa, where the second of our Po-li-sia chapels has been
built. That village is situated at the base of the hills,
on the north-eastern side of the Plain. It is one of the
principal bartering places between Po-li-sia people and
the savages of the interior. The preacher gave me a
warm welcome, and at once called in six persons who
wished to receive baptism ; but, at the close of a very
prolonged examination, I could see my way to admit only
one of these. He is a young man of considerable intelli-
gence, and one who has made good use of his Chinese
New Testament. Our preacher spoke highly of the
sincerity of his profession, and said he was well fitted for
being useful.

Early on Friday morning I went on to the third of

J-sCLLl\ \.

58 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

our Po-li-sia chapels. It stands in the village of Toa-lam,
about three miles south from Gu-khun-soa. A large
company of candidates was awaiting me there, and I
immediately began the work of examination. As the
Bible knowledge of the majority appeared to be still at
a very rudimentary stage, and I had arranged to be at
Aw-gu-lan on the morrow, only the cases of the more
promising were considered, all connected with the congre-
gation being invited to assemble in the evening for worship
and further instruction. Before leaving I saw my way
to announce that three of the candidates would be
admitted.

On Saturday the Elders and myself had a very busy day
at Aw-gu-lan. After giving satisfactory profession of
their faith in Christ, no fewer than ten adults were passed
for baptism. Their acquaintance with Scripture was
quite above the average, and good evidence was given
that they were all persons who led consistent, blameless
lives. A meeting for special prayer was held in the
evening, at which we asked that God would graciously
forgive all the errors and imperfections of our work,
that the names of the brethren to be received might be
written in the Lamb's Book of Life, and that every soul
would be blessed at our services on the morrow.

The Sabbath morning gathering of the three congrega-
tions took place at Aw-gu-lan. As no house there could
have contained so large a company, several brethren were
engaged the night before in erecting a wooden platform
under the branches of a huge banyan tree. At least
four hundred persons met round it that morning. There
was something grand about the whole surroundings,
while the interest and attention of the people were every-
thing that could be desired. After the sermon the fourteen
whose examination had been sustained stood forward,
and again confessed the name of Christ before receiving

FAR AFIELD NORTHWARD 59

baptism. The scene was most impressive, making one
feel inclined to shout for joy at the mercy and loving-
kindness of our Lord.

Our Communion service was held in the afternoon at
Gu-khun-soa. There, the whole wooden front of the chapel
had been removed, and even with that the crowd extended
far into the outer court. What a motley gathering !
The Church members — quiet, and decently clad — were
seated immediately before the reading-desk ; behind
them were the adherents, or persons who come to worship
but have not yet received baptism, and farther on
there stood a large company of non-Christians, looking
on in silent and stupid amazement. Among the latter
I observed many Sek-hwan, a few Chinese who trade
in the Po-ii-sia villages, and little groups of powerful
fellows who were only very partially dressed, and armed
with knives and long spears. They were Bu-hwan and
Tsui-hwan savages out on bartering the produce of their
mountains for salt and powder. Everything considered,
the meeting was a very successful one. A few of the
Tsui-hwan understood Chinese, and may have carried
away good impressions. Two of them made signs of
friendly recognition to me at the close, which reminded
me that we had met on the occasion of my former visit.
The Church members themselves seemed to enjoy the
service. There was no idle staring about, but rather an
appearance of much thoughtful earnestness, especially
when the bread and wine were being passed from hand
to hand. The Chinese cash of the offertory amounted to
about two pounds sterling.

At this point I concluded the strictly pastoral part of
my duties, and was now free to engage in a little evange-
listic work among the non-Christian villages of Po-li-sia.
The native preacher heartily aided me in this work.
Our usual method was to go direct to the school of any

60 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

village we entered, and begin by having a friendly chat
with the teacher. Neighbours would then gather about
and show great willingness in listening to our message.
We also distributed tracts, and supplied persons suffering
from malaria with small doses of quinine. The people
everywhere treated us with civility and respect.

On returning to Aw-gu-lan one evening while thus
engaged, A- tun — a Sek-hwan bartering-man who under-
stands the language of the Bu-hwan — introduced a
party of aborigines who wished to see me. He said they
belonged to the Bu-hwan tribe, and had brought a
message from their chief, A-rek. I soon ascertained
that they wished me to accompany them to their village
of Tur-u-wan, in a remote part of the mountains east
from Po-li-sia. The chief was ill, they said, and it was
thought I might be able to help him. As the opportunity
seemed a good one for getting to know something of
those people, I readily consented, and we arranged that
I should start with them from Gu-khun-soa on the
morning of i2th May.

The half-dozen men who made up the deputation were
darker in colour than the Po-li-sia people. They belong
to a beardless race, and do not shave as the Chinese and
Sek-hwan do, their coarse black hair being simply thrown
back, tied close to the head, and either twisted into a
knot, or left hanging behind in a loose unplaited mass.
Their facial tattoo marks take the form of short bars
placed horizontally in a column down the middle part of
the forehead and lower jaw. I noticed, too, that the
lobes of their ears had been pierced, and the perforations
enlarged till they could receive pieces of half-inch reed,
which were used as ornaments. One tall fellow had a
necklace composed of human teeth. All of them were
sans culottes, and the very scanty clothing they did wear
left by far the greater part of the body exposed. Their

FAR AFIELD NORTHWARD 6l

weapons consisted of spear-heads fastened on bamboo
rods, and long slightly-curved knives, which were worn
in wooden scabbards. I was told that in return for skins,
deers' horns, and other such articles, Chinese barterers
supplied them with flint-lock guns to a limited extent.
They had never been visited by any European, and even
a native of Po-li-sia would not dare to enter their territory
without permission from some prominent member of
the tribe. Their language is rather musical, and has a
decidedly Malayan ring about it.

I was up before daybreak on Monday morning, and at
once crossed over to Gu-khun-soa, being accompanied by
my servant-boy (Peng Ong of Poah-be), a Chinaman who
carried a few presents for A-rek, and the interpreter,
A- tun. To my great delight I found that the Bu-hwan
had kept their appointment. They were waiting when
we arrived, and the Chief had sent his eldest son to escort
us. In an hour after, we entered a dark mountain pass
to the east of Gu-khun-soa. Those of us from Po-li-sia
travelled with bare feet on sandals of plaited straw, an
arrangement which is both cool and very convenient when
much water has to be crossed. The country through
which we passed was everywhere in its primeval condition,
and we had seven hours of laborious march through it
before halting to take food. It would be about an hour
before sunset when Tur-u-wan was pointed out to us up
from the brow of a steep hill. After fording the river
lower down we began the ascent, and soon met parties
from the village. At last we passed through the crowd
of wondering natives assembled outside, were conducted
to the largest of the huts, and in a few minutes more
stood before the one whose name has long been a terror
throughout this central region of Formosa.

A-rek was found to be suffering from fever, and in
rather a weak condition. I gave him a good dose of

62 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

quinine, and a little later he drank off some beef tea
prepared from Liebig's Extract. Both preparations had
to be tasted by myself before the Chief would put them to
his lips. There was little more done that evening. The
prospect outside was anything but inviting, as rain came
on, and the great lonely mountains got covered with mist.
Some thirty villagers gathered into the large apartment
where we met, who were a little shy at first, but more
communicative when my presents were brought out.
These consisted of needles, wooden combs, flints for
striking fire, half a yard of red flannel, some buttons,
and a piece of an old brass chain which had several keys
attached to it — this being thrown in because of the
interest it awakened among some of the younger people.
I satisfied myself that none of them had any notion of
the marketable value of gold as compared with brass ; so
that interest in the chain was not to be explained in that
way, but simply on account of its being a rare object, and
useful to them as an article for personal adornment.
Many of the remarks they made were translated into
Chinese by A-tun, and had more or less reference to myself.
Intellectually, they seem to be mere children. They use
their fingers in counting. For example, a large party
hunting for game or on the war-path would separate
into two companies, and arrange to meet by one hand
— that is, in five days. As we ate together that evening,
I was interested to hear some of the girls and lads playing
on a small instrument like a Jew's harp. The twanging
sound it gave was not unpleasant, but soon became
somewhat monotonous. On learning that they had a
collection of native songs, I wished to hear several, but
they seemed bashful to begin, and my invitation was not
responded to. I fear that my own efforts to tell them of
our great Heavenly Father, and of His love for sinful
men, did not amount to very much.

FAR AFIELD NORTHWARD 63

Next morning, on coming out to reconnoitre, my eye
caught sight of a row of human skulls and heads fastened
up at the end of the Chief's house. They were mostly
cloven in, and some of them were comparatively fresh,
and had a most ghastly look. The greater number
of the other houses or huts were similarly provided.
I counted thirty-nine in one collection, thirty-two in
another, twenty-one in a third, and so on. They were
the terrible outcome of clan-fights among the savages
themselves, and of many a fatal meeting with people
in the west. Those unsubdued tribes have been brought
to bay by the advance of civilization. Their hand is
against every man, and they consider nothing more
praiseworthy than to transfix any straggler who wears
a pig-tail. Not only the Chinese, but the Sek-hwan who
have submitted to Chinese rule, are made to supply the
demand for heads. One of the most active and intelligent
of our Church members informed me that not a year
passes without ten or fifteen cases of successful head-
hunting taking place in and around Po-li-sia. In some
years the number is very much larger. This degrading
practice appears to be carried on in much the same way,
and — mutatis mutandis — for the same general reasons, as
it is in Borneo. It has come to be so largely mixed up
with the beliefs and customs of the eastern tribes that,
apart from all quarrelling, heads must be brought in to
keep up the traditional stand against Chinese invasion to
show the continued possession of bravery, and to furnish
an occasion for excitement, for jubilation, and for the
consumption of jarfuls of native whisky.

On turning away from these sickening sights and
entering the large cabin again, I felt sad at heart on seeing
further evidences of this awful degradation. A number
of very suspicious-looking implements were lying about,
and there could be no mistake regarding the thick coils

64 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

of hair which dangled from one of the beams. They were
the queues of murdered Chinamen, and belonged to the
grinning heads I had just been looking at. I have
myself no doubt that many of the Bu-hwan are cannibals.
It is an ascertained fact that, in some cases, the heads
they carry off are boiled to prepare a jelly-like mass,
which is made up into little cakes and eaten in the belief
that, by doing so, they demonstrate the completeness of
their victory, and become nerved for further deeds of
bloodshed. One could not look upon this people without
a feeling of the deepest pity. They are in some respects
a fine race. All who know them say they are truthful,
chaste, and honest. Murder is the most frequent of their
heavy sins. They regard human life as being of little
value, and glory in hacking the bodies of those from
whom they have received any real or fancied wrong.
The men occupy themselves wholly in the chase, in making
raids upon hostile clans, and in the more congenial
excitement of hunting for the heads of their Chinese or
Sek-hwan neighbours. Their women tattoo their faces
all over in a way which imparts a positively hideous
appearance to the older people. They find occupation
in raising little crops of millet and sweet potatoes on
the hillsides, in weaving certain kinds of coarse cloth, and
in every sort of menial and household drudgery.

I made many attempts to convey some of the more
elementary religious truths to the minds of those poor
brethren, but with very little success. I dare say the
main obstacle was the difficulty of maintaining the interest
of our old opium-smoking interpreter. The heavy douceur
he received from A-rek had enabled him to lay in a good
supply of the flowing poison, and in any case he could
see no earthly use in repeating the sentences I was always
asking him to translate. Poor old heathen ! When I
did employ the language of appeal, he immediately became

FAR AFIELD NORTHWARD 65

very maudlin between his whiffs, and spoke in a way which
reminded one of the process of driving nails into rotten
wood. As for the savages it was hardly possible they
could catch my meaning, their confusion being only
increased when writing-materials were brought out, and
I commenced to make a few jottings in their presence.
They were afraid that something was now being prepared
to harm them, and after an unsuccessful attempt at
explanation they still seemed frightened, and the note-
book had to be put away.

I had not before heard of a rather curious custom which
is observed by those Bu-hwan. When anyone dies, his
friends do not convey the body to the outside of the
village for burial. The log fire, which always keeps
smouldering at one end of the apartment, is immediately
cleared away, and a deep hole is dug into which the body
is placed in a sitting posture. Pipes and tobacco, with
other articles used by the deceased while living, are placed
beside the body ; some simple ceremony of mourning is
gone through, a couple, of the nearest relatives fill up the
grave, and then everything goes on as usual.

They commence the erection of their houses or cabins
by digging a large square pit about four feet deep. The
earth, forming the floor of this pit, is afterwards firmly
beaten down, and the sides built up with large stones.
The walls are then carried three feet higher than the
ground, a bamboo framework or roofing is constructed
overhead so as to form eaves about two feet broad on
either side, and above this thin slates are placed to com-
plete the structure.

The Chief and two or three others, who received benefit
from my medicines, were remarkably friendly on the
second morning after my arrival. Their fevers had left
them, and they were feeling comparatively fresh and
vigorous. They proposed to show me their wells, which
5

66 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

A-tun said was a remarkable sign of confidence in me. I
was told that one of these wells was under an evil influence,
and had caused numerous deaths in the village. The
people had been in the practice of firing into it in the
evenings, so that the bullets from their long guns might
dislodge the enemy. The well in question was a beautiful
running spring, with a practically unlimited supply of
the coolest, freshest water I ever tasted. I drank some
of it in presence of the natives, and told them to have no
fear but begin again to use this water. The low, wretched
charnel-houses in which they live when indoors made it a
puzzle to me how many sturdy fellows came to be there.

The scenery round about Tur-u-wan is very grand and
somewhat suggestive of Glencoe, only on a much larger
scale. All the country within view, and for a long day's
walk eastward, is inhabited by aborigines who speak the
same language as A-rek's people. Westward it is more
level, and occupied by a Chinese-speaking population.

In former years A-rek's word was law to the mountain
people for miles in every direction, and thirteen villages
still acknowledge his sway. I visited seven of these,
meeting with many persons who were suffering from
fever, to whom quinine was supplied ; and several who
had very severe spear-wounds, for whom I could not do
anything, except resorting to an application of tepid
water and ground-nut oil. While thus travelling about
I met another Chief, whose territory lies about five miles
south from Tur-u-wan, who rules over thirty villages.
His name is A-ui-a-tan, and we may hear of him again
as our work advances. I presented him with a few
needles of English make, with which he was very much
pleased. He only knew the miserable bits of wire
supplied by the Chinese barterers.

I started from Po-li-sia early on Wednesday morning.
A great many people from the neighbouring villages came

FAR AFIELD NORTHWARD 67

to have a parting look. There seemed to be a friendly
expression on every face. Through A-tun, A-rek asked
me when I would return, and almost forced me to accept
a small present of native cloth which his wife had prepared.
The entire journey was one of unusual difficulty. I think
I never witnessed such rain ; while the fearful crashes
of thunder, with prolonged bellowing and rumbling
among the mountains, were something judgment-like,
and gave me a peculiar feeling of headache. It was late
before we reached Gu-khun-soa, in a very bedraggled
condition.

I look back with much gratitude on this pioneer visit
to the region east from Po-li-sia. Not that it suggests
the duty of making any immediate effort for carrying
the Gospel to this Bu-hwan tribe ; because, apart from
attempting any aggressive movement among the swarming
Chinese at our very doors on the western side of the Island,
an immense amount of work has yet to be overtaken at
our present thirteen widely-scattered stations. Many of
the Church members, some of our preachers even, are
deplorably ignorant ; while the trained labourers are few,
and myself the only pastor over a region which, at home,
would have several bishoprics, and a whole battalion of
Christian workers. This visit, therefore, was merely a
visit, but one which added greatly to our information,
and enabled us to scatter some seeds of kindness upon a
very needy, if uncongenial, soil.

I left Po-li-sia early on the morning of i6th May.
There was some little difficulty in inducing a party to
accompany me by the seldom-travelled road I arranged
to come out by. I had heard so often about the Tsui-
hwan or water savages, and their lake, that the present
seemed as favourable an opportunity as I could get for
visiting that part of the country. We accordingly came
out from Po-li-sia across the southern range of mountains,

68 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

and reached the settlements of the Tsui-hwan on the
evening of the day we set out, there to feast our eyes by
gazing on the only good-sized lake in Formosa. It is
doubtless the one referred to in Consul Swinhoe's Notes,
and as the present was the first European visit to it, my
inclination to find a name for this beautiful expanse of
calm, sweet, life-giving water could not suggest one more
suitable than that of Candidius. He was the pioneer
Dutch missionary to Formosa during the first half of the
seventeenth century, and we still know enough about
him to desire that he should be held in respectful and loving
remembrance. Like, then, the waters of Lake Candidius,
may that pure Gospel he preached yet become a source
of much blessing to the people of this lovely region !

The Tsui-hwan do not form a very large tribe. They
are not found in any other part of the Island. Their
four villages are called Tsui-sia, Wa-lan, Pak-khut and
Thau-sia. A great part of their time is taken up in
fishing. I saw their long canoes on the lake. Each one
is formed by hollowing out the trunk of a large tree, and
is propelled by means of short, leaf -like paddles. I
remained with this singular people for about a week, and
every evening tried to tell Bible stories to the crowd
which gathered round the huge camp-fire. They were
very quiet during our short prayers. Only a few of them
knew sufficient Chinese to understand what was said, and
continual request was made for them to act the part of
interpreters. They all seemed to me to be rather an
indolent lot.

During my stay in this region I made a hard attempt
to visit another aboriginal tribe, the Kan-ta-ban, living on
the mountain ranges east of the lake. Accompanied
only by a strong young Tsui-hwan, I started one morning
in the hope of reaching the nearest of their villages before
dark, but my guide made some mistake about the direction

To face page 68.

FAR AFIELD NORTHWARD 69

to take, and it became evident that our walk could not
be continued without food, and some little provision for
sleeping out by the way. The point from which we beat
a retreat was far up a hillside, where there was no possi-
bility of getting over the abysmally deep chasm before
us except by crawling over a tree which had fallen across.
On my return journey to the South, our stations at
Peh-tsui-khe and Hwan-a-chan were visited, Taiwan-fu
being reached on I7th May. I had been away for nearly
three months; and, besides innumerable opportunities
for preaching and speaking to all sorts of people, had dis-
tributed about two thousand Christian books and tracts,
the greater number of them having been purchased at their
full value. Had we only a large band of fully qualified
preachers and teachers, I think that a secure foundation
for our work could be found in every part of the Island.
We must at once set about the training of young men
connected with the Church. At a number of our stations
the people are doing their part very well indeed, and we
must do ours by supplying them with ample opportunity
for becoming earnest and useful Christians.

TROUBLE FROM JAPAN IN 1874

IN 1872, an open boat was cast upon the southern coast
of Formosa, and its Japanese subjects from the Miyako
Islands cruelly murdered by the Baw-tan savages. On a
claim for compensation being presented to the Chinese
Government, the reply was made that those savages on
the east coast of Formosa were not subjects of the Empire,
whereupon Japan took the matter into her own hands.
A large military expedition was landed at Long-kiau, and
very soon that southern part of Formosa became a base
of operations for proceeding further inland. Of course
this action caused any amount of dissatisfaction at
Peking. Strong representations were made against what
was called " invading the territory of a friendly Power/'
Control over the whole island was now insisted upon, and
it was claimed that China alone had the right of dealing
with these aboriginal tribes. To all this, however, the
Japanese gave very little heed. Military law was pro-
claimed over the greater part of South Cape, the position
of the new-comers became more and more strengthened,
and there was not the slightest appearance of withdrawal,
even after the savages had been severely punished.

As diplomatic resources had failed to bring about a
settlement, the Chinese at length bestirred themselves to
prepare for the worst. An Imperial Commissioner named
Sim Po-seng came from Peking to take charge of the

TROUBLE FROM JAPAN IN 1874 71

operations in Formosa, in which duty he was ably
seconded by M. Giquel, of the Fuh-chau Arsenal. The
action they took clearly assumed that the Japanese might
advance northward, for mud forts were erected at a great
many points along the western seaboard, and the garrisons
were increased at every important centre from Tamsui to
Pi-thau. Great pains were taken to put Taiwan-fu into
as good a condition of defence as the circumstances would
permit. An extensive fort was raised a little to the north-
west of it, gangs of workmen were kept busy in repairing
the walls, soldiers were everywhere to be met with, and the
strongly guarded city gates were all but closed for a time.
There were then only three Europeans who had their
residences in Taiwan-fu, the British Consul, my medical
colleague, and myself ; and, at this juncture, a little inci-
dent occurred which might have had very serious conse-
quences. One evening, about dark, three Japanese
officers arrived with despatches from General Saigo at
Long-kiau, and having instructions that they were to
await a reply to them from the Imperial Commissioner.
The officers were accommodated that night in an out-house
of the Consulate, but next morning were told that they
could not remain there because Japan was practically
at war with China, a country which was on friendly terms
with Great Britain. The result was that hospitality was
provided for them at the Mission House, where they
remained, waiting for about three days. Of course this
action placed us in a very unfavourable light before the
population of Taiwan-fu ; but, happily, no trouble arose out
of it, and General Saigo made handsome acknowledgement
to the two missionaries for the kindness shown to his officers.
It will be obvious that all these events could not fail
to have a rather unsettling effect on the progress of our
work. I had good opportunity for seeing this while
travelling from Tamsui to Taiwan-fu about three months

72 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

ago. During the nine days I was on the way one could
hear no end of remarks about the Japanese ; and, at
several of our stations, there had been a large increase of
the audiences on Sunday by persons who thought that
admission to the Church might afford some kind of
protection in view of the coming struggle.

Ka-gi city is the place which has come more pro-
minently before our notice in connection with this war
scare. The region after which this city takes its name
occupies the middle-western part of the Island, and
forms the largest and most populous of the Formosan
counties. We require to travel right through it while
visiting the Sek-hwan stations, and although there is an
encouraging work going on among the Pi-po-hwan of
Ka-gi county, our great desire was to begin stated
preaching work in some purely Chinese community there.
No spot seems so inviting as the county city itself. It is
central, and contains many thousands who have never
heard the Gospel ; while Christian work carried on at that
centre, in the very presence of the higher officials, as it
were, would greatly help in overcoming the opposition we
meet with in other parts of the county.

Indeed, so much did we feel the necessity of pushing
in this direction that, months before the landing of the
Japanese expedition, one of our assistants was sent to
Ka-gi with instructions to take up his residence in a
roadside inn of the place, and see what opportunities
there might be for purchasing or renting premises in which
to begin regular work. Brother Pa did good service
at that time, and met with no serious difficulty in having
open-air meetings, and in selling a large stock of Gospel
pamphlets and tracts. Soon, however, the people
became alarmed about rumours of war, and Church
members were accused of going about collecting infor-
mation that might enable a hostile force to destroy

TROUBLE FROM JAPAN IN 1874 73

Chinese rule in the Island, and bring it once more under
the dominion of foreigners. Thus ended the first of our
attempts to gain an entrance into the city of Ka-gi.

Our next venture promises to be more successful, and
has been made possible at a much earlier date than we
could have anticipated. It is still but a few weeks since
an immeasurable feeling of relief was experienced when
news arrived that war was averted, and that so great a
blessing had been brought about very largely, if not
altogether, through the services of the British Minister at
Peking, Mr. Wade. We obtained some of the good
results of this almost at once. Highly-placed Chinamen
became markedly respectful, and all sorts of questions
were asked about the nation whose Representative
could wield such an influence. Our preachers, too,
were in great demand, and found it impossible to supply
all the information that was applied for. No one seemed
to have any difficulty in understanding the position, and
many millions of crackers would certainly be let off had
Mr. Wade himself put in an appearance.

I tried to give matters a somewhat practical turn for
ourselves by sending two of our young men to see what
could be done towards obtaining a foothold in Ka-gi City.
They have been absent for about ten days, and their
first report now lies before me. The people everywhere
were most friendly, and every facility is being given for
the prosecution of their work. I have arranged to meet
them at the South Gate on Tuesday first ; when, in all
probability, arrangements will be made for taking up our
permanent abode among the spiritually destitute
thousands of this heathen city. We regard the step as
being a very important one for the progress of our work in
Formosa, and our constant prayer is that we may be guided
aright, and that a double portion of the Spirit may rest
on the native preacher who will be appointed to this post.

VII

INCIDENTS IN KA-GI CITY

SEVERAL days after the events recorded in the preceding
chapter took place, I accompanied a small party of
native friends to Ka-gi, but only to witness the fickleness
of the Chinese, and that some interested parties thought
it would be too high a price to pay for British help in
settling the Chino- Japanese trouble by allowing us to
establish a foreign church in their famous old inland city.
It was about dark when we entered the South Gate that
evening, and there a number of mischief-loving boys did
us no good by commencing to bawl out that a red-haired
barbarian had arrived ; with the result that none of the
inn-keepers in that quarter would give us accommodation
for the night. Nor were matters much improved when
a number of these ragamuffins accompanied us to the
northern suburb. It was at the furthest -off establishment
I made a final effort to obtain shelter. Here too, how-
ever, the landlord attempted to close his door, but could
not do so, for the simple reason that my walking-stick
had been quickly thrust in to keep it open. I said to him
I was sure a decent, sensible man like himself would be
considerate, that he would never leave us to sleep in the
street ; and that, if the Yamen-rurmers called him to
account, I would exert myself and see that he was not
put to any inconvenience. He thereupon invited our
party to enter, and provided quarters for us in a back
court having only one dilapidated room in the corner,
away from all the other guests.

INCIDENTS IN KA-GI CITY 75

Next morning, I sent two of my companions to make
enquiry about our prospects, but they returned in the
afternoon to report that things were not at all promising,
as a number of shopkeepers who traded in articles used
for idolatrous worship had already engaged the Town-
crier to go round and announce that anyone who rented,
leased, or sold premises to the " Jesus-Church " would
be seized and buried alive ! On this account, we thought
it best to keep quiet, and fill up the time with prayer
and a little Bible study.

The next development showed that so widespread an
advertisement of our intention had been given by the
town-crier as to speedily furnish us with another illus-
tration of the way in which impecuniosity and good
clean Mexican dollars prove a wonderful solvent for
many troubles which arise among the Chinese ; because
we were agreeably surprised on the evening of the fourth
day, when a man came cautiously to inform us that he
was willing to sell us his house, if the purchase-money
could be handed over at once. When it was quite dark,
and people seemed all to have gone indoors for the night, I
accompanied this friend to have a look at his house. It
was found to consist of three mere lean-to rooms built
against a wall of one of the Temples. They were only
eight feet deep, and each of them about twelve feet in
width, while the very narrow railed-in space running
along the whole frontage had been used for cooking,
drying clothes, and sitting in during the cool of the
evening. The inclusive sum asked for everything as it
stood was a little under fifteen pounds sterling. I closed
negotiations at this stage by handing over a few dollars
as earnest-money, and telling our friend to call on me
next morning to sign a little deed of purchase, and receive
the price agreed upon. There was no trouble on our
taking possession, or even when we began to speak to all

76 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

who came about sin, and how salvation could be obtained
through repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Many an interesting and profitable meeting we had in
that modest establishment, even although it was some-
times unbearably hot from the heated tiles of the low
ceiling, and owing to there being no through draught of
air. However, weary months of waiting, and numerous
vain enquiries for more suitable accommodation brought
relief at last from a very unexpected quarter.

One night, several men who were known by name to
the Ka-gi town-crier, visited me to say that there was a
nice large house with out-rooms I could have for Church
purposes at a reasonable price ; whereupon I lost no
time in going with them to make inspection. After some
weeks' delay and overcoming a number of initial diffi-
culties, we at length became legal owners of this property,
but it was long before I learned the entire history of the
case ; that the house was believed to be a haunted one,
that deaths had occurred in one family of occupants
after another until everybody shunned it, and that the
neighbours were constantly alarmed at midnight on
hearing loud screams, and the rattling of iron chains
being dragged from one room to another. Why, our
bread is already baked for us, so to speak, said those
citizens of the baser sort. Could there be any more
effective way of stamping out Christianity from Ka-gi
than by getting its followers boxed up into this haunted
house in order that the demons might exterminate
them ? And we did obtain undisputed possession of the
house without meeting any such dreaded opposition.
On the contrary, we believe it will be said when the
Lord comes to count up His people, that this man and
that man was born there.

On looking over some of my later Notes, I see references
made to various other superstitious practices of the

INCIDENTS IN KA-GI CITY 77

people in Ka-gi. One instance came under my notice
while I was visiting our little Christian community
there. The region all round was then being scourged by
a severe outbreak of plague, and it was painful to see
how many of the attempts made to bring relief were
really worse than useless. The people were thus forced
to think that some unusual step must be taken ; and,
accordingly, arrangements were made to bring a holy
man over from the Mainland (a Buddhist, in fact), who
undertook to ascend a ladder of knives with bare feet
and thus gain an amount of merit that would save the
people from destruction. Early that morning when the
exhibition was to take place I was out among the crowds
which had gathered [from far and near, and at one point
attempted to preach, but had to desist on a number of
roughs commencing to jostle about, one active young
fellow using some sort of a flail which bashed the sun-hat
I was wearing well down over my nose.

There was not much delay before two very long ladders
were brought out and set up in Inner-ward Square, the
lower ends being placed about twenty feet apart, and the
two upper ends fastened with ropes round a little plat-
form of wood. The steps were indeed formed by long
knives, having the conspicuously blunt edges placed
uppermost but in a somewhat slanting position. The
Priest in gorgeous robes then slowly advanced, put off
his outer garments, and began his ascent with great
deliberation. He paused from time to time, and gave
rather overdone signs of undergoing a tremendous
strain, but seemed soothed on witnessing the exertions
of those beneath him, who kept pounding on the drums,
gongs, and cymbals they had in readiness. When the
summit was reached, he rained down handfuls of little
pieces of red paper, having charms written in Chinese
characters. There was a mighty scramble to pick these

78 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

up, the idea being that, if carried on the person, they
would afford protection against all kinds of mental and
bodily distress.

After giving this tawdry exhibition of himself, and
without uttering a word of comfort or advice, he quickly
descended by the other ladder, reached the ground in
what seemed a semi-fainting condition, and was led away
to obtain what one of the by-standers laughingly described
as " a good supply of reviving medicine." According
to the testimony of a friend who knew all the facts, it may
be added that, before coming out, His Reverence took
the precaution of having several plies of strong bank-
note paper pasted on the soles of his feet, and that he
netted fully one hundred and fifty dollars from his per-
formance.

On another occasion while visiting Ka-gi, I saw an
observance I had often heard about, but one which
showed that not only ignorant country people, but even
educated gentlemen of position in China, sometimes
resort to practices which are very puerile and super-
stitious. I refer to what took place when an eclipse of the
moon was seen in Ka-gi. No doubt every reader of these
Notes is aware that an eclipse, or temporary darkening
of the sun or moon, occurs in keeping with laws which
govern the movements of the heavenly bodies. Scientific
men know all about eclipses, and can even tell when they
are coming ; but the Chinese are in a different position,
for they do not know how they are caused or when they
are coming. Indeed, they are very much afraid of
eclipses, thinking them to be sure signs of some kind of
awful calamity which is about to take place. Their
belief seems to be that an eclipse of the sun or moon is
caused by a huge dragon or dog attempting destruction
on a large scale, and that various means must be taken
to frighten the monster away, so as to prevent the orb

INCIDENTS IN KA-GI CITY 79

from being eaten up. Even Imperial commands used to
be issued instructing magistrates throughout the Empire
to superintend certain noisy observances when eclipses
took place, and it was while I happened to be in Ka-gi
that word arrived about the approaching one, and thus
gave me an opportunity of witnessing this strange per-
formance. It was the moon which was to be eclipsed
then ; and, on the night in question, His Honour the
Prefect, with his subordinates, came up to a verandah in
view of an immense concourse of people. He stood
behind a table, lighted a few incense-sticks before com-
mencing to make prolonged obeisance to the moon ; but,
when that luminary began to get obscured, his actions
increased in vigour ; while the crowd below kept beating
drums, gongs, and cymbals, letting off crackers, and
howling as if everyone was out of his mind. Of course,
no self-respecting dog or dragon could put up with any
racket of this kind ; so that it was not long before the
quiet, clean face of the moon again shone over Ka-gi, and
sent its citizens away to their feasting and congratulations
till the next eclipse came along.

It was on a later occasion I arrived in Ka-gi to find the
people engaged in their absurd periodic custom of stone-
throwing. This practice began about thirty years ago,
and was then confined to boys of the South Gate pelting
those of the West with certain kinds of coarse ripe fruit
and other harmless missiles. Disputes having arisen,
many adults came to the rescue, but only to make matters
worse by quarrelling and fighting among themselves,
till, like some contagion, the desire to see what was going
on, and even to take part in the fray, spread among
thousands of the people, who came pouring out from the
two gates and crowding upon that part of the city wall,
beyond which the boys had been amusing themselves.
Some of them had come to stand by their friends in the

80 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

hour of supposed danger, but were not a little disgusted
to learn that the reports of the disturbance had been
grossly exaggerated ; others were ready to engage in a
little clan-fighting on their own account, and a few were
no doubt moved by the hope of enriching themselves
should any opportunity for purloining or plunder turn up.
I understand it was then, while the crowd was beginning
to disperse, that the Westerners — mostly in boisterous
fun — commenced to throw stones at their retiring com-
patriots of the Southern Gate, who returned the attack
with much spirit, and firmly stood their ground, till
darkness and the closing of the city gates compelled them
to leave off.

Next morning, large heaps of stones and broken tiles
were made, challenges were sent from one party to the
other, crowds of people again assembled outside the city,
and that same afternoon the stone-throwing was resumed
with more system, and on a much grander scale than that
of the previous day. There were wide districts within
the walls where business was quite suspended, and the
shops closed. The authorities had apparently no means
for checking the disorder, and contented themselves by
issuing proclamations, announcing that no redress would
be given to persons who might be sufferers in whatever
way from these proceedings ; but the only result of this
was that, for several days, hundreds on hundreds of the
people continued to stone each other to their hearts'
content. Many of them were severely wounded, and a
number of deaths took place ; but the curious part of the
matter was the spirit of good-natured rivalry which
prevailed among the people of both sides, so much so
that persons from the winning side were often seen
running over to assist the losing party, thus keeping up
the conflict, and throwing that dash of hilarity and excite-
ment into the affair which may have explained the in-

INCIDENTS IN KA-GA CITY 8l

difference of the higher officials at Taiwan-fu when they
were made aware of what was taking place.

On its anniversary in every succeeding year, the stone-
throwing has been renewed by hundreds of people, many
of whom seriously regard the practice as being most useful
in clearing the air of evil influences, which would keep
lurking about, and ultimately break forth in any amount
of injury to life and property. During the quiet Sabbath
of my visit at that time, I heard the loud shouting of the
crowd beyond the city walls, and the tumult caused by
large companies of Yamen-police issuing from the two
gates to put forth weak efforts at apprehending the ring-
leaders. A friend told me the prisons were filled with
men and lads who had been taken into custody for
stone-throwing, but that the county magistrate was
afraid to punish them severely ; while his prisoners, so
far from being filled with regret or fear for what had been
done, appeared to regard themselves as being martyrs in
the best of causes.

Something of greater interest than any such practices
is the fact that the Gospel of the Lord Jesus has now
commenced to shine in the thick darkness of this inland
city. All who attend the chapel have quite broken with
their former superstitions, take much pleasure in listening
to the doctrine, and have shown a commendable amount
of forbearance when exposed to petty annoyance on
account of their profession. There is good reason to
believe that several have really come under the influence
of the Truth as it is in Jesus.

We are exceedingly hopeful about the Ka-gi work.
As nearly all our stations were in remote little aboriginal
villages, the officials and people began to get suspicious
of our movements in always passing through crowded
Chinese centres to the regions beyond. Extension could

not have taken place in a more desirable quarter. Both
6

82 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

from position and the number of its inhabitants, Ka-gi
naturally ranks as one of the most important counties of
Formosa. I have visited a great many of its towns and
villages, and can truly say that there, if anywhere, we
have a grand opportunity. It is while travelling over it
in every direction that one comes to see the immense
value of that healing work which has been carried on by
Dr. Dickson. More than once have I spoken to willing
listeners because of some one who had come under skilful
kindly treatment in the hospital at Taiwan-fu. While
recently addressing a large open-air audience in the
district city itself, a man came forward and warmly
invited me to dine with him. On inquiry, it turned out
that he had formerly been stone-blind, but had been
completely restored to sight by a simple operation at
the hospital. Now, here was a man who would speak
well of us, at all hazard ; and who, as a matter of fact,
came home to his friends to tell them how great things
the Lord had done for him.

In looking over some of my more recent Notes, it seems
impossible to make the foregoing references to Ka-gi
without adding a few words about that dreadful earth-
quake which devastated the region in March 1906. I was
there soon after, and had a profound feeling of sadness
on seeing whole streets covered with fallen beams and
other debris ; on seeing, too, so many traces of the awful
suffering on every side. Within Ka-gi city, and a limited
area around, 1,216 persons were suddenly thrust out into
the eternal world. Not fewer than 2,306 persons were
seriously injured, and 13,259 houses were laid low. The
great mysterious Power then tore the earth into deep,
open chasms in several places. Many of the narrow
escapes and calamities were very affecting ; particularly
that of our blind evangelist Toa-un, who ran out of doors
with his wife as the shaking began. The demented

INCIDENTS IN KA-GI CITY 83

mother, however, could not bear the thought of her two
helpless young children being left behind, and she darted
in to rescue them, when my poor blind pupil became
childless and a widower in an instant of time. No sooner
had the Governor-General at Tai-pak received telegraphic
information of the magnitude of the calamity, than
instructions were issued for a large company of surgeons,
nurses, and assistants to proceed at once to Ka-gi. Wide
hospital-sheds were erected without delay, and the work
of relief was carried on with a rare amount of self-denial
and promptitude. Even already, the city has lost
much of its most desolate appearance, and the projected
improvements give promise that it will have a more
attractive look than ever.

VIII

CONFIRMING THE CHURCHES

I SHALL here note down a few encouraging things I met
with during my recent visit to the region north from
Taiwan-fu. Our congregations there seem to be making
progress in the spiritual life, and individuals I repeatedly
met with were evidently speaking and acting under the
powers of the world to come. Several of the native
brethren accompanied me, and we set out to spend the
first Sunday at our station in Hwan-a-chan, an aboriginal
village about sixteen miles north from our headquarters,
and where stated Christian work began about two years
ago. It lies in a rather sparsely-populated region, but
one passes through a few towns where good opportunities
for wayside preaching can always be had.

We reached Hwan-a-chan on Saturday afternoon, to
have a pleasant meeting with the brethren that evening ;
and, on the following day, I conducted all the services,
our native assistant having gone to preach to a little
colony of worshippers which has sprung up in the village
of Thau-sia, fully three miles from Hwan-a-chan, in the
direction of Poah-be. At present, the regular hearers
in Hwan-a-chan number about thirty. They are a very
poor people ; more dull, perhaps, than their fellow-
Christians at some of the other stations, and a good deal
looked down upon by their crafty and more prosperous
Chinese neighbours. Thus it is, however, that God
sometimes passes by the self-sufficient to make the poor

To face page 84.

CONFIRMING THE CHURCHES 85

of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom He
hath promised to them that love Him.

A considerable part of my time on the Sabbath was
occupied in examining six persons who wished to receive
baptism. After much careful inquiry, I thought that two
of them might be admitted. On account of some little
irregularity in their family relations, young Tsai and his
wife were advised not to come forward at this time.
It was with some difficulty I could bring myself to offer
this advice. They have both manifested a very teachable
and obedient spirit, and will soon be able to read the New
Testament in Roman letters. They blundered a good deal
in answering my questions, but the agitation of the
moment was sufficient to account for that. I love to
think of them as being subjects of the Spirit's gracious
teaching, and firmly hope that, in due time, they may be
upheld to witness a good confession.

Hau-eng was one of the two passed for baptism, and is
a married man of about thirty years of age. He reads
well, and has done much to keep together and increase
the little band of worshippers in this place. Our assistants
bore testimony to his humble, loving spirit, and consistent
life ; so that Dr. Dickson and myself agreed that he should
be received.

Teng-ho is the other brother we rejoiced over that quiet
Sabbath afternoon. Ok-kau, or Wicked Dog, is the name
by which he was formerly known, and it conveys a true
description of the character he bore. He can refer to no
particular day when the great change passed upon him.
At first it was mere curiosity that brought him to attend
the services, but the kindly treatment and unselfishness
of the brethren at once arrested his attention. They did
not shun him as one who had become hopelessly poor,
and sinful, and miserable. The Gospel — the like of
which he had never listened to before — he could not

86 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

understand for a time. He was always confusing things ;
and, like many others placed far more favourably, would
often return from worship with a heart entirely unrespon-
sive to the Truth. But he held on thinking that, at the
very least, it was pleasant to be hearing about One who
was able and willing to help poor sinners like himself.
He even commenced to pray in secret, although there his
difficulties only seemed to increase. How could one pray
if there were no tangible object before him to listen to his
prayers ? Teng-ho thinks it was then, when he began
to confess sin, and ask God, for Jesus' sake, to make him
a better and a happier man, that the Holy Spirit led him
to forsake many of his evil practices, and truly to desire
that he might become an earnest follower of Jesus Christ.
He says he has still many spiritual enemies to contend
against, but that he tries daily to lean upon Him who has
promised to save to the uttermost.

Surely all this is the doing of the Lord, and may well
give rise to feelings of gratitude and holy joy. O that God
would bestow much of His Spirit on the feeble instru-
mentality made use of for the accomplishment of His
work ! I feel more and more the need of a holy, wise, and
loving Christ-like life whilst labouring amongst this poor
people. Much of what we say fails to interest them or
call forth any response, but this they can understand and
appreciate.

From Hwan-a-chan we crossed to Thau-sia, and met
with an agreeable surprise on finding that no fewer than
ten families there were meeting statedly for Christian
worship. The village is easily reached from our station
at Poah-be. It is surrounded by lofty trees, the grateful
shade of which is such a luxury in Formosa. Our first
sight of it, from the summit of a low range of hills, which
shuts in the view from the north and west, reminded me of
the quiet and comfortable little hamlets of Po-li-sia ;

CONFIRMING THE CHURCHES 87

far away from the din and bustle of the outer world, and
just an ideal spot for training any people into the fear and
service of our God. The present movement commenced
through the influence of Eng-sun, a small farmer and rather
well-to-do man, who had attended our services at Hwan-a-
chan almost from the time that place was added to our
list of stations. His house stands about a mile from the
village, and a lovely little plot of ground there belongs
to him, which he has promised to hand over as a site when
the brethren are able to commence the erection of a chapel.
On the evening of this visit, about fifty persons came
together and listened to a long, homely address on the
parable of the Prodigal Son. I arranged that, meanwhile,
the native preacher should remain with them. They
might have continued their attendance at Hwan-a-
chan, but unfriendly neighbours kept pilfering from the
brethren's houses when the inmates were away, while
stated work at Thau-sia would add almost nothing to
our walking, but rather provide a pleasant resting-place
between Poah-be and Peh-tsui-khe ; Hwan-a-chan coming
in conveniently while coming south again from this latter
place to Taiwan-fu.

Our party started from Thau-sia on Tuesday morning,
and reached Peh-tsui-khe the same evening. The road
lies through four market-towns, in each of which we had
good open-air meetings. Our longest halt was made at
Tiam-a-khan, where we saw the residence of Gaw-chi-ko,
a wealthy half-mandarin and half-robber chief, who has
attained his present position of power through personal
force of character, and numerous acts of spoliation by his
retainers among the villages and farm-steadings of this
region. He is said to have about two hundred armed men
continually within call. The Authorities appear to wink
at his on-goings, because of occasional large money presents
he sends to Taiwan-fu, and because of the inadequate

88 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

resources they have for calling so powerful an offender to
account.

I spent four days at Peh-tsui-khe, and was much pleased
to receive a good report of the congregation. Six months
ago, it was with difficulty we could muster an attendance
of thirty, but now the regular Sabbath attendances range
from eighty to over a hundred. At that time, too, the
Thong-su, or Pe-po-hwan civil officer and his attendants,
seemed to spend the greater part of their time in devising
schemes for the annoyance and oppression of our poor
brethren ; whereas they are at present friendly, having
destroyed their idols, become punctual in their attendance
at Divine worship, and given every reasonable evidence
of being sincere in their profession of repentance.

The greater number of those who have joined us recently
come from a small village named Giam-cheng, beautifully
situated among a range of low-lying hills near Pillow
Mountain. In all there may be about twenty households
in that company, one man and his son having attended
the services almost from the time of our first visit to Peh-
tsui-khe. For two years no others could be induced to
come, fear of Thong-su prevailing over other considerations
in keeping them back. This proved a very severe testing-
time to Brother Li and his son, who now no longer require
to take turn in going solitarily to worship, and have their
minds disturbed about what fresh trouble may be awaiting
their return. From the Giam-cheng neighbourhood alone
there has been an accession of between forty and fifty
persons to our congregation . Probably with the exception
of Po-li-sia, I do not know a better place for carrying on
hopeful work among the young. A well-conducted school
might be rescuing scores of children who come about
the chapel, and this ought certainly to be kept in view,
even although an extra native assistant may be required.

One serious drawback to the whole work is the want of

CONFIRMING THE CHURCHES 89

a proper chapel and schoolroom, with dwelling-house
accommodation for the young men in charge. In this
direction, however, a great improvement will soon take
place. The Mission has secured a most eligible site
within the village, and I feel sure the brethren will not
fail in doing their part. Many of them know little of the
Truth as yet, while others may be actuated by unworthy
motives in identifying themselves with us, but after every
deduction has been made, I believe we have a band of
faithful ones who will form the nucleus of a large and
prosperous Church.

While visiting about among the people, I called at the
house of Thong-su, who received me with much kindness.
The first object which attracted my notice on entering
was a large sheet containing the Ten Commandments
written in Chinese. It was pasted up on the place
usually reserved for idolatrous scrolls and pictures, and
revealed at a glance the change which had taken place in
the outward conduct of the man. We had a long friendly
conversation, during which I could see that his interest
seemed truly awakened in spiritual things. Here, also,
my heart was gladdened to meet with a poor erring
brother from Poah-be, whose long absence from worship
and fall into scandalous sin laid upon us the sorrowful
duty of suspending him from Church privileges. I was
not previously aware that Lim-chun was a son-in-law
of the Peh-tsui-khe Thong-su, through whom he came
under very bad influences after his baptism, and was led
to forsake the company of God's people at Poah-be. Since
his father-in-law began to show a forgiving spirit towards
our Peh-tsui-khe brethren, Lim-chun has been regular in
his attendance on Sabbath, and has repeatedly expressed
himself to the preacher as feeling most unhappy on
account of his weakness in the hour of temptation. He
expressed himself in a very penitent way that day I saw

90 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

him, and seemed overjoyed at the probability of his
once more being numbered among those who are welcomed
to the table of the Lord.

Another interesting circumstance connected with my
visit to Giam-cheng at this time was the open destruction
of the idols, ancestral tablets, and idolatrous pictures,
belonging to a number of people who had resolved to cast
in their lot with the disciples of Jesus. Some of the
tablets had been preserved for over a hundred years, and
were covered with the names of deceased relatives,
whose continued presence those pieces of carved wood
were intended to represent. A copy was taken of all the
names and dates upon them, as likely to prove useful in
deciding certain questions which might arise about the
rightful possession of fields ; and then, with the wooden
idols — some of which were very old and greatly dis-
figured— they were brought out and placed beside the
other objects in a wide, open space before the house.
There were about thirty brethren present who gathered
round, and joined in singing one of our well-known hymns.
When prayer had been offered, a light was applied to the
heap in front of us, which was speedily reduced to ashes.
I afterwards spoke to those good-natured, simple people
of the only way of salvation through the blood of Christ,
exhorting those of them who had renounced idolatry to a
living faith in Him, and declaring to all that, without
holiness, no man could enter into the Kingdom of God.

On returning to the chapel, I had the native preacher
with me in examining candidates for baptism. Only
one man had been previously admitted at this station, and
his brother was the first who now came forward. Any-
thing I already knew of him was to his advantage ; and,
as he reads well, and answered nearly all my questions
satisfactorily, I felt that his request could not be denied,
and that we ought to welcome him into our midst.

CONFIRMING THE CHURCHES QI

Cheng-sui was another who was examined and passed
for baptism. He, also, is a good reader ; and, in the case
of young persons who have had the opportunity of learning
the easily acquired romanized form of the language, we
have come to regard this accomplishment in the light
of being one important qualification for admission to
Church ordinances. Now that the New Testament, in
so simple a form, has been prepared for their special
benefit, we feel that there is a necessity to insist on the
duty and the privilege of their being able to consult it
for themselves. Cheng-sui is only eighteen years of age,
and is the principal support of his widowed mother.
One cannot but like his frank, amicable manner. He is
said to have always been a well-behaved boy, very unsel-
fish, and one who loved his mother by doing everything
he could to make her happy. His knowledge of Scripture
is tolerably good, and I cannot refuse to believe that, in
some measure at least, the Spirit has taken of the things
of Christ and shown them unto him.

Brother Li and his son Hut-a from Giam-cheng, with
another man named Tsu-ong, were also received for
baptism on this occasion. These five candidates had all
been hearers since our services commenced at Peh-tsui-khe.
They manifested a very proper spirit during a recent
time of persecution there, and did much by their example
to strengthen and comfort the other brethren. Hut-a
is a particularly promising boy, a fluent reader, sharp, and
yet modest ; and one who, in a year or two, may do good
work as a teacher. The two others cannot read, but
there is reason to hope that they have been brought to
feel their helplessness as poor sinners in the sight of God,
and to trust in Christ alone for salvation.

The above-named brethren received baptism at Hwan-
a-chan. A goodly company of friends from Thau-sia
and Peh-tsui-khe were present at the services. It was

Q2 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

a pleasant, busy day for the brethren at Hwan-a-chan,
and I was glad to see that they treated their fellow-
converts with open-handed kindness and hospitality.
It is very interesting to notice the influence of Christianity
in improving the manners, social customs, and even out-
ward appearance of a people like this. The loud coarse-
ness, the foul language, the bodily filthiness, and the
rags, give way to gentleness, courtesy, cleanliness, and
comfort. What a wonderful Reformer is Christ !

I set out for Taiwan-fu on Monday morning. The
journey was a lightsome and pleasant one. Amid
innumerable shortcomings upon our own part, a few more
had been brought to taste and see that the Lord is
gracious. I felt strong and refreshed, and more than ever
assured that the name of Jesus would be glorified among
the hill people of Formosa.

NARROW ESCAPE AT PEH-TSUI-KHE

MISSIONARY work at Peh-tsui-khe has just received a
check ; and, in order to give an intelligible account of the
matter, it will be necessary to begin by saying something
about the market-town of Tiam-a-khau, which lies about
five miles west from where our chapel is situated. A great
many of the people in Tiam-a-khau belong to the Chinese
clan or family of the surname Gaw, and the local Head of
this clan is Gaw-chi-ko, a notorious character whose
lawless deeds have been a source of annoyance and anxiety
to the Authorities for years past. Through a long course
of trickery and oppression, he is said now to be possessed
of immense wealth. His large residence is just outside
of Tiam-a-khau, all the houses connected with it being
built within strong bamboo stockades, around which
many armed retainers are always kept in readiness to
defend the place against mandarin or popular attack.
When our work began among the Pe-po-hwan at Peh-
tsui-khe, Gaw-chi-ko was told about it, and was quiet for
a time, but soon came to see that the movement was one
which could give no countenance to his schemes of selfish-
ness and cruelty. For one thing, he quite objected to
influential foreigners from Taiwan-fu paying periodical
visits to any of the villages to the east of Tiam-a-khau.
Under a fear that strong measures might one day be taken
against him by the Chinese Authorities, he had ever been
opposed to anything that might cut off his way of retreat
into the high mountain region beyond. As for the newly-

94 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

established foreign Church in that direction, it was
enough for him that it was influencing the people for good,
and was an institution which could not come within the
range of his own sympathy and control.

Before the commencement of our work at Peh-tsui-khe,
it was no uncommon occurrence for Gaw-chi-ko to order
out twenty or thirty of the Pe-po-hwan to work for him,
giving them in return a starvation allowance of rice, with
hard words and blows should any of them show unwilling-
ness to comply with his demands. His present policy
is to increase their burden tenfold, or do everything he can
to keep matters in stain quo. And yet, since those
aborigines have come under educational and Christian
influences, I can confidently say that it would be difficult
to find anywhere a more quiet, inoffensive, and law-
abiding people. Petty thieving with them is wholly a
thing of the past. They do not gamble now, and one
will listen in vain to hear bad language from the lips of
any of our converts. Even their heathen neighbours
acknowledge that, both in character and condition, the
Christians there have undergone a very marked change
for the better, while we ourselves regarded Peh-tsui-khe
as one of the most prosperous and hopeful of our fourteen
stations. During the past two months, our brethren had
been busy in preparing materials for the erection of a new
chapel, and it was when arranging with them for the
completion of this work that a long course of petty
persecution ended in the more serious trouble now to be
referred to.

I left Taiwan-fu on I5th January, and spent the re-
mainder of that week at Peh-tsui-khe. Everything was
then quiet, excepting the usual rumours of an attack
by the gang at Tiam-a-khan, and of an objection which
Gaw-chi-ko had mentioned to some of our people against
their going on with the proposed new building. He said

NARROW ESCAPE AT PEH-TSUI-KHE 95

that as it would interfere with the Fung-shui — or imagined
spiritual influences — of a grave belonging to him, it
would be better for every one concerned not to persist
in erecting the chapel on that site. This fresh objection
appeared to be a very unreasonable one because (i) Gaw-
chi-ko's men had been repeatedly told the new chapel
would be only a few feet larger than, and be built upon
exactly the same site as, the old one ; and (2) the old
chapel was situated at a distance of nearly four hundred
paces from the concubine's grave in question, and during
the twelve months it had been used as a place for Christian
worship no such objection had ever been heard of.
In short, even the heathen people of the neighbourhood
said that this story of the Fung-shui was a mere pretence.

I therefore instructed our brethren to go on with their
work ; and, meanwhile, went to take possession of Mission
premises we had secured in the city of Ka-gi, returning to
Peh-tsui-khe on the 22nd. During my absence, a number
of loose, idle characters from Tiam-a-khau had been
visiting the place ; and, on the following Monday, two
messengers arrived from Tiam-a-khau to say that Gaw-chi-
ko wished to see me about the Fung-shui business. Now,
it so happened that I was busy at the time, and had,
moreover, no particular desire to undertake a five-mile
walk on the verbal invitation of one who had been acting
in such a high-handed and oppressive way. Accordingly,
after a little friendly talk and some explanation, the
messengers were told that Dr. Dickson or myself could
always be found in Taiwan-fu, and that Gaw-chi-ko
might either call there, or even write to us, and we should
be very willing to consider his statement.

I left Peh-tsui-khe on the 27th, and arrived at our
Thau-sia chapel the following day. In about an hour
after, two of the Peh-tsui-khe Christians abruptly entered
and said that an armed band had attacked several of

96 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

the brethren's houses on the previous night ; that one
woman was lying dangerously ill from spear-wounds ;
that six bullocks had been driven away, out-houses
burned down, and several of the families left destitute
of money, clothes, and cooking utensils. They added
that, although the robbers' faces were disguised, all the
people who had been attacked were certain that they
came from Tiam-a-khau, while the woman who was so
severely wounded distinctly recognized one of her assail-
ants as being a desperate fellow in the service of Gaw-
chi-ko.

Early the following morning, I hurried off for Peh-
tsui-khe and arrived there about sunset ; not, however,
before meeting with several members of the Gaw-chi-ko
gang, who were j ourneying towards Tiam-a-khau . I found
that the statement of my two informants was true in
every particular. The poor woman already referred to
appeared to be on the point of death. In her attempt
to escape, she had climbed about six feet up a small tree
at the back of the house ; and, while in that position, had
received some very severe wounds. I saw the side of
that tree, and the ground below, still covered with blood.
One man had been speared in the ankle, another suffered
from a deep cut in the arm, and nearly all the bed and
body-clothing of the two families I called upon had been
carried off. As it was now quite dark, I endeavoured to
calm their minds, and said that, on the morrow, I hoped
to call at all their houses for particulars, with the view
of trying to help them. There were some sad, anxious
hearts at our prayer-meeting that evening.

Feeling somewhat tired, I did not follow my usual
custom that night of sitting till it was very late. The
room I occupied was one of three, in a line, and all of
them under the same roof, the entire structure being of
bamboo framework, grass roof, and slim wattle-and-dab

NARROW ESCAPE AT PEH-TSUI-KHE 97

walls. The native preacher and his wife had possession
of the one little end room, and myself of the other, the
middle apartment doing service as a dining-room and
place for receiving visitors. The building was a mere
dilapidated hut, and stood about twenty feet from the
temporary chapel, which was made of the same materials
and in similar style. There were few other houses in the
immediate neighbourhood, as the people live very much
scattered over this quiet and hilly part of the country.
It must have been well after midnight when I was
suddenly startled on hearing people rushing through the
fence which surrounds our chapel ground, and by the
bright glare of many lights moving rapidly round the
house. I jumped up, to find that my bedroom was already
on fire ; and, on looking out through the bamboo bars
which served as a window, I could see a crowd of ferocious-
looking ruffians setting fire to the chapel, and to the roof
of our own house. One could take in the position at a
glance. It was Gaw-chi-ko's men out on one of their
terrible raids. They seemed like demons as, with
blackened faces and long knives in their hands, they
darted about under the bright glare of the burning chapel.
I called out for assistance, but did not know then that the
preacher, with several brethren who were sleeping in an
adjoining hut, had made their escape on hearing the
distant barking of dogs.

Supposing that they would hardly dare to attack a
foreigner, I attempted to get out by the door of the
mid-room, but was immediately driven back by the
spears which were levelled at me, and which, for a
moment, I warded off with the Chinese blanket held over
my arm. I shouted out that the British Consul would
have them punished if they persisted, but the only
response was a fresh brandishing of the knives and spears,
which again struck frequently into the little blanket.
7

98 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

On retreating into the preacher's room, I was immediately
pursued by ten or a dozen of those cowards, who were
evidently afraid to follow me singly into the smaller
apartment. They kept poking their spears in at the
door, and then commenced to break down the thin lath
partition on my right. While standing at the foot of the
small bed there, one of the spears was dashed through
within an inch of my heart, and another thrust down
cut me badly in the leg.

The place now began to fill with smoke, the dry grass
roofing being on fire all round, and the chapel itself
enveloped in flames. My own little bedroom was
crumbling to ashes, and continually the heated air in the
blazing bamboos would become expanded and burst like
the report of so many pistols. Hereupon, those in the
mid-room retreated to the outside, when I tried hard
again to follow them away from the burning house, the
heat and smoke from which had now become all but
insupportable. The sight which met my eyes at the
door was certainly very alarming. There was nothing
save fire and smoke all over the chapel, and there seemed
something fiendish in the determination of that crowd
as they stood awaiting my exit with uplifted knives and
spears. I once more rushed inside and sorely injured
my hands and bare feet in trying to break a way of escape
from the back ; but, while thus engaged, some one
smashed the bars of the window-opening, and cast in a
burning torch, which began to set the loose straw of the
bed on fire.

It was at this point I quite gave it up, groaned out a
prayer that God would surely be near me, and, for the
last time, dashed out, expecting nothing but to be stabbed
by those glittering spears. To my surprise, the whole
party was seen to be quickly moving away to the right.
The wind had somewhat risen, and they could no longer

NARROW ESCAPE AT PEH-TSUI-KHE 99

endure the smoke from the burning chapel behind, nor
the flames which were beginning to lick over the house
before which they had been standing. Having no other
clothing about me save my sleeping shirt, I sprang out
from the door, climbed over an earth embankment on the
left, then got severely scratched in tearing through a
thick prickly fence higher up, and ended by tumbling
into water at the foot of a steep bank, where I lay half
unconscious for a minute or two, and trembling on
account of the intense coldness of the night.

On raising my head above the tall grass, I could see
several torches spread over fields further off, as if
search were being made for those who had escaped. In
a stooping posture, therefore, I crept slowly along, got
up into a neighbouring hillside, and lay concealed there
till a retreat was sounded, and the whole gang ran off in
the direction of Tiam-a-khau. It was still some hours
before daybreak when the preacher found me and supplied
me with a pair of old Chinese pantaloons. We soon after
started through the mountains, and ran a good part of the
way north to the city of Ka-gi. On passing through
the South Gate, there was great excitement on seeing a
foreigner travelling without a sun-hat and having his
bare legs streaked with blood. Some of the on-lookers
recognized me as being the one who had been there before
trying to secure property for Church purposes.

We at once proceeded to the Yamen of the District
Magistrate where not only the large court, but even the
walls and roofs of the adjoining houses became covered
with an eager and excited crowd. There was an almost
endless amount of discussion among the underlings as to
the cause of the disturbance, and the Magistrate would
keep insisting that the Christians were to be blamed.
At last, I got thoroughly nettled, and told him he ought
to know that this was not the time for going into the

IOO SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

merits of the case, that he could plainly see the condition
I was in, half naked and having nothing to eat. I told
him further that I was quite within Treaty right in
claiming his protection, and that I would now leave and
have matters fully reported to his superiors in the South.
This little turn produced an immediate result ; for,
soon after, I was asked into a side room where a small
tubful of well-cooked rice and fourteen boiled eggs were
placed before me. A new Chinese blanket was also
procured, and I was sent away the two days' journey to
Taiwan-fu under an escort of six armed soldiers.

Three of the brethren from Peh-tsui-khe reached the
capital before me, and spread the report that, from a
distance, they had actually seen me stabbed to death
under the Chinese blanket I threw away in the effort to
escape. As my only colleague with his wife were in the
county on my arrival, I continued my journey to Takow
for conference with Mr. Ritchie as to how we should act
in the circumstances. The Consul has already called the
attention of the higher officials to what has taken place,
and we hope that something may soon be done to bring
order out of all this confusion.

A recent messenger from Peh-tsui-khe informed us
that the Ka-gi Magistrate, accompanied by about two
hundred soldiers, visited the scene of the outrage, but
returned again without going in the direction of
Tiam-a-khau. This messenger also stated that Gaw-
chi-ko had sent men to beat gongs throughout the region,
and summon his retainers, who are now assembled in
great force. Meanwhile, our hearts are sore within us to
think of our poor defenceless brethren. They are afraid
to return to their village, and are spending their time in
hiding-places among the mountains. I have suffered
myself a good deal from severe scratches and the night
exposure. My watch, clothes, and everything I had with

NARROW ESCAPE AT PEH-TSUI-KHE IOI

me at the time have been destroyed ; the object of our
miserable assailants plainly being, not robbery, but
murder. Indeed, Thuh-a, a notorious leader of the
gang who was afterwards brought to repentance, told
us that Gaw-chi-ko promised them all a dollar each if
they brought out my head.

ANOTHER JOURNEY TO THE NORTH

THE American Consul at Amoy (Mr. Henderson) accom-
panied me on my recent visit to our northern stations,
and we started from Taiwan-fu on loth ultimo. The
first night was spent at Hwan-a-chan, where we had a
refreshing little prayer meeting with the native brethren
immediately after supper. It was pleasant to notice the
acts of kindness shown to them by my travelling com-
panion. Surely foreign residents in China are not aware
of the extent to which they might help the progress of
our work. It is, indeed, a red-letter day when some
European merchant or Consul undertakes a long journey
and really tries to give us a lift. Thank God, we do
meet with those who are both able and willing to help ;
and, thank God for the noble Christian officers who
heartily cast in their lot with us for an occasional month
or two. Men like Commander Bax and Lieutenant
Shore have an honoured place in the hagiology of the
Church in Formosa.

Preacher Hau-hi is the brother now stationed at
Hwan-a-chan. He was born of Chinese parents, but
abandoned by them in a raid of the Tai-ping rebels.
During that time of stress in China, a call was made for
Sek-hwan braves to go over and render help. It was
while they were marching down the street of a deserted
city that the bitter cry of an infant was heard ; whereupon
a Toa-sia villager of the party rescued the child, and
adopted him as his own. Hau-hi has now an intimate

102

ANOTHER JOURNEY TO THE NORTH 103

knowledge of the Sek-hwan language, and this might be
turned to good account even among some of the savage
tribes. He had a favourable report to give me of the
work at Hwan-a-chan.

We put up for the second night at Giam-cheng, a
little village about twenty minutes' walk from the place
where our Peh-tsui-khe chapel stood. As we passed
through Tiam-a-khau on the way to it, my presence there
caused no little commotion. I suppose it was thought
that our visit had some reference to the late outrage, and
that a number of the ill-favoured persons around us
would soon be brought to justice. Giam-cheng will
henceforth be the centre of our work in that region. The
largest group of worshippers is now to be found there ;
and a chapel amongst them would now, in some respects,
be even more convenient than the one at Peh-tsui-khe.
Poor people ! they are certainly having much to try
them at present, and one cannot be too thankful for the
patient and forgiving spirit they have shown. Our
preacher has not yet returned to his post, nor is there any
place to meet in for worship since the chapel was burned
down. Indeed, so constant were the hostile rumours
after the second attack that, for weeks, many of the
converts absented themselves from their houses, and
kept under concealment in the woods and glens further
east. We had another pleasant meeting on the morning
of our departure from Giam-cheng. It was held among
the ashes of the chapel buildings at Peh-tsui-khe, and,
like Bethel of old, the place was then made sacred to us.

We arrived in the city of Ka-gi on the 13th, and a few
hours later I received an official communication from the
County Magistrate about the recent disturbances at
Peh-tsui-khe. It stated that four men of the Gaw clan
were now in prison, that the native converts had received
an indemnity of one hundred dollars, that two Public

104 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

Notifications had been issued, in which favourable
reference was made to the Christian religion, and all
classes warned against molesting people who embraced
it. Now, there was hardly anything about this decision
we could approve of. The four men of the Gaw clan
happened to be certain poor hired wretches, who were at
that moment having a glorious time of dissipation in one
of the out-houses of the Magistrate's Yamen, the property
which had been plundered amounted in value to over
three hundred dollars, while the larger of the two Notifi-
cations made a number of most glaring misstatements
regarding the simple facts of the case. Having the
clearest evidence that Gaw-chi-ko is himself the real
offender, we surely must object when it is stated that
this notoriously law-defying Chief of Tiam-a-khau has
brought our assailants to justice, and that he will continue
to exert himself for preservation of the peace ! The
Mandarins know well who ought to be reckoned with,
not only for those outrages at Peh-tsui-khe, but for very
many previous acts of robbery and oppression ; and I
have little doubt they would now take the opportunity
of making a clearance in this part of the country, were it
not that the Emperor's death two months ago has thrown
many things into a state of uncertainty and confusion.
It would require a strong military force to attempt the
arrest of Gaw-chi-ko and his formidable band of ruffians,
and one feels inclined to believe the current rumours that,
fearing the consequences of being concerned in the attack
on a British subject, he has paid in a very heavy bribe
to the Authorities to have matters hushed up as quietly
and as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile, I rejoice to think that all these things are
falling out for the furtherance of the Gospel, and nowhere
more than in Ka-gi city itself. The authorities at present
are only too glad to do anything that will conciliate us,

ANOTHER JOURNEY TO THE NORTH 105

and it is certainly somewhat significant to come across
such a statement as this in a Proclamation which was
recently issued by the Officer administering all local
affairs : — " Wherefore I, the Magistrate, enjoin and
expect all manner of people, in all the country, to know
and understand that the British missionaries' teaching
is none other than the exhorting of men to be good ;
that their renting of land and building of chapels is in
accordance with an established Treaty, and that they
must be allowed to do these things as they themselves
think fit." Of course, one has to avoid the mistake of
attaching too much value to any such a carefully drawn-
up and widely-spread statement. Chinese officials are a
slippery race ; and, after all, their undoubted opposition
to the missionary is not much to be wondered at. The
main thing for us is that we seem to be on the threshold
of a grand work here. One would like to have wings, or
have the power of being in several places at the same time.
Lord, help ! Help us to be sympathetic and really
to love this people — they do have many things about
them which are very attractive. Keep us from making
blunders at the commencement. Give all needed grace,
and speedily bring tens of thousands throughout Ka-gi
into the light and liberty of the Gospel !

After spending only one night at Ka-gi, we continued
our journey next day ; and, about dark, reached a
village called Kiu-kiong-na, some fifty Chinese li further
on. As none of the people there would accommodate
our party, we slept in a ruinous little temple outside,
where, with the dumb idols overlooking us, we experienced
the nearness of our Heavenly Father, and felt none the
less assured of His goodness in bringing us thus far.

The following day was Sabbath, but we thought it well
to make a very short stage, through Lim-ki-po on to
Tsu-chip, a good-sized market town, where I thought

106 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

there might be favourable opportunities for having some
open-air preaching. In this, however, we were disap-
pointed, as the place was filled with rude soldiers from
Canton, who were waiting for another larger party, to
begin the construction of a road across the mountains.
The dialect they spoke was unintelligible to us, and they
behaved in rather a quarrelsome way, so that we were
compelled to remain indoors. Lim-ki-po and Tsu-chip
contain a Chinese population from the Chin-chiu region,
and in both places the people have repeatedly treated us
with kindness, and listened with marked attention to our
preaching. Lim-ki-po is only a day's journey from
Ka-gi city, while one day more — beyond it to the north
— brings us on to the territory of the Tsui-hwan, within
ten miles of Po-li-sia.

We arrived at Lake Candidius on the I5th, and spent
two days in that neighbourhood. I then took the oppor-
tunity of making a careful circuit of the Lake in one of
the native canoes, as it was desirable to ascertain what
outlet there was for the water, and thus gain a better
knowledge of the stream-system away to the west.
Some of the quiet nooks and corners we visited are spots
of surpassing loveliness, and as our canoe would go
shooting across, and the cry of the startled wild-fowl
would break the silence from time to time, one could not
but look up, far, far up, to the great Maker and Preserver
of all. I regretted there were fewer opportunities for
preaching than upon any previous occasion, the bulk of
the people being in a state of almost hopeless intoxication.
Probably in less than a hundred years the Tsui-hwan will
be known only by name. The males among them are
rapidly being slain by simple downright laziness and
drink, and the neighbouring Chinese always succeed in
buying up their best-looking daughters. The more
immediate hindrance to bringing them under the influence

ANOTHER JOURNEY TO THE NORTH 1 07

of the Gospel is our ignorance of their language. Some
of them do understand a little Chinese, but the great
mass of them not a sentence. Pai-ta-buk, the Chief, is
said to be over ninety years of age. He is a thorough
old sot, although still active, and not without a con-
siderable amount of influence among his people. One
cannot but pray that He, with whom all things are
possible, may open a way for the ingathering, not only
of this benighted people, but of the Chinese to the west,
and even of those large unvisited savage tribes on the
eastern side of the Island.

Our party entered Po-li-sia on the afternoon of the i/th
and at once proceeded to Aw-gu-lan, where the brethren
were delighted to see us, and tried in every way to make
us comfortable. It was most encouraging to learn that,
during my long absence, the three little congregations
had enjoyed another season of peace, and were making
steady progress in the right direction. Here I was sorry
to part with my travelling companion, as his duties
required him to push on to the northern port of Tamsui
for crossing to Amoy without further delay. A large
party of our brethren escorted him two days through the
belt of savage territory he had to cross before reaching
Chiang-hoa. He expressed himself as being much
pleased with all he saw at those northern stations ; and
I feel sure he would be glad to hear of the work spreading
from village to village, till all the people in Po-li-sia, and
even of the whole Island, are brought to a saving know-
ledge of Christ. My only regret was that he could not
remain for the large united meetings we had at Aw-gu-lan
on Sabbath.

I arranged that our Sacramental service should be
held at Toa-lam ; and, in view of this, was kept busy at
each of the three chapels during the two following days.
It was satisfactory to find that no cases of discipline had

IO8 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

to be dealt with, while the careful examination of fifty
candidates resulted in five men and five women being
passed for baptism. The afternoon congregation num-
bered about six hundred, some of the people coming
from distant sequestered villages, and all of them show-
ing an amount of intelligent interest which was truly
gratifying.

It is well to think of the remarkably fine opportunity
we have in Po-li-sia at present. Our work has brought
the place into considerable prominence of late, and I
should not be surprised if a large number of Chinese
soldiers and immigrants soon found their way into it.
Now is the time for us to build up and extend with all our
might. I feel much satisfied that the erection of the
three chapels is nearing completion. They are made
of sun-dried bricks, and covered with tiles instead of the
usual grass ; each of them having also an upper storey or
loft for our own personal accommodation. In the Toa-
lam building, the upper gallery makes quite a comfortable
place in which to sleep. It is both wide and cleanly, and
is carried round three sides of the chapel, leaving the
middle part open, and giving the whole interior an
appearance like some of the little country churches in
Scotland. This chapel could not be put up in Ka-gi
or Taiwan-fu under a thousand dollars, but materials and
work are much cheaper in Po-li-sia. It is the first build-
ing there on which any money from England has been
expended. The erection of it by the brethren had been
such a large undertaking that I promised to send fifty
dollars from the Mission purse for finishing the roof.
We think our native friends are much to be commended
in thus showing the value they attach to Christian
ordinances. Their example has been very stimulating
at the other stations. One of the adherents (a wor-
shipper who has not yet received baptism) gave

ANOTHER JOURNEY TO THE NORTH 109

twenty dollars to the building fund of the Toa-lam
chapel.

On the second Wednesday of my visit, we had the most
interesting meeting of Church children which has yet
been held in Po-li-sia. One hundred and forty from our
three centres met in the chapel at Toa-lam, where an
abundant supply of refreshments was served out, and an
effort made to tell them of the Sunday Schools in England.
The native preacher, Beng-ho, spoke in Sek-hwan, thus
filling one's heart with eager anticipation to think that
God had already opened for us a way for declaring the
Gospel message to thousands who know little or nothing
of the Chinese language. It is to the musical part of the
service we feel most attracted at any such gathering of
the Po-li-sia children. The heartiness with which they
sing is most inspiring. The Sek-hwan have had no
difficulty in adapting several of their own native tunes to
Christian hymns, and some of these have a great amount
of simplicity and plaintive sweetness about them, while
others lead off with a dash of triumph and hopefulness
which would scatter the fears and brighten up the pros-
pects of Faint-heart himself. One of the tunes has been
named after dear old Elder Bun, who never saw Po-li-sia,
but who offers many a prayer for the increase and further
enlightenment of the Christians there ; another is from
the Tsui-hwan ; a third, the work of one of the deacons ;
a fourth contributed by a blind brother in Aw-gu-lan ;
and all the others have been adapted from the old native
song-tunes into their present Christian use.

We have decided to open a large central school in
Po-li-sia for the benefit of the children connected with
our three congregations. The ordinary village schools
are very unsatisfactory, both on account of their methods
of teaching and because of the heathenish practices
which the children have to go through. We feel that our

IIO SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

very utmost must be done for the young people around
us. They are the hope of the Church ; and any marked
improvement in this direction tells for good, not only
among the children, but also among the grown-up
people.

Our journey out from Po-li-sia on this occasion was
one of unusual difficulty, and attended with no small
amount of danger. We forded two rivers to the neck
in water, and seemed to get drenched to the very bones
by that awful rain. After a heavy tramp of two and a
half days, I had a short easy rest at Lai-sia, and was
greatly cheered to find that the Church there continues
to make good progress. There were three admissions to
baptism, and another brother was elected as Elder to
fill the place of Bun-liong, who was recently cut off by
savages. I regret that the Lai-sia people are still exposed
to much risk from that source. Five little towers have
been erected on as many neighbouring hills, in which
armed brethren are stationed to raise the alarm when
another onslaught is to be made. Our friends who
attended the prayer meeting at the time of this visit came
with guns and spears, and they considerately placed
something in my own bedroom against a sudden sur-
prise.

My subsequent stay at Toa-sia was also a pleasant one,
as we had four admissions to Church membership, and
no cases of discipline. I feel ever so thankful that there
does seem to be an increase of spiritual life in this little
Church, a conclusion which I do not think I arrived at
hastily, but only after seeing much of the brethren at the
chapel, and in their own homes. They have rented
another large schoolroom in the village, and a teacher has
been engaged by them at a salary of seventy dollars a
year. The importance of this step is apparent, and we

ANOTHER JOURNEY TO THE NORTH III

shall not only watch the movement with deep interest,
but try to help it in every way we can.

I praise and bless the Lord for all that my eyes have
seen during those weeks of travel. I met with souls
grieved on account of sin, some asking the way heaven-
ward, and others already in possession of that peace
which flows from simple, childlike trust in Christ.

CONTROVERSY AMONG THE CONVERTS

ANY widespread differences of opinion we meet with
among our converts in Formosa are of a much less specu-
lative type than those which arose elsewhere during the
early years of the Christian era. In other words, we have
no Gnostics, Pelagians, Arminians, or Supralapsarians
amongst us ; our people taking a more practical and
common-sense view of things, and limiting their dis-
cussions to such questions as the following : — Ought the
request for baptism from a convert who has two or more
wives be granted ? May any brother who has fallen into
very scandalous sin be re-engaged for salaried Christian
work within a year or so ? Are women to be regarded as
being eligible for office in the Church ? Is it possible
for other bodies than our Presbyterian congregations to
take the initiative in dismissing or removing any Pastor
whose character is an irreproachable one ? How are the
native congregations to manage their own finances ?
What proportionate place should be given to the Evan-
gelistic, Pastoral, Educational, and Medical branches
of our work ? It also sometimes happens that con-
troversies arise within much narrower limits than those
now indicated, and an instance may be given here by way
of illustration.

We had one large congregation of illiterate aborigines
in a remote mountain village away to the east of Taiwan-
fu. Individuals belonging to it very seldom came out to
the city, and my own pastoral visits to it were fewer than

112

CONTROVERSY AMONG THE CONVERTS 113

I desired. After many months of this isolation, rumours
began to reach us of some trouble which had arisen ;
so serious that a considerable company of the worshippers
had hived off from the main body, and were meeting in a
great ramshackle bamboo building they had put up for
themselves in the adjoining village of Pan-san-chu.

I therefore hesitated no longer, but started at once with
a trustworthy Chinese friend on our long, toilsome journey.
We arrived on Friday night, and made full enquiry on the
Saturday ; being greatly relieved to find that the whole
disturbance arose in a very simple way, and could easily
be put right. I should here explain that the irregularly
issued yearly calendar sheet then made use of in Formosa
always changed the number of days in each month, and
on its appearance in that village one Saturday morning,
a brother came out of his house in the village, and com-
menced vigorously to beat his bamboo drum which called
the people to worship ; whereupon a crowd of the
neighbours came out, some of them unwillingly, because
they said that to-morrow was worship-day, but others
acquiescing and assembling in the chapel for Sabbath
observance in the usual way.

As an inkling of how things were to go had already
leaked out, I ascended the earthen platform next
morning with a somewhat heavy heart, because the
Saturday-ites contained the very cream of our congre-
gation, and I well knew I had no via media, or easy way
of letting them down. There was a very full attendance
of brethren and outsiders that morning ; the Sunday-ites
forming a solid phalanx on the right, and our Saturday
friends presenting a rather subdued appearance on the
left.

I opened proceedings by explaining how the little
mistake had arisen, but expressed an earnest hope that
all would now agree to let by-gones be by-gones, and
8

114 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

would begin again to work heartily hand in hand. They
were then called upon to unite in singing our Chinese
version of the Hundredth Psalm, and it was the volume
of unmelodious sound which burst from those on the
right that fairly startled me. Why, the song of Moses
and Miriam on the shores of the Red Sea was not in it ;
and as for many of the poor Saturday-ites I saw that,
in the words of our great National Poet, they simply
" gaepit wide but naething spak."

XII

WITH THE BU-HWAN HEAD-HUNTERS

MR. T. L. BULLOCK of the British Consulate at Takow, and
a naturalist from America, recently accompanied me on
a three months' visit to the Po-li-sia region. They were
delightful travelling companions, full of quiet humour,
quite prepared for roughing it, and in thorough sympathy
with the work in which I was engaged. After my pastoral
visitation of the churches was completed, they were much
pleased when arrangements were made for paying a visit
to the wild Bu-hwan tribe among the mountains east
from Po-li-sia. It was not known at the time that this
tribe had a quarrel with the Po-li-sia Sek-hwan because
the latter had treated them unfairly in some of their
bartering transactions.

We had a long, hard day's walk before reaching the
village of Tur-u-wan, and were surprised to find that all
the male adults were away attending a war-council of the
tribesmen ; rumours being also in circulation that our
little party had come to make reprisals because of a raid
the Bu-hwan made upon the Po-li-sia people. As the
women and old men present refused to have anything
to do with us, we decided to return by mountain paths
a little further north, and set out before noon of the
following day. Towards dark, it became evident that we
would require to spend the night in some lonely spot ;
and a grassy knoll was chosen which enabled us to see the
path we had passed over, and also kept the valley away to

Il6 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

our right within sight. The Consul and our travelling
companion lay down on the grass, having their loaded
firearms within reach, and I quietly crept in between
them. The dew gave us a thorough drenching, but after
munching a few biscuits at daybreak, we set out again
in the hope of reaching Po-li-sia before sunset.

Our road was a mere winding path, with tall, prickly
grass on either side, so that we had to walk single file.
After getting on comfortably for some miles, we turned,
on hearing sounds, to see about a dozen armed natives
gliding out from the grass and commencing to walk
behind us. Several miles further on, this party was
joined by some twenty more. We therefore halted and
tried to act towards them in a friendly way, but they
were all very sulky, and refused to make any response.
About 2 p.m. the armed party behind us had increased
to between fifty and sixty braves, whereupon we stepped
out, and signed that they should all walk in front ; which
attempt, however, met with such a resolute and nasty
refusal that we had to set forward again at the head of
the procession. Two or three miles further on brought
us to a little open plain, having tall grass on the left,
and a deep, rushing river about a hundred yards wide to
the right, from the further bank of which there rose a
beetling cliff about two hundred feet in height. The
three of us then sat down on stones at that end of the
plain we came first to, and the armed band gathered in
a semicircle around us. There was a moment of severe
tension and of deadly silence, as we watched for that
signal which would end in the three of us being hacked
to pieces. But, after a long apprenticeship in Central
Brazil and many a lonely island of the Pacific, there was
one member of the party who knew how to deal with
savages. Our American friend, Mr. Steere, is a lean,
big-boned man, stands about six feet four inches in his

WITH THE BU-HWAN HEAD-HUNTERS 117

stocking-soles, has no trace of timidity or irresolution
about him, and is a crack shot at birds on the wing. In
sight of us all he rose, picked up a few leaves, fastened
them on a tree about twelve yards off, returned to the
stones where he had been sitting, raised his six-shooter,
sent all its bullets in quick succession through the pinned-
up leaves, and then quietly sat down. The effect was
as if the Bu-hwaners had suddenly received a galvanic
shock, and I never saw a more amazed and cowed lot of
warriors than those who now stood before us. They
were all ordered to walk in front, which they did, till they
gradually slunk off, and left us to finish our journey in
peace. There can be no doubt that, under a merciful
Providence, it was the prompt, fearless action of our
American friend which saved our lives on that occasion.

XIII

ATTACKED BY " CHINA'S MILLIONS "

I ONCE had a somewhat lively time while travelling
among the Ku-a-lut and Baw-tan savages of South
Formosa. The thick brushwood and rocky nature of the
ground in that part of the Island make walking difficult,
and one's eatables are ever liable to run short. On the
occasion referred to, my servant-boy and burden-bearer
ran off from fright and inability to keep moving about ;
but a good bribe induced two young natives to throw in
their lot with me. We wandered aimlessly about for
half a day, and then came in sight of a settlement of
those dreaded Baw-tan whose lawless acts had recently
all but precipitated war between China and Japan.
Several of the tribesmen soon surrounded us in quite a
friendly way and led us to their huts. A feast had just
been concluded, and a number of the guests were lying
dead drunk, whilst others were so effusive that they
shook my hand and attempted to hug me. But a few
were not at all satisfied with this ; so much so, that one
big naked fellow jumped up, raised his gun, pointed it at
me, and let fly. The bullet whizzed past my ear, on
which I signed to the Chief that this was very bad, and
that he ought to show better control over his people.
He replied by laying down a large deer-skin for me to
sleep on, and giving an assurance that he would pass the
night beside me himself.

Next morning, I moved off to another little settlement

118

ATTACKED BY " CHINA'S MILLIONS "

where the luxury was given me of using a bamboo bed
raised about three feet from the ground ; but, in spite of
it all, I spent a long, weary, and most restless night.
It was, however, on getting up at daybreak I became
thoroughly frightened, for my body presented the
peculiarly mottled appearance as if I had been battered
by a tackety boot. It has come at last, I groaned out ;
I am in for small pox ! On expressing my concern to a
maudlin old savage standing by, I felt somewhat hurt
that he only smiled and pointed to the bed ; and there,
sure enough, every hollow bamboo bar of it was chock-a-
block with " China's millions." I do not refer to the
cleanly, nimble little pulex irritans, but to those crawling
voracious specimens of a lower order which my pen refuses
to describe. Hooray, for the glorious plunge I had that
morning on getting out to the sea-side !

XIV
SAVAGE BOY'S GORY BUNDLE

WHILE sauntering outside of the village of Aw-gu-lan
one evening, I saw a party of armed savages returning
through Po-li-sia, for they were then on friendly terms
with the Sek-hwan people. A stout lad was trudging
wearily after them carrying some sort of a bundle
dangling down behind him. On reaching the hut, where
they were to pass the night, I got a closer look of the
little fellow, and found that the bundle he was carrying
consisted of two freshly-cut Chinamen's heads which he
had fastened by the queues held over his shoulder. Poor,
dear, innocent wee chap ! I tried to speak a few kindly
words to him, but he was too fagged out to listen to talk
of any kind. He threw the two heads on the ground,
made a pillow of them by coiling the hair on the top, and
was fast asleep in a minute or two.

120

CANNIBALS AT CHIU-SIA-HUN

WHEN passing through the remote village of Chiu-sia-hun
one afternoon, I saw a company of children in great glee,
laughing, and shouting, and sky-larking about. The
curious thing was that they were all furnished with hand-
fuls of beef and meat-bones, which they were chewing with
great apparent relish. After making a few enquiries, I
went into a long rambling hut close by, where a woman
was busity engaged in extensive cooking operations.
There was a big round pan filled up with soup and large
joints, and two tables were covered with junkets of flesh
and bones. Imagine my horror on finding that these
were the remains of two human bodies which were rapidly
being eaten up by the villagers. On expressing my
abhorrence to the woman, she only smiled, but I insisted
on showing my deep feeling of disgust ; whereupon she
lost her temper and angrily replied by saying, " Why
should we not eat them ? They beheaded my husband,
they beheaded my nephew, and it serves them very well
to be treated in this way."

121

XVI

FINDING OF HUMAN BRAIN- CAKES

As I was crossing the mountains one day with a few
native friends, we came to the bank of a river and saw
many of the stones bespattered with blood. After
following the trail up from the other side, we came upon
more traces of blood, and found one of the netted little
head-bags which the savages carry when out on the
war-path. It was evident that some fatal encounter
had taken place there, and that the savages appeared to
have had the worst of it, for they never abandon those
head-bags, especially if, as on this occasion, they contain
one or more of those brain-glue tablets, which they guard
as the most highly-prized of their possessions. For it
should be known that some of the Formosan tribes boil
down every head brought in to a thick jelly, from which
thin oblong cakes are made, for being nibbled to inspire
fresh courage when another murderous attack is to be
made upon the invaders of their country. It is almost
impossible for any outsider to obtain specimens of those
cakes ; and the two found at this time were sent by me
to the Imperial Ethnographical Museum at Berlin,
because I had an arrangement with Dr. Bastian that I
would send as many choice articles as I could to the
Museum if he supplied me with any rare pamphlets which
came his way for adding to my bibliography of Formosa.

122

To face page 123.

XVII

EXPEDITIONS OUT FROM PO-LI-SIA

Two of the preachers and myself lately travelled out
from Po-li-sia, our way for a couple of days lying across
a tract of country which is trod by few save roving bands
of head-hunting savages. As usual, we were provided
with an armed escort of Church people. I was never in
favour of marching along in this warlike style, but native
friends insisted that it was the right thing to do. On
this occasion, our party numbered over a hundred, for a
good many heathen neighbours had asked to accompany
us on account of the protection thus afforded. Just as
we were about to start, one of the Christians commended
his little son, A-tun, to my care, and said he would be so
grateful if I kept an eye on him. Towards the afternoon
we reached a long narrow chasm in the mountains. It
had a depth of three feet of water running through it, was
half a mile in length, with rocky walls thirty feet high on
either side. We all knew it was the most dangerous
stage of our journey, for it was there that the savages
sometimes hurled down great stones upon travellers
below. We were now only a short distance in the gorge,
when it was found that the water rapidly became deeper ;
and, on two of our brethren swimming forward, they
were soon heard shouting that part of the rocky wall
had fallen down. With much exertion, however, they
clambered to the top, made a long rope of the abundant
rattan lying about, fastened one end to the foot of a tree,
and threw the coil down to their comrades who were
anxiously waiting below. By this means we first had all

123

124 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

our baggage hauled up, and then every member of the
party scrambled aloft as best he could. I there got a
fright on discovering that A- tun was missing, but I offered
to reward those who ventured down to make search.
After an anxious time of waiting they came up again at
the further end of the gorge, bringing the boy's pants and
little side-knife, which they found lying on a rocky ledge
at the water's edge. It was thought that he must have
been struck by a heavy stone, which had either fallen or
been thrown down, and had caused his death in this way.
With a very heavy heart, I passed the word to go on ;
upon which several brethren with their long knives had
literally to cut a way for us through the spiky grass and
tangled mass of creeping plants. When beginning our
descent further on, a yell was raised that the savages were
out, as a naked figure had just been seen bounding across
the river-bed in front of us. On an advance party of
armed men going forward, it was found that the naked
figure was none other than A-tun himself. Poor,
frightened little fellow ! He managed to get through the
gorge, after divesting himself of his few belongings, and
then turned round to see some of our own party, but ran
off, thinking they were savages out on the war-path.

We had a hard time on the second day of our journey,
the night having been spent at the foot of a high mountain.
Soon after setting out again, some difficulty was met with
in crossing a rapidly-flowing river. The water reached
to our necks, but every one of us pushed on till we got
dry again. The rain, lightning, and thunder which then
came on made us feel as if Nature were being torn in
pieces. At last, we reached Toa-sia chapel in a condition
which would have gladdened the heart of Mark Tapley,
for we were tired, soaked, and hungry ; while our bare
feet were blistered by the straw sandals on which we had
been walking.

XVIII
FORDING THE TAI-AN RIVER

AT the southern end of the Lai-sia valley in Mid-Formosa
there is a deep, rushing river which every year dragged
people attempting to cross it into a watery grave. During
a time of heavy rain, I was shut in at Lai-sia after the
pastoral work of my visit had been finished, and began to
fear lest I might be prevented from keeping my promise
to visit several other churches in that part of the Island.
At last I said I would substantially reward any villagers
who saw me safely over the river. A number of volun-
teers commenced by coiling up a long, thick rope for
whatever emergencies might arise, and by furnishing
themselves with stout sticks about ten feet in length.
On reaching the northern bank, I completed my own
preparations by tying on my sun-hat, and fastening an
old torn waterproof coat over my naked body ; the two
travelling baskets, containing my little worldly all at the
time, having been put in charge of four stalwart members
of the party. I was held by two strong fellows ; and,
with the others well round me, we dashed in, but I was
quite unable to plant my feet on the river-bed, while
the water itself would persist in splashing over my head.
It was when about half-way across I turned round to see
my two baskets far down the river, and gaily bobbing
along to the sea. I was especially sorry at this loss of two
large bundles of dried plants tied on the top of one of
them ; for Mr. Carruthers of the British Museum had
asked me to make this collection from the higher moun-
tain regions, in addition to one I had already sent to him.
It was in the face of many obstacles and no small amount of

125

126 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

danger I made it ; but all my labour was thus lost in a
few minutes.

On reaching the southern bank of the river I was com-
pelled to travel for ten miles over a wild, rocky plain, with
nothing on save my sun-hat and what remained of the
old tattered ^waterproof ; but the Elder at Toa-sia loaned
me a pair of his own short, baggy trousers and a Chinese
jacket, in which array I conducted my three services
on Sunday.

I see my Notes refer to another instance of peril by water
which may be referred to here. At one time I happened
to be on pastoral duty in Tang-kang, a town near the
southern end of the Island. Owing to long-continued
rain, the river there had overflowed its banks to such
an unusual extent that communication with the north
had been cut off for a week ; but, as urgent duties
were calling me to Pi-thau, I offered ten times the
ordinary fare to the boatmen if they would undertake
to ferry me across in one of their long bamboo rafts or
catamarans. They agreed, had their raft dragged well
up the river-side, my two travelling baskets placed on
beside me, and then made a cautious move in the
direction of mid-channel. In a minute or so, the rush
of water proved too strong for them. They lost all
control of their craft, which shot past the crowds of
people who were lining the southern bank. It was almost
impossible for me to keep steady, and the oarsmen never
ceased yelling on their gods to save them. Their voices,
however, were soon drowned by the noise of the surf,
and we thought that nothing could save us from being
engulfed by the raging sea. At this stage, we saw the
water breaking over a low sand-bank, towards which the
men rowed with all their might. Again and again we
thought it would be impossible to reach it ; and, even
then, it was with the utmost difficulty we waded across
to a place of safety on the other side.

XIX

SUBMERGED NEAR TAI-KAH

WHILE on an evangelistic journey one day, my road lay
along the bank of a river, which had one side dammed up
for a considerable distance with large loose stones ; thus
keeping in deep water on the left-hand side, and forming
a steep descent on the right. A number of native brethren
accompanied me ; but, on looking behind, I saw they were
walking very warily over the stones, and making very
little progress. " Come along," I shouted; " just fit the
soles of your feet to the stones, step lightly, and we shall
soon be over/' I had only resumed walking to show
them how to skip along, when my own head and shoulders
were deeply immersed and my heels kicking in the air !
On getting righted, I saw that my companions could
hardly control themselves, one big-mouthed clod-hopper
of a fellow laughing most immoderately at my misfortune.
However, as I knew that this brother was a good swimmer,
the only notice I took was to paddle a little nearer, gently
remove one of the stones, and have him floundering
beside me before he could say "Jack Robinson." It
need hardly be added that this was not done from any
wrong motive, but only to show that I had no ill-will
against him.

127

HEADER INTO A DEEP DITCH

ONE forenoon found me trudging slowly along with several
Chinese friends over the southern half of the Hong-soa
County. Two preachers were of the party ; and, on such
occasions, we of ten beguiled the time with profitable talk
on Scriptural and other subjects. As it became evident
we could not reach the chapel we were aiming for before
dark, one of our party borrowed a road-lamp at a house
whose inmates were known to him, and we all again set
forth smartly to make up for lost time. It was then I
tried to turn the position to advantage by speaking to
my fellow-pilgrims on the importance of working while
it is day, as the night cometh when no man can work.
I was just pressing this truth home when my foot slipped
and I was precipitated down a steep bank into the ditch
beneath me. My descent took the form of what young
people would call a " header," and I was bogged out of
sight before it was possible for me to know where I was.
The sharp steepness of the bank, the depth of the water
compared with its narrowness, and the fact that its
surface was covered with long trailing thrums of green
grass-weeds were the principal items which arrested our
attention. On my having been fished out, and the
lantern held up, I must have appeared to be something
like old Sinbad the Sailor ; for my white linen dress, even
my head and face, were covered with those slimy thread-
like water plants. During the process of my being

128

HEADER INTO A DEEP DITCH 129

combed down a little, my companions were all seized with
a violent fit of coughing, which gave me a hint of how
things stood, caused me to purse up my features into the
semblance of a smile, and thus set them all off into a fit
of unrestrained laughter.

XXI
CHASED OVER THE LIN-LOK PLAIN

I WAS once travelling in the Hong-soa county with my
servant-boy and a burden-bearer, when we came to a
wide plain on the western side of the Lin-lok river. As
we came out from the hedges into the plain, we saw at
some distance a band of armed men running towards
us, as if to attack or seize our little company. I then
remembered that some weeks before, our Mission had
incurred the displeasure of some villagers in this region
by attempting to set up a chapel amongst them. Accord-
ingly, it seemed now that it would be both practicable and
prudent for me to show a clean pair of heels by trying
to cross the river, and come under shelter of the little
market-town a mile or two further on. I therefore
hurriedly told the others to follow me, and ran for the
bamboo ferry, the armed men quickening their pace in
pursuit. I got well ahead, however, jumped on the raft,
and was bending to tuck up my trousers for further
emergencies, when my second presentation watch (the
first was melted to pieces by the chapel burning at Peh-
tsui-khe) flashed out of my pocket into the deep water
and ever-shifting sand of the Lin-lok river. My servant
came on several hours after, and told me I had made a
narrow escape, as our armed pursuers were really out with
the intention of capturing me.

130

XXII

BREAKFASTING ON RATS

MY native servant for some years was Po-tsai, or Precious-
Treasure, as the name implied. His more manifest
characteristics were bodily strength, stupidity, good-
nature, and an enormous appetite. One morning, while
sojourning in a tumble-down grass hut of two compart-
ments, I came out of the inner bed-place to find everything
for my breakfast already set. After " eating to reple-
tion," as the Chinese say, I complimented him on the nice
juicy rabbit he had prepared ; but he said it was not
a rabbit, and that he had another one for to-morrow
morning. " Show it to me," said I ; whereupon he went
out and returned with the body of a great old thief of a
rat on the plate. The peculiar internal feeling which
this gave rise to arrested my utterance for a second or
two, but I can assure my readers that the poor Treasure
caught it that morning, for I lectured him up hill and
down brae. His only response was an attempt to soothe
me with a lengthened explanation about these being good,
well-behaved rats which lived at the foot of bamboo
clumps, and fed upon grain. However, I did not deign
to argue the matter, my only reply taking the form of
a direct snub by calmly saying to him : "It doesn't
matter ; my ban applies to the whole tribe, and any more
cooking of rats for me will result in your instant dis-
missal."

XXIII

MONKEY CUTLETS FOR DINNER

MY only colleague during several years once left his
Hospital for a tour through several of our stations in
Po-li-sia. The journey on foot usually occupied from
six to seven days, the last long stage leading over a wild
country continually being traversed by bands of head-
hunting savages. On the occasion referred to, we spent
two nights in the mountains there, our little party passing
the first night in a cave (at the mouth of which armed
brethren kept watch), and next night at the foot of some
trees. It was just getting dark on the evening of the
seventh day when a warm welcome was given to us by our
native brethren in the village of Gu-khun-soa. As we
were very tired and very hungry, it seemed long before
Precious- treasure, our cook, completed his arrangements.
At last, however, he appeared with a large unglazed
earthenware jar containing meat and soup, and then with
another having a heaped-up supply of nicely- cooked rice.
After the two of us had plied our chop-sticks in silence
for a little, I suddenly called out to my colleague, " Hello !
there's something wrong " ; and, on looking down into the
jar, we did indeed see what appeared to be the five-
fingered palm of a little baby sticking out of the soup.
I at once shouted for the Precious-Treasure, who came in,
smiling and greasy as usual. " What have you got in
the pot here ? " said I. As his face only deepened into
a still broader grin, I stepped smartly over the form to

132

MONKEY CUTLETS FOR DINNER 133

emphasize my enquiry, but he ran off into the wattle-
and-dab cooking hut, and passed quickly through the
back door into Cimmerian darkness. Whilst I was
swithering for a moment what to do, he came back again
carrying the spread-out hide and the gruesome head of an
old monkey ; adding the explanation that, as our Gu-
khun-soa brethren knew we were coming, they had formed
a party to go and hunt for venison, but that God had
exceeded their expectation by enabling them to capture
this big monkey. And yet, very little discernment was
needed to see that it was nothing more nor less than a
case of one for us and three for themselves ; for native
medicine-sellers are always willing to give exorbitant
prices for monkeys' bones. The noticeable thing was
that only a few days before I had been reading Darwin's
Origin of Species, in which that learned scientist seems to
make out some sort of a close relationship between human
beings and those creatures which were now in evidence
upon our dining- table.

XXIV

LIVING ON POTATOES AND WORMS

AT one time I paid a missionary visit to Couch Island
(of the Pescadores group), which lies about fifteen miles
off the south-west coast of Formosa. It contains not
more than a hundred inhabitants, and no Christian
worker had ever been amongst them. As the sea got up
soon after my arrival, I was storm-bound there for fully
a week. The Chinese islanders are an extremely miserable
class of people, who derive a precarious living from the
produce of the sea, and the cultivation of small patches
of ground, on which they raise a coarse kind of millet
and sweet potatoes. They all listened very sympathetic-
ally when I preached or spoke to them individually about
God and His love for us in Jesus Christ. Their resources
were much strained in providing sleeping accommodation
for me ; but the former want was met by getting two or
three planks laid on the earthen floor of a road-side
shrine, and I said I would be delighted to share their
meals of grated potatoes and salt fish. After two or
three days of this experience, I was seized with severe
stomach-ache, and discovered the cause on managing
to crawl along to the coral-built shanty where the potatoes
were cooked. I saw there a very large basket of bamboo
splints, which could contain at least six months' supply
of potatoes ; and, on looking inside, was surprised to see
the contents moving in a curious sort of way. At that
moment, too, the woman dipped in her ladle to get a

LIVING ON POTATOES AND WORMS 135

supply for our mid-day meal. A closer inspection
revealed the presence of whole masses of whitish worms
among the potatoes. On excitedly calling attention to
this, the old husband only stupidly stared at me ; but,
after insisting that he should stand up and see for himself,
all he said was, " Oh, it's the worms you mean. Why,
they contain any amount of fat, and nothing could make
the potatoes go down more easily/' I was helped to the
little boat which took me over to Amoy, and fell twice
on the way up to Mr. Macgregor's, where Christian kind-
ness soon put me right again.

XXV
MY ONLY ATTEMPT AT JAM-MAKING

DURING the years when I had only one colleague at
Taiwan-fu, our duties led us to be often apart ; he at-
tending to his work in the Hospital, and I going about
evangelizing and caring for our scattered little Churches,
where native helpers were stationed who had received
only a most imperfect training for their work.

After returning from one of my long outings, the two
of us agreed that we must give more attention to our
comfort ; and that it would be a good commencement to
get a couple of large basketfuls of wild berries from the
hills for making a liberal supply of jam. The process of
manufacture having been committed to me, I began by
sending a sturdy fellow for the berries, and telling our
coolie to clean out a large iron boiler we used for heating
bath-water, soaking clothes, and cooking heaps of rice
for the many native visitors who always loved to sojourn
in the out-rooms of our Chinese house. I also purchased
a liberal supply of good-sized clay jars, in which the
jam was to be stored up under paper covers firmly
fastened down with buffalo-hide glue.

At last the fateful day arrived, when a loud knocking
at the gate of the outer court announced the return of our
two burden-bearers with the berries. Having but little
knowledge of botany myself, I was guided by the native
brethren in rejecting some of the fruit brought out, had
a little cleaning done, and then told them to transfer
everything into the water of the slowly-heating boiler.

136

MY ONLY ATTEMPT AT JAM-MAKING 137

The heap having been soon reduced to a semi-fluid state,
I began adding one large bowlful of dark sugar after
another till the brimming point was reached ; after which,
an aboriginal brother was told to keep using his bamboo
spur tie without intermission.

At that moment, I was called away on important
Church business, and returned to find that the contents
of the boiler resembled a mass of dark molten asphalt.
About three times too much sugar had been put in, and
the strictly-enjoined process of stirring had been given
up, with the result that even our great misshapen house-
mastiff " Puddin " would not look at the jam, which had
to be thrown out at some distance from the house.

XXVI

PO-TSAI " AYE FINNIN' BITS o' THINGS "

As some of the foregoing Notes make a somewhat free use
of the name of Precious-Treasure (my cook), I should like
here to part from him with the gentlest of thoughts. We
roughed it together for many a year, and I ever found him
to be obedient, good-natured, and obliging. It is the
custom for any foreigner out here to pay a monthly wage
to such native servants, from which they make arrange-
ments for providing themselves with clothes, and for
cooking the supplies of food they lay in for their use.
The allowance given in this case was certainly insufficient
for any one to spend his days in riotous living ; so that
the Precious-Treasure's position with me must have
been like that of the Scotch servant-lass, who answered
her prospective mistress's apology for the smallness of the
salary offered by saying, " Oh, niver min' ; it'll dae,
fur I'll aye be finnin' bits o' things." Now, although
Precious-Treasure was thoroughly honest in the Pick-
wickian sense of the word, I have reluctantly to admit
that he must have been " aye finnin' bits o' things " for
himself in my own very modest little larder. For example,
it was some time before I could understand why he was
never satisfied with buying the usual daily fowl for me
when we would be sojourning at any of the country
stations, and why he kept urging that it would be much
better for him to secure good-sized goats, in order
that each of them might last for several days at a time.

138

PO-TSAI "AYE FINNIN' BITS o' THINGS " 139

Another curious thing was that the goats he bought
never appeared to have more than two legs, or three at
the very most. It was at one such juncture he went
away some distance on an errand, and I had occasion to
go into our small kitchen, when a sight met my eyes
which gave promise of more food for reflection than for
the stomach. The floor had on it three deep soup-pots
in full blast, while the tiny table and two forms were
covered with dishes containing the head, trotters, outer
integument, and internal organs of my recently pur-
chased goat ; the whole reminding me of that passage in
Leviticus where reference is made to " the fat of the
ram, that which covereth the inwards, the two kidneys,
and the caul above the liver, with the purtenances there-
of." On Precious-Treasure's return that night, I did
not say anything, but thought it as well he should be
allowed to enjoy his midnight gourmandizing in peace.

XXVII

GRAVITATION PILFERING OUR CANDLES

THE missionaries in China do not seem to have much
of a Servant-question to trouble them. This may be
because (i) they require to learn the language of the
people around them ; and (2) because a higher level of
morality may reasonably be looked for from youngsters
who make a profession of Christianity when coming into
service. I am quite aware of the opinion sometimes
expressed by mercantile and other foreign residents that
so-called Christian servants are morally much worse than
those who make no profession of religion ; and, when
one considers the weakness of poor human nature in all
of us, there can be no doubt that cases of the kind must
occasionally be met with. An instance recently occurred
at Hong-kong, where Mr. Tan refused to leave his post
without obtaining a certificate of character, and was
supplied with one to the following effect : — " I certify
that the professing Christian, Tan Ching, has been em-
ployed in my kitchen for eighteen months ; and that,
with honesty, cleanliness, and some knowledge of his art,
he might ultimately become a good cook."

Although of a somewhat different type, I may here refer
to another case, in which the chief actor comes before us
neither as a professing Christian nor an illiterate coolie.
Mr. Loa was a native scholar, who was engaged to do
copying work, and to drill us into the mysteries of the

140

GRAVITATION PILFERING OUR CANDLES 14!

spoken and written language of China. He wore a long
blue robe with wide sleeves ; came to our house every
day at 9 a.m., and remained till noon, during which time,
at intervals, he had to be left by himself whenever we were
called away to attend to other duties. He had already
been several months in our service when my colleague
one day remarked to me that some member of the
establishment must have fallen into thievish habits, as
candles and other small articles were continually disap-
pearing. He added that he was not at all assured of the
reliability even of Mr. Loa ; but to this I replied by saying
that our Teacher was surely far too serious-minded and
gentlemanly a man to be associated with such charges.
About a week after this, the two of us were again chatting
in our verandah, when Mr. Loa passed us at the close of
his labours for the day ; but, before going through the
outer gate, my colleague stepped forward to say something
to him, saw a long foreign candle inside his sleeve, pulled
it out, and simply held it up in front of His Moulviship.
I confess I felt exceedingly uncomfortable, and wondered
what form the humiliating confession and apology would
take. Confession and apology ! There was nothing
further from Mr. Loa's mind, for he only looked at my
colleague, straight in the face, and said, " Now, sir, as
you know everything about gravitation and the secret laws
of Nature, will you tell me how that candle came to be
there ? " He also appeared grieved to think we should
demean ourselves by harbouring any kind of unworthy
thoughts about himself ; so that, receiving no answer to
his enquiry, he quietly went out and left us to our own
reflections. Of course, we were thrown off our guard a
little at the composure, the fertility of resource, and the
abysmal impudence which could thus easily raise an act
of vulgar theft into the high region of philosophic specula-
tion. And yet, the rich and precious — although still

142 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

unworked — materials for discipleship were certainly there;
the possibilities of the whole incident reminding one of
Saul of Tarsus, who began life by being an arch-persecutor
of the Church of God, and ended by becoming the very
chief est of the Apostles.

XXVIII

CHINESE PATIENTS CAN BE GRATEFUL

THE Notes I am now writing have more than once referred
to the share which our medical colleagues have in con-
tributing to the progress of Christianity in Formosa.
Their work shows the immeasurable superiority of
Western methods of healing over those of the native
practitioners ; and the people soon come to see that it is
ever gone through in a humane and generous way for the
good of all classes. Whole volumes could be written on
this subject ; but what I wish to point out now is that
Chinese patients are not only capable of deep gratitude,
but oftentimes become helpful in leading others to a
knowledge of those Christian truths which they had first
heard themselves from the Doctor or his assistants.

An illustrative case occurs to me at present. When
walking through an inland town one day, I came within
sight of a man who seemed to be getting along comfortably
enough on a bamboo leg. His appearance immediately
suggested two thoughts : (i) That this man must have
come under the treatment of some foreign surgeon, as
no native practitioner would dare to undertake the
removal of anyone's limb ; and (2) That Nature sometimes
steps in to make substantial compensation for the losses
we sustain. I suppose that a well- join ted cork leg at
home would cost from ten to fifteen pounds sterling ;
but this man had simply inserted his stump into a piece
of light, carefully selected bamboo, fastened it there, and

143

144 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

commenced to walk about at a minimum of expense,
and with at least some degree of comfort. On coming
alongside of him, I politely asked if he had any objection
to my making a few enquiries about the loss of his honour-
able leg. " Are you Mr. Campbell ? " was the form his
reply took. After answering in the affirmative, and
saying that I was now on my way to a village twelve miles
further north, he at once pressed me to come to his house
for my mid-day meal. It turned out that during one of
my long evangelistic tours in the country, he had come as
an in-patient to the Hospital at Taiwan-fu in great distress
about his leg, that the Doctor had saved his life by remov-
ing it, and that the poor fellow had received still greater
blessing by being brought to know Him who came to heal
the broken-hearted, and to give His life a ransom for
many. On my return journey, I came to know of the
way in which this grateful Christian patient was giving
his testimony for the good of others. The neighbours
told me he was not always nagging at them, and reproving
them for this, that, and the other thing ; but that he was
himself greatly changed for the better, being quiet, and
modest, and very forbearing under the petty persecution
with which he was treated by some people of the baser
sort. The story was quite a familiar one to me ; for
experience had proved over and over again that the most
potent influence for spreading the saving truths of Chris-
tianity amongst us was not the preaching of the missionary
or his trained assistants, but the altered lives and humble
witnessing of unsalaried — oftentimes illiterate — native
brethren, to whom the " Gospel came, not in word only,
but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much
assurance."

I should remark here that although it is not easy for our
medical missionaries to get away from the heavy responsi-
bilities which keep pressing upon them in their Hospitals,

CHINESE PATIENTS CAN BE GRATEFUL 145

they do sometimes find it possible to take a journey into
the country, with results which are always much appreci-
ated by the people. On such occasions, a small stock of
medicine and other accessories is made up, and several of
the Hospital students or assistants accompany their Chief.
Let me, therefore, now refer to the case of an out-
patient, who came under the helpful ministrations of the
Doctor in a village about two days' travel south from
Taiwan-fu. We had long been attempting to begin
stated preaching work in that region, but the turbulent
Hakka population frustrated our efforts, and would not
permit their fellow-clansmen to meet for Christian
worship . In these circumstances, it was thought desirable
that a special conciliatory visit should be paid, and that
my colleague, Dr. Lang, should accompany me in order
to embrace any opportunity for the practice of his healing
art. Our head-quarters were made in the chapel at
Taw-kun-eng, from which village we made short journeys
in various directions. The people were quiet, and always
received us in a frank, open way. One day we met a
man whose appearance at once arrested attention . He was
evidently a travelling barber, as could be seen from the
outfit he was carrying ; but it was the dreadful unsightli-
ness of his face which impressed us. From his upper lip
there hung, well down over the mouth, a mass of purplish-
coloured flesh, which gave the man an almost hideous
appearance, and must have caused him any amount of
discomfort. Indeed, his own imperfectly spoken words
informed us that for many years the process of eating
or of using his opium-pipe had been an all but intolerable
one for him. I asked the Doctor what he thought, but
he wisely would not commit himself till he knew more
about the possibilities in our present situation. As this
travelling barber had been hearing some favourable

things about Dr. Lang's skill and kindness, he readily
10

146 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

consented to accompany us to the chapel to see what could
be done. A long and very minute investigation took
place that afternoon, and our friend was told that if he
returned next morning the Doctor would undertake an
operation, which would almost certainly free him from
his awful misery. We were greatly pleased that he kept
his promise to come ; thus enabling us to make arrange-
ments for him to have two days of complete rest and
taking in as much nourishment as possible, before coming
in contact with the lancet. He was an hour and a half
under chloroform, and I thought that the courage and
cautious, skilful work of my young colleague were a great
credit to him. I need not here go into such details as
picking up the gushing blood-vessels, or deft needling
of the flaps ; but may add that, at the close, I had the
excised mass put into a wide-mouthed glass jar, immersed
in strong native spirit, and a label fastened outside giving
a concise account in Chinese of the whole transaction.
Our patient was not allowed to get up for a week, during
every hour of which he was attended to by one or the other
of us, both by night and by day. When he began to feel
somewhat comfortable, a small looking-glass was placed
before him, but had to be immediately removed, as the
broad, grateful, and joyous smile which spread over his
features was too great a strain on the stitches. I do not
know if the result of all this was what might be called the
" conversion " of our humble friend, but it is simple truth
to say that he shed copious tears of gratitude on parting
from Dr. Lang, and would even have worshipped him
if he had been told to do so. We really must have a
place for that stage where men are seen only as trees
walking. The poor barber may not have added many
names to our Baptismal Roll, but may God send us many
more such strenuous experiences as we had that time in
the secluded little chapel at Taw-kun-eng !

XXIX

MORE ABOUT THE CANADIAN MISSION

I HAVE just had an opportunity of going over a good part
of the Canada Presbyterian Mission field in North
Formosa ; but, before referring to what is being done
there, it may be well to state a few things about our
own stations I visited while on the way going up.

It was on 3rd September, 1878, that the junior colporteur
and myself set out from Taiwan-fu. We passed the first
night with our brethren at Hwan-a-chan, and halted for
lunch the following day with a member of our Ka-poa-soa
congregation. He told us that since the burning of the
chapel in his village by Gaw-chi-ko's men, the enemies
of the Church had been much quieter. They evidently
saw that the Authorities were now compelled to use a
firm hand in dealing with those constantly recurring anti-
Christian outrages, while the indemnifying process of
erecting a new chapel at the public expense assured them
that their day of reckoning had come. It would certainly
take a long time to recount all the persecutions we have
witnessed in this region during the past few years.

On arriving at Ka-gi city, the County Magistrate paid
me an official visit, during which I expressed to him our
satisfaction that the decision of the recent Court of Inquiry
was being faithfully carried out. That Court was held
at Giam-cheng, under the presidency of two officers of
superior rank, and for the express purpose of dealing with
the Peh-tsui-khe troubles of 1875, the murder of Brother

147

148 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

Un Ong, the chapel-burning at Ka-poa-soa, and many
other acts of assault and plunder of the native Christians.
Proceedings were carried on in a large Temple, and had
rather an imposing appearance, about two hundred
armed soldiers being present as a body-guard. At one
stage some of these were told off to accompany the Second
Commissioner to have the mouldering remains of Un Ong
taken up for examination. This item of our complaint
was altogether new to those high-class mandarins, as the
local Thong-su had failed to report the matter. At the
close of a very long examination of witnesses, and on my
stating that several well-known persecutors were still
openly boasting of what they would do, the Second
Commissioner at once replied by saying that the heads
of those law-breakers would be sent down to Taiwan-fu
to-morrow. It was ultimately agreed that all the ring-
leaders should be seized for punishment ; that the
Thong-su and Goa-in of the district should be degraded
from office ; that the Authorities should have a new chapel
erected in Ka-poa-soa, and that suitable Proclamations
should be posted up all over the county. I need only
add that the services of Consul Frater have been simply
invaluable at this time. Under God, it is to his firm and
considerate action that a brighter day has now commenced
to shine for us in the Ka-gi region.

On Thursday, our party halted at several large towns,
where crowds of people were addressed, and hundreds of
tracts were readily purchased. Tau-lak is the name of
one of these towns. It lies about thirteen miles to the
north-east of Ka-gi city, and would make a very good
stage on our journeys to or from Po-li-sia ; being, more-
over, a place where we have always been able to reckon
on having large companies of attentive hearers. We
spent that evening in the village of Liu-liu-pan. There
was no inn here, but the local civil officer kindly secured

MORE ABOUT THE CANADIAN MISSION 149

accommodation in a neighbouring little temple. After
supper, the people gathered into the open porch in front,
to whom we preached and sold tracts till about midnight.

It was on the following day we passed through the
market-town of Lim-ki-paw, where several dollars' worth
of books and tracts could easily have been sold, had it
been possible to halt for an hour or so. We met with
unusually heavy rains during the afternoon of that day,
and the crossing of a number of mountain torrents also
helped to retard our progress. Darkness found us wander-
ing about on a stony plain, where roving bands of head-
hunting savages occasionally make their appearance.
The right path had somehow escaped us, and the people
were all in bed when we came straggling into the little
hamlet of Tsui-li-khe.

Po-li-sia was reached late on the evening of the following
day, still in the midst of heavy rain ; and this, with the
dampness of the room in which I was put up, brought on
cold and a sharp attack of aguish fever, which kept me
rather weak for several days. I was glad to learn that
the three Po-li-sia Churches continue to show signs of true
spiritual progress. On this occasion, it was my privilege
to examine thirty candidates for baptism, and twelve
of these were gladly welcomed to the table of the Lord.
Arrangements are now being completed for building a
new chapel at Aw-gu-lan, and for using the present chapel
as a schoolroom. One source of much concern to the
Po-li-sia people now is the hostility of the neighbouring
savages, who keep lurking about the base of the hills,
and rush out whenever the opportunity of obtaining a
head presents itself. One of our Church members was
very recently cut off in this way, and the people dare not
go out to their daily work in the fields without carrying
their weapons with them.

I think it probable that, before long, very important

I5O SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

changes will take place in Po-li-sia. The Chinese settlers
still continue to increase in number ; the walls of a new
city are now being built, and our Sek-hwan brethren are
sure to find it difficult to hold their own under the new
order of things. It is, however, very reassuring to know
that the Christian worshippers now scattered over the
Po-li-sia villages number about a thousand, and that we
often hear of their good conduct even from those who have
no thought of abandoning their idols. There has been a
recent addition of several families to two of the congrega-
tions, and only one person had to be placed under Church
discipline at this time.

I cannot but refer here to the satisfaction with which our
brethren still speak of the late visit of Mr. and Mrs.
Ritchie to Po-li-sia. It was the first occasion on which
a European lady had travelled so far north. Her short
stay at each of those distant churches has given a decided
impulse to the educational work among the female
portion of our people, and friends at home are little aware
how much we are indebted to Mrs. Ritchie's unfailing
cheerfulness, good sense, and activity in helping on the
cause of Christ in Formosa.

I remained two Sabbaths in Po-li-sia, and started for
Toa-sia on Thursday, igth September, arriving there on
Saturday the 2ist. It was my privilege to baptize
three adults at this station, and dispense the Communion
on Sabbath the 29 th. During the intervening days,
several short missionary tours were made to the neigh-
bouring towns ; those visited including Gaw-chay,
Gu-ma-thau, Haw-law-tun, and Tang-si-kak ; in each of
which open-air meetings were held and tracts sold. With
several of the brethren a visit was also paid to Lai-sia,
where great changes have taken place within the past
few months. I would be almost afraid to say how many
of the Church people with other natives have recently

MORE ABOUT THE CANADIAN MISSION

been murdered by savages. Indeed, the position has
become so dangerous that our brethren have determined
to abandon the place, and are now engaged in removing
their goods and furniture to Toa-sia, only the able-bodied
men remaining to act as soldiers till the present crop of
rice be gathered in. The savages are quite aware of this
intention, and my fear is that some general massacre may
take place before harvest-time. During my stay on the
present occasion, it was almost impossible to sleep at
nights owing to incessant beating of the watch-signals.
Three persons were murdered shortly before 'my arrival,
including Elder Bun-liong, and one brother lost his head
only two days before I left.

Having thus gone the round of our own stations in the
Chiang-ho County, I continued my journey northward to
Tamsui, which was reached on the afternoon of our
fourth day's walk from Lai-sia. Of course, Brother
Mackay gave me a right hearty welcome, and accompanied
me on a tour of inspection through all his stations. This
included a six days' travel over what is called the Kabalan,
Kap-tsu-lan, or Gi-lan, Plain, on the north-east coast of
Formosa.

At Saw Bay I obtained permission to go a day's journey
further south in a Government junk, but the officials
became suspicious as the captain and myself were going
on board, and prevented me from leaving. The territory
occupied by the savages south of Saw Bay was then in a
very disturbed state ; but, from the place to which the
junk was going, a comparatively safe road ran across the
mountains to Heng-chun, and from that on to Yaiwan-fu. f
I was, therefore, much disappointed at this interruption,
although all that could be done was to table my passport,
and say to those underlings that they had better be careful
what they were about. Our two nights at Saw Bay were
spent in a large dirty damp temple, where we had some

152 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

interesting conversation with the resident priest, who was
sick, and nearing the end of his earthly course. Poor,
comfortless, lonely man ! He was somebody's son, and
my heart was truly sad for him.

There seemed to be a fine opening all along the Gi-lan
Plain for the Canadian Mission to go in and possess the
land. Mr. Mackay was received as an old friend in some
places, although he had paid only one or two previous
visits. There are at least four large towns there ; in
every one of which, if at home, one would be sure to find
several congregations of the Episcopalians, Congregational-
ists, Baptists, Methodists, Mormons and Free-thinkers ;
with all sorts of Missions and Societies for the benefit of
saints and sinners alike.

As to that part of the Tamsui Field where work is
now going on, I have already seen ten of the churches, and
my intention is to start from Keelung on Monday first
to visit the remaining five. In addition to these fifteen
churches, there are six or seven schools in operation, two
Bible- women at work, and six students in daily attendance
on Mr. Mackay 's instructions. I am told that the entire
adult Church membership is at present a little over two
hundred ; the two finely situated missionary bungalows,
with a Mission Hospital about to be erected at Port
Tamsui, also showing the prosperity of our sister Mission
in North Formosa. And yet, it is not from any such
bare enumeration we can see how much has been accom-
plished during the past seven years. One requires to see
the chapels, to have some acquaintance with those fifteen
preachers, and to mingle among the Church members
and much larger body of adherents, in order to judge
correctly of a work, not less remarkable in extent than it
is singularly healthful and well developed in all its parts.

There can be no doubt that, so far as the Field itself
is concerned, the lines have fallen in remarkably pleasant

MORE ABOUT THE CANADIAN MISSION 153

places to the Canadian Mission. A few hours' sail in one
of the river boats brings one to the greater number of the
out-stations, the scenery in every direction is really grand,
the climate colder than at Taiwan-fu, and extreme
poverty and ignorance among the people less frequently
to be met with than in other parts of the Island.

With all this, however, it is necessary to get introduced
to God's main instrument in accomplishing the results
above referred to. Mr. Mackay is a little man, firm and
active, of few words, unflinching courage, and one whose
sound common sense is equalled only by his earnest
devotion to the Master. He began by labouring to know
the language well himself ; and came soon to think that,
so far as he dared to give it direction, his work had better
for a time be confined to the Chinese part of the popula-
tion. During the first year of his stay at Tamsui, he
began an educational and evangelistic training movement
among the young men who came about him, and this has
been greatly blessed throughout that northern part of the
Island. Moreover, the chapels there are well grouped
together, our brother going on the plan of very gradual
extension, with occasional long evangelistic tours into
the territory which is still unoccupied. On such journeys,
his work has been greatly helped by practising as a dentist
in the towns and villages through which he passed.
From the chewing of betel-nut and other similar habits
the Chinese suffer much from decaying teeth, so that
Mr. Mackay is thus able, on a short, passing visit, to do
a maximum of good to the bodies of the people, with a
minimum amount of entanglement in extraneous matters.
I noticed, too, that great attention is paid to the praise
part of worship in the Tamsui churches. The singing
among the brethren is distinct, hearty, and frequent ;
while our brother himself generally begins any open-air
service by singing one of our appropriate Chinese hymns.

XXX

FRENCH BLOCKADE OF FORMOSA

THE Franco-Chinese War of 1884-5 came very near to us,
and I can now give only a short statement of some things
which took place. It was early in September of the former
year that the people of Taiwan-fu were startled to hear
that the northern port of Keelung had been bombarded,
and that French men-of-war might be hourly expected to
commence hostilities in the southern part of the Island.
As the missionaries were the only European residents in
the capital, their position soon came to be somewhat
uncomfortable, if not even quite dangerous. The un-
settling rumours which got into circulation had plainly
some foundation of truth in them, and if these had been
followed up by the threatened attack of rowdyism and
anti-foreign hatred, it is easy to see that, humanly
speaking, our escape would have been all but impossible.
In such a case, the privilege of British nationality could
not have saved us, as the Chinese are unable to distinguish
one outer-barbarian from another, even although they
wished to do so. I still remember the mistakes which
were constantly made when the Japanese landed a
punitive force against the savages of South Formosa ten
years ago. It was then a thing of daily occurrence even
for intelligent Chinamen to ask if we and the Japanese
inhabited the same country, spoke the same language, and
were all subjects of the same Hwan-ong or Foreign-king.
And so at this time ; for the strong feeling and opposition
shown was far less anti-French than it was anti-foreign.

154

FRENCH BLOCKADE OF FORMOSA 155

About the middle of September, matters became so
critical in Taiwan-fu that the Authorities interdicted us
from continuing the visitation of our country stations ;
while soon after we were unanimous in thinking that, for
a time at least, our students should be dismissed to their
homes. I may add that, for weeks before, hundreds of
well-to-do people had been removing their families to
places of safety in the low-lying hill region eastward from
Taiwan-fu. Our work was thus brought virtually to a
standstill ; and it was during that interval of prayerful,
anxious waiting we received an official circular from
Takow which seemed to call for still more decided action
upon our part. This circular was sent to us by the Com-
mander of a British gun-boat then stationed at Takow ;
and began by stating that, from information received, an
early bombardment of the southern ports might be looked
for, but that protection would be afforded to Europeans
by coming on board within one hour after notice had been
given by the sounding of an alarm bell. The circular
went on to say that, when the Takow people were all on
board, the gun-boat would immediately steam up to
An-peng to give similar opportunity to any residents there
who wished to avail themselves of the protection of the
British flag. The position of our mission party will be
better understood if I add that Taiwan-fu is situated fully
three miles inland from the port of An-peng, while vessels
anchoring require to lie in the open roadstead about two
miles off from the shore.

In keeping, therefore, with the offer now made, and
acting on the advice of our Consul, we at once arranged
to have the ladies of the party brought over to Amoy ;
it being also decided that only as many of the missionaries
should remain in Taiwan-fu as would secure a continuance
of the work carried on in the Hospital. I brought over
the archives of the mission with those colleagues who came

156 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

to the mainland ; but, a few days after our arrival there,
tidings came of the bombardment of Tamsui, with an
official notice that the French had placed the whole
western side of Formosa under what was called " a pacific
but strict blockade." Dr. Anderson and Mr. Thow have
thus been shut up in Taiwan-fu for the last six weeks,
and we sojourners at Amoy have repeatedly been refused
the opportunity of relieving them, or communicating
with Formosa in any way whatever.

About a month ago Dr. Mackay, of the Canadian
Mission, passed through Amoy to join his family at Hong
Kong. He then supplied us with a very graphic and a
very sad account of what had been taking place in the
northern part of the Island. It was estimated that the
French must have poured upwards of a thousand shells
into Tamsui alone. Their firing was criticised as having
been of the most wild and reckless nature. Every
European house was struck, and nearly every member of
the small foreign community was exposed for whole days
to the most alarming danger. A piece of a shell, upwards
of thirty pounds in weight, smashed through the roof
of Dr. Mackay's house and buried itself in the floor of the
hall at a place where people were constantly passing.
Dr. Mackay also stated that a widespread and serious
outbreak had taken place against the native Christians.
Two of them had been speared to death by Chinese rowdies,
and no fewer than seven of those fine northern chapels
had been levelled to their foundations. May God send
speedy deliverance to His people ! We rejoice to learn
that, till five weeks ago, our brethren in South Formosa
have been preserved from such painful and bitter experi-
ences.

Of course, it is impossible to say when we may be able
to return to Formosa, or what may be the conditions
under which our work will be resumed. The general

FRENCH BLOCKADE OF FORMOSA 157

opinion seems to be that severe fighting must take place
all over the Island before long, and that any foreigners
who are still there will be compelled to leave or run the
risk of being slaughtered.

To refer now to Amoy. Nothing could exceed the
kindness of our missionary friends there when, somewhat
empty-handed, we arrived amongst them. Dr. Maxwell
did not come over with the first party, and a good deal of
sickness lay upon us for more than a fortnight, but
nothing could exceed the self-denying kindness of Dr.
MacLeish. He endeared himself to us by his sympathy
and constant attention.

Another item which presented to us the bright side of
things was the fact that, in coming to Amoy, we came to
mingle among native brethren who speak the same
colloquial as our own people in Formosa ; at a time, too,
when it grieved one to see this oldest centre of our Mission
with only four colleagues to undertake an amount of
work which might well have taxed the energies of ten.
For my own part, it has been a great joy and privilege
to visit such places as Peh-tsui-ia and An-hai, and to see
there fully organized congregations having their own
native pastors and teachers, and carrying on a work
which is bringing light and gladness into many a poor
heathen home.

My recent two weeks' sojourn in the Chin-chiu and
Eng-chun prefectures was truly a time of great privilege.
The last occasion on which I travelled over this road was
with Dr. Douglas in 1874. Every one knows that it was
a favourite journey with him. Ah, yes ! How he
prayed, and toiled, and waited for the coming of Christ's
kingdom in that region, and how it would have rejoiced
his heart to see the way in which it is now opening up to
the gracious and healing influence of the Gospel ! What
a grand old city is Chin-chiu ! In our Field there is nothing

a gicuiu, Ul

158 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

at all to compare with it : its ancient history, literary
renown, and large population being far ahead of anything
to be met with in Formosa. Our colleague, Dr. Grant,
has his Hospital there, and he is the only European
resident in the city. I have never met with any man who
seems more thoroughly beloved by people both inside of
the Church and out of it. His abundant labours in the
Hospital are fast opening up a large and magnificent region
inland from Chin-chiu, about which our mainland brethren
will have something interesting to say before very long.
I was myself charmed with the country all along the north
bank of Chin-chiu river, while the Eng-chun valley
seemed to be simply an ideal spot in which an inland
branch of the Mission might be established at some
future time. The old Church Elder who was with me
knew the region well, and led on through 1;he district city
to a number of large villages, where the people gladly
listened to all we said to them.

On our return journey to Amoy, we halted for a night
in the house of Brother Kiat, who attends the services
at Sian-wan. He accompanied me to the chapel there on
Saturday, and it was my privilege to receive him and
another man into Church membership on the following
day. In various out-of-the-way places are met with
persons who had been inmates of the Hospital at Chin-
chiu ; and the roll of patients kept, shows that thousands
of such people must be scattered throughout this part of
the country. What a pity that two or three married
missionaries cannot now be spared to go and take up their
residence in Chin-chiu ! Why does not the Church at
home send out a like-minded clerical brother to labour
with Dr. Grant ?

XXXI

PLEASANT BANISHMENT TO AMOY

THE French blockade still continues, and there is no
getting over to Formosa. It is a great comfort that,
during this season of exile, the Island missionaries do
not require to remain in idleness. Our Amoy brethren
give us every facility for being useful, and we have no
linguistic difficulties in speaking with the Chinese around
us. As, therefore, work among them is quite identical
with our own, some notes of a recent journey may appro-
priately be inserted here.

I left Amoy on the I4th of last month, and reached
Peh-tsui-ia about noon the same day. It is usual for the
missionaries to halt at Peh-tsui-ia on their way to stations
further inland, in order to confer with Pastor Tan Swan-
leng about little matters which are always arising at one
or other of the country churches. I spent about two
hours with him on this occasion, and could not but see what
a most helpful man our Amoy colleagues have in this
worthy Chinese co-presbyter.

Going on afterwards to lu-boe-kio, I arrived at the
chapel there a little before sunset. Tek-tsu is the preacher
at present in charge there. He is one of the older members
of the Mission, and while sitting late with him that evening
after worship I listened with much interest to the account
he gave me of the early history of his little congregation.
Tek-tsu himself is a fine sort of man, active, well-in-
formed, and with, I should say, a good deal of quiet

159

l6o SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

enduring earnestness about him. It is quite evident he
has been deeply impressed with the example of our pioneer
missionary, the Rev. W. C. Burns, M.A., and it was very
refreshing to listen to his reminiscences of that devoted
servant of God.

On Sabbath, the I4th, I was up betimes, and after
prayer with a few friends who came in, started for the
village of Aw-sai, to enter the chapel there just as the
brethren had concluded morning worship. At the after-
noon service I addressed an attentive audience on St.
Paul's statement about having learned, in whatsoever
state he was, to be content. We had a smaller meeting
in the evening, when a further opportunity was given me
of exhorting the brethren to adorn the doctrine of God
our Saviour in all things. It may be well to mention
here that the congregations at lu-boe-kio, Aw-sai, and
Liong-bun-si are united under one Session, thus making
it possible to have the Sacraments dispensed once a month
at each place in rotation. The brethren were now looking
forward to having their next general united meeting at
Liong-bun-si on Sabbath first ; and I engaged to under-
take whatever pastoral work might then be necessary,
and occupy several spare days in visiting the Church
members in their homes, and evangelizing throughout
the region.

On Monday, the i6th, I was much pleased to find that
two colporteurs and three of the preachers had arrived
to join me in this much-needed work among the villages.
We had an early meeting for prayer, and a short considera-
tion of Christ's charge to His twelve disciples, and then
left for a village about two miles distant ; doing so in good
hope that favourable opportunities would be given us, and
that God would use our message for stirring the hearts
of those who are perishing for lack of knowledge. On
entering, we found that many of the people were out at

PLEASANT BANISHMENT TO AMOY l6l

work in their fields, but no sooner went to the village temple
than the building became filled with women and children,
and about a score of elderly men. I began by saying
that we had come with good news to them that morning,
even to tell them how they could all be made holy and
happy, both for time and eternity. The first twelve verses
of chapter v. of St. Matthew's Gospel were then read, and
a long address followed on the way by which even they
could attain to the character and the blessedness of the
man therein described. It was very encouraging to observe
the respectful attention paid by the female portion of
the audience, one old woman especially giving earnest
heed to the words which were spoken ; and, at the close,
asking me if all I had been saying were really true. Several
short addresses from the others were afterwards given,
and before leaving the people purchased from us over two
hundred cash worth of Christian tracts.

We then removed to a village about three miles off in
another direction, one object of our going there being to
have some conversation with a Church member who
required to be spoken to about his long-continued absence
from public worship. I was glad this brother took in
very good part all we said to him. He did not attempt
to justify himself, but frankly admitted that he had been
living in a careless way for years past, that during all
the time he had been very unhappy ; but that, with God's
help, he would again try and walk worthy of the vocation
wherewith he had been called. After this, more than an
hour was spent by us in addressing a crowd of the villagers
who assembled at the foot of a tree, and who listened to
our message with much apparent intelligence and goodwill.
One man asked what kind of ceremonies should be used
in the worship of God — if it was necessary to burn incense-
sticks or gilt-paper in presenting any petition to Him.

Of course, the Chinese know nothing whatever of worship
ii

162 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

in the Christian sense of the word, and it is almost im-
possible to get them to understand what is meant by
adoration, or praise, or spiritual communion with God.
They offer brief petitions to their idols only when threat-
ened with evil, or in order to obtain some mere worldly
good ; so that the sight of a Christian company engaged
in lengthened prayer or praise to vacancy — as it seems
to them — is always a puzzle to the heathen mind. I
remember the Sek-hwan of Lai-sia telling me long ago that,
when Dr. Maxwell paid his first visit to them, great doubts
were entertained on their being asked to close their eyes
while trying to join in with the prayers that were offered.
The worthy Doctor probably little thought that, for some
time during the earlier days of Christian work there, a
number of those hardy mountaineers kept their weapons
at hand, and took their turn at watching him through
their open fingers during prayer, in case any injury
might have been done to them.

On the way back to Aw-sai for some refreshment, we
halted at a third village, and it was there that Colporteur
Ham agreeably surprised me by giving a most thoughtful,
interesting, and spirited address. The people were
immensely pleased with his rather humorous way of
putting some things, and seemed to be just as much
impressed when he spoke to them of their sinfulness, and
of the salvation provided for them in Christ Jesus. Poor
Ham is one of the three brethren who received three
hundred blows from the lie tor's bamboo before the
District Magistrate for helping to secure chapel premises
in the neighbouring town of Chang-pu. I put him down
as being dull and somewhat listless in his work, but had
now received a lesson on the mistake of making up one's
mind too hastily, and in judging from a regard to mei
outward appearances. While trudging along to Aw-s
that afternoon, Brother Ham seemed to be much pleaj

PLEASANT BANISHMENT TO AMOY 163

with the few encouraging remarks I made about his
really good address.

The latter part of the afternoon was occupied in visiting
a number of brethren who are under Church discipline
for neglect of ordinances ; some of them for conduct even
much more unbecoming. It should be remembered that
such lapsed members are exposed to very great temptation,
the wonder being that their spiritual life should hold
out much longer than a day amid the adverse influences
which surround them. One thing is certain that, when
they do begin to absent themselves from public worship,
their downward course is usually only a question of time.
Few of them are able to read the Scriptures for themselves,
by far the greater number being wholly dependent on
the discourses of the preacher for their knowledge of
Christian truth. It is thus very evident that, besides
faithfulness, one requires to have a very tender, loving
heart in dealing with such brethren ; and oh the need of
God's own Spirit of grace to impart life, and bring back
those poor erring ones to the love and service of our Lord !

The whole of Tuesday the I7th was spent by us in
itinerating among a number of villages to the north-west
of Aw-sai. We returned in the evening with hoarse voices
and tired limbs, but feeling glad and grateful that the
Lord had opened for us so wide a door of entrance. The
people everywhere were most friendly, and seemed to
think themselves highly honoured in being visited by a
deputation consisting of one foreigner and five well-dressed
fellow-countrymen. At nearly every halting-place they
brought out chairs and forms for use ; and in one village,
the kindly simple-hearted people had a table placed
outside, on which were provided for us little dishes
containing tea, and the choicest collection of sweetmeats
that could be had. I suppose that our audience of
Whiteleaf Grove must have numbered about two hundred.

164 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

They seemed very much interested in all the short ad-
dresses which were given ; and, at the close, purchased
from us between two and three hundred cash worth of
tracts.

Wednesday the i8th was a day of pouring, continuous
rain, and early that morning I told my hearty little
company of workers to begin their preparations at once,
as I intended to examine them in the evening on every-
thing they could find out about St. Paul's Epistle to Titus.
The examination was to be given viva voce, but in order
to economize time, all the questions put to them would be
written out. I have seldom seen so much diligence
shown in preparing for any examination. In order to
lay a good foundation, and in the hope that nothing would
escape them, the colporteurs made the most strenuous
efforts to commit the whole Epistle to memory ; while
the preachers, fearing lest the attack might come upon
them from another direction, dived into the meaning of
the Chinese characters, made out all sorts of indices, and
ransacked the Acts and other Epistles for notices of Titus
and the Island of Crete. We had evening worship at
7 o'clock, and then retired to an upper room of the chapel,
where two and a half hours were spent in examining,
and in giving as complete and accurate an account as I
could of the contents of the Epistle. Their answers
came quite up to my expectation, and I can truly say that
every one of us benefited by this effort to know more of
Titus, and of his interesting and important work.

The morning of Thursday the igth found us all similarly
occupied with the Sermon on the Mount ; but about
10 o'clock the rain ceased, and the sky brightened with
the promise of a beautiful afternoon and evening. We
accordingly called a halt to our studies, and were soon
on the way for a group of villages which had not yet

PLEASANT BANISHMENT TO AMOY 165

been visited by any of the preachers. On nearing the
first one, we could not explain the presence of an unusual
number of men, but learned that when driven from their
work by the rain, they had betaken themselves to gambling
in several large empty barns, and were by no means
disposed to hasten to their fields when an opportunity
was given them for doing so. They listened to us for a
short time, but it was evident that the gambling had much
more attraction for them than the doctrine. I fear we did
little good in that village. Nor had we much success at
our next halting-place, the interruption this time arising
from scores of mischievous boys, who kept up so much
shouting and excitement among themselves that it was
impossible to obtain a patient hearing. The barking of
several coarse, wolfish-looking dogs also contributed to
our annoyance and disgust. A much better reception
awaited us at the next stage, where about a hundred of
the villagers came out and quietly listened to us. The
majority of them were women, a class it is almost impos-
sible to reach except by evangelizing in this way, or by
lady missionaries speaking to them in their own homes ;
the absurd practice of foot-binding being one of the Devil's
own devices for preventing the women of China from
walking any considerable distance to attend our
chapels.

It was with regret that, after prayer on the morning of
Friday the 20th, we all prepared to separate, the preachers
to prepare for their Sunday services, the colporteurs for
another throw of the net down south, and myself for a
Session meeting in view of the Communion services at
Liong-bun-si on Sabbath first. I spent the whole of the
following week with several native brethren in this
preaching and visiting work among the villages of the
Khi-boe region, and reached Amoy just in time for the

1 66 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

meeting of Presbytery, which was held during the opening
days of that month.

I returned with a deep conviction that our present
position in China very much requires that we should aim
at some such combination of evangelistic, pastoral, and
teaching work as has now been indicated. Many of our
preachers have to be sent out after a most imperfect
course of training. They are stationed in villages where
they often meet with very little sympathy from their
neighbours, and even with opposition from those who ought
to be their warmest friends. What I feel therefore is, that
we should try and be away from our residences for months
at a time, gather together five or six of the preachers
of some district, and carry through with them special
courses of Bible study and open-air preaching. The work
carried on in our Theological Colleges and High Schools
is certainly of great importance, and we require a great deal
more of it, but the branch of service I am now speaking
of is that which must have gone on among the Galilean
hills, or as the little company came down south, or ex-
tended their journeyings beyond the Jordan. Nothing,
too, like united work of this kind for developing the latent
energies of the missionary himself. In the Seminary
or School, obedience is the order of the day ; but once let
a man take the road with five or six sharp earnest young
fellows, and he must be either an angel or an ass who will
not require his whole wits about him !

From the present experience, there is at least one
individual who would do well to attend to the following
points : — First, the need of more careful preparation
for a missionary journey like this — preparation for work
among the Church members and office-bearers, for class-
work with the preachers, and especially for going out to
speak to those who are still sitting contentedly in the region

PLEASANT BANISHMENT TO AMOY 167

and shadow of death. Second, the need for giving
greater — much greater — prominence to the written Word
on every occasion. Let there be less answering of heathen
objection, of moral discourse, and even of mere expound-
ing ; but far more prayerful selections from, and clear
distinct reading of, God's own message to the poor sinful
people He wishes to bless.

XXXII

PIONEERING ON THE PESCADORES

THE Pescadores, consisting of over twenty inhabited
islands, besides several islets and rocks, lie off the south-
west coast of Formosa at a minimum distance of about
twenty-five miles, the entire group being set down on the
charts as extending from latitude 23° 12' to 23° 47' N.
and from longitude 119° 19' to 119° 41' E. They form
together the Dashing Lake (Phi-aw) County or Ting of
the Taiwan (Formosa) Prefecture, and are placed under
the control of resident civil and military mandarins,
who report to their superior officers at Taiwan-fu.

According to surveys made by the late Captain Collin-
son, R.N., the largest island is forty-eight miles, and the
second largest seventeen miles, in circumference. The
former of these occupies a north-east position, and is
known in native statistical books by the name of Great
Island ; while the latter is situated at an average distance
of fully three miles west from Great Island, and is called
West Island by the Chinese, and Fisher Island by Euro-
peans.

Ma-keng, on the south-west end of Great Island, is
the principal town of the group. It overlooks one of the
inlets of the large, well-sheltered harbour of the same
name, and is the headquarters of a considerable junk
trade which is carried on between those islands and the
west coast of Formosa. The passage between Great
Island and Fisher Island is narrowed very much at its

168

PIONEERING ON THE PESCADORES 169

northern end by the land trending inwards from both
sides, and to the deep lagoon or bay thus formed the
Chinese apply the name Dashing Lake ; which, as already
stated, is also given to the whole county. The other large
islands are all found to the southward of Great Island ;
first, Rover Channel, about six miles broad ; and then,
Steeple Channel, about three miles broad, having to be
crossed before any boat leaving Ma-keng Harbour, can
go on to Junk Island, the southernmost limit of the group.

As seen from a distance, the Pescadores present an
appearance which is decidedly bleak and unimpressive.
In no direction does the land rise higher than three hundred
feet above sea-level ; the greater part of it being even much
lower than this, of table-like flatness, and almost wholly
destitute of trees and bushes. It is only on closer
inspection that the larger islands especially come into
a more favourable light. Those bare, sandy-looking
plains are then found to be under a high state of cultiva-
tion ; and although, on account of strong winds, drought,
and uncongenial soil, a rice field is scarcely to be seen,
this want is never felt while gazing upon those broad,
waving fields of Barbadoes millet. The numerous
villages, too, having clean and substantially built houses
of coral walls and tiled roofs (instead of the familiar
bamboo frame-work and grass- thatching of Formosa),
add to the attractiveness of the scene. The villages are
usually situated in snug little bays, or up some quiet
little creek, where boats obtain both shelter and a ready
outlet to the sea.

The population of the Pescadores is stated by intelligent
natives to be about eighty thousand, and there seems
less difficulty in coming to a fairly correct estimate upon
this point from the fact of the inhabitants being parcelled
out into so many islanders, amongst whom there is
constant inter-communication, and whose circumstances

170 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

are all thoroughly well-known to the merchant and official
classes at Ma-keng. As in the case of Formosa, the great
majority of them are the descendants of settlers from the
southern half of the Fokien Province.

Most of the farming work is done by the female portion
of the people, while the men are engaged in their fishing-
boats, or in conducting the extensive bartering trade
between Formosa and the Pescadores ; the export
articles of this trade, consisting chiefly of salted fish,
ground-nuts, pigs, fowls, and eggs, which are given in
exchange for rice, sweet-potatoes, fruit, salt, and other
such commodities. A matter for much regret is that,
with the importation of those necessary articles, a large
quantity of opium is also brought over. In an isolated
place like this, it would not have awakened any surprise
had the use of the drug been altogether unknown, but
this is far from being the case, as opium is in much greater
demand here than it is in the fishing villages of Western
Formosa. By way of explanation, the people said that
stormy weather would sometimes place them in enforced
idleness for weeks at a time, and that many of them smoked
opium to obtain relief from rheumatism and severe head-
aches.

It ought to be added that the young people in the
Pescadores receive an amount of education which is
very gratifying. Nearly every village has its school,
and I was informed that it is quite an ordinary occurrence
for more than one hundred youths to go over to the
examinations for Chinese degrees which are held tri-
ennially at Taiwan-fu. Graduates of the first degree are
frequently to be met with, and even Ku-jin, or second
degree men, have their ancestral home here, while an
insignificant little island was pointed out to me as the
birth-place of one who obtained his much coveted third
degree at Peking.

PIONEERING ON THE PESCADORES 17!

The Pescadores came first prominently under the notice
of western nations in the early part of the seventeenth
century. It was in 1622 that the commanders of an
expedition from Holland were repulsed in an attempt to
establish a settlement at Macao, and it was during the
course of the following year that their small fleet sailed
up the coast of China, and took possession of these
islands. The resistance offered to them must have been
very slight. Trade with Formosa was still a question
of the future, communication with the mainland much
less frequent than it is at present, and the inhabitants
of the Pescadores, then few in number, were dependent
almost exclusively upon their own slender resources for
sustenance and protection. The conclusion, therefore,
arrived at by the officers in charge was that it would
be madness to engage in conflict with those powerful
strangers, and that no alternative was left but to see the
Dutch flag unfurled over what was afterwards to become
the Dashing Lake County of Taiwan.

Of course, intelligence of what had taken place was
soon conveyed to the Provincial Governor. Captain
Collinson thus continues the narrative : " The Authorities
at Amoy and Fuh-chau unsuccessfully endeavoured to
drive out the new-comers ; but failing to do so, they
urged them to leave for the much richer island of Formosa.
This was at first declined , but after a series of negotiations,
ruptures, hostile attacks, and specious treaties between
the parties, and the landing of four thousand Chinese
soldiers to garrison a fort on the largest island of the
group, the Dutch agreed to move over to Formosa, where
they built Fort Zealandia. Their conduct had been so
harsh towards the natives of the Pescadores, and such
prisoners as they had captured, that the people on the
mainland refused to trade with them."

One thing made clear during the course of this struggle

172 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

was the very manifest preference which those early
European adventurers had for the Pescadores over the
fertile and immensely more extensive territory of
Formosa. The reasons are somewhat apparent. The
Pescadores have abundant harbour accommodation,
whereas Formosa had much better be shunned by any
one attempting to escape from the treacherous currents
and roaring typhoons of the China sea ; while their recent
experiences at Macao made it natural that the Hollanders
should unanimously decide in favour of the Pescadores.
Here they would be only one day's sail from the mainland ;
here they would be within easy distance of the great
northern markets ; and here, above all, their insular
position would secure them against daily annoyance and
the fear of a sudden attack.

As it turned out, however, this grand scheme of the
Hollanders for crippling the Portuguese, and enriching
themselves by the establishment of an immense shipping
and commercial dep6t on the Pescadores, was not to be
realized, and the old ruined Dutch fort on the south side
of the entrance to Ma-keng Harbour still remains an
appropriate witness to the unscrupulousness and futility
of their attempt.

A long interval of fully two hundred and fifty years has
to be bridged over before reaching the only other occasion
when those islands became invested with anything like
a national importance. One quiet afternoon during the
Spring of 1885 the people of Formosa were startled on
hearing what seemed to them the sound of distant
thunder. It was not thunder, but the ponderous iron-
clads of France engaged in demolishing the fortifications
over against Fisher Island and Ma-keng. Those fortifi-
cations were mounted with good-sized guns of foreign
make, and occupied by several thousands of soldiers who
had been hastily called from various centres on the main-

To face page 173.

ADMIRAL COURBET. (Died at Ma-Keng, 1885.)

PIONEERING ON THE PESCADORES 173

land. It all availed nothing. Fighting was to be con-
ducted in a very different style from that of other days ;
and, sure enough, the large floating batteries of the French
fleet loomed in sight.

According to popular report, no time was lost with any
kind of preliminary formalities. The Chinese com-
menced to fire on the advancing ships, which continued
steadily and with ominous silence to press forward in the
direction of Ma-keng. When within about rifle-shot
range, there burst from them such a tremendous discharge
against the large fort outside of the town that many
a heart must have been filled with terror and amazement.
Indeed, some say that on witnessing the fearful havoc
caused by this opening volley from the French guns,
both officers and men began to scamper off from the
entrenchments ; a statement which, however, cannot be
altogether correct, since the number of soldiers suffering
from frontal wounds, who afterwards found their way to
the Mission Hospital at Taiwan-fu showed conclusively
that not a few of those poor matter-of-fact Chinamen
must have made a noble stand against the invaders of
their country.

So soon as the French had taken possession of Ma-keng
Notifications were issued to inform all whom it concerned
that what was taking place arose out of a quarrel between
two great nations, for which quarrel the people of those
nations were in no sense responsible ; that efforts had
been made to shield the innocent from all kinds of need-
less suffering ; that peaceably disposed natives had now
nothing to fear ; and that whatever might be asked from
them in the form of goods or labour would willingly be
paid for at the current rates.

It must have been about this time that the name of
Admiral Courbet — Kok Tai-jin — came to be so much
respected by the inhabitants of the Pescadores. Under

174 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

his firm hand anything approaching to excess on the part
of the French seamen was instantly checked, and every
means were taken to .make it known to all that protection
to life and property might be depended upon so long as
the new Authority lasted and the people themselves
remained quiet.

A good many of the shops and houses in Ma-keng had
been destroyed either by shells thrown from the ships,
or by retreating Chinamen who wished to leave as little
as they could for the French ; and who, perhaps, wished
to do a little looting on their own account. Be this as it
may, the tumble-down condition of the buildings did not
prevent hundreds of those who fled at the commencement
of hostilities from returning, nor lessen their eager desire
to earn as many as possible of those good, clean, Mexican
dollars which now streamed in upon the place. The
French made liberal use of their services as coolies and
boatmen ; builders and carpenters also finding ready
employment ; while the large daily supplies of fish, meat,
and vegetables brought in were purchased at prices which
rejoiced the heart of John Chinaman himself. It speaks
very much to the credit of everyone that, during this more
peaceful period of their relations, there was an entire
absence of anything like oppression from the Euro-
pean side, or of wanton retaliation from that of the
Chinese.

Towards the close of their brief occupation, the French
erected two substantial wooden jetties at Ma-keng.
They allowed those jetties to remain when the place
came to be evacuated, even although formed of excellent
timber, and capable of being easily taken to pieces. They
also allowed the little mortuary chapel building over-
looking the town to remain intact. It is just a matter
for sincere regret that, either selfishly or considerately,
they did not carry away with them the many unexploded

PIONEERING ON THE PESCADORES 175

shells which may still be found embedded in the earth,
or lying on the open ground in the neighbourhood of
Ma-keng. No fewer than five accidents, causing the
death of a least twenty persons, have taken place through
the recklessness of avaricious Chinamen, who will persist
in trying to make money from those dangerous articles.
They succeeded in unfastening one of the shells, and in
selling the powder inside for three hundred cash, but
their usual method of procedure is to hurl heavy stones at
them, in the hope of obtaining a larger sum for the broken
pieces of metal which may afterwards be picked up. At
the latest of these tragic occurrences, one young man
survived the accident, but two of his companions were
blown into a thousand fragments. I happened to be
near the spot at the time, and I called upon the District
Magistrate to suggest that all the remaining shells should
be carefully taken on board a fishing boat and dropped
into twenty fathoms of water, but His Honour's only
response was a faint smile.

Another somewhat mournful fact which may be men-
tioned here is suggested by the sight of the three lonely
cemeteries containing the remains of those officers and
men of the French force who died from sickness or from
wounds. The further off is situated at the foot of the
low-lying hill opposite Junk Bay, the two others being on
the plain overlooking Ma-keng and within full view of the
waters of Dashing Lake Harbour. Considering the short-
ness of their stay on the Pescadores, and the total number
of graves to be seen, the death-roll of the French must
have been a very alarming one. The Chinese themselves
admit that this was not wholly on account of the fighting,
and they still speak with something like genuine sympathy
of the frequency with which victims of fever and cholera
were carried out to their last resting-place. The walls,
gates, wooden crosses, and other property connected with

176 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

the three cemeteries continue to be kept in perfect con-
dition so far as any interference from the natives is con-
cerned, and it was one day about the middle of last June
that I stood with a large crowd looking in through the
gate at an obelisk of dressed coral which loving hands
had raised to the memory of Admiral Courbet. The
people around me were all very obliging and communi-
cative, and the following were some of the remarks they
made about him whose memorial stood now before us :
/ chin ho-ta (he was exceedingly brave) ; / put-chi giam
(he was very strict) ; I gau the-thiap kan-khaw lang (he
was good at sympathizing with miserable people) . Brave,
just, compassionate. What a noble testimony ! Coming
also from those to whom he stood in the relationship of
Conqueror ! Could the ambition of any true knight
reach higher ? There was at least one head uncovered
in that little crowd.

But it is time now to make some reference to the
Pescadores as a field of labour for the Christian missionary.
About two hundred and fifty years ago Rev. John Lutgens
died there after several years of devoted service ; and
about fifty years ago, the well-known Mr. Gutzlaff halted
there on his way to Formosa, but his stay must have been
very brief, and entirely limited to the distribution of
tracts and copies of the Scriptures. These are the only
such visits of which any record can be found till the one
from which I have just returned.

I left Taiwan-fu about four months ago, and after
overtaking the usual visitation of the Chiang-hoa stations,
had the way opened for me to engage in some evange-
listic work among the seldom visited towns and villages
of our wide field. It occurred to me then that this would
be the best time for me to carry out a long-cherished
wish to go over to the Pescadores. On mentioning the
matter to Preacher Tiong, he at once expressed an eager

PIONEERING ON THE PESCADORES 177

desire to accompany me, and we made arrangements to
start from Toa-sia about the end of May.

Three days' walk in a south-westerly direction brought
us to the coasting village of Teng-chioh, where we found
a junk about to clear for Ma-keng. My application for
a passage seemed to awaken very suspicious and avaricious
thoughts among those on board ; but after much
jangling, an agreement was come to, and we set sail. I
spent three most miserable days in that wretched little
junk. Five of the eight sailors were opium-smokers,
and their constant devotion to the pipe so filled the
small tank of a cabin with black smoke that it was im-
possible for me to remain below. Another was that, as
we were slowly moving down the river, a heavy gale set
in, which held us prisoners at the mouth of the creek,
and often threatened to send our old craft bowling over
the sand around us. The weather greatly moderated
at the close of the third day, and after a rather pleasant
passage of some ten hours, the boat quietly anchored
in Ma-keng Harbour on Sabbath evening, the 6th of June.

We went ashore next morning, and were immediately
surrounded by a large crowd of curious and interested
spectators. As rumours were in circulation that the
French wished to return to the Pescadores, it caused no
surprise when messengers from the Magistrate's office
arrived to enquire who I was and what was my business.
We were busily engaged in selling Christian tracts when
they came forward, and they seemed quite satisfied when
I informed them that we belonged to the Church in For-
mosa, and wished only to preach the doctrine here.

After a few necessary preparations, we set out for the
native village of Lim Kiam-Kim, who was at one time
Tutor of our Christian College in Formosa, and an earnest
preacher of the Gospel, but who died in his own home a

few years ago. We remained at this village of Lam-liau
12

178 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

for two days. It contains about a thousand inhabitants,
has a number of other villages in the immediate vicinity,
and would be a most desirable centre for carrying on the
ordinary branches of missionary work. Although no
very marked traces of Mr. Kim's work were met with on
the present occasion, the people seemed to entertain an
unmistakably respectful feeling for the memory of our
departed brother, and they certainly listened to the
message now brought with no small degree of sustained
and discriminating attention. At our opening meeting,
about three hundred persons sat till midnight as we
preached to them of man's sin, and of salvation through
a crucified and risen Redeemer ; and, before separating,
the numerous questions which were asked gave us most
encouraging proof that our words had not been spoken
in vain. On the following day, equally good meetings
were held, while scores of people who kindly called upon
us were spoken to more personally about the things that
belonged to their peace. I noticed that the children
were much pleased on having had front places assigned
to them at all our gatherings, and on a few of the elder
lads being presented with neat little picture leaflets.
This part of Great Island is ripe for having a preacher
stationed in it. At least four persons knew something
of the Gospel from missionary addresses they had listened
to elsewhere, and through those friends there would be
no difficulty in securing suitable mission premises.

Our next halting-place for a short time was at Chiah-
kham, the most northerly town on Great Island, and one
of the small centres which carry on trade with the fish-
stores of Formosa. The people had already heard of our
work in and around Lam-liau, and were so far prepared
for our arrival. Probably every house in the place sent
its representative to meet us that evening in the Temple
up from the shore. No one could desire more attentive

PIONEERING ON THE PESCADORES 179

audiences ; and here, too, it was midnight before we
could persuade them to disperse.

After visiting a number of other places, I sent Brother
Tiong to preach in two more villages, while a little boat
was engaged, and I set sail myself for Kiat-poe-su, the
Bird Island of the Admiralty charts. I was very desirous
to see this island. Nearly all the numerous wrecks in
this part of the China Sea take place at its northern end,
and several persons told me that the inhabitants were
most friendly to foreigners owing to the British Consul
having lately come in a man-of-war and handsomely
rewarded those who had more than once risked their lives
in rescuing ship-wrecked people. As our little boat
drew near, and it was seen that the only passenger on
board was a foreigner, many of the islanders turned out
to learn the object of my visit. On walking up from the
beach, the first intelligible sound which reached me was
the voice of a man calling out, Bok-su ! Bok-su !
(Pastor ! Pastor !) It was indeed an answer to prayer,
one of many we had been receiving during the past few
weeks. The man who addressed me in this way had paid
several visits to Taiwan-fu, and knew something of the
nature of our work. Later on, I preached to the crowd
which gathered on the sea-shore ; and, while doing so,
a small sailing-boat was seen approaching, having faith-
ful little Tiong on board, who was both able and eager
to help me. We soon had before us an audience of about
four hundred and fifty persons, for I roughly counted
them as they sat in rows on the dry sand. Tiong's
address that night was one of much power, and was
delivered with great warmth and tenderness.

Next day, we landed on Wan-poe Island, and remained
there preaching and speaking to the people for several
days. Sand Island was afterwards visited, and then we
had rather a risky little voyage in crossing to begin work

180 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

among the thirteen villages of Fisher Island. The oppor-
tunities presented there were both numerous and most
inviting. Never can the sight of those crowds, listening
with rapt attention for the first time to the words of
eternal life, be effaced from my memory. Some of our
meetings were held under the clear moonlight, but were
none the less impressive on that account. Indeed, past
experience convinces me that the time of full moon during
summer is one of the choicest for village-preaching in
China ; provided always, of course, that the matter be
gone about in a right way. An important condition is
that the people require to know beforehand of our being
in the neighbourhood, and of our desire to meet a large
company of them that evening in some temple or meeting-
place outside. The irrepressible and ubiquitous boy-
element should also be taken into account, as I have more
than once lost favourable opportunities through bands
of mischievous urchins calling in the aid of every village
cur to the Pandemonium of noise which drove me from
the place. It is better to treat with them at once ; a
little management being all that is needed for gaining
them over as friends, or even converting them into most
willing and useful little allies.

At the close of a week's hard and pleasant work in
this way, I thought it best to return to Ma-keng. The
opening in every direction seemed so unmistakable that
I wished to rent or lease some house that might serve
as a local headquarters for further developments ; my
intention also being to continue our journey to the
islands of the southern, or Rover Group. We accordingly
again hired an open boat, and after fully six hours of
tossing and tacking, were able to land at the mouth of
Ma-keng Harbour. Many were our prayers that God
would raise up some friendly native who would help us.
Of course, we were entire strangers and had no one we

PIONEERING ON THE PESCADORES l8l

could call upon. As our small impedimenta lay on the
street, Tiong came back after making enquiry to say
that the people were afraid to show us hospitality, in
case the yamen-runners came to apprehend them for
doing so. An elderly man then invited me into his
shop and said the people of Ma-keng had all heard of
our work, and were favourably disposed towards us,
but fear of the Mandarins kept them under restraint ;
and, all the more, in view of the recent bombardment
of Ma-keng by the French. At last, a man came for-
ward and said he would accept the responsibility, and
try to find us a lodging-place, and in an hour after we
were in our own hired house — or stable, as some people
might have called it, for it was dark, very damp, and
very filthy — receiving all who came to us, and preaching
daily to the crowds which assembled outside.

It was while thus engaged I began to suffer from the
coarse Chinese fare and unsuitable sleeping accommo-
dation we had been compelled to put up with ; and here
I now lay, suffering intense agony and with no one at
hand who could understand or minister to my wants.
Even yet, I hardly know how they succeeded in getting
me put on board a small- Government steamer that
was crossing to the mainland. Tiong remained to carry
on the work, and I left empty-handed and alone.

My sickness lasted for about ten days, but as soon
as possible I returned to Formosa, and walked down
the long journey from Tamsui to Toa-sia, where most
kind and brotherly messages were awaiting me from
my colleagues in Taiwan-fu. Their letters stated that
the Pescadores visit had awakened so much interest
among our brethren in the South that they were already
offering funds to begin a permanent mission of their
own to those islands. The Toa-sia church had a crowded
missionary meeting on the evening of our arrival, at

1 82 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

which I recounted the details of our work on the
Pescadores, and informed them of the interest which
this visit had already awakened among their fellow-
Christians in the South. At the close of my address,
one of the most respected and influential church elders
rose and said that surely God had been answering their
prayers, and that, with regard to this mission to the
Pescadores, he would only be too willing to help, were
it not that those present had long been wishing to see
work commenced in their own county city of Chiang-
hoa, and that, to begin a mission there, he was now
prepared to hand over not less than thirty dollars. There-
upon, one of the members rose and said he would add
ten, a third promised five ; and within the next forty-
eight hours, it was decided that the Toa-sia church
should commit itself to the establishment of stated
Christian work within the walls of the neighbouring
city of Chiang-hoa.

It may be as well here to complete the narrative
of the foregoing pages by stating that, before long, it was
most encouraging to see the unanimity and heartiness
with which the churches in South Formosa carried
through this proposal to have a mission of their own
on the Pescadores. After raising a sufficiency of funds,
they elected two of the preachers to go and take up
residence there, in order to have the movement put
upon a permanent basis. Those brethren are now
meeting with much to cheer them ; so that, even already,
it would be difficult to over-estimate the high Christian
influence which this effort is having on the Chinese and
Aboriginal converts of Formosa. They look upon the
mission to the Pescadores as being an undertaking of
their own, and we simply cannot place any limit to the
possibilities which are suggested by such a new and
most hopeful departure.

XXXIII

IN JEOPARDY AT CHIANG-HOA

THE county city of Chiang-hoa is one to which our
longing eyes have been often turned. Its inhabitants
are known to be a very turbulent part of the population,
and more than once have our attempts to preach to
them ended in confusion and general uproar. Through
the Hospital at Taiwan-fu and otherwise, some of them
knew about the church, so we frequently thought that
stated preaching work there would be a step in the right
direction, had it only been possible to obtain some kind
of place in which to meet.

The initial step of trying to secure mission premises
in any of the large cities of China is nearly always
attended with no small amount of difficulty, and
sometimes even of danger. It has been truly said that
officials and literati dislike the missionary, and they
easily succeed in getting the people to oppose his work.
The recent action of our Toa-sia brethren in raising
funds to attempt the establishment in Chiang-hoa
put the matter in a new light, and made us feel that
now, if ever, was the time for facing the question hope-
fully and determinedly.

I happened then to be spending the summer in that
region, and was only too thankful to have the opportunity
of lending a helping hand. Several of the native brethren
accompanied me on two or three preliminary visits to
the city, and as the result of our enquiries, it was found
that a certain house-owner was in monetary difficulties

183

184 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

and willing to treat with us. One of his properties
consisted of two shops in a quiet part of West Street,
which, after some necessary alterations, would provide
ample accommodation for dispensary and evangelistic
work. Meanwhile, we found temporary lodgment in
two dark little back rooms in an inn, which proved to
be one of very evil reputation, and a general rallying-
place for all the vermin and noxious smells of the
neighbourhood. Will anyone tell me how it is possible
that human beings can live and thrive in any of those
inns ? Such expressions as insanitary, ill-ventilated,
untidy, or unwholesome, convey no adequate description
whatever of their condition, and one is puzzled to know
why cholera-morbus, black-plague, and every form of
deadly epidemic, can ever be absent from them. And
on this occasion I could hardly venture out of doors,
as^strong opposition set in when it became known that
an attempt was being made to found a " Jesus-Church"
in the city.

We began by handing over fifty dollars as part payment
to our impecunious friend, and got him to sign a little
document which gave me a sort of locus standi in the
transaction. I question if it dawned upon him then that
matters would actually come to our getting possession
of his property. Chinaman-like, he grasped at the
money, and trusted to the chapter of accidents for some
kind of excuse that would free him from the obligation
of delivering up the title-deeds. The fifty dollars were
squandered the very day they came into his hands, the
title-deeds were scattered among relatives who had
advanced money upon them ; and when it was noised
abroad that further sums would be forthcoming from
an influential (as they thought) foreigner, a number of
creditors pressed in to insist on the payment of their
debts.

IN JEOPARDY AT CHIANG-HOA 185

At this stage the strong anti-foreign and anti-missionary
opposition in the city became every day more manifest.
When one of the native brethren of our party went out
for the daily supply of food, he was invariably recongized
and followed by persons who threatened to take his
life. On several occasions I was myself mobbed and
jostled about in a very unpleasant way'; and once, when
walking on the city wall, so many stones were thrown
at me that I had to make a hasty retreat into the street,
and run through a network of back lanes into our dreary
little den. Two days after, some men of the baser sort
banded themselves together, and came to the inn where
we lodged with the determination of hounding us off.
They burst in the main door of the establishment, and
loudly began to denounce and threaten us. It was then
about two o'clock in the morning, but the dark street
was lighted up by many torches which they carried.
I at once ran out and tried to talk to them pleasantly
about being away from their beds at this untimely
hour, the reply to which was a great shout against the
setting up of any foreign Church there. The excitement
died down after a little, but only for the crowd to carry
out its declared intention of devising some other way
of thwarting us ; for one could plainly see that only
the first blow was needed to have the street drenched
with our blood.

I hardly knew what to do. Old Church Elder Au-na
of our party was beginning to break down under the
strain and from want of sleep, while we all admitted that
if once our position were abandoned, the renewal of
any attempt to gain a foothold in Chiang-hoa would
be well-nigh impossible. Many were the prayers we
offered that God would open the way before us, \but
everything seemed dark and unpromising ; and it was
with very little hope of success that I at last made up

1 86 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

my mind to call on the County Magistrate to see if he
would not interpose and have the negotiations completed
in our favour. At most, I thought he would only do
as others in his position had repeatedly done before,
namely, give a polite promise to enquire into the case,
and afterwards inform me that there were insuperable
difficulties about our obtaining a legal title to the
property. I first sent my Chinese card with a request
that the attendants at the Yamen would take it in,
but they said to my messenger that His Honour
was busy ; another card brought the reply that he was
asleep and must not be disturbed ; and a third they
refused to accept. Thereupon, I marched down the
street myself, passed through an excited crowd into the
main gate of the Yamen, crossed the first and second
courts beyond, and then stood at the door of His Honour's
own private apartments. He must have seen me
coming forward, for I saw him hurrying into an inner
room, and hastily fastening his official robe about him.
When he did appear, it was not long before I had a
feeling of almost inexpressible relief and astonishment
to find that he was a man I had met eight years before
under very different circumstances.

A correct understanding of this development can
be obtained only by making a short digression here.
In 1878, I travelled down through the Heng-chun
County to visit several of the uncivilized tribes in that
region. While then in the vicinity of South Cape,
a small company of people and officials were seen on
this seldom-visited shore in a state of considerable
excitement over what was said to be the wreck and
the plunder of an American ship by the savages. The
enquiries made led me to think that there was some-
thing very unaccountable about the conduct of those
who were in charge of this ship. She was run into

IN JEOPARDY AT CHIANG-HOA 187

Kwa-liang Bay one evening, and when natives put off
from the shore to ask what was wanted, rifles were
levelled at them, and all attempts at communication
peremptorily forbidden. On a messenger informing
the Magistrate at Heng-chun City of the circumstance,
officers were at once sent down, who also rowed out
but only to meet with a similar repulse. And here
emerged a very strange development of affairs. Just
before dark, and while the messengers from Heng-chun
were still at hand, another ship made its appearance
in this rarely-visited spot, and anchored about three
hundred yards from the first ship. Apparently every
man on board the first ship then hurriedly left in a
small boat for the second ; and had no sooner done so
than the former blew up with a loud explosion. From
the expectant attitude of those in the little boat, it was
quite evident that what took place was a pre-arranged
affair.

After paying a visit to the Ku-a-lut savages at that
time, I came north again, crossed over for a little
evangelistic work on Lambay Island, and continued
my journey up to Takow. On reaching the port, I
was a good deal surprised to see indications of an un-
usual stir in the neighbourhood. Three large men-of-
war were anchored outside the harbour. Probably never
before had so many naval officers and bluejackets been
seen there, while long-robed Chinese officials with military
attendants appeared to have quite taken possession
of the place. I had scarcely reached the Mission House
before the British Consul informed me that a ship had
been wrecked and plundered at South Cape, and that
the Court now being held was dealing with the American
captain's claim for enormous damages from the Chinese
Government. I don't know what made me do so, but
at that moment, two things came into my mind : First,

1 88 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

a recollection of the fact that, several years before, the
Chinese Government had paid half a million of dollars
to the Japanese under similar circumstances ; and
Second, that there seemed something exceedingly queer
about the proceedings of this American compatriot.

Mr. H. E. Hobson, the Commissioner of Customs,
was also on the alert that day, for no sooner had he
heard of my arrival from that remote southern part
of Formosa than he got me to say all I could tell him
about the one unvarying story of the two ships, the cargo
of coal in the one which was destroyed, the wreckage
washed ashore, and the lonely tent at the water's edge
for accommodating the guard sent from Heng-chun
to tender every assistance in their power. In short,
I attended the Court (presided over by my old friend
Consul Henderson) on the invitation of His Excellency
Governor (To-tai) Ha ; and among all the Chinese
officials present, none gave me a more joyful welcome
than the Magistrate in whose county the alleged wreck
and plunder had taken place ; the result of the whole
being that my carefully prepared written statement had
its own share in leading to the apprehension and imprison-
ment of the American captain for wilful fraud.

This Heng-chun Magistrate, then, was the same man
before whom I now stood on the back verandah of the
Chiang-hoa Yamen. He had been promoted about
a year before to administer the affairs of this much
larger county. He was somewhat stiff when I entered,
but the circumstances under which we met eight years
ago were no sooner recalled than the manner and very
appearance of the man completely changed. He at
once caught me by the arm, led me gently into his private
apartment, told an attendant to bring in refreshments,
and then asked what he could do for me. I told him
about the difficulty we were having with a certain land-

IN JEOPARDY AT CHIANG-HOA 189

lord in the city, that this man had already received
our money for the lease of his house, but seemed either
unable or unwilling to carry out his part of the agreement.
The Magistrate then and there ordered two Yamen-T\mners
to go and have the man brought before him, and mean-
while he chatted with me on all sorts of subjects. When
our needy friend arrived, His Honour very impressively
told him that if he did not instantly take steps to im-
plement his part of the bargain, he would be most
severely dealt with. Poor fellow ! I was truly sorry
for him, he was in such a state of abject terror.

I then rose and was about to thank the Magistrate
before leaving, but he came out, accompanied me down
the middle walk of the inner court, the two great fold-
ing doors in front being opened, and the crowd giving
way as we crossed the outer court to the main entrance
of the Yamen. Here, in presence of many hundreds
of the people, he parted from me in the most cordial
and polite way. There can be no doubt that the news
of this favour spreading throughout the city did much
to alter our position in the eyes of many. Indeed,
we were afterwards told that the Magistrate remarked
to those around him that I was an old friend of his,
that I had rendered good service to the Government
eight years ago, and that he would not allow me to be
molested.

Although this interview and the widespread know-
ledge of it virtually settled the case, we had still an
immense amount of trouble in getting actual possession
of the property. I had to see the Magistrate on two
subsequent occasions, being treated with the same
respect and kindness as before. At the last interview,
he told me that he was soon removing to another county
and would be replaced here by that officer before whom
I appeared half naked one morning twelve years ago

IQO SKETCHES FROM FORMSA

after my narrow escape from the chapel-burning at
Peh-tsui-khe.

The last item in this narrative is that the Magistrate
to whom, under God, we are indebted for our present
foothold in this anti-foreign heathen city of Chiang-
hoa, now lies in his Yamen — a corpse ! The chapel
premises had just been secured, and there were still
a number of details to settle when this tall, active
officer, of about forty-five years of age, unaccountably
took ill and died in a few hours. I do not give any
weight now to the rumours in circulation that poison
was used for bringing about the tragic event.

Our opening meeting there, when the place was
filled with willing listeners,* was an occasion of much
rejoicing. We had all along tried to act in a straight-
forward, patient, and forgiving way with this people,
and the result is that many of them now seem really
well-disposed towards us. The work commenced among
them will continue for some time to have very modest
dimensions ; but, whether as regards the action of the
Toa-sia Church in providing funds for it, or the fact
that our residence in the city is now made legally
secure, we feel profoundly thankful and very hopeful
for the future. My Chinese friends doubtless thought
I then took a rather strange way of showing this. I
had not seen a European face for nearly four months,
and was preparing to start at daybreak for Po-li-sia,
but felt it impossible to leave without repeatedly singing
out the Scottish version of a Psalm which has now become
so closely associated in my mind with the " Battle of
Chiang-hoa " that I shall here write down every word
of it:

* The Presbyterian Synod of Formosa was formed at Chiang-
hoa on 24th October, 1912, Mr. Campbell having been unani-
mously invited to become its first Moderator.

IN JEOPARDY AT CHIANG-HOA

Now Israel

May say, and that truly : —
If that the Lord

Had not our cause maintained,
If that the Lord

Had not our right sustained,
When cruel men

Against us furiously
Rose up in wrath,

To make of us their prey.

Then certainly

They had devoured us all,
And swallowed quick,

For ought that we could deem ;
Such was their rage,

As we might well esteem ;
And, as fierce floods

Before them all things drown,
So had they brought

Our soul to death quite down.

The raging streams,

With their proud swelling waves,
Had then our soul

O'erwhelmed in the deep.
But blessed be God,

Who doth us safely keep,
And hath not given

Us for a living prey
Unto their teeth

And bloody cruelty.

Even as a bird

Out of the fowler's snare
Escapes away,

So is our soul set free :
Broke are their nets,

And thus escaped we,
Therefore our help

Is in the Lord's great name,
Who heaven and earth

By His great power did frame.

Postscript. — Two incidents in connection with the foregoing
account of pioneering Christian work in Chiang-hoa may be
mentioned here. First : On returning shortly after on furlough,
the late Rev. R. W. Barbour, of Bonskied in Perthshire, asked
me to furnish him with fuller particulars of the movement in
Chiang-hoa ; with the result that he handed over to our Foreign

IQ2 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

Missions Committee ample funds, in order that the interest might
permanently maintain a Mission Hospital in this central pre-
fecture of the Island ; a Hospital in which, for sixteen years now,
Dr. Landsborough's skilful and gracious work has been carried
on with the very manifest blessing of God. Second : After years
of friendly negotiation, commissioned representatives from
Tainan and Tamsui met in the spacious chapel at Chiang-hoa on
24th October, 1912, and united both Missions under one Presby-
terian Synod of Formosa, over which the present writer was
unanimously elected to preside as Moderator. Rev. W. M.
Macphail, the General Secretary of our Church from London,
was present, with the Christian Prefect of Chiang-hoa, delegates
from the Synod of Amoy, and others, to offer their congratula-
tions and good wishes. To God be all the praise !

To face page 192.

XXXIV

WELCOMED BY THE TSARISEN TRIBE

THE Chinese use the name Ka-le in referring to the
savages occupying the south-eastern part of Formosa,
and I have just returned from a visit to several villages
of the Tsarisen tribe. It was during the course of my
recent stay at Lam-gan I found that the mother of the
Church Elder there belonged to that tribe, and that
he himself was familiar with its language and customs.
The information he gave me regarding them only
whetted my desire to ascertain personally how far they
differed from the Bu-hwan, Ban-hwan, and Kan-ta-
ban tribes I lately visited in the mountain region east
from Po-li-sia. It happened, too, that I had then a
few spare days on hand before going on for the Com-
munion service at Tek-a-kha ; so that, with the preacher
from this station, and a good sturdy burden-bearer,
I started shortly after daybreak on the morning of
25th ultimo.

The hills stand out well towards the West in the
neighbourhood of Lam-gan, but it required a stiff walk
of fully five hours before we reached the point at which
our climbing commenced. While still a good way off,
it was with some surprise we saw a great crowd of natives
in front of us, who were shouting and hurrying about
in rather an alarming way. There were no villages at
hand, and no way of escape from being mixed up in
what seemed to be a serious clan-fight. On coming
up, however, we were relieved to find only a mob of
J3 193

194 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

Chinamen eagerly engaged in bartering with the savages ;
who, sure enough, were now to be seen with loads of
charcoal, firewood, skins, and other such commodities.
Considerable delay was caused by the barterers spreading
the report, that we wished to go inland only for the
purpose of injuring the people, and it was not till
a small reward was offered that several stalwart Ka-le
undertook to lead us to their settlement at Ka-piang —
an arrangement which suited very well, as that place
was said to be the head-quarters of a Chief who ruled
over eighteen of the surrounding villages.

Soon after, we were toiling up the side of a very high
hill, from the summit of which a most magnificent view
was obtained. The plains away to the west appeared
to be one immense rice-field, broken only by occasional
clumps of tall feathery bamboos, while on before, the
great wooded mountains rose range upon range as far
as the eye could reach. Our guides said that a com-
mencement had been made there, and that those
mountain-sides yielded them fine yearly crops of millet,
tobacco, and sweet potatoes. About an hour before
sunset, we halted on another ridge in view of Ka-piang ;
at a lonely village in the midst of glorious scenery,
and where we had the unspeakable joy of telling its
inhabitants for the first time the story of Jesus and
His love.

We no sooner entered Ka-piang than the cleanliness
and appearance of rough comfort arrested our attention.
The houses are built of stone, and tiled with huge slabs
of a slaty kind of rock often met with in Central Formosa ;
while inside, they all seemed nicely fitted up with
accommodation for sleeping, and cooking, and storing
up things for household and personal use. The people
themselves were found to be a finely-made, healthy-
looking race ; their faces free from tattoo marks, and

WELCOMED BY THE TSARISEN TRIBE 195

all of them wearing a reasonable amount of clothing —
not a few, indeed, being rather prettily arrayed in bright-
coloured dresses, and ornamented with earrings, bangles,
and necklaces of cornelian stone.

Of course, we were at once conducted to the residence
of the Chief — a long low substantially built house on
the left, with betel-nut palms in front, and a wide paved
court, into which had gathered a very eager and ex-
pectant crowd of the villagers. Another noticeable
building we passed was the storehouse or granary for
preserving the common stock of rice, millet, taro, and
sweet potatoes ; our attention having also been called
to a spacious stone platform under the wide-spreading
of an immense four-trunked banyan, and which the
by-standers told me was used as the Judgment-place
or general Palaver-house of the tribe.

I have referred to the Chief, but was not prepared
for a couple of stately-looking dames coming forth to
meet me in that capacity. It appears that in South
Formosa it is no uncommon thing to have women
acting as chiefs and village-elders ; an arrangement I
do not remember to have met with among any of the
northern tribes, but one which appears to work here
with complete success. The two women who now
welcomed us were sisters, had bright intelligent faces,
and were quite evidently accustomed to receive the
respectful obedience of the people around them. As
already stated, their rule extends over eighteen villages ;
although it should be observed that, in addition, each
of those villages has also its own resident head-man or
head-woman, as the case may be.

Messengers having been sent on before to announce
our approach, the natives were there in strong force ;
and at the critical moment of introduction, as well as
during our subsequent speechifying and interviews

196 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

on more serious matters, the linguistic aid of an old
Chinese-speaking villager was found to be most helpful.
The proceedings of the first half-hour were somewhat
interesting, and conducted with an amount of ceremony
I was scarcely prepared for ; one influential tribesman
after another rising to assure us of their friendship and
hospitality. The clear musical ring of their language
was very pleasing, and immediately suggested a re-
semblance between it and the language spoken by our
Sek-hwan brethren in the North ; although the remark
was afterwards made that people from the two regions
engaged in speaking could not make themselves
intelligible to each other.

I tried to get through my part of the ceremony by
making a statement in Chinese to the effect that all
present were children of the one Great Father ; that I
had often heard of their beautiful country, and now
appeared amongst them as a true friend ; that the land
I came from was very far from this, but some of the
people there thought of them, and prayed that they
might obtain the help and blessing of Him away up in
the skies above us ; that it was God our Father who
dwelt in those glorious heavens ; that He wished us all
to become His children — and so on.

The elder of the two sisters was now understood to say
that I was very welcome ; that there were few things
in their poor land to attract me, but that they would do
everything they could to make me comfortable. I then
again endeavoured to convey to those willing listeners
a few of the simpler truths of the Bible, and felt much
encouragement in doing so from the close attention which
was paid, and the hearty expressions of approval which
greeted every statement from our useful interpreter.

At length, a few of our presents were produced, in-
cluding about twelve yards of highly-coloured cotton

WELCOMED BY THE TSARISEN TRIBE 197

print, which at once called forth the admiration and joy
of every spectator. It was a piece of the flimsiest
Manchester stuff, with great staring flowers on a frightful
pattern of scroll-work ; and yet, that bit of cloth pro-
duced an almost profound impression on the minds of
those people. All formality was now laid aside. I was
looked upon as having had some share in the manufacture
of this wonderful production. The word was passed
round that a first-class Medicine-man was now standing
amongst them, and their pent-up feelings found relief
in the issue of an order to have supper prepared forthwith.

Later on, there was an even larger gathering of the
tribe, and here again I tried to make good use of Ku-a-mih,
the interpreter. The advance was made this time of
telling them about prayer to God, and of how our voices
were to be used in singing to His praise. They were
greatly charmed with the Sek-hwan Po-li-sia tunes,
which were sung to several of our sweet little Chinese
hymns. These had to be repeated time after time, this
native music being more intelligible to the Ka-le than
any specimens from our home collections. We did not
retire that evening till midnight, and I shall long remember
the occasion as being one when God enabled us to make
a substantial acknowledgment of the unaffected kind-
ness of this people.

While moving about the following morning, my eye
caught sight of a village across the ravine, and beautifully
situated on the brow of a hill south-east from Ka-piang.
It seemed populous, too, and the journey there and back
to be a matter of very easy accomplishment. On asking
for a guide to go with me, the people at once raised many
objections, and said that it would never do for me to go
wandering about. They added that the road was longer
than I imagined ; that the inhabitants of that village
were not on friendly terms with them ; that I would get

198 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

nothing to eat there ; and that no one present was willing
to accompany me.

As their manifold reasons against my going only in-
creased my interest in this village of Pun-tih, I very
willingly faced the task of persuading them a little, with
the result that, in about an hour after, I was fairly on the
way. The preacher and an experienced old native came
with me, and we had gone but a very little distance when
it was found that certainly no exaggeration had been
made about the steepness and roughness of the road. We
went scrambling and sliding down, down, and still further
down ; and any narrow platform we did reach seemed
but the commencement of a yet more difficult stage of the
journey. About half-way up the side of the opposite
hill, a curious kind of stone enclosure containing the
skulls of murdered Chinamen arrested our attention. It
must be understood that the natives here conform to the
practice of head-hunting. On the very morning of the
day I am now writing about, I pointed with strong dis-
approbation to a freshly broken-in skull before a number
of the Ka-piang villagers, but they immediately and with
great emphasis shouted out, Lang-wah ! Lang-wah !
meaning that all their customs in connection with this
practice of head-hunting were not only blameless, but
greatly to be commended.

After all, there was not very much to reward us in this
village of Pun-tih ; less, no doubt, than if we had been
accompanied by our obliging old interpreter. The
resident Chief there also is a woman ; a young person,
who, when called for, came out and sat down at some
little distance ; the grown-ups gathering round and
giving us every assistance they could. I wrote down
a number of their words. It seems evident that a close
bond of connection runs through all those widely-
differing aboriginal languages of Formosa ; so much so,

WELCOMED BY THE TSARISEN TRIBE

that an intimate knowledge of one would furnish a key
for the easy acquisition of any other, and even itself be
of service for communicating with many thousands of
the people.

High as the village of Pun-tih stands — of Ka-piang
also, for that matter — it was pleasant to observe the
abundance of cool, clear water with which the inhabitants
were supplied. We relished it all the more on this
occasion, because there was no attempt to offer us any-
thing more substantial ; the hint being dropped that,
having ourselves come empty-handed, the Chief and
her councillors thought it best to discountenance so
objectionable a precedent by withholding all com-
missariat supplies. They could not, however, prevent
our eyes from feasting on the truly grand scenery spread
before us in every direction ; nor from seeing two other
snug little hamlets away on the other side of the valley,
and within only a pleasant walk from our head-quarters
at Ka-piang.

As next to nothing could be done in the way of speaking
to the people, an immediate return was decided upon.
We felt very hungry indeed ; had once more to go down
the one side and up the other of that great inevitable V ;
while another evening among the people at Ka-piang
seemed to be the best way of turning my visit to most
account. Our friends gladly welcomed us back again,
and spoke in rather a complimentary way on the rapidity
with which we had performed our short, although some-
what difficult journey. I expressed my desire to visit
about a little more, and was pleased to see that no further
objections were raised ; that, on the contrary, virtue
was made of a necessity, and an arrangement come to
that the Head of the tribe herself, with Ku-a-mih, and a
number of young braves, should accompany me on a visit to
the two villages we had seen from the outskirts of Pun-tih.

200 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

Meanwhile, a number of hours still remained of that
Tuesday, and I resolved to devote at least a part of the
time to making out a short vocabulary of the words made
use of by this people. A stone seat under the big banyan
was chosen ; five or six boys with a. little knowledge of
Chinese drew near ; old Ku-a-mih was within call ; every
one was willing to help, and the work soon proved to be
both a pleasant and an easy one for all concerned. As
in Malay, the " a " sound predominates very largely in
their speaking ; and, although many of the words they
use are quite differently pronounced, there could be no
mistaking the general resemblance of the language to
that spoken by the Po-li-sia Sek-hwan and by the savage
tribes living further east from them. On this point, and
taking into account some facts collected during a
recent visit to the Ku-a-lut aborigines at South Cape, I
should say that, with very little extra work, a good know-
ledge of the language spoken by any one of those native
tribes would be everywhere available on the eastern side
of Formosa, and turn out to be by far the readiest way
of gaining the confidence of the people. Surely what
took place on that Pentecostal occasion implies that the
Church should declare unto all men the wonderful work
of God in their own tongue. Indeed, without this power
of speech, no kind of improvement can be effected among
a people like the Formosan aborigines. The plan now
being tried by the Authorities of opening schools, and
imparting a knowledge of Chinese, has not been successful,
the words being difficult to pronounce, the written
characters an entire mystery, and the lads very frequently
obviating all further trouble by running off again to their
wild and roving life among the hills.

By the way, it is quite impossible not to like the nice,
frank, healthy-looking boys met with in those eastern
villages. They have much of the fun, and all the natural-

WELCOMED BY THE TSARISEN TRIBE 2OI

ness and faith, of English boys. How they did laugh at
my mistakes that evening when writing down their words !
And what a time we had while I scattered among them
the contents of five small confection bottles ! I suppose
the brave little fellows would have gone anywhere with
me ; the elderly people were compelled to be good-
natured, and our visit will doubtless be something to
look back upon for many a day to come.

It was on the evening of the second day that a general
muster for Christian worship took place, the few who
made up our own party beginning with a few hymns,
and then thanking God for bringing us here, and asking
that the light of the knowledge of salvation through Jesus
Christ might soon dispel the darkness of this place. I
followed with an attempt to convey one or two of the
more leading truths of Scripture, our little friends mean-
while looking up with their big, trustful, wondering eyes,
and the adults uttering an occasional expression of
approval as our interpreter tried to " give the sense and
cause them to understand the meaning." They seemed
again to be very much taken up with the praise part of
our worship ; on which I sang " The Lord's my Shep-
herd " and " The sands of time are sinking " ; although
it was mostly through the hymns from our own Chinese
collection we endeavoured to interest and instruct them.

On the following morning, we started to visit the two
villages seen from Pun-tin, the nearest of which they
told me was Tu-kuh-vul, and the other (about half a mile
further on), Ka-la-lutch. The preacher remained behind,
and the Chieftainess was accompanied by myself, my
servant-boy, the interpreter, and a small armed party
acting as a guard of honour. I remember one time
looking round to see the handy — if somewhat undignified
and primitive — style of locomotion adopted by the
honourable one of the party. A sturdy fellow had

202 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

brought with him a long continuous ring or band of cloth
(perhaps it was hide), one end of which was placed over
the front part of his head ; and the other, dangling down
behind, made to serve as a support for the knees of Her
Ladyship, who was thus being simply carried along on
the man's back, looking as erect, and trying to feel as
comfortable as possible in this rather uncanny position.
I may add that the dress of this aboriginal lady was
appropriately much finer in material, and more tasteful
in form, than that of the other female villagers ; another
of her marks of distinction being the long knife or dagger
which hung from her side, the wooden scabbard of which
was beautifully ornamented with a profusion of brass
scroll-work. On coming within sight of Tu-kuh-vul,
several guns were fired to announce our approach. I
happened to be walking in front at the time, and was
the first to meet the villagers who came out to bid us
welcome. The one who seemed to be the leader of this
party was truly a stout, fine-looking man ; Head of the
village, as they afterwards told me, and none other than
the husband of my hostess. He wore a very glossy
leopard's-skin coat or long jacket, which was furnished
with a number of little brass bell-like ornaments, so
arranged that a perpetual, though not unpleasant, jangling
sound accompanied him in all his movements.

Like our Ka-piang friends, the people here also seemed
to be tolerably well-off in a worldly sense ; there being at
least no doubt as to the frank and liberal way in which
they treated us on the present occasion. In the Chief's
house a large — shall I say distinguished ? — party met,
nearly all of them intent on doing justice to the huge
bowlfuls of steaming soup, the junkets of fat pork, the
sweet potatoes, and the not unpalatable millet-porridge
on which those villagers may be said to live and thrive.
All this indoors, while outside — and all in our honour, I

WELCOMED BY THE TSARISEN TRIBE 203

suppose — the most prominent feature appeared to be a
pretty general sort of tippling in weak spirits which was
briskly going forward among the men. I observed that
they made use of a peculiar loving-cup, or rather two
cups carved out of one long piece of wood, so as to allow
of two persons putting their arms round each other's
neck and drinking close together at the same time. From
anything I saw or could learn, I do not think they are
at all what one could call a drunken people, as the sodden
Tsui-hwan and Ku-a-lut savages are. We did not remain
long after dinner, but went on to Ku-la-lutch, a some-
what larger village than Tu-kuh-vul ; and where, too,
the people treated us in a very respectful and generous
way.

Our brief stay there was spent under the shade of a
great tree overlooking the Palaver-ground, where many
of the villagers soon gathered. They commenced pro-
ceedings by inviting me to partake of a yellowish brose-
like compound I thought it safest to decline ; but which,
with much apparent relish, was speedily drunk (or eaten
up, as one might say) by the male portion of the grown-
up people. It appeared that when we arrived, the
discovery was made of there being no supply of native
spirits on hand wherewith to make merry ; so that,
rather than omit this mark of hospitality, they had re-
solved on using the contents of the few big jars before
us. They contained a wet mass of the millet already
referred to in the earlier stages of fermentation ; suitable
enough for the purpose intended, but certainly neither
safe nor pleasant for consumption in its present raw state ;
and yet, it was remarkable the extent to which some of
the older hands be-slobbered themselves.

On returning to Ka-piang, it was found that a con-
siderable number of people from other villages had
assembled in view of our departure the following morning ;

204 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

among them being a party from Tu-kuh-vul, where we
had been in the earlier part of the day. We had more
singing, and further attempts to enlighten them as to the
main object of our visit. I said they should pray that,
before long, some one would come and teach them all to
become the true children of God. They should not go
on as they had been doing. God knew everything, and
was very grieved when they did wrong. He was willing,
however, to pardon their sins if they only asked Him, for
Jesus' sake, to do so. Jesus, as I had been telling them,
was the best and truest Friend we ever had, or could have.
If they only trusted in Jesus everything would go well
with them. They need not fear anything then. Jesus
would lead them at last to Heaven. Heaven was a good
place, and they should all ask Jesus to lead them there.
Of course, it was impossible for me to know the exact
change which such simple sentences underwent when
interpreted by Ku-a-mih, while we were still more in the
dark as to what conceptions his words gave rise to in the
minds of those poor benighted brethren of mankind.
We could only feel thankful that they all remained so
quiet, and appeared in a kind of general way to follow
the drift of our meaning. Alas ! one's helplessness even
with all appliances ! May the Lord indeed, by His own
gracious Spirit, soon find a way of bringing them to the
saving knowledge of Himself !

Before separating that evening, several of the villagers
presented me with a few small tokens of remembrance ;
including one of the before-mentioned drinking cups, a
large knife having an ornamental sheath from the Chief
of Tu-kuh-vul, a rudely carved wooden box, with a
number of smaller articles from some of the younger
people. My presents had already been made, but I took
occasion to round off this part of the business by present-
ing our Tu-kuh-vul friend with a brightly-coloured

WELCOMED BY THE TSARISEN TRIBE 2O5

coverlet, in the middle of which was woven in a large
representation of the British crown. By signs and
otherwise, I explained that this was the distinctive
decoration of our beloved Chief in far-off England ; at
which he smiled, and seemed to think that he, too, had
now also obtained something that would enhance his
authority, and call forth the respect of all around him.

We were up betimes the following morning, and had a
good walk over before the sun appeared from the top of
the hills behind us ; our first real halting-place being at
that bartering station I referred to on the inward journey.
We rested here for a little time, during which the crowd
of petty traders came eagerly about, wishing to know
everything about our reception by the natives, and
whether we thought that gold and other such valuables
existed amongst them ; many Chinese having still the
belief that on a journey like this, we could have nothing
else in view than to chu-po, or search for precious things.
As the bustle of the day had not yet commenced, and the
preacher with me could make himself intelligible to the
large number of Hakkas present, we took our stand on the
top of a large stone, and soon had the crowd listening to
our feeble account of Him with whom " all things that
may be desired are not to be compared." Oh, the joyous
privilege of being His ambassadors in such a cause ! The
preacher spoke with a great amount of pointedness and
freedom.

Resuming our journey, it was not long before we
reached our station at Lam-gan, which had been the
starting-place for our expedition.

XXXV

OUT AGAIN BY THE HIGHWAYS AND HEDGES

OUR evangelistic work in Formosa is very much confined
to opportunities which present themselves while visiting
our out-stations. It is certainly to be regretted that this
important duty of carrying out the words of the Great
Commission should occupy so subordinate a place ; but the
labourers are few, while the pastoral and educational work
to which we already stand committed take up so much of
our time that it is difficult to see how matters could well
be otherwise. Occasionally, we do arrange for preaching
work in towns and villages off the beaten track, and
during the opening days of the Chinese New Year we
always try to get out by the highways and hedges of the
regions beyond. No other time of the year is more
favourable for such work. For twelve months, the
people everywhere have been engaged in one incessant
grind at their worldly occupations ; but on the last day
of the twelfth moon, young and old all over the Empire
call a halt, and spend the few succeeding days in visiting
their friends, in pleasure-seeking, and in idling about.
They will then gather round in great numbers and listen
to our preaching. No doubt, many of them devote the
holidays to gambling and the opium-pipe, but others
allow better counsels to prevail, and wait upon us for
hours.

The preaching tour from which I returned a few days
ago was very encouraging, and showed both the need for
such work, and the beneficial effect it has on all who take

206

OUT AGAIN BY THE HIGHWAYS AND HEDGES 207

part in it. A few of the native brethren accompanied
me, and we left Taiwan-fu unfettered by any engagement,
and very much in ignorance as to where we might spend
the nights. A crowd of about two hundred persons
assembled in the market-town of Wan-nih, to whom a
hundred and ninety leaflets were sold, and the Word
preached in front of one of the temples. We halted, also,
for more than an hour in Tiam-a-khau, and endeavoured
to show many in this place of evil repute that, unless they
repented, there was nothing for them but to perish in
their sins.

One is often put to sore straits in thus labouring among
purely heathen audiences. The people are wholly in
darkness regarding the nature of sin in its Bible sense ;
they know nothing of God, or of holiness, or heaven, or
hell, or of any one distinctively Christian truth. We speak
to them of the true Siong-te or God, and they at once
conclude that reference is made to one of their own
divinities ; of sin, and they tell us they are not a bad
people, but poor, decent working men and women ; of
the immense blessedness of being saved, and some
anxious soul will immediately ask how much the fine
cloth of your coat cost a yard, or how many dollars a
month you get for going about preaching in this way.
Amid all discouragements, however, we often feel
strengthened in recalling the command and the promise
of our ascended Lord. Besides, the joy has already been
given us of seeing some from among this carnally-minded
people made living epistles of Christ Jesus, and it is the
belief that this will take place again and again which
renders our work not only bearable, but of all others the
most pleasant and exhilarating.

We afterwards went on to Thaw-khaw, a town where
one of our party — Brother Tiau, student of the Theo-
logical College at Taiwan-fu — was formerly well known,

208 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

and where he now renewed some friendships among
people he was intimate with before he became a Christian
three years ago. We reached this town on Wednesday
afternoon, and at once noticed the improved appearance
of the place and people as compared with what is seen
in other Chinese and aboriginal centres. It was really
remarkable to miss the long rows of gambling tables at
this time of the year. There seemed to be no occupation
of the kind going on at all ; and on enquiry it turned out
that Tan Toa-lo, the local mandarin, was one who exer-
cised the strictest discipline on all offenders who were
brought before him. Opium-smoking was sternly dis-
couraged, and he simply would not tolerate gambling on
any account.

Being off the main road to the North, Europeans
seldom visit this town, so that curiosity must have been
the leading motive in now causing such large crowds to
follow us. On saying we had come to preach to them,
they cried out that the largest temple was unoccupied,
that if we went there they could hear better, and we
would be out of the way of interrupting other people.
To this temple, therefore, we went, and in less than half
an hour, there met before us an audience which our senior
colporteur characterized as being the largest and best
behaved he had ever addressed in Formosa. The temple-
keeper kindly brought out a bench, and on this we
alternately stood while addressing the dense crowd which
filled the temple, and every part of the first court.

I think that the three of us who spoke received the aid
of God's Holy Spirit, and it was most delightful to witness
the entirely manful yet modest way in which Brother
Tiau was enabled to speak. It was his first visit to the
place since he left Ka-gi. He was then a poor ignorant
lad, who had no hope of rising above the position of an
ordinary coolie or petty hawker ; one, too, who was both

OUT AGAIN ON THE HIGHWAYS AND HEDGES 20Q

pitied and hated for having accepted the invitation of the
foreigner that he should come for Christian training to
Taiwan-fu. Indeed, some of the Thaw-khaw people
seriously believed that we had made away with Mr. Tiau,
and that there was no likelihood of his ever being seen
again. In spite, however, of all their absurd rumours,
he was here amongst them once more ; and although he
had departed for a season, it would be difficult to infer
from his neat, genteel appearance, or the brave, earnest
words he spoke, that the Church was an institution for
harming people, and giving them hearts of beasts, as
some of the Chinese firmly believe.

Brother Li Pa, the senior colporteur, also spoke with
great liberty, his address occupying more than an hour.
It was while noticing the effect which their fervent
evangelical words produced, that I felt increasingly the
importance of having a band of well-trained natives to
assist us in our work. Oh, that we had even one such
man stationed in every town and village of the island !
Although our meeting was a protracted one and we were
feeling very tired, the people urged us to begin the sale of
tracts to them, and were quietened only when we
promised to remain a day longer that they might have
another opportunity of hearing and obtaining copies of
our publications. We, accordingly, had three large
open-air meetings on Thursday, at which about five
hundred tracts were readily purchased.

It was also about this time that three of the students
and myself had rather a good day at Sin-kang, a large
Chinese market-town about eight miles northward from
Taiwan-fu, and interesting as having been the head-
quarters of the Dutch Mission to Formosa during the first
half of the seventeenth century. Many of the present in-
habitants had been inmates of the Taiwan-fu Hospital at
one time or another ; and, only a few weeks before the visit
14

210 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

now to be referred to, Deacon Bi of Bak-sa had been there,
when the Thong-su or civil officer of the local colony of
Pi-po-hwan (civilized aborigines), with quite a number
of his neighbours, expressed a strong desire to hear some-
thing more about this new " Saviour-Lord doctrine."

It would be about 6 a.m. when we issued from the
Great North Gate. The morning was cloudy, yet delight-
fully fresh and cool, enabling us to dispense with the
usual sun-spectacles and umbrella. What a heavy dew
we have in Formosa here ! And how very inspiring the
thought as we now left the city that, as the dew of
Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the moun-
tains of Zion ; so, before noon that day, the rich blessing
of our gracious God would be descending upon this
beloved land of our adoption ! Mr. Barclay was away
in the thick darkness of the Ka-gi region ; Mr. Smith
some fifty miles further south at Takow ; our worthy
Doctor, assisted by the senior colporteur and others, was
ready for action at Taiwan-fu ; while in the far north
Messrs. Mackay and Fraser, with their band of well-
trained preachers, would also be waiting to see another
day of the Son of Man.

We seldom halted by the way, and reached Sin-kang
just as a party of over thirty travelling play-actors
entered the town to prepare for a great torchlight per-
formance which was to be held there that night. They
certainly seemed to have the advantage of us so far as
outward appearances went. A large awning had been put
up in front of one of the temples ; there were dresses,
and weapons, and other such articles in abundance ; and
one could easily see that the people were only too eager
to become spectators of the idolatrous and unholy enter-
tainment. But, knowing that the Lord of Hosts was
upon our side, we did not hesitate long. Weak and
timid enough in ourselves, we looked up, and, like

OUT AGAIN BY THE HIGHWAYS AND HEDGES 211

Abraham's servant of old, breathed a silent prayer that
God would send us good speed that day, and use our poor
words to some purpose among the weary and heavy
laden ones of Sin-kang.

A crowd had already commenced to follow us, which
increased rapidly as we wended our way through the
busy market-place, on to a wide vacant piece of
ground, where we halted to commence our work. As
a matter of course, all sorts of questions and suggestions
were made as to the object of our visit ; some thinking
we had merely stopped to rest on our way to the North,
and that our sedan chairs and baggage would be following
on behind ; others, that we had come to practise the
healing art ; a few, that we were here from one of the
Hongs or European warehouses to seek new openings
for the sale of opium, and so on. They appeared to
be quite satisfied when I told them we had no such object
in view, but were now amongst them to speak about the
true God, and the way they could become possessed of
lasting happiness — a statement which brought one face
to face with the exceeding difficulty of addressing a
Chinese heathen audience on the truths of Scripture.

In the first place, their minds keep incessantly active
on matters not having the slightest reference to spiritual
things ; and then, when they do pay some attention, it is
only to fall into all sorts of mistakes as to the meaning of
one's imperfectly spoken words. On this occasion, we
tried to be as short and pointed in our addresses as
possible ; each speaker confining himself to the statement
and illustration of one particular point at a time. I made
as good a commencement as I could by trying to show
that there was only one living and true God ; who was
everywhere present, who knew all things, was holy,
merciful, and good to all His creatures, and who would
ultimately reward every man according to his works.

212 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

There were several interruptions while I spoke ; a some-
what officious individual always coming in as a kind of
interpreter by saying that it was Thi-kong I was exhorting
the people to worship, this Thi-kong being only a high-
class deity of their own creation.

One of the students followed with a very homely and
practical address on man's sin against God ; as shown in
failing to acknowledge Him, in worshipping dumb idols,
and in the wrong-doing and misery seen everywhere
around us. The awful curse of opium-smoking having
been referred to, a person took occasion to remark that
it was our foreign country in which the " flowing poison "
was cultivated. His meaning was that there would have
been no opium-smokers among the Chinese had foreigners
not first supplied them with the drug. In such oft-
recurring cases, I find it best as a rule simply to say that
we do greatly regret that a few of our countrymen are
engaged in the trade, but that this fact in no way
exonerates them from the sin and folly of using opium
as they do. The explanations are generally received in
very good part ; but it is impossible for one to overcome
a feeling of shame in thinking of our countrymen as being
so largely accountable for flooding China with an article
whose hopeless victims can now be numbered by tens
and hundreds of thousands. We remained there about
two hours, preaching and conversing with many people,
who both questioned some of our statements, and ex-
pressed a desire to know more about the matter we had
been speaking about. At the close, from thirty to forty
small Christian books were readily purchased.

We then moved away to that before-mentioned temple
where the play-actors had taken up their quarters, to
find that nearly all of them were busy gambling in front
of the idols. I tried to say a few words to the people
who came after us, but the confusion was too great ; so

OUT AGAIN BY THE HIGHWAYS AND HEDGES 213

that we came down again to the market-place, had a
little refreshment at one of the rice-stalls there, and
afterwards took up our stand outside of a large unoccupied
building, the wide awning of which served as a grateful
shade from the fierce heat of the mid-day sun. It was
especially at this spot I was made to feel that our visit
to Sin-kang had not been altogether in vain. Not that
there was anything striking in the way of people confessing
their sins, or receiving the doctrine as something they
had long been in search of. No ! the Chinese mind is
most terribly carnal, and slow, slow to move in the
direction of things that are spiritual. I just mean that
at this second halting-place we were enabled to speak
with more liberty than before ; our audience also being
a little more intelligent and appreciative-looking than
we had at the other end of the town. Our sale of books,
too, was brisker — so much so, indeed, that the demand
soon exceeded the supply we had brought with us.

It was well on in the afternoon before we started on the
return journey to Taiwan-fu, which was reached just a
little before dark ; all of us feeling that now, with more
missionaries and students in the city than heretofore,
Sin-kang might well come in for an occasional preaching
visit without any weakening of our hands in the more
regular work of the Mission.

XXXVI

SEED AMONG THORNS AND ON GOOD GROUND

TEK-A-KHA is a Chinese village about ten miles south-
east from Takow, in which Christian work has been
carried on during the past six or seven years. At first
the movement was greatly indebted to the influence of
a military graduate of the place, whose sincere profession
of discipleship led many of the poorer people to become
interested in the Gospel. The present condition of things
there will be seen from the following Notes of a recent
visit.

I arrived on a Saturday afternoon, and at once began
the examination of several candidates for baptism,
who were all somewhat unresponsive, and had little
that could be said either for or against them in the
matter of their daily conduct. It is when dealing with
people of this class we often have much difficulty in
knowing the precise course to take. Any answers they
do give show some familiarity with the saving truths
of Scripture, there is nothing positively blameworthy
in their lives, and here they are of their own accord
applying for admission to the Church of Christ. It
is very evident one must either accede to their request,
or have some presentable reason for keeping them back.
Not that one is able in every case just to place the
finger, so to speak, on the answer or that particular
part of the conduct which not only justifies but enjoins
our refusal. There is a great deal in a man's appearance
and manner, and much may be learned of his present

214

SEED AMONG THORNS AND ON GOOD GROUND 215

movements from the light of the past. Moreover,
surely no one will attempt to fix the extent to which
the Spirit of God may help us whilst sitting with those
candidates. In short, we need to remember that our
responsibility here does not end by taking care lest
hypocrites and the sinfully ignorant be received, but
reaches also to the danger of closing the door against
those for whom Baptism and the Lord's Supper are
more especially intended. A table is spread for the
hungry, and it is the weak who claim most of our
kindness and attention. On this occasion, I could see
my way to receive only Brother Thiok, and one woman
who had been a worshipper for some time, but whose
Christian character was said to be very much in advance
of her knowledge of Scripture.

After our examinations, the native preacher came
to me about a certain matter. He said that since the
death of the only Elder and Deacon of the congregation,
he was feeling very much alone, uncomfortable in having
the Church's small income and outlay in his hands;
and conscious of his own weakness in visiting among
the people. Would it not therefore be well that Brother
Ui-jin should be appointed to the deaconship to-morrow ?
I told him there was certainly nothing wrong in his
proposal ; that, on the contrary, we all sympathized
with him, and would do anything we could to strengthen
his hands. As to Mr. Ui-jin, all I knew or could find
out about him was to his advantage. He was baptized
several years ago by Mr. Ritchie, and up till now had
borne the character of being a sincere, well-behaved
sort of man, and one who had all along been most
exemplary in the matter of Church attendance. The
result was that I agreed to appoint him to office should
the brethren unanimously desire it — a mode of procedure
which may not have been quite in keeping with Presby-

2l6 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

terian order, but one which is simply unavoidable in
any place where the harvest is ripe and the labourers
are few.

The congregation on Sabbath morning was much
thinner than we had been accustomed to, although one
felt encouraged to go on from the careful way in which
three or four brethren turned up a number of Scripture
passages I referred to. After the baptisms, only a
very short statement was required in the matter of
Ui-jin's election. I said they all knew the need there
was for having the vacant offices filled up ; and that,
meanwhile, the appointment of even one Deacon would
help the Church, and prepare the way for something
better. I added that Ui-jin had been spoken of by
some of us as being eligible for this office, but they
must remember that the election rested wholly with
themselves. I then said I would retire to the sitting-
room in order that members of the congregation might
have an opportunity for stating objections, or suggesting
the name of any other one to fill the office. After an
interval of about half an hour, a few of them came to
say that there were no objections, that no other name
could be suggested, and that all of them would gladly
welcome the appointment of Ui-jin. Seeing that
arrangements had been already made for our Com-
munion service in the afternoon, I just detained them
a little longer and proceeded with his formal installation
to office. It was a very simple ceremony, and included
the reading of relevant portions of Scripture, with suit-
able remarks, our brother's affirmative reply to the
questions put, supplicatory prayer, giving the right
hand of fellowship, a short address to the people on the
duties which they had now undertaken ; and the whole
concluding with further prayer, praise, and the benedic-
tion. We had a very helpful meeting in the afternoon-

SEED AMONG THORNS AND ON GOOD GROUND 217

About thirty of us sat down at the table of the Lord,
and to some at least it was a time which recalled that
word spoken by the disciples of old, " Did not our hearts
burn within us while He talked with us by the way,
and while He opened to us the Scriptures ? "

During my subsequent stay with the brethren there,
I was grieved that Church matters with them were not
by any means in what could be called a prosperous way.
It seems that the Sabbath attendance has considerably
fallen off, while hardly anyone is found willing to come
near the chapel on week-days for instruction. It
should no doubt be borne in mind that the Tek-a-kha
people are very poor, and dependent for a livelihood
on their daily work, which usually begins at daybreak
and lasts on till about dark. Another thing is that,
as a rule, they are quite unable to read or write, even
the few educated persons amongst them being some-
times unable to catch the meaning of sentences in the
Chinese written character. With these facts before us,
it is obvious that in all our dealings with such brethren
we cannot but attach a very special value to their
diligent attendance on the means of grace.

It need hardly be added that such brethren occupy
a very different position from worshippers at home,
where church-going comes in very much as a mere
matter of course ; and where not only the opportunities,
but the positive inducements to a life of progress in
the knowledge of Christ, may be said to hedge one round
on every side. Take the very ordinary case of Brother
Thiok, who was baptized on the occasion of this visit.
He is a man of some thirty years of age, unable to read,
and earns his living as partner in a little grocery business
in the village of Khe-chiu, about two miles from Tek-
a-kha. Now, supposing this man to be insincere in his
profession, all one can say is that, considering the pres-

2l8 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

sure under which it is maintained, his discipleship can-
not continue very long. Either the preaching of the
Gospel will be made to him the savour of life unto life,
or he will fail to obtain the worldly good he looked for,
become disappointed, and end by going back again
to his old heathenish practices and beliefs. On the
other theory, that Thiok has indeed " obtained mercy
of the Lord/' surely his position in that village, and
his whole after-course, become invested with no slight
amount of interest. One wishes then to know how
he stands affected towards the chapel services at
Tek-a-kha ; since irregularity there cannot be made
up by intercourse with villagers who think it wrong
to become a Christian ; or by merely possessing the Bible,
in Chinese, which is of the same use to him as one in
Hittite characters would be.

And, as with individuals, so with those poor, un-
educated, and scattered little congregations. The loss
which their members sustain by absenting themselves
from public worship becomes apparent at once ; just
as their appreciative waiting on the means of grace —
because frequently kept up under conditions of peculiar
difficulty — brings with it any amount of blessing to them,
being both the accompaniment and the harbinger of
all true spiritual progress. As to our congregation at
Tek-a-kha, one cannot forget that the recent death of
their only Elder and Deacon has had a depressing
effect upon both members and adherents. The former
office-bearer was a remarkably active man, and occupied
some commission in the military service of his county. He
spent much of his time in visiting the Church members,
and I was greatly pleased to hear of his constant willing-
ness to go and pray for those who were in sickness.
I should not be at all surprised if some of the worshippers
have forsaken us on the deliberate conviction that there

SEED AMONG THORNS AND ON GOOD GROUND

could be no good luck attending a movement which was
deprived of its leaders in this way. The Chinese are
an exceedingly superstitious people, and such a thing
would be quite in keeping with this feature of their
character. Of course, therefore, the general falling
off is to be accounted for in the usual way ; some had
left because from the very beginning they had no real
part nor lot in the matter, while the bulk of them had
become careless when deprived of the oversight of our
two much lamented office-bearers.

Before leaving, I visited a number of outside villages
with the native preacher, including one about a mile
off where several members live, and a few former
worshippers who had gone back again to idolatry. Two
or three of this latter class received me in a kindly way,
acknowledging the doctrine we preached to be good
and their intention to resume attendance at Tek-a-kha,
adding with a sigh " Ah, how this world does involve
us ! " Some said they were very poor and could not
afford the time for worshipping God ; and one old
brother frankly said he was a bad man and unworthy
to come. Of course, we everywhere did our best to
answer objections, explain difficulties, and repeat the
invitation of our longsuffering and gracious Master.
Yes : blessed be God ! " Yet there is room " for you,
and for you, and for YOU, too, my poor ignorant sinning
wanderer. We went on to another village much further
off from Tek-a-kha, where one of the members has long
been trying to originate a Church movement, but I am
sorry to say that his efforts do not commend themselves
to us. He is plainly an unsafe man, said to be immersed
in any number of questionable undertakings, and will
probably have to be put under Church discipline before
long.

I had very mingled feelings during my two days'

220 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

return journey to Taiwan-fu. I had seen multitudes
perishing for lack of knowledge, and our insufficiently
cared-for little congregations scattered abroad as sheep
having no shepherd. Lord, come to our help, and send
forth labourers into Thy harvest !

I had a later journey further north on which more
encouraging experiences were met with, and a few Notes
about it may not be out of place here. One of our very
promising students named Ang-khe accompanied me,
and we started early on Thursday morning, our in-
tention being to visit in the county immediately north
of the one in which Taiwan-fu is situated. This county
of Ka-gi occupies the middle part of Formosa on its
western side, and stated missionary work was com-
menced in it about the beginning of 1872. There was
a good deal of opposition at first, but we have now no
fewer than six little congregations in the Ka-gi region,
while there seems good reason to hope that all this is
merely the firstfruits of a much more rapid and even
healthier extension of the work.

On the day Ang-khe and myself set out, several
halting-places furnished us with very good opportunities
for wayside preaching. This was particularly the
case at Hm-kang-be, a straggling market-town about
sixteen miles to the north of Taiwan-fu. We spent
more than an hour there in front of a shop whose sign-
board had the two large characters for " Complete
Happiness." Friends at home would scarcely think
that a descriptive title like this should be found over
the door of an opium-shop ; yet such was the case.
The use of the drug has fearfully increased of late years
in Formosa, and many of the people have long since
given up all sense of shame in owning their connection
with its sale or use. They regard opium as being simply
indispensable for their comfort, while opium-shops are

SEED AMONG THORNS AND ON GOOD GROUND 221

found to be so money-making that every means is taken
to increase their number.

We spent the first night at Kiam-tsui-kang, said to
be one of the largest towns in the Island. It stands
about three miles in from the western coast-line, and
an equal distance from the direct main road to Ka-gi
city. The place has been frequently visited by us, and a
good many old Hospital patients are to be found in the
'neighbourhood. The result, however, is that, so far as we
know, Kiam-tsui-kang still remains shrouded in spiritual
darkness. After our arrival on this occasion, I preached
to a large crowd till the lateness of the hour compelled
us to disperse. There was no little interruption from
time to time, one or two hearers remarking that we were
merely French spies ; others, that we were foreigners
trying to find new openings for the sale of opium ; a few,
that we were travelling-doctors ; but the greater number,
that we were good men going about exhorting people
to the practice of virtue.

We started again on Friday morning, and after about
three hours of tiresome travelling, arrived at the large
village of Gu-ta-wan. As we had arranged to spend
the night there, and as this name is likely to become
a familiar one in our Mission, it may not be out of place
to add a few words about the object and results of our
present visit. Six months have not yet elapsed since
we came first to know that an interest in the Gospel
had been awakened in Gu-ta-wan. None of us having
ever visited the place, and the name being new to us,
it was described as being a considerably-sized Chinese
village some twelve miles south-west from the county
city of Ka-gi. More definite information was obtained
from three of our theological students after returning
from their summer holidays. They halted for several
hours at Gu-ta-wan on their way to Taiwan-fu, and

222 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

saw enough to convince them that the villagers sincerely
desired to obtain Christian teaching, about thirty of
them having renounced all connection with idolatry, and
being daily engaged in the study of the New Testament
and hymn-book. I was therefore quite prepared
for the warm welcome given us that evening. The
people abandoned their fields on our account, provided
a suitable lodging for us, brought forth substantial
materials for our comfort, and took every way of show-
ing their joy and thankfulness at our presence amongst
them. They also conducted me to a neighbouring
village, where five or six entire families had ceased the
worship of idols, and were now receiving such Christian
instruction as could be obtained. A general meeting
was speedily called of all those who had cast in their
lot with us, many outsiders having responded, and
every one showing an amount of sympathetic interest
that was truly encouraging. As the building in which
we met proved much too small, a large table was placed
on the open ground outside ; and, standing in rotation
upon it, we preached till we were thoroughly tired.
It was the time of full moon, and I have seldom spoken
under circumstances more stimulating and impressive.
After much interesting conversation at the close (for
the people were unwilling to separate), one brother
offered a site, while about twenty others offered to put up
a place of worship at their own expense. It was agreed
that a building of bamboo framework would be quite
sufficient to meet present requirements.

So far as I could learn, it appears that the beginning
of this movement among the people of Gu-ta-wan dates
much further back than the present year. They told
me that, about three years ago, a number of the villagers
were wandering about in search of employment ; that
two of them found their way to the Christian village

SEED AMONG THORNS AND ON GOOD GROUND 223

of Giam-cheng, where Deacon Tsu-ong met them,
treated them with kindness, spoke to them about ob-
taining salvation through the mercy of God, and pre-
sented them with a copy of the hymn-book used at
our prayer-meetings. It was also about this time that
a Gu-ta-wan man went to Ka-gi city, and was spoken
to by a Church adherent about the blessings laid up for
him in Christ Jesus. Our Elder there, Se-keng, then
went down to Gu-ta-wan to find that many of the
villagers were making a profession of Christianity which
both surprised and delighted him.

Before I left on Saturday morning, our friends re-
quested that Student Ang-khe should be allowed to
remain for eight or ten days to see after the building
of the chapel, and to have reading-classes with them
every evening after worship. I readily assented to this,
and parted with them soon after with something of the
feelings of a man who has just discovered a silver-mine.
I have no doubt that many of the fine promising lads
at Gu-ta-wan will yet be able to give a good account
of themselves ; for several of the grown-up people are
already speaking of sending their sons to the Middle
School at Taiwan-fu.

One or two things arrested my attention in connection
with this fresh extension of our work : First, the in-
strumentality which God's Spirit has used for bringing
it about has been the Christian character and faith-
fulness of the native brethren themselves. Second,
the value of our simple little hymn-book as a medium
for the conveyance of spiritual truth. It is a small col-
lection of only 59 hymns prepared by the missionaries
at Amoy ; and contains a remarkably full statement
of all the leading doctrines of the Bible, arranged in
regular order of development, and in language which
is easily understood. Might it not be a good thing

224 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

for brethren at all the churches to spend part of every
Sunday in finding out passages of Scripture illustrative
or confirmatory of the sentences in our hymn-book ?
Third, another interesting thing I noticed at
Gu-ta-wan was the fact already hinted at, namely,
that the worshippers are nearly all made up of entire
families who have — still doubtless with much im-
perfection— declared themselves to be on the Lord's
side. We were very sorry to part from each other ;
and had it not been that arrangements were already
made for my having special services in the county city
on Sabbath, I should most gladly have prolonged my
stay with them.

Starting, therefore, on Saturday morning, I was able
to reach Ka-gi in good time to examine the candidates
for baptism who had been brought forward. Of these,
it was decided that two should be received, one of them
being that Gu-ta-wan brother who had come to take
up his quarters in the city. The Ka-gi office-bearers
were able to give me a very favourable report of the
continued prosperity of the Church in this important
centre. There were no cases of discipline, and the
brethren were still showing an encouraging amount
of sincerity in their Christian profession. The services
on Lord's day were well attended ; and, altogether,
my visit was a very profitable and cheering one to my-
self. For a few days at the beginning of the week, I
was occupied in visiting the brethren in their homes,
and otherwise trying to make the most of my stay.

On Thursday, I started for a large market-town called
Tau-lak, about a day's journey to the north of Ka-gi
city, and lying on the direct route to our stations on
the Po-li-sia Plain. We had often halted there for open-
air preaching in the public squares, but with no apparent
result till the Spring of 1883, when several persons

SEED AMONG THORNS AND ON GOOD GROUND 225

commenced to manifest an interest in the Gospel.
Mr. Barclay was privileged to baptize three men from
Tau-lak about six months ago. In all, some thirty
persons meet statedly for worship ; so that there, too,
there is good reason to look forward with gratitude
and hopefulness. The whole region is a very populous
one, and such a light as this would be sure to bring
guidance and peace to many who are weary and heavy-
laden. On the occasion of my present visit, about
forty persons listened attentively to an exposition of
the miraculous draught of fishes as recorded by St.
Luke.

I returned to Ka-gi on Friday afternoon, and on the
following morning started south to be in time for
baptismal and communion services at Giam-cheng on
4th inst. A part of my preliminary work included the
examination of five candidates for baptism. One of
them was Lim Chiah-be, a young man who has been
worshipping with us for some time. He is now acting
as schoolmaster at Giam-cheng, and has certainly
suffered a good deal on account of (no other apparent
reason than) his sincere profession of Christianity. I
believe myself that Chiah-be is a genuine man although
unable to see my way to admit him on this occasion.
After being under examination for about half an hour, he
became strangely excited, and evidently nothing could
disabuse his mind of the belief that the Holy Ghost,
in the form of a bright object, was always hovering in
front of him. I do not lay much stress upon this. It
is quite plain that the poor fellow is in a very weak
condition of health, and what was of far more value
from an evidential point of view is the fact that our
resident preacher, who had been in close fellowship
with him during the past five months, is convinced of
the sincerity of Chiah-be's desire to become a follower
15

226 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

of Christ ; so that, on the occasion of our next pastoral
visit, there is every likelihood that he will be received.
I baptized two men and one woman at this time, besides
setting apart two brethren as Deacons, and two to the
office of the Eldership. The Church people at Giam-
cheng are much annoyed at present by bands of lawless
characters roaming about, and levying blackmail on
anyone they are able to pounce upon. Several of the
brethren have already suffered severely from this form
of oppression, and it was very trying to listen to their
piteous accounts without being able to help them.

On Monday the 6th, I started from Giam-cheng and
arrived at our chapel in Ka-poa-soa about mid-day.
There, the Church membership rolls were revised and
corrected to date ; and there also, I am sorry to
say, I failed in my efforts to bring about a better under-
standing between Sister Chia and her husband. When
I was in Ka-gi, he came and made a most dolorous com-
plaint to me about his wife refusing to live with him,
and always running away to her relatives in Ka-poa-
soa. On the other hand, she affirms that her husband
has failed to provide necessary articles of furniture
for the house, and that he is continually blaming her
when his words ought to be those of gratitude and en-
couragement. It was clearly a case of there being
faults on both sides, and would be hardly worth referring
to were it not to give an opportunity for remarking
that we find little domestic squabbles of this kind to
be not less frequent than they are a cause of most
serious hindrance to the progress of our work. The
whole system of Chinese betrothals and marriage arrange-
ments is certainly not conducive to the peace and comfort
of anyone's home. We shall probably make detailed
reference to this whole subject at one or other of the
meetings of our approaching General Conference.

SEED AMONG THORNS AND ON GOOD GROUND 227

I had a pleasant meeting with our Hwan-a-chan
brethren on the Monday evening, and reached Taiwan-fu
on Tuesday, feeling thankful for nearly everything I had
seen, and more than ever hopeful for the progress of our
work throughout the county of Ka-gi. To God be all
the praise !

XXXVII
REPORT FROM COLPORTEUR Li PA

OUR senior colporteur, Brother Li Pa, has just supplied
me with his Report of a two months' book-selling and
preaching tour in the Chiang-hoa region, from which
some extracts may be given here. He made our chapel
at Toa-sia his headquarters, always returning there when
the heavy rains prevented him from moving about, or
when his knapsack required a fresh supply of books and
tracts.

He states that, on I4th April, he journeyed west to the
market- town of Gaw-che on the sea-coast, where he met
with some little opposition, but also with much encourage-
ment. While he was preaching in the public square of
the place, a poor drunkard stumbled into the crowd to
cause no small disturbance, and one man took the oppor-
tunity of stealing a number of his books. In spite of this,
however, he managed to sell one hundred and thirty-six
little pamphlets and tracts, to have several open-air
meetings, and have much conversation with the people in
their shops and houses. One scholarly wealthy-looking
man showed a spirit of great kindness, while another
friend considerately invited him to dinner.

On ist May he set out for the walled town of Tai-kah,
a place where the people are terribly given up to the
opium habit, but containing a few who have heard the
Gospel either at Toa-sia, or in our Mission Hospital.
There, three men pretended to be much interested in
what was said about the doctrine, obtained the large

228

REPORT FROM COLPORTEUR LI PA 22Q

supply of books they asked for, and went away for the
price of them, but poor Pa might have waited till the
Greek Kalends for their return ; thus causing a great deal
of quiet enjoyment to the on-lookers. After preaching
for some time there, the proprietor of a large grocery
shop invited our Brother to come in and rest himself ;
on which many of the neighbours gathered round with
any number of questions about the " Doctrine " ; all of
which supplied further opportunity for explaining
matters, and exhorting all present to repent of sin and
trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ. He sold one
hundred and one books in Tai-kah.

On 3rd May he was off again, this time to the market-
town of Pai-a, where the people gladly welcomed him,
and listened attentively to his preaching. A poor
wretched beggar bought three leaflets. This man seemed
to be very much impressed ; although there was good
reason to think that, on reaching the outskirts of the
crowd, he re-sold the leaflets for double their price !
There was also some trouble in a pawn-shop into which
the Evangelist had been asked, and where an attempt was
made to intimidate him against thus going about in the
interests of a foreign church. One intelligent and well-
to-do-looking woman asked Pa with much apparent
sincerity if what he had been saying was really true,
and if these books were all about this doctrine. He sold
fifty-four books in this place, among them being twenty
copies of Newman's " Come to Jesus " translated into
Chinese.

From the 7th till the gth he was engaged in itinerating
among a number of villages to the north-east of Toa-sia ;
besides visiting the towns of Thau-a-ke and Sa-tsap-
tiu-le ; in the former of which he sold thirty-nine, and in
the latter fifty-nine tracts. At all these centres, he had
also large audiences in the open-air, and many oppor-

230 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

tunities for speaking personally to the people about things
pertaining to the Kingdom.

On I4th May he went to the thriving town of Tang-si-
kak where, among the intelligent Hakka population, he
says that " God set before me an open door, and enabled
me to speak the Truth with a warm heart." One hundred
and nineteen little pamphlets were sold in this place ;
fifty-four of them having been purchased by a man in
comfortable circumstances for distribution among his
friends and neighbours. An old native doctor, the sign
of whose shop is " Golden Longevity," was particularly
pleased to listen to all that was said, and showed no
small degree of hospitality to the preacher.

That same day, he journeyed on to Tang-toa-tun (now
called Tai-tiong or Taichu) and there, too, he was
strengthened to preach the Word with love and boldness.
In one part of this important centre, a great many persons
were busily engaged in gambling, but they were not at all
displeased when our Brother asked them to hear what he
had to say. Their attention was at once arrested when
Pa began by declaring that he was formerly a notorious
gambler himself, and guilty of much more wickedness in
the sight of God.

I well know how it would go on. He would tell them
a great deal about himself, past and present. He would
have them in shrieks of laughter the one minute, and
anxious lest they should lose a word the next. The
compassion and the grace of God working in his own life,
and ready now to bring blessing unto them, would be the
burden of his message. He could not but speak of the
things which he has both seen and heard. There is not a
little of the born orator about Mr. Li Pa, and it is a rich
treat to watch the provoking good-nature and shrewd
mother- wit with which he can reply to all objections.
I have known him now for many years, and rejoice over

REPORT FROM COLPORTEUR LI PA 23!

him as a brother beloved who serves the Lord Jesus in
sincerity. He does not spare himself in his abundant
labours for the good of others. We have been in many
a tight corner together, and his preaching has always
impressed me as coming from a man who really believes
what he says. While still connected with a travelling
company of play-actors, he entered our Taiwan-fu chapel
one day when dear old Elder Bun was preaching on the
destruction of Sodom and Gomorrha ; and, from soon
after, having obtained help of God, he has continued
until this day a consistent and most useful servant of the
Church. May God raise up many more fellow-workers
like Mr. Li Pa !

XXXVIII

STUDENT LAU-SENG IN THE PULPIT

DURING the earlier years of our Mission, the staff of
foreign workers was so small, and the requests to open
new places of worship so urgent, that native brethren had
occasionally to be sent forth as preachers without
having received anything like an adequate training for
their work. As those brethren were very illiterate to
begin with, it is to be feared that many of their expositions
and discourses must have been unsatisfactory, if not
even misleading at times. An illustration occurred some
time ago, which would not have been referred to here,
were it not that I wish readers to have as full-orbed a
view of things as possible. The illustration was used by
an elderly brother, whose loquacious ingenuity in
spiritualising the simplest statements of Scripture
awakened no end of interest and aspiration in the minds
of his younger colleagues. One evening this middle-aged
expert rose to address a large congregation, and chose
for his text that passage in which believers are exhorted,
as new-born babes, to desire the sincere rnilk of the Word ;
and, with all the calm assurance of one who was on firm
ground, he made his introductory sentences to run
somewhat as follows : — " Yes, my friends, in this text
let us see the beauty and the aptness of the types of
Scripture. Can any object be more interesting than a
new-born child ? Think of the vicissitudes and the

232

STUDENT LAU-SENG IN THE PULPIT 233

possibilities gathered up there ? What is it that this
child longs for and must have ? Nourishment. What
kind of nourishment ? Milk ; pure, unadulterated, and
life-giving milk. Where does it get the milk ? From
its mother's breasts. How many breasts are there ?
Two, and only two ; one typifying the Old Testament,
and the other the New ; so that, when the dear little
babe has been partly satisfied at the left or weaker side,
we have only to turn it round that it may obtain rich
abundance at the other ; for it was to the right side of
the ship that Jesus told His disciples to cast their net for
a great multitude of fishes " — and so on. I feel here
I should apologise to the reader for burdening my pages
with exegetical slag of this kind.

In order to furnish better opportunities for training
work, a proposal was made several years ago to send
some of our promising lads over to the Theological College
at Amoy, but it was found that this arrangement would
not work well, and that the Island missionaries would
themselves require to do the best they could in the cir-
cumstances. This led to the abandonment of Takow
as a separate branch of the Mission, and to Taiwan-fu
becoming our only headquarters in Formosa ; a change
which gave our students the benefit of almost continuous
missionary supervision in the class-room and outside.
Another important addition soon after was the engage-
ment of Mr. Law Liong as resident Chinese Tutor. He
had been baptized at Amoy many years before, and was
a man whose abilities and character were worthy of all
respect. His labours here have given us entire satis-
faction, and we hope that even greater advance will be
made in this important department of work when we
have taken possession of the new college buildings now
in course of erection.

There are seven students now under training. They

234 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

attend classes five hours a day, but their voices may
often be heard reading aloud, as the Chinese do, far on
into the night. Of course, the missionaries take general
superintendence of their studies, giving short simple
lectures on Scriptural and other subjects, and conducting
the examinations which are held from time to time. For
example, they are busy at present in trying to find out
everything they can about the origin and contents of the
Epistle to the Philippians, and it falls to me to examine
them on the last day of this month, both orally and in
writing.

The young men are sometimes invited to accompany
us on visits to our more distant stations. The exercise
is a very bracing one for them, for, during such intervals
away from the class-room, they have capital opportunities
for getting acquainted with the practical side of the work
to which they are looking forward. I was greatly pleased
with the little sermon delivered by one of them who
came with me on a recent journey. We arrived on
Saturday at the Taw-kun-eng chapel, and Mr. Toh Lau-
seng was asked to conduct our forenoon service on the
following day. He is a Pi-po-hwan aboriginal from
Poah-be, and has been under training during the past
three years, but is still a mere lad. His words were
addressed to a company of about sixty Christian wor-
shippers, and it was in something like the following
strain he spoke on " The race that is set before us " :—

" Now," said he, " I am very inexperienced, and you
must be all asking God to use my weak words for instruc-
tion and stimulus, so that every one present may be
brought to follow the Lord Jesus more faithfully than
ever he has done.

" The Preparation for this race is what I wish to say a
few words about in the first place ; because, in order to
be a runner here, we are told to lay aside every weight

STUDENT LAU-SENG IN THE PULPIT 235

and the sin which doth so easily beset us. Why, to gain
even an earthly prize, it is thought necessary, and men
are found willing, to labour and deny themselves. What
should we say of the man who had such a contest in view,
either forgetting all about it, or giving himself up to every
indulgence of the passing hour, till the time came when
his folly would be made manifest to all ? And so we too,
brethren, must be up and doing. To run in the way of
God's commandments, we must enter in at the Strait
Gate. We must be born again before we can live to the
praise and glory of God. Friends ! you should see to it,
and search your own hearts, lest you may be deceiving
yourselves, and come short in the end. God's grace is
offered to all, but you must ask desire, and wisdom, and
strength, to receive it. He is willing to save to the
uttermost all who come to Him for the sake of Jesus
Christ.

" The next thing we have to consider is, How we are
to run the race that is set before us ; and we do not require
to go far for the answer : we must run with patience,
looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our
faith. In these words the Holy Spirit teaches us that
God's people must be fully persuaded in their own minds,
both as to the great reward prepared for them, and
the certainty that, by Divine grace, they shall be kept
through faith unto salvation. Although their spiritual
foes be numerous, crafty, and strong, there is no need for
serious alarm. They that be with them are more than all
their enemies, and the one whose mind is stayed on God
may live continually in perfect peace. God's people only
require to be diligent in every good word and work.
Their chief concern should be to look unto, to consider,
and to imitate the Lord Jesus Christ in all things. He is
the only One set before us, and it is to Him alone we
should look by faith. Thus looking, we shall be changed

236 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

into His likeness, and triumph over every obstacle till
God shall call us to Himself.

"As to the last particular, The end of this heavenly
race. How can I find words to speak of it ? The Scrip-
tures say ' Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither
have entered into the heart of man the things which God
hath prepared for them that love Him.' In this world,
God's people cannot hope to escape many trials ; nay,
because of their faith in Jesus Christ, they may have
to pass through greater affliction than other people.
But there will be an end to all this. When they have
finished their course, they shall obtain rest and a great
reward in the Kingdom of their glorified Lord ; which
reward is one that will be ' incorruptible, undefiled, and
that fadeth not away.' This, then, is what awaits the
successful runner of whom we have been speaking, and
this is the reward now placed within the reach of every
one. May all friends here to-day be enabled to choose
so good a part ! "

The foregoing sentences give a fair, although very
incomplete account of Lau-seng's address, and show
nothing at all of the simplicity and unassuming earnest-
ness with which he spoke.

To face page 237.

XXXIX

ORDINATION AT AW-GU-LAN

IN order to give completeness to the present sketch, I
may remind my readers that the Po-li-sia Plain lies
among the mountains two days' journey eastward from
Chiang-hoa city. There are some thirty little villages
scattered over it, having an aggregate population of ten
thousand adults. They belong to the Sek-hwan branch
of the civilized aborigines of Formosa ; the other (southern)
branch being the Pi-po-hwan, or aborigines of the level
country, as the name implies. Mr. W. A. Pickering,
late Government Protector of Chinese at Singapore, was
the first European to bring those Po-li-sia aborigines
within notice of the outer world ; for it was while
travelling in Central Formosa that he induced three or
four of them to set out on the long walk to our Taiwan-fu
Mission Hospital, then in charge of Drs. Maxwell and
Dickson.

The name of a devoted colleague, the late Rev. H.
Ritchie, ought also to be remembered in connection with
the commencement of Christian work in Po-li-sia. He
accompanied the first missionary party to the place, and
baptized the earliest converts there in 1872. The work
thus begun at the village of Aw-gu-lan soon spread to
other centres, until we had four little congregations
meeting every Lord's day in as many of the villages ;
those congregations having collectively an adult bap-
tized membership of about one hundred and sixty persons.
As the Sek-hwan are a simple, easily-influenced people,

237

238 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

and are being continually over-reached by the wily
Chinese settlers around them, it goes for the saying that
any influential foreigner coming amongst them would
be welcomed and treated with even lavish hospitality ;
a position of things which so far accounts for their rapid
and widespread profession at the beginning. But be this
as it may, a time of reaction set in when it was seen that
there must be a cessation of the old superstitious beliefs
and practices, that the Kingdom of Christ is a spiritual
one, that strait is the gate and narrow is the way which
leadeth unto life eternal. This decadent condition of the
Church in Po-li-sia continued for some years. A hopeful
change for the better was brought about through the
labours of Preacher Tsan Chi-heng, and it is to his ordina-
tion at Aw-gu-lan in April 1905 that the following Notes
refer.

Mr. Tsan was my own servant-boy for several years,
and was then always diligent, obliging, and willing to help
others. After he had been with me for some time, he
set himself each day to get through his work smartly,
and afterwards retired to his room under my study, where
I often heard him working at the Chinese written language
late into the night. In this, and other studies, he made
so much progress, that he was admitted into our Theo-
logical College when the time came for me to leave upon
furlough.

Having completed his four years' course to our entire
satisfaction, Mr. Tsan was sent to take charge of our
station at Sia-thau, where he did good work during several
years, even although he suffered much from the dampness
of that place, and from a troublesome affection of the eyes.
When sent to Po-li-sia two years ago, his health immedi-
ately improved in that bracing mountain air. He
instituted a house-to-house visitation in Aw-gu-lan and
the adjacent villages. The deserted prayer-meeting

ORDINATION AT AW-GU-LAN 239

was revived ; the scores of children met with everywhere
were brought together for instruction and hymn-singing,
while great pains were taken with the Sunday services,
which were made as bright and attractive as possible.
Mr. Tsan was ever on the move among the further-off
villages enquiring for lapsed worshippers, and speaking
words of kindness to all who would listen. A few faith-
ful workers gathered around him, and he was much
cheered.

The missionaries soon came to know that a decided
change for the better had taken place at those distant
stations. Mr. Barclay went on a visit. He baptized
twenty-two adults, set apart ten brethren as Elders and
Deacons, and sent down a most hopeful Report of the
greatly improved state of things. Several months later,
we heard that Mr. Tsan and his office-bearers were
evangelizing in the Gaw group of villages. They lie
about a day's journey south of Po-li-sia, and this was
an initial attempt to open up that region to the influences
of the Gospel.

But we have now reached a further development of the
Christian movement in Po-li-sia. The brethren there
knew after a residence of two or three years at one
station, it was our custom to remove preachers to another ;
and, accordingly, they sent in a request that Mr. Tsan's
services should be permanently secured by having him
ordained as their pastor. This led to his coming to
Taiwan-fu for examination before becoming a Licentiate
of the Church. Having passed successfully and been
duly licensed, the Aw-gu-lan Session then applied for
leave to proceed, and the Tainan Presbytery appointed
Mr. Campbell-Moody with others to make arrangements.
The " call " having been unanimous and enthusiastic in
favour of Mr. Tsan, his ordination at Aw-gu-lan was
fixed for the I3th of April, I being asked to preside, and

240 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

Pastor Lim Chiah-be of Chiang-hoa to deliver the ordina-
tion address. As an illustration of the difficulties which
sometimes arise in tropical climates, the Resolution of
the Presbytery had this qualifying clause :—" Should
heavy rain make it impossible for a quorum of the Presby-
tery to meet in that distant region, those who can be
present are hereby empowered to make such arrangements
as they think best in the circumstances." Happily no
such untoward event interfered with the interesting
function.

I set out from Taiwan-fu on yth April, Mrs. Campbell
and my daughter Mary accompanying me. We came
by train as far as Wan-lim-koe, and spent that night in
the rooms of our chapel at Chau-e-tun, five or six miles
further east. Next day, our journey lay over a new
road into Po-li-sia, and we reached Aw-gu-lan about 5 p.m.
My time was very much occupied the three following days
with meetings and in the examination of candidates for
baptism, and then came the great day. There had been
heavy rain for weeks before, and as the hour drew near,
we got a little anxious at the non-arrival of Pastor Lim ;
but just as we were about to begin proceedings, he made
his appearance, travel-stained and hungry, but glad to
be in time. There were no vacant seats in our large
chapel that forenoon. There were plants and decorations
in abundance, and the spacious platform was occupied by
the members of Presbytery. The service lost nothing
in impressiveness from its simplicity ; and as Mr. Tsan
knelt in sight of the congregation, and was solemnly
ordained by the laying on of hands, not a few eyes were
wet with tears of joy and gratitude. " Then said they
among the heathen, the Lord hath done great things for
them ; yea, verily, the Lord hath done great things for
us, whereof we are glad."

OUR LANGUAGE PROBLEMS AND LITERATURE

THE symbols now used for writing and printing by the
people of Formosa are : First, the universally-diffused
Chinese characters ; and, Second, the Japanese script,
which latter is chiefly made up of Chinese characters,
with about fifty semi-alphabetic phonotypes placed
alongside as an aid in expressing their sounds and their
meaning.

Now, some foreigners have said a great deal about the
impracticability of the Chinese method of writing, but
few persons are more entitled to speak on the subject
than the veteran missionary, Dr. A. H. Smith, and this
is the testimony given by him : — " It may safely be said
that Chinese is a less difficult tongue than Japanese,
Arabic, Tamil, and Turkish, not to mention others. To
whatever extent the Chinese language has been a barrier
to outsiders, it has certainly been a bond to those who
have used it. The Chinese themselves are unconscious
of its deficiencies. They greatly admire its terseness, its
ductility, and its pictorial beauty, which often flashes
its meaning through a descriptive character, as a dark
lantern lights up a path through a thicket. There can
be no doubt that the Chinese language is undergoing a
process of expansion to meet modern conditions, and
there is no good reason to suppose that it will be — or
could be — superseded by any other."

As showing, too, how people of even moderate capacity
can acquire a passable knowledge of the ideographs
16 241

242 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

when deliberate attempts are made to help and en-
courage them in doing so, the following extract from a
published Report of missionary work in Manchuria is
interesting : " For many years, Manchuria has sur-
passed all the provinces of China in the number of Bibles
and Testaments sold, and other Christian literature
has been not far behind. One of the many indirect
effects of Christianity has been the creation of a desire
to be able to read. Many men and women of all ages
who, before their conversion, could not read, have now
a good working knowledge of their own written language.
One missionary's baptismal register, covering the
numerous baptisms of ten years, indicated that of the
catechumens who could not read before conversion,
ninety per cent, learned to read all or part of the Catechism
and some of the New Testament before their baptism.
In all but exceptional cases, some knowledge of the
character has been made a condition of baptism."

The victory of Japan over her unwieldy opponent
in 1905, and the more recent upheaval in China, gave
a much wider impulse to all forms of educational work
in both countries. Government schools and improved
methods of teaching were started everywhere, and the
colossal yearly output of books, periodicals, and daily
newspapers in Chinese and Japanese came to be some-
thing almost bewildering. It need scarcely be added
that the rapidly increasing literature thus created
contains substantial contributions in every department
of human knowledge : educational, historical, scientific,
and religious.

Nor was Formosa overlooked in this onward march
of affairs ; for the education of children from eight
years old has now all the force of a binding law ; every
good-sized village has its Government school, in which
free tuition is given in Japanese and Chinese ; daily

OUR LANGUAGE PROBLEMS AND LITERATURE 243

newspapers in both scripts are also issued at Taihoku
(the new capital of Formosa), at Taichu or Tai-tiong
in Mid-Formosa, and at Tainan (formerly Taiwan-fu)
in South Formosa ; while our latest-arrived missionary
began work by spending his first two years at Tokyo
in studying the spoken and written language of Japan.
Of course, the English and Canada Presbyterian
Missions have not been slow to see the bearing which
this changed position of things has upon the progress
of their work ; and, particularly, in acknowledging
the absolute necessity which has arisen for a much
better educated class of native ministers, preachers,
evangelists, and teachers. The foreign workers here
feel that they have reached a stage when all tempor-
ising must be laid aside ; when the Church should
no longer be satisfied with a large ignorant mem-
bership, and salaried brethren who are not fitted
to instruct and to influence the people around them.
Some fresh hopeful development would soon be made
had we only an increase of missionaries and of funds.
But we cannot complain ; seeing that the congregations
in England and Canada stand by us so well in the face
of their own heavy responsibilities, and seeing that the
Home Boards are really responsive to the very limit
of those opportunities which are placed within their reach.

XLI

CHURCH PRAISE IN FORMOSA

A GREAT deal of importance attaches to the praise part
of worship at our mission stations in the East. Many
of the native brethren are poor and ill-educated, but
with some simple ready way of getting them to grow in
Christian knowledge, and give expression to their own
spiritual hopes and desires, it is wonderful what progress
can be made under conditions which are well-nigh
impracticable. Hence, our little Hymn Book comes to
have a value belonging to it which is all its own.

The collection made use of by the Church in Formosa
(long sim sin si) during many years contains only fifty-
nine hymns, some of them being original compositions,
and others translated from the Book of Psalms or other
well-known hymns in circulation among English-speaking
Christians. So far as can be ascertained, all of them
seem to have been composed or translated by the earlier
missionaries at Amoy.

It was at one of its recent meetings that the South
Formosa Presbytery decided to arrange for the pre-
paration of an enlarged Hymn Book that would more
adequately meet the wants of the Church. Repeated
attempts had previously been made to co-operate with
the three Missions at Amoy in this direction, and during
that time some useful material was brought together ;
but our insular position, with the infrequency of com-
munication, made it apparent that independent action
would have to be taken if the work was to be completed
in a way that would satisfy us.

244

CHURCH PRAISE IN FORMOSA 245

Accordingly, the Presbytery appointed a committee,
with myself as Convener, to use diligence in preparing
the proposed Hymn Book, in order that its use might
be sanctioned at one of our meetings six months hence.
The result was that when we did assemble in October
1900, the printing of the new book (Seng si koa) at our
Mission Press was so far advanced that the Presbytery
unanimously recommended its adoption by every
congregation within the bounds. Of course, the tunes
to which some of the hymns should be sung will be
unfamiliar, but only for a time. As regards our more
backward aboriginal brethren at the Hill stations (the
Pi-po-hwan and Sek-hwan, as they are called), who are
very fond of singing, their own native airs, as heretofore,
will be made to serve a Christian purpose. In passing,
I may remark that some of those native tunes have much
plaintive sweetness about them, while others lead off
with a dash of triumph and hopefulness which is truly
inspiring. They were used during their pre-Christian
days while sitting round the camp-fire, at celebrations
of marriage, or while out on some hunting expedition
or other. I have often suggested to our lady mis-
sionaries that one of their number should undertake to
make out a written collection of those native tunes.

By way of affording a glimpse of the process of hymn-
making in China, my version of " Rock of Ages " in the
new book is given below, not in Chinese characters,
but having the words spelled out in Roman letters,
with an italicised literal translation in English between
the lines : —

BAN-SE-POA, thoe goa phah khui

MYRIAD-AGES-ROCK, for me struck open

Tsun goa bih, chiah bian lian-lui

Suffer me hide, thus escape involvement

Tsu si liar, peng chhak heng-hah

Lord die having, soldier pierced side

246 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

Huih tsui lau chhut tui hit tah

Blood water flow out from that spot

Chin-chia si ho goa thang siu

Very truly enables me to receive

Sia tsoe i-kip chheng-khi-siu

Pardon sin together with cleansing.

Sui-jian goa chin-lat tioh-boa

Although I very much labour
Kam oe than lut-hoat chit poa

How can obey Law one half
Na jiat-sim, ng-bang chin-cheng

// zealous, hoping make progress
Na thi-khau, til-tit bo theng

// sobbing, continuously without pause
Che long-tsong boe siok goa tsoe

This altogether cannot expiate my guilt
Chi-u Kiu-tsu la-so oe

Only Saviour -lord Jesus can.

Goa khang chhiu chhin-kun Kiu-tsu

I empty hand approach Saviour-lord
Tok-tok sip-ji-ke kui hu

Solely cross relying upon
Goa thng-theh, I ho goa chheng

/ naked, He gives me dress
Goa soe-bi, ho goa toa heng

/ broken-down, gives me great reviving
Goa la-sam, pek-oa tsui-pi

I filthy, press near fountain side
Kiu-Tsu soe, chiu goa bian si

Beseech Lord wash, then I escape death.

Goa si-mia hek-si iau oah

My life, whether still existing
Hek lim-chiong, kap se-kan soah

Or near end, with world finished
Hek boat-jet, seng kau kek hng

Or last-day, ascend arrive very far
Khoa goa Tsu che-ui sim-mng

See my Lord sit-throne judging
BAN-SE-POA, thoe goa phah khui

MYRIAD-AGES-ROCK, for me struck open
Tsun goa bih chiah bian lian-lui

Suffer me hide, thus escape involvement,.

XLII

WOMEN AND CHILDREN OF THE ISLAND

BEGINNING with the earlier inhabitants, our remarks here
will refer to the high-hill tribes or savages ; then to the
civilized Sek-hwan and Pi-po-hwan aborigines, and after-
wards to the nearly three millions of Chinese in Formosa.

As might be expected, the women of the unsubdued
tribes lead a very laborious life. The men being usually
engaged in the chase, or in hunting for human heads,
the women have not only to attend to their children and
household duties, but work hard in cultivating the little
patches of land on which they raise crops of taro, millet,
sweet potatoes, and vegetables. Their time is also taken
up in preparing thread to be woven into cloth for making
jackets and aprons ; and sometimes they accompany the
hunting-parties as burden-bearers and cooks. As those
savages are a strictly moral people and much attached
to each other, their women are treated with consideration
and even with kindness. Courtships are carried on
among the younger people with more proper sentiment
than among the stolid Chinese, and the marriage cere-
monies have not much that is objectionable about them,
were it not for the too liberal consumption of native
whisky. Having no written language of their own, the
men as well as the women of those hill-tribes are com-
pletely innocent of anything in the form of education.

It may be mentioned here, however, that several girls
from one of the savage tribes were induced to become
pupils in the Girls' Mission Boarding School at Tamsui.

247

248 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

They soon became quite accustomed to their new sur-
roundings, and showed a very fair amount of diligence
and receptivity. It should also be noted here that the
Government Schools for aborigines like the A-mi-a and
other tribes in East Formosa which have surrendered to
the Authorities, are carried on with an encouraging
degree of success.

As to the boys in those scattered little mountain
hamlets, their out-door life and plain nourishing diet
cause them to develop into fine promising lads. The
two pastimes they become most expert at are wrestling
and practising the art of head-hunting. For the latter,
a company of five or six is required. Two or three of
these provide themselves with sticks to serve as ploughs
or little hoes, and pretend to be Chinamen out working
in their fields ; while the others keep lurking behind
trees and bushes, till they make a blood-curdling yell,
and dash out for the much-coveted trophy. Should
those attacked be able to knock down their assailants,
or escape by making a clean pair of heels, then the sides
are changed next time ; with the result that, if the
attacking party comes out victorious, they triumphantly
thrust some big round calabash resembling a human
skull into their head-bags, and proceedings conclude
with riotous fun and general jubilation.

The chief features of those who make up the civilized
tribes of Formosa (the Sek-hwan and the Pi-po-hwan)
are the narrowness of their lives in being poor crofters
or hired cultivators of the soil, their illiteracy, and the
laxity of their customs as regards marriage and divorce.
This being so, it is evident that we cannot have much to
say about their women and their children. No doubt
cases do occur where families live together in unity, and
with some measure of comfort, from their own point of
view ; but very much more is needed to make them

WOMEN AND CHILDREN OF THE ISLAND 249

cleanly, intelligent, and helpful to others. It is no
uncommon thing to meet with young girls who have had
three, or even four, husbands ; for when any little tiff
or trouble arises, they at once begin to pair off with
other partners. Indeed, all their adults have much less
stability of character, shrewdness, and plodding perse-
verance than the Chinese. Consequently, owing to idle
habits, tippling, and borrowing money at exorbitant
interest on the title-deeds of their land, the Chinese have
gradually encroached till the poor Hwan have been
driven away from their productive rice-fields to the
cultivation of little potato-patches on the hill- sides.
The Hwan children are all very far back in the matter
of education, their parents requiring them to lead about
the water-buffaloes, used in ploughing, to where they
can get pasture, or wallowing in the water-ditches.

A few remarks have now to be made about the largely
predominating part of the population. They are made
up of over two millions of settlers or the descendants of
settlers from the Province of Fokien ; with some two
hundred and fifty thousand Hakkas from the Canton
Province. The latter are a somewhat crafty, pushful
race ; although their females differ from the Fokienese
in abstaining from the pernicious custom of foot-binding ;
thus enabling them to spend much of their time in the
open-air, and to earn a fair income as burden-bearers
or as coolies. As the Hakkas strive to become proficient
in the arts of reading and writing, their women and
children compare favourably with other classes of the
community in these respects. It is quite the rule for
children to be pushed forward for education, either at
private schools which have been sanctioned by the
officials, or by regular attendance at the Government
Primary Schools. We much regret that there is not yet
any missionary in the Island who has learned the spoken

250 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

language of the Hakkas. There is a fine opportunity for
evangelistic work in that direction, and our fervent hope
is that full advantage may be taken of it before long.

Regarding the numerous Fokienese men and women
of Formosa, it may be well to note here a few social
customs which throw much light on the position. One
of them is that their arrangements for marriage are
always made by the parents on both sides, or by some
middle-woman whose services are called in for the pur-
pose. In other words, the two young persons chiefly
concerned in each case never court each other, or promote
intimacy by the interchange of love-letters, as in Western
lands. It should also be observed that betrothals
frequently take place when the future husband and wife
are still in their infancy. Marriages are of two kinds,
(i) those in which the bridegroom " leads-out " the bride
(of course, in a strictly closed-in sedan-chair) to her new
home, where also her father-in-law and mother-in-law
usually live ; and (2) those in which the young man is
" invited in " as a son-in-law of the girl's parents. The
" lead-out " marriages, including all their preliminary
details, are the only valid ones in the legal sense of the
word ; while the " invited-in " young man occupies a
rather subordinate place in such matters as controlling
the property on his wife's side, and has usually no other
place in the family than that of a hired servant.

Another significant thing is the prevalence of con-
cubinage, and the facility with which divorces or
desertions take place. For example, no Chinaman would
render himself liable to an action-at-law if he dismissed
his wife for failure to bear male children, or for talkative-
ness. Further, people among the Chinese are sometimes
referred to as having two or three wives ; but that is an
incorrect way of speaking, as the first lady who has been
" led-out " is the only wife, all other females called into

WOMEN AND CHILDREN OF THE ISLAND 251

the household being mere concubines. It is easy to see
what an unsatisfactory state of affairs such practices
give rise to ; the most serious being that it robs many
decent well-behaved women of rights which nothing else
can replace.

I feel constrained here also to mention the fact that,
especially within recent years, many young women and
even girls in their teens, are being lured into an organized
system of immorality which appears to flourish in every
town and good-sized village of the Island. This evil
certainly did exist when Formosa was under Chinese
domination, but less publicly and within much narrower
limits ; whereas, now-a-days, licensed brothels and
licensed harlots are met everywhere ; one painful feature
being the positive attractiveness which is made to en-halo
all the ramifications of this vile traffic. I certainly have
no desire to be censorious, or wish to ignore the fact that
similar sights may be seen in cities like London, Paris,
Vienna, and Berlin ; but that is a very poor defence to
make of what I am now referring to ; and surely every
true lover of Japan would give almost anything to see
Tokyo and other populous centres connected with it
wholly purged from such a pernicious system, no matter
how money-making it is, or however much it may be
encouraged and condoned.

Although it may be only like comparing little things
with great, I cannot conclude this sketch without calling
attention to the way in which Christianity is already
beginning to have an influence in bringing blessing to
the women and children of Formosa. Even at the
close of fifty years' work, our converts do not number more
than thirty thousand, and we dare not say that these
are all earnest disciples who can render good reasons
for the hope that is in them. That leaves well over
three millions who have still to be evangelized ; but we

252 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

do not despair, for the little Church in Formosa is a living,
growing institution, and one which is the sincere helpful
friend of all ranks and conditions of men.

As to the women members of the Church, our lady
missionaries recently invited them to meet for a three
days' General Conference at Tainan. We were not at all
prepared that so many would respond to the invitation,
but it was the calm, intelligent, and practical way in
which those country-women who stood up as speakers and
addressed their sisters in the faith that caused us most
surprise. Their short speeches — one following another in
rapid succession — were on such subjects as the duty and
the blessedness of being believers in Christ ; the importance
of prayer and of searching the Scriptures ; temptations
that assail us and the way to overcome them ; our duty
towards relatives and others ; and how to make the
women's Tuesday afternoon prayer-meeting at our widely-
scattered stations a more potent influence for good. The
benefit of those meetings and the fresh elevating thoughts
they set in circulation were a great stimulus to us all.

I may add here that our Day Schools and Boarding
Schools for boys and girls are regarded with much
favour both by Church people and by outsiders. The
Primary School in Tainan has now about one hundred
and fifty pupils, and could easily be enlarged had we
only an increase of trained teachers and of funds. Many
non-Christians send their children to this, and our schools
elsewhere, because (as they say) the missionaries are
very painstaking in the correction of evil habits and
the development of good conduct among the young
people. The Mission Boarding Schools are also con-
tinually sending out pupils who generally set a good
example when they return home at the end of their four
years' course. This is especially seen in the Girls'
Boarding Schools at Tamsui and Tainan. Many of

WOMEN AND CHILDREN OF THE ISLAND 253

those become the wives of teachers and preachers ;
and, in that position, the fine example they set is most
helpful and encouraging.

In all these various activities, it is doubtless still the
day of small things with us in Formosa, and there is
no room for anything like boasting upon our part ;
although we are full of hope, and very grateful that
the Authorities give us every reasonable liberty in the
carrying on of our work. May that One, with whom
alone the increase lies, continue to manifest His favour
towards this beloved land of our adoption !

XLIII

EDUCATION AND WORK FOR THE BLIND

IT is now fully thirty years since I was led to take up
this branch of work through help supplied by Mrs.
Graham, a daughter of the late Bailie Alston, who had
been Honorary Treasurer for many years of the Asylum
for the blind in Glasgow, and who had the honour of
having prepared the first complete version of the Scrip-
tures in any language for the blind.

As many Church people in Formosa are familiar with
the romanised Amoy vernacular, I thought it would be
advantageous to make a beginning at least with books
in that form, only simplifying a few of the letters as
those in the Moon alphabet are. Dr. W. Wright, Editorial
Secretary of the British and Foreign Bible Society,
then asked me to prepare the manuscript for an edition
of St. Matthew's Gospel, and other books were added.
These were all found to be suitable enough for elderly
people, and as an introduction to the quite unknown
process in Formosa of getting blind people to read by
the sense of touch.

Even at this early stage, however, Dr. Wright kept
urging me to make an adaptation of the Braille point-
system to our form of the language, and thus greatly
reduce the size of books, besides supplying blind people
with the means of writing out anything for themselves.
The adaptation thus made proved to be a very workable
one, and was willingly accepted at other centres of
the mission field in South China. It is an alphabetic

254

EDUCATION AND WORK FOR THE BLIND 255

arrangement ; its twenty-four letters being all of full-
space size, so as to conserve the Braille numeral and
punctuation signs for their original purpose, and there-
by avoid the confusion of using those signs also as word-
symbols.

During my furlough soon after, and while visiting
some of those congregations in Scotland which for many
years have been helping our English Presbyterian
foreign mission work, an invitation reached me to ad-
dress the Glasgow Free Church Students' Missionary
Society, and I had no difficulty in readily complying ;
with the result that the handsome sum of £525 was
sent by that Society to assist our work among the sight-
less 17,000 people of Formosa.

On returning to my post at Taiwan-fu (now called
Tainan), our Mission Council approved of my taking
a five years' lease of rooms adjoining the Ang-kong
Memorial Hall, where we entered upon more systematic
work than had hitherto been possible. My chief
assistant during most of that time was Mr. Lim Ang,
whose mere glimmering of sight made him wholly
dependent on embossed books and the Braille method
of writing. He rendered good service while in charge
of the School, and his pupils still cherish his memory
with gratitude and affection.

A further little development took place about this
time. Miss Graham (of our Amoy Mission, and a
daughter of the late Walter Graham, M.P. for one of
the districts of Glasgow) wrote to me stating that she
was often meeting with blind people, was interested
to hear about what we were doing, and would be thank-
ful to know if we could send over some one to begin
similar work in the city of Chin-chiu. Our correspondence
resulted in my sending Mr. Lim Ang, who remained
for several months at that important centre, and gained

256 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

the respect of all for his modesty, and the effective
service he was able to give. The School for the Blind
at Chin-chiu was afterwards put in charge of Mr. Cook,
a blind teacher who was specially brought from England
to superintend this department of work.

Meanwhile, our efforts in Formosa continued to make
progress till the time for another furlough began to
loom in sight. I happened then to be on a visit to
Tokyo, where Count Kabayama sent me a courteous
invitation to call upon him — he was at that time
Minister for Education, and had been the first Governor-
general of Formosa. Through the Rev. Mr. Hosokawa
as interpreter, that kind-hearted and popular gentle-
man expressed himself as being much pleased to hear of
the prosperous condition of things in Formosa, and seemed
especially interested in what was being done for the
blind people there. It was at that moment I summoned
up courage to ask if His Excellency could not do some-
thing towards placing our work on a basis for its better
consolidation and enlargement. He replied by saying
that his present Administration did not extend to
Formosa, but that he would willingly furnish me with
a favourable letter to Viscount Kodama, who was then
at the head of affairs in the Island ; and, a few days
after, I presented this letter myself at Headquarters.
It appeared at once to produce a very good impression ;
for the Governor-general assured me that no time would
be lost in making necessary investigation, and that he
hoped it might be possible to establish a Government
School for blind boys and girls at Tainan. Of course,
I rendered all the assistance I could about apparatus
and methods of teaching ; and, in less than six months,
the School was opened at Tainan with Mr. Akiyama
of our Mission High School as its first Principal. Viscount
Kodama was a man of small stature, and it was during

To face page 256.

EDUCATION AND WORK FOR THE BLIND 257

the Russo-Japanese struggle the world got to know
what a consummate genius he was in the art of war,
but that did not lessen his keen interest in humbler things
as could be seen when he came to visit the blind boys
and girls of Tainan. His statue in Cararra marble now
stands in a beautiful grassy plot surrounded with trees,
only about five minutes' walk from the School he estab-
lished. At this stage, I thought it best to suspend
my own work for the blind, but was able to do so with
a balance of £120 of the Glasgow students' donation
still in hand as a nest-egg for future contingencies.

The Tainan Government School was recently removed
into more commodious premises, into which fifty boarders
can be received ; but ground behind has already been
bought where apartments will be built to accommodate
fifty more. No objections are raised when any of the
lady missionaries go down to give a Bible Lesson, or
to teach Christian hymn-tunes, out of school hours ;
and we have always a goodly company of those sightless
worshippers in attendance at our services in the
neighbouring Thai-peng-keng chapel.

I feel grateful that it is possible to continue the fore-
going narrative by giving particulars of a still further
little development. It was while at home on furlough
in 1910 an invitation came asking me to address the
Westminster College Missionary Society at Cambridge ;
and soon after the Secretary forwarded £170 to our
London Treasurer for what he described as " the
furtherance of Mr. Campbell's work in Formosa." Before
returning to the East, I used part of this money in
purchasing a supply of coloured diagrams and other
educational apparatus ; but, on reaching Tainan, my
attention was called to the increasing need there was
for something to supplement the work that was being
done in the Government School for the Blind.
17

258 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

The education there is almost all carried on in Japanese
while the books provided for pupils are (in keeping with
the laws of Japan) entirely of a non-religious character.
Another thing is, that it is only the boys who are trained
to go out as masseurs at the close of their four or five
years' course. It should also be noted here that Miss
Graham's enforced departure from Chin-chiu, for health
reasons, cut off the supply of hand-punched Christian
literature in that southern half of the province of Fokien.
I therefore felt shut up to make some attempt at supplying
this lack of service, without committing anyone to the estab-
lishment of another Institution to which boarding pupils
and a staff of resident teachers would have to be called in.

A room was rented in the city as a resting-place for
the blind people who are always walking about ; and
Mr. Saw Hai — a blind Church member, and an expert
writer of embossed books in the Amoy vernacular —
undertook to receive visitors, to turn out as many copies
as he could of the minor books of Scripture, and to write
dictated letters to those whose names and addresses
were on our List. The fruit of all this was so far quite
satisfactory, as it brought us into touch with a number
of blind friends in Formosa and South Fokien we knew
nothing about before, and gave us a little collection of
hand-prepared Hymn Books for which there had been a
constant, although still very limited, demand. But there
were a few drawbacks ; one being that when idlers going
about came to see that our room was in sole charge of a
young man who was sightless, they quietly stepped in
and helped themselves to any articles that were lying
about ; another drawback being that the writing or
punching-out of books by hand turned out to be both
a tedious and an expensive process ; at least more so than
the production of books from brass sheets made on that
stereotyping board I presented to the Government School.

EDUCATION AND WORK FOR THE BLIND 259

I am thankful to add that those difficulties were over-
come in a very unexpected way. On hearing that a
machine for printing embossed letters on both sides of
every sheet of a book from movable types had been
patented at Kobe, I lost no time in going there, and in
making arrangements with the patentee for a duplicate
to be made. It is now at work in one of the lower rooms
of my house, and Mr. Saw Hai is well advanced with an
edition of our enlarged new Hymn Book (long sim sin si).
We are also about to issue the first number of an Amoy
vernacular periodical in raised type ; because no better
means could be taken at present for supplying blind
readers here and on the mainland with that information
which they are longing for.

Let it, however, be clearly understood that getting the
blind to become good readers, writers, and arithmeticians,
does not entirely solve the problem herein set forth ; for
we dare not leave those brethren in a condition of hope-
less dependency by failing to open up some way whereby
they will be able to earn a living for themselves. Many
experiments have already been made by us in Formosa,
but with results which have been somewhat disappointing.
Such handicrafts as the making of strings and cords,
straw-sandals, fish-nets, and little baskets, can be carried
on by old country women and others for a wage which
reaches down almost to the starvation point. Some new
departure is what is needed, and medical massage, when
properly followed out, has served a most useful purpose.
In Japan proper, the people have been trained to resort
to this for its healing qualities, and the blind are allowed
very much to have a monopoly of the profession ; but
the Chinese of Formosa know little about massage, and
there are comparatively few Japanese residents in the
Island. Still, the thirty masseurs now at work obtain
fairly good fees ; although continuous graduation from

260 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

the Tainan School must soon bring about a serious change
of the position. I have tried repeatedly to awaken the
interest of Government officials to the good work which
blind lads might render as interpreters in the hundreds
of offices connected with the Prefectural, Law, Police,
Post-office, Customs, Railway and Medical services in
Formosa. Many of those blind Chinese youths are
really good speakers of Japanese, and are able to write
it swiftly and accurately. We have not given up hope
that some such help may yet be extended to them.

The most urgent need is found among the healthy,
intelligent blind girls between sixteen and twenty years
of age. As those girls do not hope to earn a living at
massage, and few of them have relatives who can support
them, what are they to do ? Full answer to that question
would lead to the recital of many a tragic story. In the
reasonable hope that it may soon bring some measure
of relief, I have asked a Manchester firm to send out one
of their knitting machines which are specially constructed
for blind workers. This action was not taken without
much enquiry, both here and at home, and one encourage-
ment is that the Prefect of Tainan has more than once
expressed an interest in the possibilities of this attempt.

I hope the prolixity of these remarks may not prove
to be rather tiresome. My only apology is that our
efforts to spread Christianity in the East must take a
very merciful and a very practical form. No doubt our
Mission Hospitals are veritable fountains of blessing, but
they leave untouched wide areas where leprous, blind,
incurably deformed and insane people are met with,
besides millions of healthy children who are perishing
from destitution and neglect. I have often thought that
the Roman Catholic Church sets a good example in the
extensive work she carries on among orphans and cast-
away infants.

To face page 260.

XLIV
A RETROSPECT AND A FORECAST

UNTIL 1895, Formosa formed the nineteenth and only
insular province of China, but after coming briefly under
a Republican form of government, it became an integral
part of the Empire of Japan. Even from the geographical
standpoint, rapid changes of this kind carry with them
a good deal of interest ; but when one thinks of the
effect throughout China and elsewhere of those further
changes which the Japanese have already commenced
in their newly-acquired territory, it will be admitted
that no apology is needed for submitting a few remarks
about this important and very productive Island.

Roughly speaking, it stands about a hundred miles
out from the Chinese mainland ; the south-eastern part
of the channel being occupied by the small Pescadores
group, which formerly made up a Ting, or sub-prefecture,
of Formosa. A careful calculation from the latest
Admiralty chart makes out the area of the Island to be
14,982 miles, its length from north to south 245 miles,
and its greatest width 80 miles ; the whole extent being
thus larger than Holland, and about one-half the size of
Scotland.

It is now well known that the eastern side of Formosa
is very mountainous, that its long, bisecting middle
range attains a height of over 13,000 feet, and that several
spurs away to the north-east form the highest sea-cliffs
in the world. Those lofty masses, rising some 7,000
feet sheer from the water's edge, and wooded to the

261

262 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

summit, present a sight which the beholder will probably
never be able to forget.

The great drawback to Formosa is the want of good
harbour accommodation, with the fact of its rivers and
streams being navigable only to a very limited extent.
Excepting the small inlets at Saw Bay and Black-rock
Bay — which are suitable only for junks, and incapable
of extension — the entire line of the East Coast is rock-
bound, shelterless, and impracticable. Keeling Harbour
on the north-east no doubt possesses good depth of water,
and is open at all tides ; but it, also, is too narrow, and
too much exposed during the winter monsoons, to be a
considerable centre of trade. A somewhat similar remark
applies to the north-western Port of Tamsui ; as that
is the mere estuary of an insignificant river, with a
shifting troublesome bar which ocean-going steamers
do not attempt to cross.

With all its disadvantages, the lagoon at Takow on the
south-west coast is likely to become the head-quarters
of the import and export trade of Formosa. Its com-
plete shelter, and good holding-ground in a part of the
world where coral reefs abound, are important ; while
the very easy process of widening the entrance, and
dredging out several sand-banks within, would secure
an enormous extent of shipping accommodation. Consul
Hurst's recently issued Report remarks on this subject
as follows : — " A natural lagoon exists at Takow, about
seven miles long, by an average breadth of half a mile,
and divided from the sea by a narrow spit of coral through-
out its whole length. The dredging of this lagoon, and
its conversion into a splendid harbour, would be a simple
and not very costly operation ; but the Government
have not yet been induced to take any step in this direc-
tion beyond ordering a preliminary survey some five
years ago." Since, however, the issue of Consul Hurst's

A RETROSPECT AND A FORECAST 263

Report great progress has been made ; so much so that
steamers of 3,000 tons can now anchor within the lagoon.
It should further be noted here that any deficiency of
harbour accommodation in Formosa is amply made up
for at the Pescadores. Steamers reach the safe and
spacious anchorages among those islands in about five
hours from the Port of An-peng, and the Japanese knew
well what they were about when they insisted that the
Pescadores also should be ceded to them.

One other remark under this head is that the only
fresh-water lake of any size in Formosa lies among the
high mountain ranges some two days' journey south-east
from the city of Chiang-hoa. The first European to
visit it was the present writer, who named it Lake
Candidius, in memory of that Dutch pastor who began
Protestant missionary work in Formosa about the year
1624. Regarding the river-system of the Island, it should
be remembered that owing to its geological formation,
most of the streams on the western side flow from the
eastern mountain region, across the plains, and without
much winding to north or south, on their way to the sea.
Of course, the rainy season brings down great volumes
of water, which oftentimes rush with so much force as
to be quite uncrossable by boat or catamaran. That
considerable river which debouches at the market-town
of Tong-kang in the South, has a direction more from
north to south than any of the others ; its general course
being down through several valleys near Lau-long and
La-ku-li, and some miles further on, till it flows out into
the more level country of the Hong-soa region. As a
matter of fact, large quantities of rice, sugar, camphor,
rattan, charcoal, and other products, are brought to
market over the streams and rivers of Formosa by means
of long bamboo rafts ; the bamboo of the rafts them-
selves being also disposed of at the same time. Those

264 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

rafts draw only a few inches of water and great loads can
be placed upon them. It may be added that the general
lie of the land all along the western sea-board is such that
much use can be made of the streams for irrigating pur-
poses ; and were more effort made in storing up water
along the base of the mountains, and thence distributing
it over the low-lying fields of the west, the result could
not fail to be a satisfactory one. Several such under-
takings have already proved to be both easy of accom-
plishment and highly remunerative to the originators.

There is nothing very special to remark about the
climate of Formosa. From October till March the
weather is mild, often bracing ; with occasional showers
in the north, but very few throughout the southern
regions. The highest temperature and the heaviest
rainfall are to be met with between June and September ;
although even then the thermometer seldom registers
more than ninety degrees in the shade. Severe storms
sometimes occur during midsummer, but those terrible
typhoons which start in the Manila region and travel
northward usually slant off at South Cape to drive with
full force across the low-lying Pescadores, or over the
islands of Botel Tobago and Samasana, to the east of
Formosa. There are no active volcanoes in the Island,
and only slight earthquakes are of frequent occurrence,
especially in the neighbourhood of Tamsui and Keelung.
Vlt is safe to say that Formosa is an exceedingly rich
island, because the alluvial plains of the West, far-
stretching and well-watered, offer simply illimitable
opportunities for raising sugar-cane, rice, sweet-potatoes,
ground-nuts, indigo, turmeric, and such-like products.
Moreover, its present fruit trade is sufficient to show what
an abundant increase would follow the introduction of
any kind of general and systematic method of cultivation.
Large beautiful pine-apples can be had almost for the

A RETROSPECT AND A FORECAST 265

lifting, and probably not a more palatable fruit could be
found anywhere than the Sai-le loose-skinned oranges,
or those juicy and delicious little pumelos from Bun-tan.
During 1894 (the last complete year of Chinese rule),
twenty-one million pounds of tea, and over forty
thousand hundredweights of camphor, were shipped
from Formosa. It has been found that rich coal-fields
exist, not only in the north — where they have long been
worked in European style — but in the A-li-kang region,
twelve days' journey to the south of Tainan. The
petroleum wells at Toa-kho-ham, and the sulphur deposits
near Tamsui, could also be turned to great account ;
while it was owing to the recent war between China and
Japan that negotiations were broken off between the
Government of Formosa and the representatives of a
Chinese syndicate for conveying exclusive right to work
the gold-mines in the Island. In short, the wealth of
this still undeveloped country may be seen on con-
sidering that, during 1893, trade to the value of four
and a half million pounds sterling passed through the
ten or twelve European houses doing business there.

Within the limits of this sketch, it is not possible to
make anything like a complete statement regarding the
history of the Island. Traders from the mainland of
China began to visit it about the middle of the fifteenth
century. On nearing it, the sight presented was a wide
level shore in the foreground, with lofty mountains rising
range upon range into the interior, and this suggested
to them the Chinese name which it still bears, that of
Taiwan, or Terrace-beach. It was the same sight, a
hundred years later, which led some Portuguese ad-
venturers to shout out " Ilha Formosa ! " or Beautiful
Isle ! — another descriptive name which has now become
current all over the world. At that early time, the Island
was found thickly peopled by an aboriginal race, or

266 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

rather a collection of non-Mongolian tribes widely differing
from each other in their appearance, language, and
customs. Of course, no strictly accurate account of
those tribes can be looked for in the notices of this period ;
so that one has surely some right to complain of the
extent to which theorising is carried by writers like
Professor Delacouperie, who says all sorts of things about
the dwarfs, the black giants, and even the tailed men,
of Formosa.

Like many other good things, our earliest knowledge
of the Island comes from the Dutch. Wishing to share
with the Spaniards and Portuguese in the lucrative trade
of the Far East, their East India Company effected a
settlement on the Pescadores in 1622 ; but the resident
and provincial Authorities strongly objected to this, and
did not cease their opposition till the new-comers removed
to the then little known, but much larger, Island of
Formosa. Dutch rule lasted there from 1624 till 1661 ;
and, during those thirty-seven years, small military
establishments were set up, and authority exercised from
Long-kian in the south, up along the western sea-board,
and on as far as to what is now called the north-eastern
county of Gi-lan. Civil affairs were managed by a
Dutch Governor with the members of his Council, who
had all to report to colonial head-quarters at Batavia ;
and one interesting feature of their work was that efforts
were made, not only for the furtherance of trade, but also
for bringing the natives of the Island into the knowledge
and obedience of the Christian faith. No fewer than
thirty-seven ordained ministers were sent from Holland
to engage in this latter service ; who, besides attending
to their more official duties as chaplains and servants of
the Company, superintended the labours of the Dutch
schoolmasters, and reduced at least four of the aboriginal
dialects to a written form.

A RETROSPECT AND A FORECAST 267

Indeed, the very success of the colony began to awaken
the envy and covetousness of people living under less
favoured conditions. China was then passing through
that epoch-making crisis which resulted in the overthrow
of the Ming, and the usurpation of the present Manchu-
Tartar, dynasty ; so that the unsettled times led many
of the Fokien Chinese to cross the channel and try their
fortune under the rule of those Western barbarians, of
whose influence and generosity they had been hearing so
much. True, the Formosans were represented to be
a warlike race, but it was believed that sharp-witted
refugees like themselves would be sure to hold their own
against people who were looked upon as being mere
savages.

All this, however, was but the beginning of trouble in
the thriving little colony of Taiwan ; for that great
Chinese patriot or pirate, Chieftain Koxinga, came
himself to be so hardly pressed by the invading Manchus
that he, too, began to think of Formosa as a place of
rallying, if not even of probable possession. His first
move was to send over repeated messages from the
Pescadores with the view of fixing a quarrel on the
Dutch ; but all pretence was set aside when he placed
himself at the head of an immense flotilla of war- junks,
both seaworthy and well-provisioned, as well as manned
by thousands of daring outlaws, who thought less of the
fight than of the idleness and plenty they hoped to find
in this newly-discovered retreat.

Meanwhile, Governor Coyett was shut up in anxious
consultation with his Councillors at Fort Zeelandia.
Frequent were the warnings, and most urgent the appeals
for help they sent to Batavia ; but other influences were
at work among the higher officials there, so that rein-
forcements which ought to have come never reached
Formosa, thus compelling the comparatively small

268 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

garrison to find shelter within the Castle walls ; in which
position both soldiers and civilians were found when
Koxinga appeared to demand their unconditional sur-
render.

The sturdy Hollanders held out for nine long, weary
months, during which time they made several damaging
attacks on the enemy ; who, however, retaliated by
perpetrating most shocking cruelties on such Dutch
people as were scattered throughout the Island, even
clergymen being tortured to death, either by impalement
or by crucifixion. Contemporary records unite in singling
out the case of Rev. Antonius Hambroek, who was sent
by Koxinga into the Castle under a flag of truce to pro-
pose terms of submission, and told to back them up with
threats of awful vengeance if they were rejected.
Mr. Hambroek was forced to leave his wife and two
children (one of them described as a sweet and comely
maiden of eighteen) in the invader's camp as pledges,
which sufficiently proved that any failure of his under-
taking would be a most ominous signal for those poor
defenceless ones. And yet, this noble man was so far
from persuading the garrison to capitulate, that he
encouraged them to continue the defence by hopes of
relief, assuring them that Koxinga had lost some of his
best ships and men, and was beginning to be weary of
the siege. When his speech was ended, the Council left
it to his own choice either to stay with them, or return
to the camp, where he could expect nothing but instant
death. He had also two daughters within the Castle,
who hung upon his neck, overwhelmed with grief and
tears on seeing their father decided to go where he could
not escape the merciless foe. But he reminded them that
having left his wife and two children as hostages, death
would be their certain fate if he returned not ; so, un-
locking himself from his daughters' arms, he exhorted

A RETROSPECT AND A FORECAST 269

every one to a vigorous defence, and cheerily said as he
left the Castle-gate that God might make use of him
in bringing deliverance to his poor fellow-prisoners.
Koxinga received his Report sternly ; and, without
further delay, issued an order for the massacre of all
Dutch captives, and of every native who persisted in the
profession of Christianity. Hambroek himself was put
to death by decapitation, and the before-mentioned
daughter was compelled to become a member of his
murderer's harem.

At length, worn out with disappointment, fatigue,
and famine, the little garrison was compelled to sur-
render ; all the public property falling into the hands
of the enemy, and the brave but heavy-hearted defenders
being allowed to depart in their only remaining ship.
Strong feeling was shown by the Home Authorities over
the loss of so rich a colony ; and, therefore, on arriving
at Batavia, poor Coyett was arrested, and a long trial
ended in his being banished to the desolate island of
Pulo Ay. A vindication ought yet to be made of the
character of this noble but deeply wronged man. As
for Koxinga, he died a miserable death after having been
King of Formosa for only a few years.

Ching-keng-mai succeeded his father on the throne,
and reigned for about twelve years, but was often in
trouble owing to his ships being attacked by subjects
of the now dominant Manchu ruler of China. It was
in the hope of fortifying himself against this enemy
that Royal circular letters were sent out to European
merchants frequenting those seas, in which tempting
facilities were held out if they would only come and open
warehouses in the neighbourhood of Taiwan.

Such an offer from Ching-keng-mai would scarcely
be worth referring to here were it not that the only
response to it came from a very unexpected quarter.

270 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

It certainly is not generally known that, during the
latter half of the seventeenth century, the English East
India Company had one of their factories on Formosa
for a number of years ; but there can be no doubt about
the matter, because the old yellow documents which were
courteously produced for my inspection at India Office
abundantly prove it. The representations made by
" Mr. Wm. Cambell, a Scottishman, then serving with
the Dutch/' may also have had something to do with
this development ; for our British Company gave as
large an honorarium for his written Statement to them as
Milton received for his manuscript of Paradise Lost.

One of the letters preserved in India Office, London,
is dated 1670, and is addressed to the King of Tywan ;
its opening sentences running thus : " Charles, by the
grace of God, King of England, Scotland, France, and
Ireland ; having most graciously licensed severall of his
Merchants to trade into all the habitable partes of the
World, amongst whom Sir Wm. Thompson, with some
other Merchants, to trade into these Eastern partes.
Now for the directing and overseeing their Affairs at
Bantam and partes adjacent, they have appointed mee
(Henry Dacres) Agent. The said Henry Dacres, there-
fore, on behalf of the said Sir Wm. Thompson, Governor,
sends greeting unto your most Excellent Majesty ; and
having seen your most gracious Letter directed to all
Merchants in Generall, inviting them to trade into the
partes under your Majesty's Jurisdiction, has, without
delay, sent this small Ship and Sloope with Mr. Ellis
Crispe, Cap4- to acquaint us with the Merchandise
desireable to bee Imported, and of Merchandise proper
for us to Exporte, and when wee shall bee acquainted
therewith by him, and have the permission of Friend-
ship and Affection of your Majesty (which wee moste
humbly desire) wee shall request e the said Sir Wm.

A RETROSPECT AND A FORECAST 271

Thompson's leave to solicite your Majesty ; and because
we would have your Majesty know that wee are English-
men, and a distinct Nation from Hollanders (some people
of which Nation about ten years since were driven out
of your Land by his Majesty your Renowned Father),
we have sent on this Shipp Cap1- Soake, with eight
other Chinamen, who have for long time graded and
been acquainted with us and our Nation/' There follows
a long table of conditions for the establishment of the
Factory ; while subsequent letters report concerning the
reception of the Supercargo, and of a very favourable
commencement having been made. It would appear,
however, that the King's desire to benefit himself out of
this trade soon gave rise to a great amount of friction,
and led ultimately to the following peremptory mandate
being issued from the London Court of Directors to their
representatives at Bantam : — " 28th February, 1682 :
As to the Trade of Tywan, we hereby expressly require
you that, if you have made no better earnings of it before
this comes to your hands, you do order our Factors to
desert the Place, and bring off what they can with them.
To which purpose we have written a menacing Letter to
the King, and probably may send a Ship to be with you
in March or April next, to go down to Tywan to fetch off
our Servants ; and, after that, to use some forcible means
for our satisfaction of the debt he owes us." This
" satisfaction " was obtained with interest.

It remains only to add here that Koxinga's grandson
was very young when he succeeded his father in the
government of Formosa, and that his officers found it
increasingly difficult to maintain their independence
alongside of the great Manchu authority. Accordingly,
the young Prince ended the trouble by tendering his
submission in 1683, thus bringing Formosa under direct
control of the Emperor at Peking.

272 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

And now begins a long period in the history of the
Island, during which it emerges only now and then in
such a way as to attract the notice of Western nations.
On the cessation of its own monarchial government, it
and the Pescadores were joined on as a prefecture to the
opposite province of Fokien ; the insular officials, both
civil and military, having all to report to their depart-
mental superiors at Fuh-chau. For administrative
purposes, that portion of the Western region occupied
by the now numerous Chinese was made up of what
might be called the Metropolitan County of Taiwan-fu,
the county of Phoenix Hill or Hong-soa, immediately to
the south of it, and the Variegated Net-hill County,
adjoining it on the north. As to this last-named county
of Tilosen or Tsu-lo-san it may be remarked in passing
that, on the occasion of a rebellion there, when most of
the people remained faithful to the Imperial cause,
the Emperor graciously changed its name to the one on
our present-day maps, that of Ka-gi or Established
Righteousness.

Within the boundaries, then, of those three counties,
the population was divisible into two great classes :
(i) The Chinese themselves ; by far the bulk of them
being immigrants or the descendants of immigrants from
the Chin-chiu and Chiang-chiu prefectures of the Fokien
Province ; and (2) Those agricultural aborigines who
rendered a general allegiance to the Chinese, conformed
to many of their customs, and knew more or less of their
language ; but who lived somewhat independently in
small townships or hamlets of their own.

There was very little intercourse between this popula-
tion and the unsubdued tribes who inhabited the
high mountainous eastern side of the Island ; certainly
much less than existed between those tribes and the early
new-comers from Holland. The Chinese did not dare to

A RETROSPECT AND A FORECAST 273

venture amongst them, because long years of oppression
and trickery on their part had quite appropriated that
Western region where the native was wont to fish and to
hunt, and where many of his little villages and hamlets
nestled in comfort and security ; whereas, although
sometimes acting towards them in a very high-handed
way, the Dutch had come to adjust inter- tribal quarrels,
to act fairly, and to prove an unspeakable blessing to the
aborigines of Formosa.

The Chinese Formosan annals of this time, and for
long after, contain much that is very dry reading ; being
chiefly made up of vague topographical details, with an
account of official appointments, clan fights, rebellions
and disasters ; to which is added any number of wonderful
stories about the inhabitants and productions of the
Island.

A valuable monograph has come down to us from one
of the Jesuit Fathers, who spent some time in Formosa
during the first half of the eighteenth century. De
Mailla writes in a very sober and interesting way about
what he saw, and cordially testifies to the traces of
Christianity which survived from the period of the
Dutch occupation. On this subject he says : — " Before
leaving Amoy, we had been informed that there were
Christians in Formosa. Accordingly, we made enquiries,
and certainly there are none among the Chinese ; but
there are traces as if Christianity had been known among
the aboriginals from the time when the Dutch were in
possession. We met several who were able to speak
the Dutch language, who read Dutch books, and who,
in writing, used Dutch letters. We even found among
them fragments of our four books (probably the Penta-
teuch) in Dutch. These natives worship no idols as the
Chinese do, and have a horror of anything approaching
to such an act ; and yet they perform no religious rites,
18

274 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

nor recite any prayers. We spoke to several who
acknowledged a God, Creator of heaven and earth — a
God in three Persons : Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
They told us that the first man was called Adam, and
the first woman Eve ; that these, having disobeyed God,
had drawn forth the Divine anger upon themselves and
all their posterity, and that it was necessary to have
recourse to baptism to efface this stain ; of which rite,
too, the very formula is remembered to this day."

Coming down to more recent times, we find that certain
events which took place in Formosa during 1842 attracted
the notice of many Europeans at home and abroad. The
first Anglo-Chinese war had just been closed by the Treaty
of Nanking, when two small British trading ships were
driven by stress of weather on to the north-west coast of
the Island, the wretched persons who came ashore being
brought to await instructions from the local Chinese
officials. After consultation, those civil and military
underlings concluded that the opportunity was a very
favourable one for enriching themselves, and obtaining
substantial promotion in their respective services. They
commenced proceedings by a wholesale plundering of the
two ships, and by inflicting as heavy fines as possible on
any private individuals who had been found looting on
their own account. Those miserable sailors and passen-
gers who had escaped the dangers of the sea were then
marched down the Island to Taiwan-fu, were most
scandalously treated during four months of imprisonment
there, and over fifty of them led out for execution beyond
the Great North Gate of the city.

The official Report sent up to Peking quite ignored the
cessation of the war with Britain, represented that two
of the enemy's battleships had attempted to land troops
on Formosa ; but that, during a severe engagement, the
Imperialists proved equal to the occasion, attacking and

A RETROSPECT AND A FORECAST 275

vanquishing the foreign barbarians with great loss of life.
Trophies of war were also forwarded in the shape of
articles which had been stolen from the two ships, while
marks of the Imperial favour were besought for those
who had conspicuously distinguished themselves in
securing this most glorious victory.

Of course, there was a terrible outburst of feeling
amongst Europeans in China when the real facts of the
case came to light. Some would have at once proceeded
to overthrow the dynasty, and few dissented from the
proposal that the services of the still present British
squadron should be made use of ; but wiser counsels
prevailed in the end, for in the face of a profound ex-
pression of regret from Peking, the condign punishment
of many of the officials in Formosa, and the peace which
had only recently been proclaimed, it was felt that the
questions thus raised could not well be taken out from
the region of diplomatic treatment.

An incident of much greater fatefulness to the Island
took place during the Autumn of 1860. Once again
there is war between Great Britain and China, and this
time hostilities are terminated by the Treaty of Tientsin.
In accordance with Articles VIII and XI of that Treaty,
two Ports in Formosa are declared open to foreign trade,
and British subjects professing or teaching the Christian
Religion are made free to go anywhere beyond those
Ports, if supplied with Consular passports counter-signed
by the local officials. The result was that Consular
offices were speedily opened at Takow and Tamsui ;
sub-offices being also provided at Taiwan-fu and Keelung.
Before long, too, European warehouses and bungalows
were established at those centres, with accommodation
for the European officers who were to administer the
Chinese Customs' Service. To meet the religious wants
of the people, a Dominican Mission had already been

276 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

working for several years ; but in 1865 the English
Presbyterian Mission broke ground at Taiwan-fu, to be
followed seven years later by the only other Protestant
Mission in the Island, that at Tamsui from the Presby-
terian Church of Canada. These various developments
furnish conclusive evidence of the progress which had
been made since the time when only a relatively small
part of Western Formosa was included in the Chinese
Empire. The very fact that they were possible in a
land then overrun by savage tribes shows that the
Chinese population must have steadily increased, and is
a testimony to their possession of at least some qualities
which cannot be undervalued. No doubt instances did
occur where the aborigines adapted themselves to the
new order of things ; but, generally speaking, how was
it possible that such tribes could increase and thrive in
daily touch with a shrewd, industrious, and plodding
race like the Chinese ?

What threatened to be a very serious interruption to
the later prosperity of Formosa took place towards the
close of 1874. About two years previous to that, a boat
from the Luchuan part of Japan was wrecked on the
east side of the Island, and its crew murdered by the
Baw-tan savages. Soon after, the Japanese Authorities
presented a claim for compensation to the Government
of China ; but it was met in a very evasive way, and the
interchange of several plainly-worded despatches was
followed up by a curt intimation from China that she
refused to be held responsible for the action of savages
inhabiting an extra-territorial region like the east of For-
mosa. The response called forth by this was a sufficiently
startling one, for the people of Japan itself were ignorant
regarding the destination of a certain warlike expedition
which left their country under sealed orders about that
time. In a word, Japan accepted the ultimatum from

A RETROSPECT AND A FORECAST 277

Peking, caused the mysterious expedition to be landed on
South Formosa, and very soon succeeded in chastising those
whose cruel treatment of shipwrecked people had become
a byword. Hereupon, however, China entirely changed
front, and made loud complaints of what was described
as sending military forces into the territory of a friendly
Power. All right ! said the Japanese, our forces will
be at once withdrawn when China acknowledges her
responsibility, and meets the expense of sending them to
Formosa ; which concession was ultimately obtained
through Sir Thomas Wade, the British Minister at Peking.

The outcome of all these proceedings was a desire
shown by the Chinese Government to adopt measures for
more thorough development and defence of the Island of
Formosa than had ever before been contemplated ; and,
accordingly, instructions were issued to Tang Tih-chiang,
Governor of the Province of Fokien, an officer who was
known to be as just and capable as he was free from the
superstition and hide-bound conservatism of his class.
No wonder, then, that under this Administration, and
especially during His Excellency's repeated visits to
Formosa, a great amount of progress was made and
many reforms decided upon. For example, roads were
opened across the Island, several of the mountain tribes
were subdued or pacified, coal-mines were opened, tele-
graphs and railways introduced, and Formosa was raised
from being a mere Department of Fokien to be an
independent Province of the Empire. Indeed, had
Governor Tang's life been prolonged, and still more
Imperial favour been forthcoming, there is some likelihood
that Formosa might yet have remained a rich Chinese
possession, and a strong defence against any hostile
foreign fleet.

The next occasion when Formosa emerged from
obscurity was during the Franco-Chinese war in 1884.

278 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

Many stirring events took place then, including the
bombardment of Tamsui and Keelung, with that strict
blockade which French men-of-war kept over the Island
for a period of nearly six months. A very outstanding
figure all through the struggle was Liu Ming-chuan, who
directed the operations against the French, and who
afterwards became the first Chinese Governor of Formosa.
Whatever effect this war had elsewhere, it left China
with one more opportunity for acting in a generous and
enlightened way while legislating for the further develop-
ment of the Island. And it cannot be denied that the
Governor's forward policy did receive a certain amount
of encouragement ; but the man was evidently far in
advance of those puissant old reactionaries who control
everything at Peking. They ought to have abundantly
backed up their really capable Representative, and who
knows but Formosa might have been acknowledging his
authority to-day ?

It was under Liu Ming-chuan in 1885 that that fresh
and all-inclusive division of territory took place which
held good for some years. According to this scheme, the
whole of Formosa and the Pescadores were made up of
four prefectures ; these, again, being sub-divided into
eleven counties or districts, and five sub-prefectures,
two of the latter including all the eastern side of the
Island, and one of them the whole of the Pescadores
group. The native names given to them were as follows :

I. The northern prefecture of TAI-PAK, made up of
the three counties of Sin-tek, Tamsui, and Gi-lan, with
the sub-prefecture of Keelung.

II. The middle-western prefecture of TAI-WAN (where
the new capital was to be), made up of the four counties
of Hun-lim, Tai-wan, Chiang-hoa, and Biau-lek, with the
eastern sub-prefecture of Po-li-sia.

III. The south-western prefecture of TAI-NAN, made

A RETROSPECT AND A FORECAST 279

up of the four counties of Heng-chun, Hong-soa, An-peng,
and Ka-gi, with the sub-prefecture of Phi-aw (the
Pescadores).

IV. The eastern prefecture of TAI-TANG, made up of
the two sub-prefectures of Pi-lam and Hoe-lian-kang,
with head-quarters at the middle-eastern centre called
Tsui-be.

If the objection be made that this distribution must
have embraced a large extent of country occupied by
independent non-Chinese tribes, the reply is that Liu
Ming-chuan did everything in his power to make it a
reality and not a mere name ; for his efforts were un-
ceasing to bring those head-hunting savages within the
restraint and protection of the common law. Nor was
he satisfied with simply issuing orders for the accomplish-
ment of this ; for on at least one occasion the writer was
an eye-witness of the Governor's self-denial and pluck
in directing operations against wild tribesmen whose
midnight raids had depopulated one of the inland valleys.
At that time His Excellency had been living in camp a
life of hardship, and next year the Peking Gazette was
able to report that 478 villages, containing an aggregate
population of 88,000 aborigines, had already given in
their allegiance. It should be added that by far the
majority of these made voluntary submission, severe
measures being resorted to only when all other expedients
had failed ; for the Governor was determined that, no
matter what be done or left undone during his term of
office, this hurtful and most scandalous practice of head-
hunting must be stamped out.

Another matter which had much attention given to it
during Liu Ming-chuan's Administration was that of
providing Formosa with railways. The aim was to have
one main line all down the west side of the Island ;
adding on branch lines as they came to be called for.

280 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

The surveying work was promptly carried through,
although the raising of funds caused much more delay,
but railways in Formosa eventually became an accom-
plished fact. The general terminus was fixed at Twa-
tiu-tia, a town on the northern bank of the Tamsui
River. From that centre, one line crossed the country
for about twenty miles over to Keelung, while another
ran down the Island some fifty miles, to the county town
of Sin-tek. Of course, the completion of the work even
thus far has given an impetus to trade, and has added
greatly to the convenience of the people.

And now, it is quite time for me to say a few words
about still more recent and more sweeping changes than
any that have been yet referred to. I happened myself
to be travelling through Japan when that culminating
point in the Chino- Japanese war was reached by the fall
of Port Arthur. The appearance of the lounging, well-
fed Chinese prisoners who were then at Osaka was
noticeable, and those regiments of tight little fellows
who were in marching order for the field of action seemed
fit for anything. There could be no doubt as to what
was coming ; for every one believed that the proud, un-
wieldy, and traditional foe of the country, would soon be
suing for peace at any price.

At that time, it was surely an insult to Japan, and the
very height of folly, for the Chinese to take the initiative
in this direction by sending over Mr. Detring, a foreigner
in their employ, to try and arrange matters with the
Eh-law or dwarf slaves, as the Japanese are often called
in China. The officials at Hyogo would have no dealings
with him, but simply gave orders that he should be
shadowed by policemen till he left the place. Nor was
the next Commission much more successful. It was
made up of several high-class mandarins — including the
Governor of Formosa — but as no proper credentials had

A RETROSPECT AND A FORECAST 28l

been given them, negotiations were not even entered upon.
The third attempt was made by the mighty Li Hung-
chang himself, whose powers at once led to the Treaty
of Shimonoseki ; according to which peace was restored
by China consenting to pay a war-indemnity of thirty-five
million pounds sterling, and ceding to Japan the southern
half of the Liau-tung peninsula, with the island of Formosa
and all its dependencies.

There is reason to think that the proposal to occupy
Liau-tung was a piece of mere diplomacy on the part of
the Japanese ; because so far as natural resources are
concerned, the place is useless, while huge warlike »-
establishments would have been necessary to retain it.
It was otherwise with Formosa ; for that is a country
rich in agricultural resources, and one which completes
the line of islands reaching up through Miyako Shima
and the Luchus to Japan itself ; one, moreover, whose
occupation had long been a cherished aim of the subjects
of the Mikado. Wishing, therefore, to make sure of the
Island, this additional demand was made, about which
discussion was sure to take place ; and so, Japan gave
up the Liau-tung peninsula, on the European Powers
guaranteeing a further sum of seven and a half million
pounds of indemnity, no objection being made at all to
the cession of Formosa. The whole transaction may
become more intelligible to us on remembering that the
Oriental mind is very fond of working in curves, its
method of obtaining any desired object being to say a
great deal about something else.

That treaty which ended the war between China and
Japan was signed at Shimonoseki on I7th April, 1895,
but three weeks earlier, Japanese men-of-war had bom-
barded the Pescadores, and it was about this time that
the Island-Empire was much blamed for long delay in
carrying out the decisions which both Powers had agreed

282 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

to. Chinese rule in Formosa quite ceased on its having
been formally ceded to Japan, but it was months after
that before anything was seen of the New Authority
throughout the region south of Chiang-hoa, and it is easy
to understand how that position of things led to an
amount of lawlessness which brought suffering and death
into many homes of the unoffending people. No doubt,
local order of a kind was maintained by the establishment
of a short-lived Republic in the walled city of Taiwan-fu ;
where, it may be mentioned, the English Presbyterian
Mission has its headquarters, the few missionaries being
the only European residents there. This effort at self-
government was chiefly due to the fact that thousands
of soldiers who belonged to the Black-flag division of the
Chinese army were still prowling about without occupa-
tion. Their officers conferred with some of the leading
citizens, and all agreed that Brigadier-General Liu
Yung-fu should be proclaimed President of a Republic,
and that every one concerned should co-operate in trying
to thwart and drive away the invaders of their country.
As might have been expected, however, the whole move-
ment ignominiously collapsed when a Japanese force
landed near Taiwan-fu to prepare for the attack. Many
of the Black-flags ran off to the hills, and Liu Yung-fu
himself escaped in the disguise of a woman carrying a
baby.

After this, the four great gates of the city were closed,
and an ominous silence brooded over it, people going
about carefully, as if treading on the thin crust of a
volcano. There seemed no way of averting the approach-
ing doom, for the Japanese soldiers were irritated at
having been compelled to fight every stage of their way
down this newly-ceded territory, and it was known that
terrible reprisals would be made where the Black-flags
had entrenched themselves. I happened to be then in

A RETROSPECT AND A FORECAST 283

England on furlough but was kept well informed about
the progress of events.

It was on the Saturday afternoon of the President's
flight that a deputation of the leading citizens of Taiwan-fu
called upon my colleagues and pleaded with them, for
God's sake, to go out and beseech the Japanese army to
come into the city in peace. The undertaking was
anything but free from risk, because it was difficult to
ascertain how far this request indicated the wish of the
people, and because native Christians in different parts
of the Island had been cruelly murdered on a charge of
being in collusion with the Japanese. However, another
and even more influential deputation came forward to
say that they would put their request in writing, in order
that any one might see where the responsibility lay, and
that this service was being rendered by the missionaries
at the people's own urgent desire.

The sun was just setting when all the needful pre-
parations were made, but not an hour was to be lost ; and,
therefore, taking the stamped document with them, my
colleagues went out from the Great South Gate on their
errand of mercy. The stars were shining brightly, and
stillness reigned everywhere, till the party was startled
by the ping of a rifle, and the loud challenge of a
Japanese sentry. Signals were made, but they were
immediately surrounded, and led to the presence of
General Nogi, who consulted with his officers, and after-
wards informed the missionaries of the acceptance of the
invitation they brought, and that the army would begin
to move before daybreak, having Mr. Barclay with the
nineteen Chinamen in front, and Mr. Ferguson with
several officers marching in the rear. It was also plainly
stated that, on the slightest show of treachery or resis-
tance, the soldiers would open fire, and the whole city
be burned to the ground. The time occupied by that

284 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

long march back again was, indeed, an anxious one ;
and as the missionaries drew near and saw the city gates
closed, their hearts sank within them lest some fatal
interruption had taken place. That sound, too, seemed
something more than the mere barking of dogs. Could
it be possible that the roughs of the city had broken out
at last, and were now engaged in their fiendish work ?
My colleagues looked behind, and saw only a wall of
loaded rifles ; in front, but there was no hopeful sign ;
and the strain was becoming almost insupportable,
when the Great South Gate was swung wide open.
Hundreds of gentry came forward bowing themselves to
the ground, and in a minute more the flag of the Rising
Sun was waving over the city.

It would be out of place to say much at present about
the future of Formosa under the altered condition of
things, and only a few remarks are necessary on changes
which have already taken place, and others which are
almost sure to follow. Among the former may be noted :
(i) That the Mandarinate has now left the Island, bag and
baggage. Now, it is no part of our duty to speak evil of
dignities or of anybody else, but long observation has
led to the conclusion that there are tremendous diffi-
culties in the way of regarding Chinese Officialdom with
anything like feelings of confidence and respect. No
doubt some members of the class are capable (from the
native point of view), unselfish, diligent, and really
helpful to the people. Generally speaking, however, this
countless host, from the Viceroy down to the lowest
yamen-iwnei, goes on the fundamentally pernicious
principle that the country was made for the mandarins,
not mandarins for the country. (2) The influence of
the so-called literati has now gone for ever from Formosa.
These are the gentry who swear by Confucius and all
his opinions. They are held in high esteem, the common

A RETROSPECT AND A FORECAST 285

people looking upon them as dungeons of learning, and
as very fortunate in being able to make potfuls of money
at teaching and every low kind of pettifogging. About
seventy per cent, of their learning is a mere fraud, and
consists in the power of memorizing the Chinese Classics,
and in keeping close to the traditional comments which
have been made upon them. Their anti-foreign ten-
dencies are well known, and it would be difficult to
find anywhere a more narrow-minded and impracticable
body of men. (3) The Japanese Authorities soon issued
a proclamation in Formosa forbidding the importation
of opium, except for medicinal purposes. This action
has not attracted much attention, although it is a very
significant one. The first Chinese anti-opium edict
appeared in 1729, having been directed against the use
of the drug in Formosa, and ever since the Island has had
an evil reputation in this respect. The importation
during 1893 (the last year unaffected by the war) was
5,680 cwts. valued at £419,839. But everything is to be
changed now, for the Japanese say that the whole traffic
must be stopped and a clean sweep made of the opium.
Their proclamation is very suggestive reading after the
voluminous Report of our own late Royal Commission
on the opium trade in India.

But it is unnecessary to make any further enumeration
of changes already accomplished in Formosa ; and as for
those which are still to come, one may forecast a little
by considering, on the one hand, what Japan itself now
is ; and, on the other, the expressed determination of its
rulers that Formosa, body, soul, and spirit, must speedily
be made an integral part of the Empire. Connecting
these two things, then, it goes for the saying that, before
long, good roads will be all over the Island, that the
railway will be carried down from north to south and
branch lines added on, harbours opened, and a proper

286 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

currency introduced, with parliamentary representation,
upright officials, skilled native doctors, newspapers, and
cessation of work every seventh day in all Government
offices. Of course, too, there will be things to vex the
soul of the European merchant and the ardent Christian
missionary ; but patience must be exercised, and great
things still expected from such a people as the Japanese
have proved themselves to be. The movements of
population under the new order of things will be inter-
esting, and be likely to appear in (a) the departure of
many Chinese from Formosa ; (b) steady increase in the
number of Japanese immigrants ; and (c) in the result
of civilizing influences brought to bear on all the non-
Chinese-speaking tribes. These and other details make
up a problem of first-class importance, and one cannot
but accompany Japan with gentle wishes through this
critical, yet very hopeful, period of her history.

XLV

BRITISH ALLIANCE WITH JAPAN

As the present writer happens to be a missionary, some
readers may think it would be better for them to follow
Mulvaney's advice and " arst the shop next door " about
matters relating to politics and trade ; but it is not easy
to repress one's feelings over this new Alliance with
Japan. The flutter at headquarters in Tokyo will not
yet have spent itself ; for while our own " grand old man "
has been receiving his meed of praise, it should not be
forgotten that the other Marquis is also a " deep *un,"
nobody being required to inform Ito Hirobumi how many
beans make five I

Pleasantries apart, however, it would be well if our
merchants and others concerned began to take the
Japanese somewhat more seriously than they have been
doing of late ; to overcome mere irritation at their
so-called interloping, and refrain from patting subjects
of the Mikado on the back because of their cleverness.
One's hope is that the people of our own tight little
Island may not be too late in finding out that there is
practically no limit to the lawful patriotic ambition of the
Japanese, and that they are a much more level-headed,
far-seeing, and pertinacious race than many Westerners
suppose them to be.

Certainly this recent Alliance brings the search-light
to bear upon Russian aggressiveness in Manchuria,
but we Britishers cannot have it sufficiently dinned
into us that its value to our Allies is the leverage it sup-

287

288 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

plies for their thorough exploitation of a " sphere of
influence " which is meant to embrace, not the Yangtse
valley only, but the eighteen provinces of China. And
any simpleton can see the reasons which urge
forward this peaceful conquest of the Middle Kingdom.
For one thing, recent events have convinced the Chinese
that the Old Dispensation must pass away, and they
of themselves are unable to usher in the New. On the
other hand, Japan has come greatly to the front since
Marquis Ito signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki, and none
have been taking more careful note of affairs than the
high officials at Peking.

Of course, large room would have to be made for self-
interests in any attempt to bring about the rapproache-
ment now hinted at, but both sides could well afford
to keep this in view on considering the geographical
contiguity of the two countries, the racial affinity of
their inhabitants, and the fact that any written or printed
statement circulated throughout China is intelligible
also in Japan. But all this, and a great deal more,
has already been taken into account ; so much
so that the Japanese are now daily strengthening a
position which has turned out to be both helpful to the
Chinese and very profitable to themselves. One or
two illustrations may be given in corroboration of this.
Chang Chih-tung, the most influential and progressive
of the Chinese Viceroys, lately dismissed an American
expert, who was in charge of the Wu-chang Agricultural
College, and put a Japanese in his place ; and the same
high official has sent a large number of Chinese students
to Japan to be educated for Government service ; while
the following published statement was recently made by a
foreign resident in China : — " A large school has just been
established by Japanese near the Shanghai Arsenal in
buildings which formerly served as that Chinese girls'

BRITISH ALLIANCE WITH JAPAN 289

school about which we heard so much last year. About
a hundred Japanese students are now domiciled there
studying Chinese and English with a view, no doubt,
to finding positions of usefulness in China before long.
At the opening of the institution a few weeks ago, a
company of Government functionaries was present, and
letters of congratulation from Viceroys Liu and Chang
were read ; all of which seems to indicate unmistakably
that Chinese officials are highly pleased with the prospect
of securing the assistance of Japan as a guide along the
paths that China is forced to follow ; and, it may be, as
an important aid in resisting the domination of the White
Race in Eastern Asia. Again, the Tung-wen Hu-pao of
Shanghai, and the Jih-jih Sin-pao of Tientsin are two
leading Chinese newspapers which have a wide circulation,
but both of them are owned and ably conducted by
editors from Japan. Another noticeable item is that
Translation Societies and Improvement Associations
are now springing up everywhere in China, in order to
popularize the educational methods and scientific achieve-
ments of the West ; the significant feature being that
almost everything issued by these societies has been
taken from books which were first published in Japan.
Thus, Japanese scholars begin by appropriating all that
is best in the literature of Europe and America, and then
Chinese reformers pursue the less expensive and much
safer plan of utilising this experience by making their
translations from the Japanese ; a comparatively easy
process, owing to the simplicity of the Japanese alphabetic
system, and the enormous extent to which Chinese writing
is made use of in Japan."

As regards commerce and trade, the Japanese are also

showing much activity on the mainland of China ; their

methods comparing most favourably with those of

Europeans in several particulars, such as (i) the greater

2QO SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

economy with which their establishments are conducted ;

(2) their knowledge of Chinese vernacular enabling them
to dispense with the compradore or middleman system ;

(3) their readiness to accept small initial commissions
rather than be always on the look-out for ship-loads of
tea, and tons of something else ; (4) their deliberate
study of local customs and wants making it possible for
them to place on the market articles which sell ; for
instance, cheap clocks that will continue to go can be
disposed of readily in China, but the Japanese improved
on the German and American patterns by having Chinese
numeral signs to mark the hours on the face, instead of
those in the Roman or Arabic form, and by causing the
alarum to sound out short well-known refrains which stir
the native heart, just as " Hey, Johnnie Cope, are ye
waukin' yet " does that of a Scottish Highlander.

By way of rounding off the foregoing paragraph, it
may be stated that the Island-Empire is now herself able
to carry on an ever-increasing cargo and passenger traffic
to every important harbour of the world through such
prosperous shipping companies as the Osaka Shosen
Kaisha, and the still greater Nippon Yusen Kaisha
(Japan Mail Steamship Company), with its £2,000,000 of
capital, and a magnificent fleet of seventy steamers,
whose aggregate capacity amounts to 200,000 tons gross.

Nor must it be supposed that Japan's sole desire is to
obtain the biggest haul for herself in this open honourable
contest which will bring about the " survival of the
fittest." We Anglo-Saxons pride ourselves, not only on
our commercial success, but chiefly on the elevating
influence we claim to have exerted in countries like India
and Africa ; but, whether we are generous enough to
believe it or not, the Japanese have also proved them-
selves to be capable of disinterestedness and the following
up of high ideals. Nay, more, many of their best living

BRITISH ALLIANCE WITH JAPAN

thinkers, dissatisfied with the old native religions, have
had the courage to confess that there is a widespread
feeling of unrest throughout Japan at present, and that
it will only be by a whole-hearted acceptance of
Christianity their fellow-countrymen can hope to keep
sand out of the sugar, and honestly strive to pay twenty
shillings to the pound. They are aware also that we
Britishers acknowledge this to be our creed, but that
we do not always act up to it ; " Wherefore let him that
thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall " ; f or " Many
that are first shall be last, and the last first."

XLVI

EUROPEANS GET FAIR-PLAY OUT HERE

ON recently returning from a six months' sojourn in the
Chiang-hoa region, I came to know that there had been
some writing to the newspapers about the Japanese
treatment of foreigners in Formosa, and as my residence
there began over thirty years ago, I hope it will not be
considered unseemly for me to submit a few remarks on
the subject.

It may bring about a better understanding of things
to note that the foreign community in Formosa is mostly
to be found in the two northern ports of Tamsui and
Twa-tiu-tia ; the others being located at Tainan in the
South ; with the exception of two missionaries, whose
station lies about eighty miles to the north of that. More-
over, while the Mission staff at Tainan numbers fourteen
adults when all together — sixteen, when including the
two at our Chiang-hoa sub-centre — their official and
commercial fellow-residents number collectively only
about five. Nor is the smallness of the latter class
traceable to oppressive measures directed against them
by our new rulers ; for " the man in the street " knows
that South Formosa business houses and those connected
with them were steadily decreasing during many years
before Formosa was ceded to Japan.

With regard to the foreign community in the North,
I am not myself aware that public complaints have ever
come from it about anything like petty persecution on
the part of the Japanese. On the contrary, residents

292

EUROPEANS GET FAIR-PLAY OUT HERE 293

there seem to feel fairly content with their surroundings ;
at least that was the impression produced on my mind
when admitted to their kind hospitality on the occasion
of my three visits within the past twelve months. I
hope, too, it will not appear officious for me to add that,
last January, they were much pleased at the Governor-
general's recent gift of five hundred yen to their
Photographic Club, and for his message that even the
Emperor himself had graciously expressed an interest
in its work.

Of course, we English Presbyterians are better
acquainted with what goes on further south ; for thirty
of our stations are scattered over Central Formosa and
as far inland as Po-li-sia ; while we have forty-three more
between Ka-gi and the Tang-kang River, besides four
on the East Coast and three on the Pescadores. Nor
need it scarcely be added that our constant visitation of
those stations or churches brings us into direct contact
with all classes of the people, and affords us exceptionally
good opportunities for getting to know what is taking
place. A glimpse of this is seen in the fact that, during
my recent sojourn in the Chiang-hoa prefecture, I had to
see to the registration of no fewer than fourteen deeds
of Church property ; a troublesome piece of work which
could never have been put through had not the officials
of the various District Offices acted in a most obliging
and helpful way.

In looking, therefore, at the charges which anonymous
writers have lately been bringing against the Japanese
for their harsh treatment of foreigners in Formosa, I
should like to single out for comment one complete
crucial statement from " An Occasional Correspondent "
in the China Mail of 23rd June. After attempting to
establish a somewhat far-fetched connection between the
Boxer programme in China and such incidents as the

294 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

intemperate fallaciousness of a certain native newspaper
in Tainan, which the Authorities had to suspend some
weeks ago, this " Occasional Correspondent " goes on to
say — the italics being his own :— " My object, however,
is not to describe or protest against any specific display
of anti-foreign feeling, as affecting any given individual
or group of persons, but to attempt to show how, during
the last three years, this feeling has been initiated,
fostered, and intensified against all foreigners and every-
thing connected with them."

Now, before offering any remarks of my own on the
question thus raised, I should like to quote a few words
from published statements of two of my colleagues.
Mr. Barclay has been associated with me here for twenty-
six years, and what he says shows also that the suicidal
conduct of the natives of Formosa, before they had any
experience of Japanese rule, greatly increased the
difficulties of those to whom the Island had formally been
ceded. He writes as follows : — " About five years ago,
at the close of the war between China and Japan, the
Island of Formosa was given over by Treaty to the
victors. The people of the land bitterly resented this
action ; and when, by order of the Emperor, all the
mandarins left, they set up a Republic of their own, and
prepared to resist by force the coming of the Japanese.
These latter sent at once a military force to the north end
of the Island, of which they took immediate possession.
They then marched southward, fighting the people step
by step till at last their armies converged on Tainan-fu.
A day was already fixed for the bombardment of the city,
which would certainly have resulted in great loss of life.
But just at this moment the leaders of the movement
fled, leaving the people helpless. There were then three
members of our Mission in Tainan-fu, and we were able
so to mediate between the two parties that the city was

EUROPEANS GET FAIR-PLAY OUT HERE 295

peaceably occupied without loss of life on either side.
It was fortunate for our Mission that we were able so to
act, as it gained us the gratitude of both sides. The
chief point of interest to us here is as to how the changed
state of affairs affects Formosa as a Mission field. And
on this point I am glad to be able to speak. Both as
regards the people and as regards the rulers, we stand
in a much better position than in the old Chinese days.

" When I went to Formosa twenty-five years ago, a
common taunt against the missionaries was that we were
there to take possession of the Island. Now this has all
been changed. The people have no feeling of loyalty to
their present rulers ; they have no desire to maintain
the present state of affairs. On the contrary, the
objection they make is that our country would not take
possession of Formosa when the people all wished that
we should. And not only are those prejudices removed
but, in contrast to the behaviour of the Japanese, the
people have come to appreciate the kind disposition of
the missionaries. In many cases they are disposed to
welcome rather than to resist the entrance of Christianity
into their villages.

" So also in connection with our new rulers. They are
a great improvement on the Chinese mandarin. The
latter were no doubt required by law to tolerate
Christianity, but they were ready to use underhand
methods to hinder its successful propagation. The
Japanese officials, on the other hand, even when not
themselves Christians, know quite well that Christianity,
as compared with Chinese heathenism, tends in the
direction of civilization, good order, and enlightenment,
the very objects which they are there to promote. Nor
is this to them only a matter of theory. They have seen
it exemplified in what they found in Formosa. When
they took over the Island, there were in all between 3,000

296 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

and 4,000 communicants (i.e. Church members) in it,
besides a much larger number of adherents. And the
Japanese officials, Christian and non-Christian, bear
testimony to the fact that, wherever they found
Christianity established and a Christian community
existing, the people were more honest, truthful, and
law-abiding than their heathen neighbours. Some of
these officials are themselves Christians, and have become
good friends and helpers. And those who are not them-
selves Christians, and might possibly regret to see
Christianity making much progress among their fellow-
countrymen in Japan proper, feel less jealousy as to its
spread among their Chinese fellow-subjects. Especially,
perhaps, have the results of the work carried on among
the civilized aborigines of the Island impressed them ;
as it has been, even from a worldly point of view, the
salvation of those tribes, giving to them a greater manli-
ness and independence.

" Of course, there are other elements in the situation
less favourable to our work, which would require to be
taken into account in a complete detailed view of the
state of the case. But that the hopeful view taken above
is on the whole a correct one seems to be proved by the
recent history of our Mission. Before the Japanese
occupation, the number of baptisms was about one hun-
dred or more annually. Three years ago, the number
amounted to 156. Two years ago, the number rose to
241. Last year, the number was over 360. During
these years, the number of places for worship and of
hearers and adherents also greatly increased. So that
in South Formosa, the field for missionary labour is at
present very hopeful." — Ecumenical Missionary Con-
ference, New York, 1900, vol. i., p. 533.

The other testimony is from Dr. Anderson, who is
in his twenty-third year of service as the competent

EUROPEANS GET FAIR-PLAY OUT HERE 297

medical man of our Mission ; and who, like Mr. Barclay,
is a thoroughly trustworthy witness on the matters in
question. While writing from Tainan last January he
says : — " Interest here, as at home, is largely concentrated
on the Boxer troubles in the north of China. Everything
is quiet throughout the Island, but there can be little
doubt but that, had we still been under mandarin rule,
the case would have been very different. The Japanese
appear to be getting a better hold of Formosa of late.
They are beginning to understand the people, and their
rule is more temperate than formerly. They are conse-
quently less disliked by the natives generally. Besides,
the immigration from Japan brings a better type of
character than we had at first. The coarse coolie element
no longer predominates, and it is noticeable that there
are fewer Japanese in a state of intoxication than there
were a year or two ago. All this bodes well for the
future peace of the Island, and for the harmonious rela-
tions of the two peoples. Some very decided benefits
from the new rule are also apparent. For one thing,
heathen bigotry on the part of the Chinese is not so intense,
and public persecution of Christianity at least is prac-
tically a thing of the past. I suppose we would be free,
so far as any fear of opposition from the people is
concerned, to erect places of worship anywhere throughout
the Island. The fung-shui superstition also received its
death-blow when Formosa changed hands, and a proof
of this which must have appealed powerfully to the
natives was the piercing of the city wall lately for the
railway between the north and the south. In the old
days, such a thing would have made Chinamen stand
aghast in horror ; now it is regarded, outwardly at least,
as a matter of course. There is no doubt also that the
Chinese generally are better off since the transfer of the
Island ; for labour is more remunerative and produce

2Q8 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

of all kinds obtains higher prices." — Monthly Messenger
of the Presbyterian Church of England for March 1901, p. 73.
I hope I have not drawn too largely on the reader's
patience by quoting these lengthened extracts. Some
persons may think that much of what they contain is
irrelevant here, but my point is this : if an extensive
missionary work, covering two-thirds of the Island, and
administered by three times as many foreigners as those
belonging to the mercantile class, is not only tolerated
but even encouraged, and this by officials who could
easily put obstacles in the way, then I say that the position
of "An Occasional Correspondent" in his statement of
22nd June is untenable, and that he cannot himself be
regarded as a reliable guide in forming public opinion on
the matters now under discussion. The puzzle to me is
that this self-appointed spokesman on our behalf should
exert himself so much in ransacking for materials to build
up a case against the officials of Formosa, and especially
against Dr. Goto, the Chief of the Civil Administration ;
and, while I have no desire to be uncharitable, it will not
cause much surprise for me to state that others besides
myself would be sorry if this sort of thing should go forth
among cultivated Orientals as a sample of the way in
which English gentlemen usually act. Further, I venture
to say that the prospect which " An Occasional Corre-
spondent " has placed before himself of moving " semi-
public bodies like the Chambers of Commerce and the
China Association," that they impress his views on the
British Government, does not concern the Japanese very
much ; and for this reason, that, besides being shrewd men
of business, those connected with such important Corpora-
tions, like our own Mission Convener, the late Mr. Hugh
M. Matheson of 3, Lombard Street, are also sensible men
of honour, who believe in both sides of the " Live and
Let-live " principle ; and who, therefore, may be trusted

EUROPEANS GET FAIR-PLAY OUT HERE 299

to deal in a very cautious and discriminating way with
any ex parte statements which interested individuals
succeed in having placed before them.

By the way, to some minds it may have seemed as if
the very foundations were beginning to shake when, in
his issue of 22nd June, the Editor of the China Mail,
" relying absolutely and confidently on the bona fides
of ' Our Correspondent ' " promised to begin his agitation
by printing the contents of certain mysteriously important
documents which had come into his possession. I humbly
think, however, that " Our Correspondent " never
rendered the Civil Governor of Formosa more effective
service than by getting some one to translate those
documents for publication ; for, let any man first care-
fully read even the garbled version of Dr. Goto's words
in the China Mail of 25th June et sequitur, and then
compare it with the contributions of " Our Correspondent "
to the same paper on this subject. Readers themselves
can follow out the comparison, my own one word about
the matter being that, in the former set of documents, we
see no trace of the sea-lawyer or of any desire to further
low personal ends, but the working of a mind which is
accustomed to grapple with large complex problems ;
so that, whether we accept Dr. Goto's conclusions or
reject them, few will deny that he states his case with
consummate ability, and exactly in the way which every
lover of his own country would wish to do. Why is it,
then, that those who insist on " the open door " and
" spheres of influence " denounce so vehemently this
public and calmly-reasoned advocacy of a Japanese
scholar and diplomat for closer relations between China
and Japan ? I leave others to furnish the few plain
answers that could be given to that question ; only asking
them to remember that honourable rivalry in trade,
coupled with frank acknowledgment of all generally con-

300 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

ceded national rights, is a maxim which has never received
very much countenance from the British Philistine or
Mr. Pecksniff.

But my remarks have already got beyond reasonable
limits and must be concluded with only two items more :

(1) It is quite admitted that recent changes have wrought
to the disadvantage of a very few well-to-do Europeans
in South Formosa ; such changes, for instance, as the
camphor production having been taken under Govern-
ment control, the Japanese supplanting of our welcome,
although high-tariffed, little 55. Thales by a mail
steamer of their own, and the hopeful attempt now being
made by them to monopolize the profits of the sugar-
trade. Surely, however, evolutions of this kind are but
" the fortune of war " and should excite neither surprise
nor ill-feeling in the mind of any right-thinking person ;

(2) My own belief is that a more sympathetic attitude
would be shown towards the Formosa Administration
by outsiders were it known how much they have done
since Dr. Goto's arrival for the betterment of all classes
of the people. It is within my knowledge that millions
of dollars have been spent on survey- work, road-making,
trolly and railway lines, Postal Telegraph and Telephone
stations, Military, Police and Civil establishments ;
besides large Government outlay on Primary and Higher
Schools, Hospitals and Lighthouses ; as well as in pro-
viding a regular service of steamers round the Island and
to the Pescadores. And let it be observed that all this
is but the harbinger of still greater progress in the near
future ; for I am convinced that Formosa will yet become
a most valuable possession ; and that, so far as my
somewhat widely-extended observations go, the servants
of the Government are faithfully and without noise
striving to hasten the consummation.

It is just possible that readers who see nothing amiss

EUROPEANS GET FAIR-PLAY OUT HERE 30!

in the irresponsible fault-finding of the " Correspondent "
whose statements I have been criticizing may regard these
words of commendation from me as being in very bad
form. Still, there are times when, like the early Christians,
" we cannot but speak of the things which we have seen
and heard."

XLVII

THE JAPANESE AS COLONIZERS

I HAVE just returned from six months' travel all over the
Taichu Prefecture, and now make a few jottings for the
benefit of those who wish to know something about the
present condition of things in that region of Central
Formosa. It is thirty years since I first visited Taichu,
but I was there frequently afterwards till 1894, so that
the visit now to be referred to is my first since the Island
was ceded to Japan. To make matters clearer, it may be
mentioned that the object I had before me in thus going
north from our missionary headquarters at Tainan was
to see how our thirty little churches of the English
Presbyterian Mission in Taichu were prospering. My
wife was with me all the time, and a cook was the only
native servant who accompanied us. Had we travelled
in sedan-chairs as formerly, with three coolies carrying
our burdens, it would have taken at least four days to
reach the Taichu Prefectural city from Tainan, while the
expenses would probably have amounted to over a
hundred dollars ; that is, about ten pounds sterling.
I am quite aware that many persons are inclined to
speak slightingly of the trolley carriages which are pushed
along by coolies here, but Mrs. Campbell and myself had
no scruples upon that score, and were only too thankful
to use them for going over the first long stage of our
journeying in two days, and for about fifteen dollars
only. People may say what they please about such a
method of locomotion, but there can be no doubt that,

302

THE JAPANESE AS COLONIZERS 303

during the first five years of its working, our little Trolly
Line from Takow to Sin-tek has been of the utmost service
to Formosa. I may add that the officers of the Line
always acted towards us in a courteous, helpful way ; and
I was especially grateful for this on one occasion when
my wife travelled alone from Shoka to Tainan, doing
the double journey of one hundred and sixty miles in
four days, a thing which would have been considered
impossible under the arrangements of six years ago.

On arriving in the Prefectural city, I at once saw that
there was a great deal to interest us in every direction.
It occupies that place where my familiar little village
of Tang-toa-tun stood long ago, but much of the ground
over which the New City is now spreading was one wide
expanse of rice fields when the Japanese took possession
of the Island. I may say that, at an early stage of our
sojourn there, I called on the Prefect, Mr. Kinoshita, to
pay my respects. He sat with me for about an hour
chatting on Formosa matters in general ; and I spent
another pleasant evening at his own private residence.
It may be remarked in passing that graciousness of this
kind towards any wandering " Red-haired barbarian "
was quite unheard of during the old Mandarin days.
I valued very highly the kindness of Mr. Kinoshita, and
it was no 'surprise for me to learn afterwards, in different
parts of the Prefecture, that his subordinates serve him
with loyalty and true devotion. A native friend accom-
panied me on my first extended walk throughout the city,
and pointed out such buildings as the Industrial Museum,
the Post-office, and the spacious Law Courts, now in
course of construction. I confess, however, he nearly
took my breath away when finishing up with a visit to
the Telephone Exchange, and the offices of the Taichu
Daily News! Why, at the rate of progress I had been
accustomed to in this part of the Beautiful Isle, it would

304 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

have taken centuries to accomplish developments of this
kind.

Several days after, I made a more leisurely inspection
of two Government institutions which greatly interested
me. Dr. Fugita, head of the Taichu Hospital, was kind
enough to be my guide when I called, conducting me
himself over the buildings, and showing the working of
the whole establishment. He has several qualified
doctors associated with him, and in-patients are attended
to by a staff of trained female nurses. I also had the
benefit of Dr. Fugita's explanations while leading me over
the three large wards of the still incomplete New Hospital,
which is to supersede the one at present in use. This
much more extensive set of buildings will certainly be an
ornament to the Prefectural city, and provide relief for
many a poor sufferer. I could not but admire the cleanli-
ness, and the quiet orderly way in which things were done
in the Taichu Hospital ; while even a cursory glance
round the Operating Room and Pathological Laboratory
was sufficient to show that the methods of healing are
thoroughly up to date. Many people do not know what
an improvement all this is on our experience of the past,
for I have more than once seen wretchedly sick and
wounded Chinese soldiers left to die like dogs by the
roadside in Formosa.

The second Government institution which interested
me was none other than the Prefectural Prison. Formosa
has always contained a considerable proportion of bad
characters, and it is by no means an easy task to find out
the best way of dealing with them ; for cruel severity
drives away all self-respect, and leads only to reckless
despair, while a do-nothing or too lenient policy tends
to the increase, rather than to the diminution, of crime.
Ab alio expectes, alteri quod feceris. Under the Chinese,
it is safe to say that criminals in Formosa were treated

THE JAPANESE AS COLONIZERS 305

with the most shameful inconsiderateness and brutality.
I was never then hindered from visiting prisons, or
speaking a word of advice and comfort to their miserable
inmates ; but such scenes of filth and iniquity were never
witnessed by me anywhere else, and I have been in some
very strange places during my long residence in the East.

When I called that day on the Governor of the Taichu
Prison, he at once came with me from the Prefecture,
where he had been visiting some of the officials, and
placed himself at my service during the greater part of
the forenoon. A ten minutes' walk brought us within
sight of the strong, heavily-buttressed walls of the prison.
Those walls are twelve and a half feet in height and
enclose an immense amount of space, in which are grouped
the open courts and main buildings ; those buildings
being spread out like an open fan, and arranged with so
much design that any officer sitting on the raised seat at
the converging end has, practically, the entire prison
under his eye. Let it be remembered that there might
be over a thousand strong desperate fellows confined
within those walls, and there can be no wonder at the
precautions taken against fire, plague, sudden uprising
of the prisoners, and every other contingency. No one
may ramble at large within this huge interior ; for the
passages and open squares are patrolled night and day by
armed warders, and the heavy iron-bar gate at the ends
of every long wide corridor will be unlocked by the
sentry on guard only in accordance with strict rules
which must be carried out to the letter.

With much thought fulness, the Governor led me first
to where prisoners are received and submitted to all
sorts of examination ; then to the extensive bathing
quarters ; from which we went to the hall where culprits
exchange their own clothes for prison garb ; and after-
wards to the spacious workrooms, dormitories, dining-

306 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA .

halls and kitchen ; our peregrinations coming to a close
in the commodious quarters of the prison Staff. The
whole thing was very interesting to me ; because on every
hand one could see the operation of high intelligence,
firmness, and even of mercy, in grappling with evils which
are found amongst the people of every land. Before
coming away, the Governor remarked to me that the
entire group of buildings, including the surrounding wall,
was the outcome of convict labour ; and it did indeed
seem to be a feature of the system followed there that
no prisoner was allowed to shirk duty who was really
able to work. Nor can any one question the soundness
of this principle, for the healthful appearance of the
large companies I saw engaged in the manufacture of
straw-mattresses, and as brick-makers, builders, car-
penters, and coolies, was in favour of it ; while statistics
given me regarding those who had served their terms
of confinement also showed that prison life in Taichu
was both bearable and distinctly reformatory in its
tendency. I was sorry I came away without learning
the name of the obliging Chief Officer who had thus
enabled me to see so much into the working of a Japanese
prison. He truly seems to be the right man in the right
place ; for, besides that quick eye, restless activity,
and evident self-control, his whole manner conveys the
impression that the more advisable course would be to
obey his orders at once, without any questioning or delay.
It is easy to see that Taichu city is sure to become an
important centre before long ; for, to mention only one
thing, that great mountain region lying eastward will
soon be pouring out its treasures into it. Indeed, a
beginning has already been made in this direction, and
I can still recall the pleasurable feelings with which
my wife and myself stood aside one day when many
tramway carriages passed us, on which were piled about

THE JAPANESE AS COLONIZERS 307

six hundred cases of camphor oil being taken away out
westward for shipment near the little coasting-town
of Thaw-kat-khut. The want of accommodation for
shipping in this part of the Island is what is most to be
regretted ; but, after huge undertakings like the con-
struction of the Osaka Harbour, or the great sea-wall at
Yokohama, something could certainly be done. A few
hundred thousand dollars spent in dredging operations
at Hwan-oah, Lok-kang, or Thaw-kat-khut, would work
wonders by giving a great impulse to trade throughout
the Prefecture. A glance at any of the recent maps will
show the possibility of another scheme ; that of pushing
ahead with even a narrow tramway line from the south-
east corner of Po-li-sia through the Bu-lai Plain, and on
round the base of the mountains, so as to connect with
one or other of the rivers debouching at Hoe-lian-kang.
Po-li-sia, with its thirty hamlets, has already become
an important political centre ; which, under ordinary
walking conditions, lies only a couple of days' journey
from Hoe-lian-kang. Then, on the south side of Hoe-
lian-kang itself, and at the mouth of that river which
winds along the foot of the hills trending westward, no
great outlay would be required to provide safe anchorage
for a number of vessels. Of course, it will be said that
harbour room at Karenko made accessible from the west
as now suggested, raises the question as to how the head-
hunting savages are to be dealt with ; but even this
consideration does not present an insurmountable
barrier, because I know that the Kan-ta-ban tribe,
occupying the mountain ranges south-east from Po-li-sia,
could be much more easily managed than the blood-
thirsty Ban-hwan and Bu-hwan further north ; while
from the base of operations at Karenko, it would not be
difficult to make a safe movement into the mountains,
so as to meet any party working from the Po-li-sia side.

308 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

However, from personal observation along the eastern
and western coast-lines, I should like myself to see a
beginning made to provide some harbour outlet for
Taichu at such a place as Hwan-oah. In former years,
a considerable carrying trade went on there, and within
the natural harbour formed by neighbouring sand-banks —
now much silted up on the eastern side — five or six good-
sized junks could still ride out the severest typhoon.

On a visit I am now referring to, Mrs. Campbell and
myself spent five weeks among the Po-li-sia villages, that
inland region having been reached by us across the moun-
tains from Taichu City, and travelling by way of Thaw-sia,
Ku-a-thau, Pak-kang, and Sio Paw-sia. One thing which
arrested my attention on the second day of our journey
was the immense amount of timber which had been
recklessly cut down and allowed to lie and rot on the
ground ; a very objectionable practice which the
Authorities had put a stop to, as it was no unusual thing
for the Po-li-sia Sek-hwan to destroy hundreds of most
valuable trees in this way ; their object being to give the
savages less opportunity for making their stealthy mur-
derous attacks upon travellers, or on deer-hunting parties
out from Po-li-sia and the West. The sight of so much
waste, and of the still untouched forests on every side,
reminded me of the fact that, many years ago, two of my
fellow-countrymen settled down at a place several miles
south from Saw Bay in the hope of carrying on a profitable
trade in preparing and exporting wooden battens which
carpenters and wood-turners could work up into all sorts
of articles ; but who had to leave under orders from the
British Consul just when their labour was beginning to
yield very satisfactory returns.

I suppose it was this train of thought, with the dashing
rivers we frequently crossed, which reminded me of
another little incident I met with long ago in our own

THE JAPANESE AS COLONIZERS 309

beloved Scotland. Whilst walking through a country
village there one day, my attention was arrested by a
long wide building in which tradesmen were busy at
turning-lathes, and at sawing, planing, and mortising
wood for being made up into such articles as doors and
windows ; but while all this work was evidently being
carried on by means of some kind of motive power, I
could not see any engine-house, or tall chimney for the
emission of furnace smoke. And yet, there could be no
mistake about the matter, for there before me was the
long quickly-revolving shaft fastened from the ceiling
inside, with the leather belts stretched from it which were
keeping the several machines in motion.

My difficulty quite vanished when the obliging fore-
man conducted me into a small apartment at the end of
the building, where he pressed an iron handle and almost
immediately reduced the din inside to perfect silence.
It appeared that every machine connected with the
works was kept in motion by the action of a simple
turbine or water-wheel, and a short description of this
may be welcomed by some of my Japanese readers who
have some knowledge of English. Let me premise by
saying that very near the works in question, there was a
deep ditch of clear, running water, while the ground
behind fell some ten or twelve feet ; and that advantage
had been taken of these conditions to set up the inex-
pensive machinery which was being turned to so much
account. The main parts of the machinery may be
enumerated as follows : —

First : There was seen a one-inch thick cylinder of
cast-iron about eighteen inches in diameter, and twenty-
four feet long — somewhat resembling a section of those
large water-pipes which are laid down in cities. This
cylinder rested upright on a foundation of heavy dressed
stones. Its upper end had a metal cover screwed down

310 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

upon it, in the centre of which there was a two-inch
opening bushed with brass. The side of the cylinder at
its upper end had also an aperture with sliding iron
cover for the in-flow of water, the lower end being simi-
larly furnished for its out-flow ; while on the central part
of the ground inside the cylinder there was fastened a
thick plate of brass having a deep cup-like depression in
the middle.

Second : Through the upper cover of the cylinder there
was inserted a two-inch-thick malleable iron rod of twenty-
eight feet in length, its rounded lower end being made to
rest in the before - mentioned cup-like depression or
socket ; while along nine feet of the rod inside the cylinder,
and forming part of the rod itself, there was a spirally-
arranged plate of wrought-iron bevelled towards its outer
edge, and which wound round the rod for about eight
inches from its surface ; this whole part of the machinery
thus presenting the appearance of a huge flattened cork-
screw. Moreover, the upper end of the rod — which
stood about eight feet from the cover of the cylinder-
had a strong cog-wheel firmly fastened to it.

Third : The next noticeable thing was a horizontal
wrought-iron bar about forty feet long, and made to
revolve in bushed iron brackets fastened under the ceiling
of the adjoining workshop. The end of this bar outside
the right-hand gable-wall of the building had also a
strong cog-wheel, which was set in motion when the
cog-wheel at the upper end of the before-mentioned iron
rod was made to revolve, after the water had first caused
the spirally-shaped turbine-wheel to whirl round inside
the upright cylinder. Of course, too, at intervals along
the horizontal iron bar there were hollow metal drums,
over which leather belts were wound, so as to communicate
motive-power to the turning-lathes, sawing, planing,
mortising, punching, and drilling machines, which

THE JAPANESE AS COLONIZERS 311

were arranged on two long tables placed in the work-
shop.

I hope that the foregoing somewhat rough general
description from a layman will give a fairly correct idea
of my meaning. The principal item towards starting an
undertaking of the kind in Formosa would be a sum of
about five thousand dollars to provide the necessary
plant, because buildings would not involve much expense
if made of bamboo framework, wattle-and-dab walls,
and grass roofing. Good sites could be found near
Lau-long in the Tainan Prefecture, at the foot of the
mountains east from Lim-ki-paw, or along the banks of
the upper reaches of the Tai-kah River ; for in each of
those regions both thick forests are at hand, with good-
sized streams for the conveyance of water-power, as well
as for floating those long shallow catamarans which bring
out all sorts of produce from the interior. There can be
little doubt that the Authorities would deal in a liberal
way with any such attempt to open up the country.

While crossing the high mountain ranges into Po-li-sia,
there was one more reminiscence that came into my
mind. It was that of an attempt made nearly thirty
years ago by myself and my only colleague at the time
to introduce the cinchona tree into Formosa. The
Franco-German war had then greatly raised the price of
quinine, and as this medicine was much in demand
throughout the southern part of the Island, we thought
it might be a feasible thing to have it introduced in this
way. Accordingly, seeds and instructions were forwarded
to us on request from the Government Gardens at Cal-
cutta, and experiments were entered upon forthwith.
These were successful to the extent of bringing up several
plants to about a foot in height, although very careful
work was needed in preparing the soil, and in regulating the
proper amount of moisture and sunshine. However,

312 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

missionary duties became more pressing about that time,
while an almost fatal necessity arose when the tender
little saplings were ready for transplanting to some
mountain region about three thousand feet above the
level of the sea ; but our efforts were not given up till we
became assured that the cinchona plant could be got to
flourish in many parts of the Island.

Now, as the highlands of Formosa are much more
accessible than formerly, what is there to hinder an
attempt being made by the Government or some private
company to the introduction of cinchona cultivation ?
After the coffee blight in Ceylon, the planters there
immediately turned their attention to tea, india-rubber,
cinchona, and other such products, with the result that
the Colony is now in a more prosperous condition than
ever it was. It would seem, however, that the Formosa
Government is fully alive to all such possibilities, for
Mr. Acting-Consul Wawn's last Report contains the
following significant statement : " The Government has
shown great energy in establishing [camphor] plantations,
the first being made in 1896. When the camphor
monopoly was established in 1899, fresh plantations were
made ; and, in addition to the main plantation, there are
now two plantations in Taihoku Prefecture, four in Taichu,
one in Tainan, and one in the district of Gilan. The
cultivation of camphor trees has lately been attended
to with very successful results, the number of young
trees suitable for transplantation reaching more than one
million."

One of the matters which called for my immediate
attention on arriving in Po-li-sia was to see what com-
pliance could be made with a recently issued Government
order that all Church property should be held under
officially stamped deeds, and that these should be regis-
tered in the District Office of that Magistracy where the

THE JAPANESE AS COLONIZERS 313

property was situated. Now, in this remote part of our
field there were four chapels and adjoining rooms, with
little courts, the whole of which had been in use for
Church purposes before even Chinese officials had taken
up their residence in Po-li-sia, and at a time when legal
transactions among the Sek-hwan were gone about in a
very informal way. During those early years, both the
village elders and people welcomed the missionary, and
took the initiative themselves in erecting places of worship
on ground which did not belong to any private individual,
but to the whole tribal community. I stated the case
to Prefect Kinoshita before coming in to Po-li-sia, telling
him we had no title-deed for the property there, but that
we had been in undisturbed possession for about thirty
years ; to which he replied by saying that he would send
instructions to the Local Offices to have our interests
placed upon a proper business footing.

As to the tenure of land in Formosa, it may be re-
marked that, excluding those regions still under control
of the savage tribes, foreigners are permitted to hold
leases up to one hundred years in any part of the Island.
I did not, however, take advantage of this concession in
the present case, but saw the Japanese officials about
having deeds made out in the names of several Sek-hwan
brethren acting on behalf of the native Church ; but our
carrying out of the subsequent details proved to be a very
tedious, irksome task. The ground and buildings on
each site had all to be carefully measured, and plans to
be made out for accompanying the deeds we afterwards
prepared ; which deeds, by the way, had to be written
out in duplicate more than once before every condition
was complied with. For example, one set was taken in
for registration having a number of finger-marks of persons
who could not write, but the papers were returned to us
with the remark that such signs had a very unsightly

314 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

appearance beside the beautiful seal-impressions of the
Prefect and his subordinates ; so there was nothing for
it but to order about sixteen little wooden seals, have
fresh documents drawn up, and to cover them with an
amount of red stamping that might have sufficed for
the purchase of Westminster Abbey ! I can truly say it
was a relief to me when I was able to forward sets of the
registered deeds of all our Po-li-sia property for preser-
vation in the Mission safe at headquarters in Tainan.
The same process had subsequently to be gone through
at ten other towns and villages on the Western side of the
Prefecture, but there also the officials acted in a very
courteous and helpful way. This was found to be
especially the case at Chiang-hoa and Tau-lak, where
trouble could easily have arisen over informalities we
found out in several of the deeds which were sent in.
At last, however, every difficulty was overcome at
the Registration Offices, and all the precious manuscripts
were duly sent for safe keeping beside the packet from
Po-li-sia.

During my stay at that last-named centre, another
subject on which I had many talks with our Church
people and Japanese friends, was that of Education.
And there was no way of evading this because (i) our
own little congregational school there had been closed
owing to children of Christian families having all been
compelled to become pupils in the free Government
Primary Schools ; (2) two young men who formerly were
students in our Theological College at Tainan were now
teachers in those Government Schools, while even Law-
tek, the daughter of our Aw-gu-lan preacher, was teaching
in a Government School which had been opened for the
education of girls — those three young persons receiving
very much higher salaries than our Mission had ever paid
to such workers ; (3) one day soon after my arrival in

THE JAPANESE AS COLONIZERS 315

Po-li-sia, a uniformed Japanese official called and re-
quested me to write to Tainan with the view of inducing
two Christian young women to come and carry on teaching
work in Government Schools of the Taichu Prefecture.
He was pleased to add that his observation of Church
people in this neighbourhood had led him to think very
favourably of their diligence and conscientiousness ; so
much so that, if two such capable girls of about twenty
years of age came here to teach, he could promise them
comfortable quarters and good monthly salaries, without
being asked to do anything inconsistent with the require-
ments of their religion.

At this point, one or two general remarks on' the subject
of Education in Formosa may make matters somewhat
more intelligible. Under Chinese rule, the schoolmaster
was very much abroad throughout the Island, but the
officials took no notice of him ; whilst his own cumbrous
methods, with his inability to teach such simple subjects
as arithmetic and geography, placed the boys under his
care at an enormous disadvantage. His pupils had also
occasionally to go through certain idolatrous observances
which professing Christian youths could never be brought
to countenance. Of course, too, the idea of schools for
girls never entered into the minds of people outside of
the Church at that time.

The two Missions in Formosa have always admitted
the advisability of giving much prominence to the edu-
cational part of their work. We do everything we can
to encourage the formation of little local schools and
reading-classes, at which the boys and girls connected
with our congregations may receive a fairly good
elementary training. Then, at headquarters in Tainan
and Tamsui, there are Boarding Schools for boys and girls,
where more advanced work is carried on, and where
:holars are initiated into the art of teaching, or prepared

scholars ai

3l6 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

for that still higher course which is meant to fit young
men for becoming the future evangelists and pastors of
the Church. It need hardly be added that the Bible is
constantly used in those elementary and advanced schools,
and that all parents and relatives know of the distinc-
tively Christian influence which pupils come under after
their enrolment.

When the Japanese took possession of the Island, after
its cession to them in 1895, they at once saw that measures
on a very liberal scale were needed for educating those
millions of people of strange speech who had thus been
brought within the limits of their Empire ; and,
accordingly, when several Departments were created for
Finance, Police, Public Works, Agriculture, and Com-
munications (the latter taking cognizance of roads and
railways with postal and telegraph work), an Educational
Bureau was also formed, and soon entered upon its
duties by opening Free Common Schools in every im-
portant township and district of the Island. At these,
a prominent place was given to instruction in the Japanese
language, as well as in arithmetic and geography ; but
qualified Chinese teachers were also engaged to carry on
the teaching work they had been accustomed to. A
thoroughly equipped Medical College was afterwards
established at Taihoku, and other Technical Schools at
the same centre for qualifying young natives to take up
appointments in the Postal, Customs, and other branches
of the public service. The great enthusiasm thrown
into all this work will be understood on remembering
that boys attending Common Schools who stand well in
their examinations are passed on to one or other of the
higher institutions at Taihoku, where they receive
slightly larger monthly allowances during their years of
probation than our Mission pays to unmarried young
men who have gone out as preachers at the close of their

THE JAPANESE AS COLONIZERS 317

Theological College course. Another thing which shows
the energy thrown into this work is seen in the immense
number of publications continually being issued by
the Education Bureau ; those publications including
thousands of volumes in every leading branch of know-
ledge, with dictionaries, maps, wall-sheets, and valuable
Reports from other departments of the Government
service.

I was, however, chiefly anxious to learn the influence
our Church children came under when going to the
Government Schools instead of to the Congregational
Schools we had hitherto been dependent upon ; and, so
far as this was concerned, there seemed to be a consensus
of opinion amongst the native brethren on several points.
For one thing, those brethren thought that the profession
which the Government made of granting entire religious
toleration to the people of Formosa was a bona fide one ;
because, while the Bible was not used in their schools, all
books which favoured Buddhism or any other form of
native religious belief were also rigidly excluded. More-
over, no objection had been taken to Law-tek and others
giving lessons from our Christian hymn-book to any
pupils who wished for assistance of this kind ; the only
condition being that such assistance must be given
privately out of school hours. Those brethren with
whom I conferred also admitted that their children
obtained many substantial advantages in going to the
Government Schools, such as free tuition of a very
effective kind, strict, but not severe, control of the pupils
in fine airy buildings, instruction on subjects which would
really fit them for future work, and opportunity for
acquiring a knowledge of the Japanese language they
could not get elsewhere. Much stress was laid upon this
last-named item ; for those converts were shrewd enough
to have noted that any well-behaved young man of

318 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

ordinary ability, who could speak Japanese with fluency,
might assure himself of well-paid interpreting or clerical
work in any of the numerous Government offices scattered
over the Island. On the other hand, my native friends
told me they were not less assured of one fact more,
namely, that it had a decidedly deteriorating effect for
their children to be thrown much into the companionship
of those who knew nothing of the precepts and the power
of Christianity in their daily lives ; and, in corroboration
of this, instance after instance was cited to me of boys,
whose former conduct was irreproachable, having acquired
the habit of gambling, and of using horribly obscene
language in their ordinary conversation ; all this »being
traceable to friendships they had formed with the children
of people who would not have anything to do with the
Church.

Indeed, continued inquiry only increased the com-
plexity of the problem thus placed before me ; at a
time too, when our Church people were waiting for some
word of guidance, and that courteous officer from the
Education Department had asked for a reply to his
request to be sent to him as soon as possible. I therefore
at once sent down to my colleagues in Tainan an account
of all the circumstances ; my letter also stating that the
proposal to bring qualified young Church members for
work in the Government Schools seemed to me a perfectly
feasible one, as it would furnish them with a rare oppor-
tunity for becoming lights in the world ; and that, while
such employment might carry some temptations with it,
this was only what could be said of every other position
in life. It was not so easy to advise our native Christians
as to their duty in this matter, because any statement
from me had to be made in view of the constant rumours
then prevalent that an Official Order was about to be
issued necessitating the attendance of all Formosan

THE JAPANESE AS COLONIZERS 319

children at the Government Schools. I commended
their own view of the position, their appreciation of the
substantial advantages provided for them in those
schools, and their fear lest too high a price were paid for
those advantages by moral injury being done to their
children in the way they had pointed out. I also re-
minded them that the teachers of those schools in Po-li-sia
— of whom three were members of our Church in full
communion — had confessedly no sympathy with the
evils complained of ; and that, if the Christians there
only did their duty with faithfulness, there was good
hope that a better state of things might soon prevail.
Thus, it was felt that no radical change could be entered
upon at once, although every one agreed with several
suggestions that were made. For instance, an Aw-gu-lan
Church elder was in favour of the Christian teachers in
Japanese employ meeting for an hour every Saturday
afternoon with as many senior Church pupils as possible
for prayer and the discussion of matters relating to their
work. Another brother said that while the Authorities
could not be asked to keep the Christian pupils in classes
by themselves, the parents themselves should try and
prevent evil companionship by having some guardian
to accompany their children to and from school, or by
making sure that the Christian children should keep as
much as they could by themselves out of school hours.
I dare say that some people may regard these details as
being of very local interest, if not even trivial, but they
show something at least of what goes on when colonizing
takes place, and when Christianity first begins to reveal
itself as " the expulsive power of a new affection."

After coming out from Po-li-sia, our visitation of the
churches led us in nearly every direction over the western
side of the Prefecture. It was while thus engaged that
my attention was repeatedly called to companies of

320 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

apparently far-travelled country folks marching along
with bottles, and those short lengths of bamboo which are
made use of in Formosa for holding liquids. On making
inquiry, I was told that the people were all going to the
village of Sa-te-chu in order to obtain a supply of " Genii-
water " as a protection against plague and for cure of
the opium habit ; an answer which, of course, only
excited my curiosity and made me resolve on proceeding
myself to Sa-te-chu, so as to find out what was really at
the bottom of this rapidly spreading movement. Nor
need I withhold another reason which influenced me at the
time ; for there could be no mistaking the rumours then
afloat, that those " Genii-water " gatherings might take
a serious an ti- Japanese form and result in injury to the
Church itself ; injury like that which took place several
years ago in a village further south, where no fewer than
nineteen Christians were cruelly murdered for their
alleged complicity in bringing the Japanese into Formosa.
A remark or two before stating what I saw at Sa-te-chu
may make matters a little more intelligible. For one
thing, let it be noted that the pilgrims I questioned all
seemed to agree as to the way in which this " Holy- water "
cure had come about. Two humble, earnest-looking
men had recently been seen worshipping in Koxinga's
Temple near Sa-te-chu and in the meritorious act of
sweeping it after finishing their devotions ; but this so
much impressed one of the villagers, who was passing at
the time, that on reporting the matter to his neighbours
they came out to find those two devotees in the art of
blessing the well behind the Temple, just before they
mysteriously vanished out of sight ! It will be well also
to remember that Koxinga was the great pirate-chief who
expelled the Dutch from Formosa in the seventeenth
century, and whose name again came prominently before
the people of the Island so late as 1874. During that

THE JAPANESE AS COLONIZERS 321

year, the Japanese had a large military force in Formosa
punishing the Baw-tan savages for having wantonly
murdered a boat-load of their countrymen ; but, after this
punishment was meted out, Japan declared that the
victorious troops would not evacuate the place till China
agreed to satisfactory terms regarding the payment of
military expenses, and keeping her savage subjects under
proper control ; whereupon some deep thinkers on the
China side suggested the erection of a Temple in honour
of Koxinga, their argument being that, if this pirate
had expelled the Hollanders in former days, his daring
spirit should be invoked against the present invaders of
Formosa. There was only one little difficulty in the way.
Imperial canonization is often a necessary condition of
admittance to the Chinese pantheon, whereas Koxinga
had been a notorious rebel at the beginning of the present
dynasty. In the face of all this, however, the humble
petition to the Throne on his behalf was graciously
received, the Advocatm Diaboli lost his case, an Imperial
Rescript was issued sanctioning the erection of Koxinga
Temples ; and soon after, Japan did really withdraw her
troops, scarcely any person in Formosa knowing at the
time that this was due to the friendly intervention of
Sir Thomas Wade, the British Minister at Peking, and not
to any help derived from the spirit of Koxinga. The last
thing to note in this somewhat long digression is that,
before starting for the village of Sa-te-chu, I had met with
many quiet indications of the rather widespread and
deep-seated an ti- Japanese feeling which exists amongst the
people of Formosa at present. I do not say anything
now as to the reasonableness or the unreasonableness of
this feeling of discontent, but only remark that it does

tst, and does manifest itself in very unmistakable forms
m time to time.
The conditions under which my visit to Sa-te-chu was

322 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

being paid will thus be apparent. I was going to a
Temple of Koxinga, and the crowds now making their
pilgrimage to it were being comforted here and there with
veiled remarks about Koxinga having served them well
on a former occasion, and that it was hard to say what
he might be willing to do for them again. I thought
it as well that Mrs. Campbell should not accompany
me to Sa-te-chu, so left her to await my return in a little
market-town some five miles to the south of it, only a
young native coming with me as travelling companion,
and to assist in making observations. The village lies
on the south bank of the Tai-kah river and is about
three miles inland from the coast-line. It presented a
busy scene on the day of my visit, for the usual daily
four to five thousands of pilgrims were pressing in, all of
them eager to engage in the various observances which
others had gone through. These observances included
the burning of incense-sticks and gilt paper inside
the shrine, obtaining protection against the prevalent
epidemic by suspending little packets of incense-ashes
from their necks, and filling their bottles from the well
behind the Temple. For several reasons, I did not
consider the occasion a suitable one for open-air preaching,
but I mingled freely amongst the people, who were quite
communicative, telling me where they lived, what led
some of them to come very long distances, and the benefits
they hoped to derive from dosing themselves with the
" Holy- water." The mass of them impressed me as
being wholly innocent of uniting in any rising against the
Japanese, although I believe that observant mischief-
makers were not far off, and were prepared to turn things
to their own advantage ; a view of the position which
seemed to be correct from the fact that, on several rival
shrines having been set up in other places, the movement

THE JAPANESE AS COLONIZERS 323

spread to such an extent, and became so disturbing, that
the Authorities put a peremptory stop to it.

My visit, however, was not fruitless in another direc-
tion, for the enquiries I then made threw some light on
a subject which has been much canvassed of late — I refer
to Japan's present policy with regard to the consumption
of opium in Formosa. It was the frequency with which
the Sa-te-chu pilgrims told me that their object in going
there was to obtain deliverance from the opium habit
which first attracted my attention, and led me to ask
similar questions in other parts of the Prefecture ; with
this result, that about eight out of every ten of the
devotees I spoke to confessed they were suffering from
the use of opium, and would give almost anything to be
freed from the bondage into which it had brought them.
Before the arrival of the Japanese at the close of the war
with China, it is well known that opium-smoking was
very prevalent amongst the people of Formosa ; the
drug in its crude state being imported by foreign mer-
cantile houses and then passed on to native dealers
throughout the Island, after the heavy Customs' duty
had been paid upon it. With regard to the quantity of
opium then brought into Formosa, our British Consular
Reports give the following figures : — In 1891 the opium
imported was valued at £463,860 ; in 1892, £378,450 ;
in 1893, £419,839 ; and in 1894, £365,813. These were
the four last complete years during which this trade was
carried on under surveillance of the Chinese Customs.

And here, it will be understood that there is no oppor-
tunity for entering into a calculation as to the exact
amount of harm the trade in opium produces on those
who engage in it, whether as sellers or as buyers. The
subject is dealt with pretty fully in the Report of that
^oyal Commission which was presented to the British

324 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

Parliament a few years ago, but it came again to the
front so late as last January, when the following very
influentially signed memorial was forwarded to Lord
Salisbury by the Archbishop of Canterbury : " With
great respect, we invite your attention to an appeal for
decisive action by Imperial authority with regard to
the Indian opium traffic with China. We are convinced
by manifold and weighty evidence, of the correctness of
the following positions : (i) That British action with
respect to the importation of opium into China has had
disastrous results — (a) in injury to other branches of
British commerce in China ; (b) in generating profound
feelings of hostility to British subjects and interests in the
mind of the Chinese people. (2) That the use of opium
in China (to speak of China only) is a vast national curse,
and that assertions to the contrary can be met decisively
by the public testimony of disinterested Chinese states-
men of to-day. (3) That, accordingly, it is unworthy of
a great Christian Power to be commercially interested,
in any degree, in the supply of opium to China. As a
fact, while the cultivation of opium in India is on a
larger scale than ever, with the exception of two years
in the past, the revenue accruing from its import has sunk
to two and a half quarter millions. This, however, is,
in our opinion, only an incident of the position. Our
affirmation is that it is the grave duty of the nation, as
before the Supreme King and Governor, to purge itself
anywise of connection with a great and public wrong."
This appeal was signed by the Archbishop of Canterbury,
the Archbishop of Dublin, fourteen home and colonial
Bishops, Lord Kinnaird, the Marquis of Northampton,
Lord Overtoun, Lord Polwarth, the Vice-chancellor and
Principal of Aberdeen University, the Lord Provost of
Glasgow, and by many other well-known public men who
have access to the sources of information.

THE JAPANESE AS COLONIZERS 325

At present, however, we are more concerned with
Japan's attitude towards the opium trade, the action
which she took with regard to it after the cession of
Formosa, and the way in which her policy there has been
carried out during the past six years.

Little need be said about the use of opium in Japan
proper, for the Government at Tokyo has never wavered
in its opposition to the use of the drug as an article of
commerce except for medicinal purposes ; and this stern
opposition, coupled with a general knowledge amongst
the people of the origin and consequences of the trade in
it elsewhere, have led to the Japanese having kept them-
selves wholly clean from the enervating effects of the
opium curse.

As to the action of Japan in this matter when Formosa
was taken over, it should not be forgotten that before
any decision was come to, the question was thoroughly
discussed in the Japanese Press and Parliament, with
the result that two main proposals were placed before
the country ; one, that the use of opium in Formosa for
other than medicinal purposes should forthwith be put
a stop to ; and the other, that Government should
gradually eliminate this gigantic evil, for which the
Japanese were not responsible, by appointing officers
to take the importation and sale of opium into their
own hands, and so lessening the amount brought in every
year that the traffic would cease at as early a date as
possible.

Those who favoured the gradual method of extinction
felt that there were serious objections to an immediate
adoption of the root-and-branch way of going to work.
For example, they said — as many Medical Missionaries
have also affirmed — that the latter course would entail
unspeakable misery on the opium-smokers themselves,
and that the enactment of stringent laws in such circum-

326 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

stances would necessitate a fleet of armed cruisers round
the Island to prevent smuggling, with Police establish-
ments and Prison accommodation on a scale which
simply could not be hoped for.

On this view of the position, the plan of gradually
working up to entire cessation of the trade was commenced
on 23rd February, 1896, when opium became an article
of strict Government monopoly in Formosa ; this decision
being followed soon after by the purchase with State
funds of large quantities which foreign merchants had
stored up at the time, the importation of crude opium
by the Government on its own account, the erection of
refineries at Taihoku to make it ready for use, the sale
of licenses to a vast number of retailers and consumers,
and the employment of many throughout the Island to
deal with the evasions and infringements of the Regu-
lations which had been published.

Turning now to the carrying out of this system, we
find from Consular Reports that the Government im-
portation of opium to Formosa in each of those complete
years for which figures are available stands as follows :—
During 1897, the amount thus imported was valued at
£145,668 ; in 1898, at £204,439 ; in 1899, at £294,930 ;
and in 1900 at £360,464. In addition, however, and
remembering those large purchases which were made
from foreign merchants in 1896, it should be noted that
this rapidly increasing rate of importation does not show
the recent actual dimensions of the opium trade in
Formosa ; for, during 1899, the value of prepared opium
supplied to licensed dealers by Government agents
reached £447,524 ; and in 1900 to the enormous sum of
nearly Four Hundred and Fifty Thousand Pounds
sterling !

Nor is it easy here to forget three more facts : First,
the Government's increasing financial embarrassment in

THE JAPANESE AS COLONIZERS 327

attempting to carry out an almost too generous policy
of public improvements in Formosa ; Second, the sub-
stantial profit which the Government derives from its
opium monopoly ; this profit amounting last year to
more than One Hundred Thousand Pounds sterling,
even after paying for the yearly surplus of crude opium,
with all the expenses of refining and distribution ; and,
Third, that, while 165,752 male and female natives of
Formosa — or 6* 18 per cent of the whole population — are
now paying for licenses to gratify their pernicious craving,
any Japanese subject who takes to opium-smoking
thereby commits a crime, and renders himself or herself
liable to penal servitude.

But it is time that these Notes were brought more into
line with the title under which they have been placed.
Not that I am conscious of having wandered very much,
because the remarks already made proceeded on the
assumption that it would be well to give, from personal
observation, a preliminary glimpse of the Japanese
actually at work in several of their colonizing undertakings
in Formosa. Still, the subject is capable of more general
treatment, and it is to this aspect of it I should like now
to crave a little more of the reader's indulgence.

Let me begin by saying that Formosa is not the only
field in which the Japanese have appeared as colonizers ;
for while the Luchu Islands were till lately governed
under a monarchy of their own, they now form the
important Okinawa Prefecture of Japan ; and, despite
the peculiar language and customs which were prevalent
there, the process of absorption was accomplished both
with quietness and to the great advantage of those
islanders. Several years ago, Luchuans were scarcely
ever seen in Formosa, but now they are frequently to be
met with, and their well-stocked shops are to be found in
all the more important centres of population.

328 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

Then, although the Sandwich Islands cannot be called a
possession of Japan, the business-like way in which sub-
jects of the Mikado's Empire are settling down there in
ever-increasing numbers is certainly very significant.
Sugar-growing is the great attraction, and 30,000
Japanese are engaged in this industry alone, as against
6,000 emigrants from China.

But it is especially in Korea we see the capabilities of
the Japanese in their quest for adventure and wealth
across the sea. In that little country of ten and a half
millions of people, the Japanese have a Legation, a Consul-
general, seven Consulates, and about eighty mercantile
houses and trading stores. At most of the open Ports,
they have also Municipal Councils of their own, Chambers
of Commerce, Clubs, and Public Hospitals ; besides a
number of Chief and Local Bank Offices, as the currency
is for the most part in Japanese notes and silver yen. The
carrying trade also shows the extent to which the Japanese
have established themselves in Korea. During 1899, the
steamers which entered all Korean Ports belonged to four
nationalities, their total numbering 1,666, with an
aggregate of 746,020 tons gross. The distribution under
each flag was as follows : Japanese, 1,159 steamers,
having a total capacity of 602,227 tons ; Korean, 442 of
88,589 tons ; Russian, 61 of 51,863 tons ; German, 4 of
3,341 tons ; but which four German steamers were run
under charter from the Japanese. It will thus be seen
that considerably over two-thirds of the entire shipping
trade of Korea is in the firm grip of our friendly, but
very wide-awake Allies in the Far East.

We return now to their own important first Crown
Colony of Formosa to see what further changes the
Japanese have made for the comfort and good conduct of
its inhabitants ; and, at the outset, it should be remem-
bered that, when they arrived in 1895, instead of being

THE JAPANESE AS COLONIZERS 329

allowed to take quiet possession, they found the people
everywhere up in arms against them, and had literally
to fight their way from North to South before anything
like settled government could be established. Moreover,
as the mountainous eastern half of the Island affords a
ready asylum to fugitives from justice, it has always
been very difficult to deal with insurrectionary movements
there, this accounting for the firm measures which had
to be employed at the beginning of the Japanese occupa-
tion.

Immediately after some measure of peace had been
brought about, the Executive sent out qualified experts
to engage in survey work and to report on the resources
of their newly-ceded territory. At an early stage,
periodicals were also started for receiving contributions
from non-official scholars and explorers, on the natural
features, topography, products, and ethnology of the
Island. The materials thus brought in and now stored
up in Government Reports, monthly and fortnightly
journals, and the daily newspapers published at
Taihoku, Taichu, and Tainan, make up a far more
valuable bibliography than anything which has been
produced by Chinese and European writers on Formosa.
Thus, the Handbook of the Tokyo Geographical Society
is full of information, while the Journal of the Formosan
Association maintains its high character in being a
perfect storehouse of facts on everything relating to the
Island. There are also Philological, Folklore, Law, and
Trade journals issued at Taihoku.

Running contemporaneously with it, and as an out-
come from all this work, a complete census of the popu-
lation was taken in 1897, 800 miles of roads were made,
and a tramway line down from Takow to Sin-tek. This
was followed by construction of the main line of railway
from Keelung to Takow, about one-half of which has

33° SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

already been opened for goods and passenger traffic.
Three cables were also laid down, connecting Formosa
with Japan, Fuh-chau and the Pescadores ; and, over
the existing 1,500 miles of telegraph and telephone wires,
immediate communication has been made possible with
every important inland centre. The Post Offices recently
opened in Formosa number over a hundred, and letters
can now be sent to any part of the Empire for three cents
each. Up till the close of 1899, one hundred and twenty-
two Government Educational Institutions had been
established, only nine of those being for Japanese, and
one hundred and thirteen for natives. There are at
present ten principal Government Hospitals in the Island,
at which about 60,000 patients are treated gratuitously
every year, while sanitary precautions and free vaccination
have become so general that the danger from visitations
like small-pox and plague has been very much reduced.

Furthermore, the Japanese are maintaining eleven
light-houses round Formosa and on the Pescadores ; that
one of the first order on North Island being the most
important, and occupying a lonely spot in the neighbour-
hood of which between twenty and thirty wrecks have
taken place within the period of my own residence in
Formosa. It should also be noted here that Government
is at present providing for the up-keep of four Meteoro-
logical stations in Formosa and one on the Pescadores.
Those circular buildings were specially constructed for
this purpose, and the skilled officials in charge have
complete sets of instruments for enabling them to make
hourly reports as to direction and velocity of the wind,
rain, sunshine, earth-tremors, and all such phenomena.

In short, Japan has already spent about one hundred
and fifty millions of yen in efforts to develop the resources
of Formosa and add to the comfort of its inhabitants ;
and of this amount, only some fifty millions have been

THE JAPANESE AS COLONIZERS 331

raised in the Island itself from taxation and every other
such source of income ; although there is good reason to
hope that dependence on the Mother Country will not
last very long, and that the Revenue of Formosa will
soon begin to exceed its Expenditure.

I may add that, excluding the Military, Police, and
official classes, the Japanese population of Formosa for
three years stood as follows : In 1897 there were 16,321
males and females in the Island ; in 1898 the number
rose to 25,585 ; and in 1899 to 33,120 ; 22,392 of these
being males, and 10,728 females. Of course, that region
which includes the capital city of Taihoku has the
largest number of Japanese residents, but the following
analysis of those in the Tainan Prefecture alone may
be interesting : —

OCCUPATIONS. MALES. FEMALES. TOTAL.

Officials . . . . . . 2,462 591 3»O53

Church teachers and schoolmasters 52 25 77

Farmers ...... 7 i 8

Merchants .. .. .. 1,039 i»O75 2,114

Mechanics . . . . . . 319 102 421

Labourers . . . . . . 305 29 334

Miscellaneous .. .. .. 702 497 i»i99

No occupation . . . . . . 3 97 100

Total 4,889 2,417 7,306

Before concluding my remarks, it will not be considered
out of place to refer to another matter, because I think
every one will admit that successful colonizing is seen
at most advantage when the people themselves willingly
submit to the new authority, and when the change of
circumstances has brought about a distinct improvement
of the public morals. I quite admit that considerate
care is needed in the application of our tests here ; for
Japan faced a big complex question on coming to Formosa,
and things among the large Chinese and aboriginal

332 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

population there are still, of necessity, in a very transitory
state since affairs were taken in hand only six years ago.
Besides, the testimony of any outside Britisher under
this head should not be given in forgetfulness of the evils
which continue to flourish in his own highly favoured
Empire.

As regards, then, the attitude of the Formosans towards
their present rulers, rather than bring forward any
fragmentary evidence of my own, it may better serve the
purpose for me to quote some sentences from the North
China Herald, because that influential journal is one of
the best-informed and most impartial in the Far East.
About three months ago, its Tokyo correspondent wrote
as follows : " The Japanese have a little South Africa
of their own at the present moment in Southern Formosa.
The number of bandits in the field is not large, but as
the small army of occupation has to keep intact its lines
of communication throughout a large tract of difficult
and almost unknown country, some reverses are sus-
tained by the troops of the Mikado. The Tainan
garrison undertook an important sweeping movement
which concluded on the I7th of December. The party
sustained a loss of one officer and seventeen men wounded
among the armed police who supported the column.
The loss of the bandits is said to have been about 230.
But, if the Japanese are evidently in grim earnest, it
cannot be denied that their antagonists do not exactly
deserve to be tenderly dealt with. About thirty of the
latter attacked a public school at Mantan last month
and murdered the Japanese teacher as well as his wife
and child. On the other hand, a Japanese expeditionary
corps made a sudden attack at Wanbansho some time
ago on a gang of bandits, about 70 in number, who were
under the leadership of Shiu-iku, who might be described
as a Formosan De Wet. More than half the rebels were

THE JAPANESE AS COLONIZERS 333

killed, while the casualties on the Japanese side were
three killed and eleven wounded, three of the wounded
being officers. It seems that the Japanese did their
level best to prevent this outbreak by concessions, but
this policy is a mistaken one where semi-barbarous people
are concerned, and when the mal-contents proceeded by
way of a joke to murder Mr. Ichikawa, a Japanese Chris-
tian who acted as a medium between them and the
Japanese Authorities, the latter thought it was high
time to change their methods. Up to the present they
have been too mild. Last year, there occurred 469
outbreaks among the discontented natives in Formosa.
The district which suffered most in this connection was
the Tainan Prefecture with 243 uprisings, and it is fol-
lowed by the Taichu and Taihoku Prefectures with 142
and 48 respectively, while the Sub-prefecture of Giran,
representing 36, brings up the rear. Considering the
condition of affairs which these figures reveal, it is not
surprising that the Japanese Government is reluctant
to extend to Formosa all the constitutional privileges
enjoyed by Japanese in Japan proper. In fact, it has
just introduced to the Diet a Bill for investing in the
Governor-general of Formosa, for three years further,
the privilege of issuing and enforcing Orders in Council
that take the place of laws and regulations enacted in
the regular manner. It may be remembered that this
special delegation dates back six years, and that the
prescribed term, already renewed once, is to expire at
the end of next month."

Now, it appears to me that any word of criticism that
might be offered on this statement of the Correspondent
from Tokyo should be in the line of showing that, while
disorder in Formosa unquestionably exists, there is also
a great amount of quietness, and even of willing subjection
to the Powers that be. The condition of things is not

334 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

unlike that which was seen in 1888, when the Chinese
Governor, Liu Ming-chuan, tried to obtain funds for his
reforming schemes by the imposition of a Land-tax, but
whose well-meant attempt so roused the people that a
large military force and two gun-boats had to be called
into action. I have myself no hesitation in giving it as
my opinion that the industrious, the intelligent, and the
more influential of the natives of Formosa are beginning
to see that their bread is buttered on the Japanese side,
so to speak. Some of the mal-contents I have spoken to
are rebels through sheer ignorance, while others are " agin
the Government " because they dearly love adventure
which keeps the pot boiling, and does not bind them
down to any kind of daily honest occupation. I think
the Japanese Authorities have no desire to use harsh,
cruel measures with their Formosan fellow-subjects, and
that the present opposition — being without any real
justifying cause — will soon give place to quiet, if not even
grateful, citizenship.

The other point on which I wished to make a remark
or two refers to that influence which the arrival of the
Japanese is having on public morals amongst the people
of Formosa. No doubt, some readers may think that
this is going a little further than I have any right to, but
I have really no desire to show how " Babylon the great
is fallen, is fallen," or to express myself in any Pharisaic
sort of way. I simply meant to enter a slight caveat
against that style of representation which assumes
material prosperity to be the summum bonum in all at-
tempts at colonizing, and looks on everything as going
on famously so long as Imports, Exports, and Income-tax
returns keep steadily on the increase. But, if the Tariff
claims its percentage on such Imports as opium, sake,
courtesans, dancing-girls, singing-girls, and waitresses in
houses of entertainment, it surely becomes more than

THE JAPANESE AS COLONIZERS 335

interesting to enquire into the amount and real value
of the income derived from such sources. And the
reasonableness of this enquiry is seen in my foregoing
statements about opium-smoking, as well as in the
friendly criticism sometimes made that a visibility, if not
even attractiveness, is now being given to loose living in
the Island, which cannot but lead to very evil results.

I should, however, be sorry to conclude these Notes in
any other than a hopeful spirit about the future of For-
mosa. Its resources are very abundant, and its affairs
are now under the control of a most vigorous, intelli-
gent race. I am glad also to remember that there are
Japanese Christian Churches at Taihoku and Tainan, while
in remote country districts we sometimes meet with
Japanese brethren who are not only rendering efficient
service to the State, but are bravely trying to lead useful
Christian lives. May God greatly bless those dear fellows,
and hasten that time when " the little one shall become
a thousand, and the small one a strong nation."

XLVIII
WORK OF THE EARLY DUTCH MISSION

ACCORDING to the narrative of the historian Valentyn,
it was in 1624 — when the Dutch East India Company
had secured its position on Formosa, and had commenced
to trade with the natives and to colonize the country —
that the Authorities in Holland began to be solicitous
about sending forth ministers of the Gospel to benefit
their fellow-countrymen, 'and to seek the extension of
God's Kingdom among the rude heathen inhabitants of
the Island.

To begin with, only two Scripture readers were sent
out ; but as one of them, Michiel Theodori, was recalled
to Batavia soon after his arrival, the carrying on of the
work devolved upon Dirk Laurenzoon, who continued
till May, 1627.

The first Christian minister designated to Formosa
was the pious George Candidius. He arrived on the
4th of May, 1627, an(^ entered immediately upon those
labours which proved so helpful to the furtherance of
a most gracious and widespread movement. Like a true
zealot, he began by making himself familiar with the
language and religion of the natives, and then led them
into the right way of salvation, having much fruit amongst
this poor people, and being the means, not without great
toil, of bringing many of them from the power of sin and
superstition into the glorious liberty of the sons of God.

After labouring thus for about two years, the Rev.

336

WORK OF THE EARLY DUTCH MISSION 337

Robert Junius was appointed to assist him, and he also
began by working hard at the study of the native col-
loquial and in the preparation of catechisms for religious
instruction ; some affirming that he even succeeded in
translating several portions of God's Word into the
language of the aboriginal tribes.

In 1631, Mr. Candidius was called to Batavia, where he
remained for some time ; but, still remembering the
needy Church of Formosa, he returned to the scene of
his former labours about the middle of 1633, and took
up his abode with Mr. Junius in the village of Sakam,
which afterwards developed into the large Chinese city
of Taiwan-fu.

Two years later, those earnest, like-minded fellow-
labourers were privileged to receive by baptism into the
Church of Christ no fewer than seven hundred adults ;
and on March nth, 1636, they were able to report to
Colonial headquarters at Batavia that, from observation
made on a journey through the Island with Governor
Putmans, at least fifteen additional ministers would be
required to take advantage of the opening which then
existed for the spread of the Gospel. Accordingly, on
April 23rd, the Rev. Ahasuerus Hoogestein received
appointment, and on July 26th the Kirk-session at
Batavia decided to reinstate in office the Rev. Joannes
Lindeborn and send him to this very inviting field of labour.

During 1637, Mr. Candidius returned to the Fatherland,
the Rev. Gerardus Leeuwius went out to act as chaplain
to the Dutch residents near Fort Zeelandia, and Mr. Junius
was once more left alone at Sakam ; Mr. Lindeborn
having been deposed from office on account of improper
conduct, and Mr. Hoogestein having died when about to
enter upon active service.

On July nth, 1638, the Rev. Joannes Schotanus was

rto share the work with Mr. Junius, and reached his
32

338 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

destination in due course, but remained only a short
time ; for, on December nth of the following year, he
appeared in Batavia without proper credentials, having
been suspended from office in presence of his ministerial
colleagues by Governor van der Burg.

In January 1640, a letter was received at Batavia
containing the sad news that Mr. Leeuwius had recently
died, and that Mr. Schotanus still required to be kept
under Church censure ; while on July I2th, the Rev.
Joannes Bavius was called to Formosa, Mr. Junius
having been granted leave of absence after ten years of
faithful service.

On May Qth, 1641, the energetic Mr. Junius reached
Batavia, and was asked if he were willing to return to
Formosa at the close of a brief stay, or inclined rather to
continue his journey to the Fatherland. He replied
that, if considered necessary, he was willing to go back
and resume his missionary work, on condition that he
received an increase of salary, and that Governor
Traudenius was instructed to cease from molesting him
in the discharge of his official duties. Assurance having
been given that orders would be sent to have everything
conducted as under the former Governor, he further
petitioned that the Rev. C. Agricola be made a Licentiate,
and the Rev. N. Mirkinius be permitted to draw full
stipend on his attaining a preaching knowledge of the
language. As no Kirk-session had yet been established
in Formosa, the opportunity was taken to ask Mr. Junius
if he thought it desirable to form one ; his reply being in
the affirmative, and conveying a request that this point
also should be brought under the notice of the Governor.
Thus, on May I3th, Mr. Junius engaged to return for
three years to Formosa, receiving as salary one hundred
and forty guilders a month, in addition to an allowance
of ten ryxdaalders for house expenses ; His Excellency

WORK OF THE EARLY DUTCH MISSION 339

further assuring him that he would write to Governor
Traudenius on the various matters alluded to, and pro-
mising that the names of the two brethren which had
been mentioned to him would be put forward for pro-
motion. And here it may be added that, although there
was little delay in carrying out this latter item of the
agreement, the Archives contain no further references
to either of these brethren, except a brief notice to the
effect that Mr. Agricola returned to Batavia on August ist,
1644. They were both successful in gaining an intimate
knowledge of the native language, arid this was the
reason which chiefly influenced the Council in consenting
to their promotion.

In 1643, the Rev. Simon van Breen was called to
Formosa, and on December I4th of the same year
Mr. Junius again arrived in Batavia, leaving Mr. Bavius
and Mr. van Breen, with the Licentiate, Rev. Hans Olef,
in charge. He was earnestly requested to continue his
services ; but, although Mr. Bavius and the inhabitants
of Soulang had also urged him to stay, he believed it to
be his duty now to return home, and therefore modestly
put aside this request of the Session ; being careful,
however, to make a number of valuable suggestions for
the benefit of the now flourishing Church in Formosa,
which were afterwards attended to by Governor Caron.
He seems to have departed soon after for the Fatherland,
where he died in 1656.

In 1644, the Rev. Joannes Happartius went out to
Formosa, and on November I7th of the same year,
directions were issued to draw up such rules as would
be most suitable for the organization of the native Church,
a further order of the Council being for the compilation
of a " Sakams Dictionarium " which afterwards could
be enlarged into a general Malay, Portuguese, German,
and Sakams Dictionary.

340 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

In 1646, Mr. Bavius still abode in the village of Soulang,
having also under his direction the work in the villages
of Mattau, Dorco, Tilosen, and Tevorang ; Mr. van Breen
was labouring in Favorlang and the neighbouring villages ;
Mr. Happartius (of whom no further mention is made)
being stationed at Castle Zeelandia, where he conducted
the Dutch services, and attended to the interests of the
congregations at Sakam, Tavocan, and Bakloan. Mean-
while, Mr. Olef remained among the Southern villages ;
but, as this large parish extended from Favorlang to
Pangsoia, the assistance of a colleague was earnestly
petitioned for, and bitter complaints were made con-
cerning the laziness of the teachers there.

During 1647, Mr. Bavius succumbed to serious illness,
and Mr. van Breen received permission to return to the
Fatherland. It was also about this time that the
Rev. Daniel Gravius expressed his desire to serve the
Church of Christ among the newly-converted heathen
of Formosa. He was established as a minister at Batavia,
a man of great talents, and much beloved both by the
Government officials and his congregation. With many
arguments and inducements, they tried hard in name of
the Council and Kirk-session to dissuade him from his
purpose ; but he remained steadfast in this — that, if
they would release him from his official work in Batavia,
he would at once proceed to Formosa. After many
more fruitless attempts to alter his intention, he was at
last set free, His Excellency the Governor-general com-
manding (however much he desired to keep him) that
his praiseworthy and pious determination should no
longer be hindered, but rather assisted in every way
possible ; so that, having made a few needful preparations,
Mr. Gravius said farewell to the Kirk-session of Batavia,
leaving for Formosa on May 6th, amid the tears of his
very sorrowing and attached congregation. He remained

To face page 340.

REV. D. GRAVIUS.

WORK OF THE EARLY DUTCH MISSION 34!

in the Island of his adoption for four years, being of
great service to the congregations there, because of his
exceptional skill in the language of the native tribes.
When this service had been rendered, he again filled the
ministerial office at Batavia, and on February 5th finally
returned to the Fatherland. Even so late as January 2nd,
1662, he gave proof of his linguistic skill and deep interest
in the Mission cause, by issuing at Camp Vere his
Formulary of Christianity, a laborious and careful work
of about three hundred pages with the Dutch and For-
mosan printed in parallel columns.

On April I5th, 1652, the Rev. Gulielmus Brakel received
appointment, and on July 3rd it was intended further to
strengthen the Church in Formosa by calling the
Rev. Gulielmus Pantherus, who, however, refused to go.

On March yth, 1653, the affairs of this still prosperous
Church were fully discussed in Batavia, and upon the
Kirk-session urging the members of Council to send many
more labourers into the quickly ripening harvest,
instructions were issued that the newly-appointed
Governor, Mr. Caesar, should at once proceed to make
investigation and report.

On 26th July, 1651, the Rev. Joannes Lutgens was
appointed, and afterwards laboured on the Pescadores,
where he died and was buried ; leaving four helpless
children and his wife, who became Matron of the Christian
Orphanage in Formosa. Valentyn gives few particulars
regarding the nine ministers appointed to Formosa
during the four following years, the last named on his
list being the Rev. Gulielmus Vinderus, who was called
to labour there on May 2ist, 1657.

Indeed, for a considerable time previous to this, events
had been taking place in China which were destined now
to bring rapidly about not only the cessation of all
missionary work on the Island, but the overthrow of the

342 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

Dutch authority, and the lapsing of the people back again
into their former condition of heathenish ignorance and
superstition.

The Ming dynasty was supplanted by the present
Manchu-Tartar dynasty in 1644, and of all the daring
spirits which those stirring times produced, none of them
equalled in force of character the somewhat patriotic
pirate Koxinga. He refused allegiance to the Manchu
usurpers, collected a large fleet which swept the seas, and
could number his adherents on land by tens of thousands.
It was all in vain, however, for the stubborn fierceness of
those Tartar hordes proved more than a match for him ;
and so, after several years of open hostility, he was com-
pelled to retreat from the mainland, and to turn his
attention towards the large fertile Island of Formosa.

Operations were directed against it in 1661, Koxinga
experiencing no real difficulty in landing his forces, and
summoning the Dutch to an immediate surrender on
pain of death by fire and sword. The Deputies who
were appointed to meet him offered to evacuate the
stronghold at Sakam, but Koxinga replied that, as
Formosa had always belonged to the Chinese, foreigners
must now agree to quit it, or to hoist the red flag. The
war signal soon appeared flying over Fort Zeelandia, and
the siege began. It lasted nine months, every attempt
by the Dutch to strengthen their position being met with
a more vigorous blockade, and the infliction of more
terrible suffering upon all defenceless Hollanders who
were scattered throughout the country.

Especially were the ministers and schoolmasters
singled out for every form of cruel indignity and even
death itself. Koxinga issuing orders for their arrest,
and causing some of them to be crucified in those very
villages where they had been prosecuting their gracious
and self-denying work. One such incident is thus

WORK OF THE EARLY DUTCH MISSION 343

described by Nieuhoff : " Among the Dutch prisoners
taken in the country was Mr. Hambroek, a minister.
This man was sent by Koxinga to Governor Coyett with
terms for surrendering the Fort ; but, in case of refusal,
vengeance would be taken on the Dutch prisoners.
Mr. Hambroek came into the Castle, being forced to
leave his wife and children behind him as hostages, which
sufficiently proved that if he failed in his negotiations,
he had nothing but death to expect from the Chieftain.
Yet he was so far from persuading the garrison to sur-
render, that he encouraged them to a brave defence by
hopes of relief, assuring them that Koxinga had lost
many of his best ships and soldiers, and began to be
weary of the siege. When he had ended, the Council of
War left it to his choice to stay with them or return to the
camp, where he could expect nothing but instant death.
Every one entreated him to stay. He had two daughters
within the Castle, who hung upon his neck, overwhelmed
with grief and tears to see their father ready to go where
he knew he must be sacrificed by the merciless enemy.
But he represented to them that, having left his wife and
two other children in the camp as hostages, nothing but
death would attend them if he returned not ; and so, un-
locking himself from his daughters' arms, and exhorting
every one to a resolute defence, he returned to the camp,
telling them on parting that he hoped he might prove
serviceable to his poor fellow-prisoners. Koxinga
received his answer sternly ; then, causing it to be
rumoured that the prisoners incited the Formosans to
rebel against him, ordered all the Dutch male prisoners
to be slain. This was accordingly done ; some being
beheaded, others killed in a most barbarous manner, to
the number of five hundred ; their bodies stripped quite
naked, and buried fifty and sixty in a hole. Nor were
the women and children spared, many of them likewise

344 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

being slain, though some of the best were preserved for
the use of the commanders, and the rest sold to the
common soldiers. Happy was she who fell to the lot
of an unmarried man, being thereby freed from vexations
by the Chinese women, who are very jealous of their
husbands. Among the slain were Messrs. Hambroek,
Mus, Winsen, and Ampzingius, clergymen, and many
schoolmasters, who were all beheaded. It must have
been about this time that the Rev. Marcus Masius, who
had been labouring on Kelang Island, near Tamsuy,
made his escape to Batavia, after touching at Japan.

" At length, worn out with disappointment and fatigue,
the little garrison was compelled to surrender at the
beginning of 1662, all the public property falling into
the hands of the enemy, and the brave but heavy-
hearted defenders being allowed to embark in their only
remaining ship."

The following year, when the Dutch official, Mr. Bort,
arrived with a fleet, it was found that Koxinga's son was
already in power, who conveyed a message stating that
the widow of Jacobus Valentyn, the Rev. J. de Leonardis
with others, were still at Sakam, and that he was willing
to restore them all, to throw open the trade at Formosa,
and provide a settlement for the Hollanders at Tamsui,
if only they would join him in a defensive alliance against
the Tartars. Nothing, however, seems to have resulted
from these negotiations, as the poor prisoners were
allowed to continue their dreary comfortless days in
exile.

It was not till September 2nd, 1684, that the Lord
mercifully delivered some of those unfortunate captives,
Alexander Schravenbroek, with his wife and two children ;
the widow of Hendrik Verbiest, with two children ;
Salamo Valentyn, with his wife and three children;
Mrs. Susanna van Berehem, with her daughter ; and

WORK OF THE EARLY DUTCH MISSION

345

Mrs. Geertruy Focanus, with her two sons (which two
widows with their children, being natives of Sakam,
remained in China). Of these, Alexander van Schraven-
broek, after twenty-two years' imprisonment, had so
fully mastered the language that the Ambassadors Paats
and Keyser engaged him as an interpreter.

Such are Valentyn's final notices of the Dutch Mission
in Formosa, his paper concluding with the following
list of ordained ministers who laboured there : capital
letters indicating those who suffered martyrdom, and
italics signifying a second term of service : —

Georgius Candidius
Robertus Junius .
Georgius Candidius

Assuerus Hoogesteyn
Joannes Lindeborn
Gerardus Leesuvius
Joannes Schotanus
Joannes Bavius
Robertus Junius
N. Mirkinius
Simon van Breen
Joannes Happartius
Daniel Gravius
Jacobus Vertrecht
ANTONIUS HAMBROEK
Gilbertus Happartius
Joannes Kruyf
Rutger Tesschemaker
Joannes Lutgens
Gulielmus Brakel
Gilbertus Happartius
Joannes Bakker
Abrahamus Dapper
Robertus Sassenius
Marcus Masius .
PETRUS Mus
JOANNES CAMPIUS
Hermanus Buschhof

1627-31
1629-41

1633-37
1636-37

1637-39
1637-39
1638-39
1640-47
1641-43
1641—44
1643-47
1644-46
1647-51
1647-51
1648-61
1649-52
1649-62
1651-56
1651-56
1652-56
1653-56
1653-56
1654-56
1654-56
1655-61
1655-62
1655-62
1655-57

34^ SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

ARNOLDUS A WINSEM . . . 1655-62

Joannes de Leonardis . . . 1656-62

JACOBUS AMZPINGIUS . . . 1656-62

Gulielmus Vinderus . . . 1657-59

The following unabridged account of Mr. Junius's
work in Formosa (published at London in 1650) closely
adheres to that copy of the original edition preserved in
the Library of the British Museum :—

"To his Christian Friends, in ENGLAND, NEW-
ENGLAND, of elsewhere, that pray for the Camming in
of the fullnesse of the Gentiles, that so all Israel may be
saved ; H. Jessei wisheth from his soule, encrease of joy,
and peace in believing : — Dearly beloved, THERE are
three things that (with many of you) I have greatly
longed for ; yea, foure that I am in travell with, and
must not cease till they be brought forth : namely, First,
that on Earth where the Lord's Name hath beene greatly
dishonoured, there his Name may be greatly glorified,
Psal. 113. 3. Psal. 67. 2. Mai. i. 11. Secondly,
that here, where his people have beene generally
reproached, and their soules exceedingly filled with the
scorning of those which are at ease, and with the con-
tempt of the proud, Psal. 123. 4 ; that their reproach
may be turn'd into honour and their mourning into the garment
of pray se, Isai. 61. 3, 7. Isai. 35, 10; Thirdly, that the
Earth may be so fill'd with the Knowledge of Jehovah,
that all his people may be one visibly, and serve Jehovah

To face page 346.

REV. ROBERTUS JUNius

WORK OF THE EARLY DUTCH MISSION 347

with one shoulder ; and all differences and envies amongst
them may be removed farre away, Isai. n. 9. Zeph. 3. 9.
John 17. 21, 23. And fourthly for all the Ends before-
said, that the fullnesse of the Gentiles might come in, and
that so all Israel (the remainder of Naturall Israel being
thereby provoked to emulation) might be saved, Rom. n.
i, n, 25, 26. Luke 21. 24. For which glorious time on
Earth, the very creature (which hath no hope of Heaven)
groaning and being in travell, earnestly expecting, waits
for, being subject to vanitie, untill that Glorious Libertie
of the Sonnes of God : How much more may wee, whose
Soules are alreadie freed, wait for that appointment for
his Sonnes, the freedome of our Bodies also from all
Thraldome ? as Rom. 8. 19-23.

' Therefore, what great matter of refreshing was ad-
ministered to my Spirit, when it was credibly reported
by M. Edw : Cresset, (then of Chelsey, now of London)
that some thousands of Indians had of late beene converted,
by meanes of a Dutch Minister conversing amongst them !
What hopes were hereby raysed, that the Fulnesse of the
Gentiles was readie to come in, and thereby of enjoying
my Soules longings shortly ! I delayed not therefore
to goe to Chelsey, to heare of this more fully from himself e ;
a man well reported of, and well knowne to M. Lawrence,
of the House of Commons; and to M. Nye, M. Thomas
Goodwin, and M. Simon, and M. Bridge, lately of the
Assembly : I found, that he and his household lived there,
but himselfe, by a Providence, was then abroad : En-
quiring therefore of Mistris Cresset, she certified as
folio we th ; which I writ downe : —

' That her Husband and she (with their Family]
came lately from Delft in Holland, where M. Junius
was then living, and of good repute among the Ministers
and best People there. He told, of above foure thousand
Indians that were brought to confesse Christ, and were

348 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

Baptized : That himself e (being a Dutch Minister) was
sent over many yeares agoe by the Dutch Agents to their
Dutch Plantation amongst the Indians : where, in some
yeares space, having learn' d their Language, he preached
to the Indians, and thereby many were brought to the
professing 'of Christ, and by himself e were Baptized.
And his wife dying there, some reasons moved him to
returne for Holland. At his departure, the Indians
showed great affection to him, being greatly desirous of
his stay : But not prevailing with him, they desired him
to promise either that himself e would returne to them, or
else that he would instruct one in their Language, and
send him over to them, to teach them further : This he
undertooke. And at his departing from them, they
brought him many Presents ; so that hee returned worth
the value of about ten thousand pounds. M. Junius,
since his returne to Holland, married againe ; and he
hath endeavoured to instruct a young man in their Lan-
guage, to send to them ; and hath Printed some Catechismes
in that Tongue, to send over unto them : the substance
hereof, M. Cresset had from his owne mouth, when they
were at Delft.'

" This was testified by Mistris Cresset to me, in the fifth
Moneth, call'd July, about the seventh day, 1646. I
return'd to London much fill'd with joy, upon this Rela-
tion by Mistris Cresset ; which was confirm'd by M. Cresset's
Letter to me of the same Weeke ; for your better
satisfaction, take his owne words : —

" ' SIR — I was on Thursday at Tower-hill, with a
desire to have seene you, but Providence hath otherwise
ordered it for the present. I was very sorry I was not at
home when you came hither : I was desirous to give you
the best satisfaction I can about the worke you heard of.
There is (or at least was very lately) living in Delft in

WORK OF THE EARLY DUTCH MISSION 349

Holland (and one of the Pastors of the Church there] one
sirnamed Junius (borne of Scotish Parents) in Rotter-
dam. The man I beleeve to be godly, and he is very well
reputed of by the better part there. The man lived divers
yeares in the East Indies ; during which time, he gained
so much knowledge of the Language there used, so that he
was able to Preach to the Natives. Of whom, by his own
report to myselfe, he baptized about foure thousand.
How strong his Call was to leave them I know not ;
But at his departure from them, they bountifully loaded
him. He hath laboured to teach their Language to some
young men ; and according to his promise, to send one
over to them. And he hath gotten a Catechisme, and some
other things, Printed in their Language, to send to them.
Thus much I heard from him my selfe. Whilst I was
writing to you, there came one to me, whose name is M.
Halhead, who now lives at Kengsington ; he lived neere
two yeares in my house at Delft, and being a Scholar,
had conversed with M. Junius ; and he mentions all
the same things that I have written, and thus much more :
That about seventeene thousand of those Indians were
turn'd from their Paganisme so farre, that in severall
places they came to heare him willingly, and that he
baptized above foure thousand of them. // it may be to
your further satisfaction, I shall, God willing, by the
first Ship write to him, and desire to know all, more
particularly : which I assure my selfe, he will satisfie
me in ; and then I shall willingly doe the like for you.
EDW. CRESSET, Saturday, July i2th, 1640.'

" Having read this Letter with joy in the Lord, I en-
treated his performance of what he had kindly offered ;
viz., That he would write to M. Junius himself e, that I
might be the more fully satisfied in severall particulars
which I mentioned in my Letter to M. Cresset : Which

350 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

he accordingly performed, in sending the same to M.
Junius in Delft. For more full answer to which Par-
ticulars, M. Junius sent back to M. Cresset a Booke in
Latine, in whose Dedicatorie Epistle to M. Junius, the
same things are mentioned. Of the truth whereof, by
his owne sending it back for such an end, he thus certified
his approbation. M. Cresset having received this Booke,
he left it for me with the honoured, the Lady May erne
(Wife to Sir Theodore May erne, Baron of Albone) of whom
having received it, I was so affected with it, that I delayed
not to Translate it, out of Latine into our English Tongue,
whatsoever in it was materiall to the purpose beforesaid ;
some other things — for brevitie — being passed over.

" Touching this M. Junius, and also the Author of that
Latine Epistle, I have further enquired of M. Ed. Richard-
son, now a Preacher in Yorkshire, formerly in Delft for
some time together, who gives a very good commendation
of them both, as good as of any Dutch Ministers he was there
acquainted with, judging them very credible persons ; and
said, that those two Dutch Ministers were familiarly
acquainted each with other. And it seems this M. Junius
was willing that this so Glorious a Worke, that the Lord
had done by him among these East Indians, should
rather be published by his good Friend, (to avoid vain-
glory, and the appearance thereof] than by himselfe.

" And now, from the Epistle it selfe, I will not longer
detaine you ; but onely to intreat you, That whilest you
reade, or heare this Relation following, you would oft
lift up your hearts to the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, with joy full thanks and prayse, and with
earnest prayers to the God of Mercie, who is the God of
the Harvest, that he would send forth his Messengers, to be
his Labourers, to the foure Corners of the Earth ; and that
you, who are the Lord's Remembrancers, would, give him
no rest, untill he establish, and till he shall make Jerusalem

WORK OF THE EARLY DUTCH MISSION 351

(that long hath lyen in the dust) to be a Prayse in the
Earth, Isa. Ixii. 6. And untill he performe the other
Three things beforesaid ; That so our joy may be full.
In the beleeving whereof, (in the midst of outward dis-
tractions) exceedingly refreshed hath often been the
heart of

" Your Companion in Tribulation, and in Witnessing
of Jesus Christ, and in the assured hope of Glory with him,

H. JESSEI.

"The LETTER of MR. C. SIBELLIUS, Relating that
EAST-INDIAN Conversion before-mentioned, here fol-
loweth : A Monument to the Glory of God, and the
blessed Memoriall of the Reverend man of God, very
eminent in Pietie, and in Learning, M. ROBERT JUNIUS
lately of the Church of God among the Heathen, in the
Isle FORMOSA, best deserving ; now of the Lord's Flock
in DELPH, a most vigilant Pastour.

" WHEN in the former yeare (viz. 1645) in the Name
and by the Assignment of the Reverend Synod of the
Churches of Overisle, I was present at the Honoured
Synod of the North Holland Churches at Harleim (for the
testifying and conserving our holy and firme Agreement :)
There, with great applause of all, and with highest
admiration, were those (Glad Tidings] received, which
made mention of the happie state, and the encrease of
the Churches of God (among the Heathen] in the Easterne
India : Where, the unwearied diligence of the most
Learned JUNIUS, and his singular Dexteritie, accom-
panied with the Blessing of God, both in Planting,
Watering, and Governing of Churches amongst the
INDIANS, in the FORMOSA Island, publiquely was
spoken of, and commended.

" I presently concluded in my selfe, that this singular
favour of God by meanes of him conferred upon those

352 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

blinde Heathen, was fit to be made knowne to the whole
World, and that the Posteritie of all Ages should never
be forget full of the same. And because, that hitherto
this is not enterprised, much lesse performed, by any
that I know of ; I shall briefly and faithfully set forth,
to the glory of God, and the perpetuall memoriall of the
things done ; First his INGRESSE, or Entrance into that
holy Vocation ; then, secondly, his PROGRESSE in the
same ; and thirdly, and lastly, his EGRESSE from the
same.

" I. Of his INGRESSE.

" Touching his Ingresse, or his Call hither : This M.
Junius, being ordained of GOD thereunto, was nominated
by the Honoured and Pius Senate of the Famous Ex-
pedition of the United Provinces of the Low-Countries,
for the Conversion of Easterne-Indians, for the bringing
them to the Knowledge and Faith of Christ, and so for
the furthering the Conversion of those INDIANS in
particular, in the Island called FORMOSA, who wer
blinde and miserable worshippers of the Devill, and
slaves unto him. This great Taske and Charge, he
readily and willingly yeelded unto ; and seriously con-
sidered of the diligent and faithfull administration
thereof.

" And certainly, nothing is more honourable to God,
nothing more acceptable to all good men, nothing more
conducible to the appeasing of Consciences, nothing
more salutiferous to the Heathen, that sit in the darknesse
of Idolatrie, and Errors, and wofull shadow of Death;
than the sending forth of faithfull, able, and painfull
Labourers into the Harvest ; for opening the eyes of the
blinde, and turning them from Darknesse to Light, and
from the power of Satan unto God ; that they may receive
remission of sinnes, and an Inheritance amongst them that
are sanctified by the Faith that is in Christ. To be an

WORK OF THE EARLY DUTCH MISSION 353

instrument of saving one soule (snatch'd out of the jawes
of that in f 'email Wolfe] farre exceeds all other gaines.
The faithfull Servant of the most High rejoyceth more
in this, if he may gaine to Christ a poore wretch, that is
most contemptible in the eyes of the world, than if all
the Treasures of the world were offered unto him. He
that shall convert one sinner from the error of his way, shall
save a soule from death, and shall cover a multitude of
sinnes, as the Apostle James saith (James v. 20).

" To proceed : M. Junius being carryed by the good
hand of God to the FORMOSAN Island in the East-
Indies, preached in Dutch, his Mother Tongue, amongst
them for above two yeares together, laying open the
Mysteries of Salvation. But the Natives there not
understanding Dutch, he being moved with an exceeding
desire for their Conversion and Salvation, and of freeing
and discharging his owne Conscience, with great paines
and speedie diligence, in a short time, even now in his
adult age, he happily learned the barbarous Language
and rude Idiome of those Heathen, who were of differing
Speech and Manners ; and wisely framed himselfe to
speake to their Capacitie and Edification. And there
they heard him speaking to them plainely in their owne
Tongue, wherein they were borne, the Wonderful
Mysteries of the Gospel of Christ, for twelve yeares to-
gether [viz., from the yeare 1631, to the yeare 1643].

" II. Of his PROGRESSE.

" Now, touching his Progresse, or proceeding on and
successe amongst them ; he was unwearied in his con-
stant dayly paines with them, for their soules health,
both publikely and privately : and the Lord assisted
him with speciall dexteritie, and gave a wonderfull
blessing upon his paines amongst them. For (to say
nothing of Dork and Tirose] in six of the most famous

354 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

Townes in the Northern parts of the Formosan Island,
viz., Tavacan, Sincklan, Bacluan, Matthaw, Soulang, and
Ternang, the Lords Worke had such wonderfull Successe ;
that it hath moved, and still doth move the greatest
admiration to all Godly people, that have notice thereof.

" As touching the Fruit and efficacie of the Preaching of
the Word : by the Light of Heavenly Truth, Idolatrie,
not to be named, brutish ignorance, horrible blindnesse,
and most filthie worship of Devils being discovered and
expelled ; very many of the inhabitants were brought to
the saving knowledge of, and true faith in God, and the
Redeemer, Jesus Christ. And so great and laudable
Progresse both of men and women, young and old, chiefe
ones, middle sort, and meane ones made therein ; that
every one of them could not only rehearse without hesi-
tating accurately the chiefe Heads or Principles of true
Religion, but also were able to Answer wisely and solidly
to most Questions about Religion that one would pro-
pound or. put forth to them. And this Knowledge and
Profession of Faith, many of them did so adorne, by
their Pietie towards God, and Righteousnesse and Love
to their Neighbour, and Sobrietie and Temperance in
themselves ; that may cause shame and blushing to
many amongst us, that are born of Orthodox Parents,
and from the Child-hood have been trayned up in the
Christian Religion.

" Moreover, many of them are so able, in much fervancie
of spirit, to poure out their prayers before God, Morning
and Evening, and before and after taking of Meat, and
in other Necessities ; and that with such comelinesse and
fitnesse of speech, and with such moderation and decencie
of gesture ; that may provoke tears to such as heare and
behold them. And there are some of them, that being
called to pray about many atter or businesse, are able
to perform it in conceived prayer, ex tempore, so readily,

WORK OF THE EARLY DUTCH MISSION 355

in such fit expressions, and with such arguments and
pithinesse, as if they had been spending some houres for
the contriving and so framing of them.

" And when the Prince of Darknesse being molested by
this glorious Light, so kindled and set up there, would
extinguish, or suppresse it ; he stirred up some, especially
impudent wretched Women, Inchanters, Whoorish,
deceitfull ones, covetous of filthy gaine ; that went about
and endeavoured to turne these back to the worship of
Devils and Idols, as their fore-fathers had done, and to
abandon the Faith (as a Noveltie, or new upstart Doctrine) .
Some of these themselves, by the paines taken with them,
were through the Lord's goodnesse converted, and brought
from the Power of Darknesse unto God ; and others of
them were so convinced, or otherwise by the Pious
Magistrate restrayned, that they could no longer hinder
the Course and Progress of the Gospel amongst them.

" And whereas the Gentiles or Heathen are first to be
instructed and Preached unto, that they may beleeve,
before they should be baptized ; This Reverend M. Junius
tooke great paynes dayly, in first instructing them in the
grounds of Religion, Catechising them, to bring them to
beleeve : So that of persons grown up in that Isle of
Formosa, FIVE THOUSAND and NINE HUNDRED,
of both Sexes, gave up their Names to Christ ; and
professing their Faith, and giving fit Answers to Questions
propounded out of the Word of God, were BAPTIZED by
him : (of which number of persons, so Dipt in Water, the
Infants of persons in Covenant are not reckoned :) and
to such persons in Soulangh, and Sinckan, and elsewhere,
being instructed well in the Doctrine of the Lords Supper,
was that Ordinance of Christ also administered with
much reverence, joy, and edification.

" And because the instructing of persons to Reade and to
Write, tends'much to further, not onely Civill and Political

356 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

good, but also Spiritual! ; herein also M. Junius tooke
much paines, in furthering of both ; instructing some
to Teach others, and in Visiting and Ordering the
Schollers. And besides a few Dutch men, that were
Teachers of others ; in the Six Townes before said, of
the Heathenish Natives that he gained to Christ, about
Fiftie of them he so instructed and fitted for this Worke,
that excelled in Godlinesse, Knowledge, Industrie,
Dexteritie, and Sedulitie ; that before his Departure
thence, they had taught Six Hundred Schollers to Reade
and to Write ; and that instructed, as well the elder as
younger persons, in the Rudiments of Christian Faith.
And it is not easie to judge whether the Schollers, for
their dociblenesse and obedience, or their Masters, or
Teachers for their paines and diligence were more to be
commended. M. Junius in the meane time collected
the chief e Heads of Religion, and some for dayly Prayers,
and translated certaine Psalmes into the Formosan
Islanders Language.

" Also his care and paines was not onely in behalf e of
those Six Northerne Townes there, beforesaid ; but for
the Southerne parts thereof also : where, in three and
twentie Townes, he planted Churches, and furthered the
worship of the true God. And the Lord vouchsafed such
abundant Blessings upon his Labours and Endeavours
amongst them, whom he both planted and watered,
(feeding them with sound Doctrine, good Example, and
Love unfained ; not counting his Life too deare to
venture in this Worke, for their gaining and building up)
that he hath left such a Report and Memoriall behind
him at his Departure as will be precious and blessed
so long as this World endure th.

" III. Of his REGRESSE.

"And now lastly, touching his Regresse, or Departure
from thence ; the Occasion and Causes were these : The

WORK OF THE EARLY DUTCH MISSION 357

Churches there being so happily planted and watered, and
they having divers Pastors, Teachers, and Overseers
set over them ; his owne body war growne very weake,
and more unserviceable by Diseases that were renewed,
with which he was long and painfully afflicted : First,
He was moved with a great desire of seeing his aged and
most deare Mother ; before her, or his Death, whom hee
had left in the Netherlands. And secondly, of seeing
againe his own deare Countrie, that by the joyfull Tydings
of the Lords Blessing his paines among those Heathenish
Indians, hee might refresh the hearts of the Churches,
Ministers, Brethren, and Friends : And thirdly, that he
might the more promote and further (by meanes of those
here, that had the chiefe managing and governing of
those Indian Affaires) the proceeding on for the Con-
version of the Lords Vineyard, that is alreadie Planted
and Watered in the Formosan Hand, and for further
helpe in propagation of the Gospell amongst them : Hee
having declared to the Ilanders there these and the like
Grounds for his returne ; [they being put into so good a
posture for their good proceeding on, in their Churches,
Schollers and every way] not without being greatly desired
by them, at last they yeelded to dismisse him.

" This so joy full & Narration of the Conversion of so
many of the East-Indians in the Hand Formosa, is
recorded and published in Latine by Master Caspar
Sibellius, Pastor of the Church in Daventrie in the
Netherlands : Being writ by him there, July 25,
1646 (himself being dearly beloved of, and acquainted
with this blessed Instrument Mr. ROBERT JVNIVS :)
and is prefixed to his Booke called Antidotum Am-
bitionis, beforesaid : [Printed at the Charge of I.
lansonius, Amsterdt :] Who so desireth, and such as
would see more about this Historie and the certaintie
thereof, they search and see these Letters, Acts, and
publicke Testimonies extant, which confirme the

358 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

same, (out of which Mr. Sibellius gathered much of the
Relation before said :) viz. The Acts of the Synod of
the Northern parts of Holland held at Harlem Anno
1645, the twentieth Article. The Acts of the Visita-
tion of the Churches and Schollers of the Northern
Formosan Danders : which Three Faithfull Pastors
of those East-Indian Churches, accompanying the
Elder of Tayouan, two of the States Senators being
present, ordered and performed in the yeare 1643, in
the Moneths of September and October. Also, Letters
from the Eldership in Tayouan, and from others, to
the Classes in Amsterdam, and in Walachria, written
specially about this business. To which may be
added the excellent and most ample Testimonall,
wherewith the Ecclesiasticall Assembly at Soulang
the Eight of October, 1643, dismissed the said Mr.
ROBERT JVNIVS. All these were seen and read,
and examined diligently by me, C. SIBELLIVS.

" Upon my desire and request to have the clearest
Evidence herein, with the particulars thereof most fully,
the RELATION beforesaid (writ by Mr. Junius's
familiar friend) was sent by Mr. Junius himselfe, to
Mr. Cresset, as is before mentioned, for me (H. J.).
Before the Eighth Month October, 1649, the Relator
hereof H. J. had entreated of the said Mr. Cresset, that
he would write againe to Delph, to be informed of the
further proceeds about those Indians in the isle FOR-
MOSA ; who, having written thither accordingly to
M. E. H., his friend in Delph, he received back the
Account which follows : —

" ' Sir ; I have conversed with Mr. Junius about your
desire, how it goes with the FORMOSAN INDIANS :
and he certifies me, that as he was there, alone ; so now
there are foure Ministers alreadie : (Blessed be God for

WORK OF THE EARLY DUTCH MISSION 359

it;) to the great encrease of his Church and People for
his super-abundant Glorie and our great rejoycing and
Comfort. For the Conversion of the Heathen, is
according to his Promise in his sacred word . . . The
Companie have concluded and agreed to send three
Ministers more, whom they, with Mr. Junius, thinke
most fit, to per forme that great worke. And Mr. Junius
doth instruct them that are to goe, in the Language ; that
they may (with God's mercie) bee the better enabled to
per for me that great Worke, which they are sent for, etc.
Your loving Friend E. H. Delphi 25, of Octob. 1649.' "

XLIX

PRESENT POSITION OF THE CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT

ACCORDING to chronological order, Christian work in
Formosa was commenced and is now carried on in con-
nection with the Roman Catholic Church, the Presby-
terian Church of England, the Presbyterian Church of
Canada, the Church of Christ in Japan (Presbyterian),
and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel.

For many years the Roman Catholic Mission derived
much of its support from the Spanish Dominican
Brotherhood at Manila, but since the Philippines were
ceded to the United States of America in 1899, only some
three or four foreign priests carry on work at the few
churches under their care in Formosa. It has not been
possible to obtain reliable statistics regarding the Roman
Catholic Mission, and the other missionaries hear almost
nothing about it when travelling through every accessible
part of the Island. Nor can much be said now about
the Church of Christ in Japan, or the Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel. It is still the day of small
things with them, as their efforts are confined to the
relatively very few official and mercantile residents
who have come from Japan proper. The first-named
Community has a Presbytery made up of four or five
native Ministers with commissioned Elders, and publishes
a monthly Church paper in Japanese which is found to be
very useful amongst those for whom it is prepared.

Our two British Missions divide between them the

360

PRESENT POSITION OF THE CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT 361

western side and northern end of the Island ; the
Canada Presbyterians working up from Tai-kah River
round to the north-east town of Soou, and the English
Presbyterians down from that river as far as Heng-chun
at South Cape, besides having two or three languid little
churches on the Pescadores. In addition, both Missions
have several small stations among Chinese-speaking
settlers in the territory of the A-mi tribe.

A census-table of Church membership and Church
attendances will be found in the following Appendix.
It furnishes some suggestive particulars regarding the
outward progress attained by both Missions ; but every
one knows that mere figures represent only a small part
of the case in spiritual work ; for, behind the figures,
there may be a gracious preparatory work going on which
will soon lead to widespread good results ; while figures
alone in this connection shed just as little light on such
features as ignorance of Bible facts and doctrines, worldli-
ness, money-grubbing, laxity of discipline, and woful
lack of qualified leaders for sifting and shepherding among
the crowds who are rallying round us at a time when
Church membership has come to have a certain amount
of respectability connected with it. I feel in no way
called upon to write in a pessimistic way about missionary
work here, because we have much, very much, to be
thankful for. My only desire is to somewhat qualify
the impression conveyed by this periodic " numbering of
the people," this marked tendency to adumbrate the
weak or seamy side of things, and the craving which
friends at home have to be always hearing about success,
more SUCCESS, and still greater SUCCESS. Had those
converts of the early Dutch Mission really possessed the
intelligence, stability, and zeal, attributed to them, it
would not have been possible for Koxinga to wipe out
their Church in a few months' time.

362 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

As regards our own English Presbyterian churches,
twenty-seven are now without any resident preacher or
evangelist ; those among the once flourishing Pi-po-hwan
and Sek-hwan aborigines are in a very decadent state,
while several among the Chinese are either dying or are
already dead. Of course, we all acknowledge that it is
God alone who can give the increase, but as He is pleased
to work through human instrumentality, it seems obvious
that our South Formosa Mission has been placed at a
disadvantage in delaying so long to get alongside of that
educational progress which the Japanese have been
fostering since they came to the Island twenty years ago.
Such action as was taken last year of bringing four
illiterate brethren to receive forty days' instruction before
being put in charge of as many of the country churches,
brings very little real relief to the position. And the
same remark applies in some measure to the fact that our
Tainan Mission Press turned out 700,357 pages, chiefly
in the dialect or brogue of South Formosa during 1913 ;
our still scanty literature in that Western form being
intelligible only to those converts who have learned the
use of it ; the native population preferring their own
written languages (Chinese and Japanese) for the pro-
duction of books, periodicals, daily newspapers,
correspondence, advertisements, and tradesmen's
accounts. On this point, it may not be out of place to
cite the testimony of two very competent witnesses.
While writing (in the Chinese Recorder for November,
1908) of the great educational advance which has recently
been made throughout China, Dr. J. C. Gibson of Swatow
refers to " the constant need of books for the general
public, which should be well written in Wen-li with, in
many cases, Mandarin editions also " ; and Mr. G. T.
Hare's exhaustive work on the vernacular of Amoy has
the following significant comment :— ' The great draw-

PRESENT POSITION OF THE CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT 363

back to the Romanised colloquial is that it divorces the
learner from the Chinese [written] character."

Nor should it be forgotten here that many Middle
Schools, High Schools, and Christian Colleges in other
centres of the China Mission-field are rendering most
effective service by furthering this very evangelistic work
we have all so much at heart. Along that line, therefore,
it may be said that the most clamant need in Formosa
at present would be met by uniting our two feeble insti-
tutions where simple Bible teaching is given, into one
strong, fully-manned Theological College. It is a pro-
posal which was first brought before us by the Edinburgh
Missionary Conference of 1910 ; was urged by Dr. Mott
before our Executive Committees in London and Toronto,
and has been repeatedly discussed at great length in the
Synodical meetings, Presbyteries, and Mission Councils
of Formosa. The main barrier to a definite settlement
of the question seems to be that our Canadian brethren
think the Union College should be beside themselves at
Taihoku, the new capital of the Island ; whereas the
English Presbyterians favour its establishment at their
own headquarters.*

I conclude these remarks by quoting a few words from
Mr. Ferguson's paper in the Christian Movement in Japan
for 1914. When taking a retrospective view of work in
South Formosa he says : — " Medicine opened wide more
doors than it was possible for the missionaries to enter.
Besides medicine, street preaching has also been a
favourite method of work. Whilst these two forms of

* Since the above sentences were penned, word has been
received that the Synod of Formosa has unanimously decided
to establish the Union Theological College at Taihoku, the new
capital of the Island. It was the happy ending to what had
become a most tiresome, difficult question ; and at the close all
present rose and sang the Doxology.

364 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

work from the first guaranteed a comparative success,
they at the same time to a large extent decided the
character of the Mission. Roughly speaking, wealthy
Chinese, or Chinese likely to desire an education, do not
attend a Mission free Hospital, and do not gather round
a man preaching in the street. It was the poor— the
fishermen and farmers, the carpenters and small shop-
keepers, who from the first listened to the preacher, or
received the bulk of the benefits from the Hospital, and
it is this class which predominates in the Church roll-
books of to-day."

MEMORIALS OF SOME WHO HAVE GONE BEFORE

IT is not easy to sum up the character of those with whom
we have had fellowship in the past. Happily, I do not
feel called upon to attempt anything of the kind here ;
my only intention being to recall a few memories relating
to several fellow-pilgrims I knew well, but who have at
length got beyond the reach of all human praise or
blame. None of those whose names I have selected
from our Baptismal Roll occupied a leading place as
regards social standing, mental endowments, or worldly
wealth ; but they had no reason to be ashamed of their
record ; and if their progress in the Christian life failed
to call forth widespread wonder and admiration, it may
certainly also be said that they themselves would have
been the first to shrink from any claim of having already
attained, or of being already perfect. Quietly and con-
scientiously, although sometimes with faltering steps,
they served God and their generation, and passed
hopefully into the presence of Him whose favour towards
them had been more precious than life itself. Let me,
then, place this tiny little wreath, so to speak, on that
spot where their ashes now rest in peace.

i. MR. GAW BUN-SUI. I cannot but cherish the
tenderest and most grateful feelings towards the memory
of dear old Elder Bun. He was truly a spiritual father
to me during my first three years' work in Formosa, but

365

366 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

I prefer to quote Dr. Maxwell's words regarding him.
He says : — Our departed brother and Elder in the
Church was a signal witness to what the grace of Christ
can do in and by a Chinaman. Bun was not a man of
superior gifts, and his education had been very meagre.
For many years he had been an opium-smoker, and his
employment as a tax-gatherer was not one in which the
better qualities of Chinese human nature find much
stimulus to development.

But on the other hand was the fact that, at his con-
version, he had accepted Christ with his whole heart.
The Master drew all that was in the man into His own
service, and gave the new weapon an edge which increased
in keenness with daily use. If other gifts were only
common, there was at least a rare spiritual gift. His
whole heart was in his Master's work, and constantly on
the alert.

He accompanied the first foreign missionary to occupy,
as was supposed, the humble office of chapel-keeper ;
but he speedily became the missionary's right hand in
the work. He was ever ready to speak for Christ — in the
chapel, on the streets, in the Hospital, but most of all to
individuals ; and this diligence in work for others was
fitly matched by his unfailing delight in the personal use
of the Word, and in secret prayer. His advanced years,
even when he first reached Formosa, and the entire
absence from his Christian character of anything like
trifling, made his presence in the Mission of great value.
Not only the members and adherents of the Church, but
the outside heathen, learned to respect the Christian
dignity of the old Elder. He became the constant
referee in all matters of difficulty which arose amongst
the native brethren. And other curious matters would
occasionally come before him. Sometimes the missionary
and his wife have welcomed the old man when he would

MEMORIALS OF SOME WHO HAVE GONE BEFORE 367

unexpectedly come in upon them at a meal-time, to find
that his object was to have a little quiet talk with them
about some servant whose ideas of rule and order were
a little less strict than theirs, and who had carried his
grievances to the worthy Elder. He himself was very
forbearing and gentle. Only once in the course of six
years' constant intercourse did the writer see Bun
thoroughly vexed and angry. Our brother was earnestly
addressing an audience in the Taiwan-fu chapel when a
man quietly leant over the table and gave him a violent
blow on the chest. The mean way in which the blow
was dealt nettled the old man, and some of the friendly
bystanders having seized the offender, he was held in
rather a firm grasp till the missionary was sent for.
On Bun himself being quietly appealed to, however, as to
what course was most likely to advance the Lord's Cause,
he at once calmed down and willingly consented that,
with a word of caution, the man should be dismissed.
The man had meanwhile become rather ashamed of his
conduct, and promised not to repeat it.

When Elder Bun left Formosa, the well-thumbed
Testament which he had so often used in chapel was given
to Mr. Campbell as a parting remembrance. It is before
me as I write, and I see that underneath Mr. Campbell's
name he has indicated two texts, 2 Cor. i. 8-n, and
2 Cor. xii. 9. If the reader will take the trouble
to consult them, and call to mind the very marvellous
deliverance from " so great a death " and " in Asia"
which Mr. Campbell had just experienced, he will realize
the aptness of the old Elder's choice of the first text, and
the preciousness also of its union with the second.

There are many in Formosa, and two or three in Eng-
land, to whom the remembrance of Elder Bun will ever
be as a sweet savour of Christ, and there are not a few —
some already gone up higher, and more still living — who

368 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

will be " his crown of rejoicing in the presence of our
Lord Jesus Christ at His coming."

2. MR. TE KA-LAI. He belonged to the Pi-po-hwan
branch of the Sinicised aborigines, and had a little farm
near the village of Bak-sa, lying some 26 miles east from
the County City of Tainan. His baptism took place on
8th May, 1870, and he became an Elder of the Church
soon after, continuing in that office till impaired health
compelled him to resign when he was well over eighty
years of age. Mr. Te lived a quiet consistent life in his
narrow sphere, and was looked up to by all his neighbours
as being a kindly, upright Christian, even the heathen
regarding him with feelings of much respect. During
his tenure of office, I spent many an hour with him at
congregational and Session meetings attending to the
interests of the Church in that region. He was not a
talkative man, but had always something helpful to say
when asked for an expression of his opinion. In the
numerous cases of discipline we had to deal with, his
difficulty lay between showing pity for the offender
and a desire to maintain the purity of the Church. I
never saw him losing his temper (as I sometimes did my-
self), or heard him speaking evilly of any one. The part he
took at our prayer-meetings proved him to be possessed
of a very meek, devout spirit. His death called forth
many expressions of sorrow, and a gracious hopefulness
that he had at last gone to be with Christ, which is far
better.

3. MR. No SE-KENG. This brother had a small farm
near the village of Toa-khe-chu, about five miles from
the County City of Ka-gi. He was about forty years of
age when several relations began to speak to him about
the things that belonged to his peace ; this being followed
by his whole-hearted acceptance of Christ, and his baptism

MEMORIALS OF SOME WHO HAVE GONE BEFORE 369

at Ka-gi by the Rev. David Smith on gth November, 1879.
Mr. Smith also presided at his appointment to the Elder-
ship on I3th March, 1881, in which office our friend
remained till his death on nth February, 1904. Being
very active, a man of good sense, and willing to render
any Christian service he could, Mr. Ng was often asked
to serve on Committees of Presbytery, and on such
occasions he invariably acted in a conscientious and
conciliatory way. One of his sons is at present Tutor
in our Theological College ; another graduated in the
Government Medical College at Taihoku, and is now in
private practice, while a third became one of our valued
preachers at the close of his collegiate course in Tainan.
This latter brother was a capable and most earnest young
Christian, whose death a few years ago was greatly
lamented by all who knew him.

4. MR. No KA-TI. This worthy friend was baptized
by the late Dr. Talmage of Amoy, and was admitted to
Church membership at Takow in 1867, becoming soon
after an assistant in the Mission Hospital there. He was
ordained to the Eldership in 1878, and continued in that
office till his death at Tainan on nth June, 1911. His
long faithful service under Dr. Maxwell, Dr. Patrick
Manson, and Dr. Thomas Rennie, was the outstanding
feature of Mr. Ng's career. His confession of Christ and
efforts for the conversion of those around him were not
forgotten in the midst of his pressing Hospital duties,
and we believe that not a few regarded him as their
spiritual father in Christ. Although he had little book-
knowledge of the healing art, he went into private practice
when the Hospital was closed owing to Takow having
ceased to be a centre for missionary residence ; but,
being good-natured, easy-going, and somewhat loquacious,
Mr. Ng's business did not yield him much of an income.

37O SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

There were genuine expressions of regret when he passed
away, and every one had a kindly word to say of him.

5. MR. Ko THIAN-SU. His father was chief assistant
in our Tainan Hospital, and had long been a respected
Elder of the Church. Little Thian-su was baptized on
22nd September, 1872 ; and after receiving some ele-
mentary training, he was entered as a pupil of the
Methodist College at Fuh-chau, where he held a good
place through all his course, one of his acquirements
having been quite a passable knowledge of English. It
was, however, the earnest Christian character of those
capable American Methodist teachers which God made
most use of in guiding the proclivities of our young
friend. He came back to us a tall nice-looking lad,
and one could not be long in his company before seeing
the prominent place which Jesus Christ had in his life,
that it was his glorified Saviour he loved to think of and
obey. Although he would have liked to follow the
medical profession of his father, he was too conscientious
a man to enter it without an adequate course of training ;
but seeing there was an increasing demand for Western
medicines in Formosa, he qualified himself for doing
business in that direction. This, however, by no means
shut him out from continuing to be a voluntary Christian
worker, both among Church people and outsiders. Every
one of us knew that he rendered all this service for the
mere love of it, and not for filthy lucre's sake or to get
a name for himself. After Formosa was ceded to Japan,
he returned to Fuh-chau, where he accepted the im-
portant educational appointment which was pressed
upon him ; but still kept up his Christian activity till
he was cut off by illness in the prime of his life. Dear
Thian-su left behind him a fine bracing example, and his
memory will long be cherished amongst us.

MEMORIALS OF SOME WHO HAVE GONE BEFORE 371

6. MR. NG TSOK-PANG. He was a native of Toa-khe-
chu in the Ka-gi region, and lost both his parents when
a very little boy. On one occasion he took seriously ill,
and a fortune-teller advised him to come to our Hospital,
where the Gospel was explained to him for the first time.
This so touched his heart that he began attendance at
the chapel for more instruction ; a course in which he
persevered till there was satisfactory evidence that his
request for baptism had to be granted. It was not long
after that he was selected to become a student of our
Theological College. He went through the full course,
and in a way that made us very hopeful about him. We
saw that he was a serious-minded young man ; and we
never heard him indulging in gossip, foolish jesting, or
idle profitless talk ; a feature which may have been
partly owing to his weakly condition of health. His
College course was followed by short terms of service
at three of our northern stations, and at them all his
Sunday discourses and work among the young were
much valued. When having intercourse with others, he
was always sparing of his words, gentle and unsuspicious,
although he could be uncompromisingly firm if called upon
to be so. It was chiefly through him that our station in
the market-town of Haw-law-tun was opened. He paid
many a visit to it from the Church he ministered to at
Toa-sia, and on 2Qth October, 1907, conducted the fore-
noon service there, on which occasion every one present
saw the tenderness with which he spoke in beseeching
his hearers to a sincere acceptance of Jesus as their
Saviour. On returning to Toa-sia that day he retired
to his room after the mid-day meal, began to vomit blood,
and was immediately called away to Him with whom
was all his salvation and all his desire. Mr. Tsok-pang
was a careful constant reader of the Bible, and his prayers
had a rich spirituality about them. He was a brother

372 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

beloved, and his character was a very gracious and
helpful one.

7. MR. LIM ANG. He had a fairly good schooling in
his younger years, and could read ordinary books in
Chinese character with ease. An affection of the eyes
brought him to the Hospital, but nothing could be done
for him, whereupon he began to study our Braille books
in the Amoy vernacular spoken throughout Formosa,
and soon became an expert reader and writer. He was
baptized on 22nd June, 1891 ; and soon after was put
in charge of our Mission School for the Blind at Tainan.
His pupils loved him for the patient, kindly way in which
he treated them. On an urgent request from Miss Graham
of our Amoy Mission, he was sent over to begin work for
the blind in the important city of Chin-chiu, where he
remained for nine months, and gained the respect of
those with whom he came in contact. As his eyesight
gradually came back after his return to Tainan, and he
was plainly a man that could be trusted, his name was
placed upon our Preachers' Roll ; and, in that capacity,
he rendered good service at several of our country stations.
His work was especially fruitful at Sin-kang, where he
died on 22nd September, 1900, to the great regret of all
who knew him. Having been brought into close fellow-
ship with him in his work for the blind, I had good oppor-
tunities of seeing him both under cloud and in sunshine ;
and my firm belief is that he was a sincere self-denying
disciple of Christ — to whom the word came that day at
Sin-kang, " Well done, good and faithful servant ; thou
hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee
ruler over many things : enter thou into the joy of thy
Lord."

8. MR. KA-PAU. This was the Sek-hwan Onesimus,
or the " Quartus, a brother " of our Mission. In other

MEMORIALS OF SOME WHO HAVE GONE BEFORE 373

words, although holding no office in the Evangelistic or
Educational branches of the work, he acted faithfully
for many years by carr ying letters, books, and sums of
money over our wide field at a time when there was no
Postal service in Formosa ; and St. Paul's Epistles show
what an important place is given to those brethren who
rendered such service to the Church. Others besides
Ka-pau were also called to be our messengers elsewhere,
but we were occasionally placed at a disadvantage when
reports reached us of their letters having miscarried,
or sums of money they carried having failed to reach
their destination. It was never so with Ka-pau, whose
duties took him over the six days' journey from Tainan to
Lai-sia. He was always up to time, always full of good
humour, and always very exact in carrying out the little
commissions with which he was entrusted. Our friend
was baptized on 24th March, 1872, when he was 44 years
of age, acted as Deacon to the Lai-sia congregation for
more than ten years, and died on igth August, 1887.
Even yet, the brethren have a very kindly remembrance
of Brother Ka-pau.

9. REV. W. THOW. Soon after his graduation at Aber-
deen University, Mr. Thow joined the English Presbyterian
Mission, and arrived in Formosa on 20 th of November,
1880. At the close of one furlough in the Homeland, he
returned to his post, and died at Tainan on 24th June,
1894. Mr. Thow was both a capable and a most helpful
fellow-worker, and perhaps I cannot do better here than
copy out the notice which was inserted in our Minutes
when he was called away to be with Him whom he had
loved and served. It runs thus : —

" In entering upon our Minutes a note of the death of
Mr. Thow, we desire at the same time to record our sense
of the great loss which, as individuals and as a Mission,

374 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

we have sustained by his removal from amongst us.
Mr. Thow arrived in Formosa in November, 1880, his
term of service thus extending to 13 J years. None who
laboured with him during that time, whether Chinese or
Foreigners, could fail to be impressed with the entire
single-heartedness of his character in relation to God and
man, with his willing consecration to his Saviour, and his
whole-hearted devotion to the work to which from his
youth he had given himself. While qualified by gifts
and attainments to undertake any part of our Mission
work, his memory will probably be mostly associated
with his self-denying labours in the country among our
various congregations. There he visited with ceaseless
diligence, often with much personal discomfort ; per-
forming among them with loving firmness the duties of a
faithful Pastor, both longing and praying for the develop-
ment in them of a higher type of Christian life and
character. He laid much stress also on the duty of
preaching the Gospel to the heathen, in which connection
he prepared a small sheet on Saving Truth which has
already been distributed by tens of thousands throughout
the Island. We desire to express our sympathy with
his relatives in their sudden bereavement at a time when
we were looking for many years of increasing usefulness
from him. Especially do we sympathise with his
Parents in their deep sorrow, asking for them at this time
the consolations of the God of all comfort ; that they may
find peace in looking back over the record of the noble
life now ended, and looking forward in sure hope of a
glorious resurrection."

10. MRS. D. FERGUSON. As in the case of Mr. Thow,
the following entry was made in our Minutes regarding
her:-

" The Mission Council records with deep sorrow the

MEMORIALS OF SOME WHO HAVE GONE BEFORE 375

death of Mrs. Ferguson, L.R.C.P. and S. Edin. on 17
January 1901 at the close of an illness of some weeks,
incurred while on a visit to Bak-sa. Mrs. Ferguson came
to Formosa in the year 1892, her whole term of service
thus extending to about nine years. Her speedy
acquisition of the language enabled her to enter early
upon work, in which her full medical qualifications put
her in a position to render a unique service to the Mission.
Both in the City and throughout the country she carried
on an extensive and highly valued medical work in which
her services were rendered freely to the Mission; the
Women's Missionary Association, at the request of the
Council, making a small annual grant towards defraying
the expense of the drugs employed. In accordance with
the earnest and repeated request of the Chinese, authorisa-
tion was sent from Home for the opening of a Women's
Hospital to be carried on by Mrs. Ferguson. Owing to
various circumstances this object, to the regret of many,
was not accomplished. The result in one way was to
leave her more time for visits to out-patients, un-
grudgingly paid with no thought of self, and at all hours
of the day and night, whereby she endeared herself to the
hearts of very many in the City and neighbourhood, as
was evidenced by the sorrow so widely expressed at her
death, and the large concourse of Christians and others
who followed the funeral to the grave. The Council
return thanks to God for the services thus rendered by
her to the members of the Mission during her too brief
life amongst us ; they express their profound sympathy
with her husband and children, and with her parents and
other friends at home, praying God to give them all
needed comfort and direction."

As I happened to be on duty in the Chiang-hoa region
when Mrs. Ferguson passed away I should like here to
add my cordial endorsement to the above testimony.

376 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

Mrs. Ferguson was always bright, winsome, delightfully
free from self-consciousness, and with no trace of a desire
for special recognition because of her undoubted ability
and abundant labours. She will long be remembered
by the missionaries and our native friends as having been
a very lovable personality.

" Blessed are the dead who die in the Cord from
this time onward. $es, saps the Spirit, that
they map rest from their sorrowful labours ;
for what thep have done aoes witl> them."

Wey mouth's Translation,

ANEW MAP OF

FORMOSA

SHOWING THE

LOCATIONS OF ITS INHABITANTS

Rpv.W.raipbell.P.Rjfi.S.

EXPLANATION
"] Japanese <£ Chuifse
-i speakituj

i 1 sfboriqintil Tribrj
I Taiycil Group

3 Jm<

4 Sunu

5 7'*«o
6

7 Isarisen

8 AuW/i

TAHDAI "~ ;'^

BRIBES ^ •

KEY TO SIGNS

Capital Preffctural Belies.

D Prefectures Savage Tribes

Paroet \ O Sub Prefectures

I • Savage Tribes /iWu « i A

TroUev Lines

(South\Capr

22'-

RdrtJiolomew, Edi

APPENDIX

I. LIST OF MISSIONARIES SENT TO FORMOSA.

II. FORMOSA MISSIONS' CHURCH CENSUS, 1914.
III. STATISTICS OF THE SOUTHERN MISSION SINCE 1877.
IV. THE LORD'S PRAYER IN SEVEN DIALECTS.

V. DESPATCHES RELATING TO FORMOSA.

L— LIST OF MISSIONARIES SENT TO FORMOSA.

(Missionaries whose names are printed in SMALL CAPITALS are
still in active service.)

(i) FROM THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

Name. Arrive. Depart.

J. L. Maxwell, M.D., and wife . . . . . . 1865 1871

Rev. Hugh Ritchie and wife .. .. 1867 1879

M. Dickson, M.B., and wife .. .. .. 1871 1879

REV. W. CAMPBELL and wife 1871

REV. T. BARCLAY, M.A., and wife . . . . . . 1874

Rev. D. Smith and wife 1876 1882

P. Anderson, L.R.C.P. & S., and wife . . . . 1879 1910

Mrs. Hugh Ritchie 1867 1882

Rev. William T how, M. A 1880 1894

Miss E. Murray 1880 1883

Rev. James Main, M. A. .. .. .. .. 1882 1884

Rev. W. R. Thompson, B.A., and wife . . . . 1883 1887

/. L. Maxwell, M.D., and wife (2nd term) . . . . 1883 1885

Mr. George Ede and wife . . . . . . . . 1883 1896

John Lang, L.R.C.P. & S 1885 1887

Miss A. E. BUTLER 1885

Miss JOAN STUART 1885

Miss M. BARNETT 1888

Gavin Russell, M.B. . . ' 1888 1892

REV. D. FERGUSON, M.A., and wife . . . . 1889

W. M. Cairns, M.B., and wife .. .. .. 1893 I^9S

Rev. C. N. Moody, M.A 1895 19°%

REV. A. B. NIELSON, M.A. . . .. .. .. 1895

D. LANDSBOROUGH, M.B., and wife . . . . 1895

Mrs. D. Ferguson, L.R.C.P. & S. . . . . 1892 1901

Mr. F. R. Johnson and wife . . . . . . 1901 1908

J. L. MAXWELL, JUN., M.D., and wife . . . . 1901

Miss LLOYD . . . . . . . . . . 1903

378

APPENDIX 379

Name. Arrive. Depart.

Rev. A. E. Davies, B.A. .. .. .. .. 1907 1910

REV. H. MONCRIEFF, M.A., and wife . . . . 1909

Miss M. Learned (now Mrs. Landsborough) . . 1909 1912

Miss (Nurse) A. Benning .. .. .. .. 1909 1911

Miss (NURSE) A. FULLERTON 1911

G. G. TAYLOR, M.B., and wife 1911

REV. E. BAND, B.A. .. .. .. .. 1912

Miss A. D. REIVE 1913

Miss A. A. LIVINGSTON 1913

(2) FROM THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF CANADA.

Rev. G. L. Mackay, D.D., and wife . . . . 1871 1901

Rev. J. B. Fraser, M.D., and wife 1875 1877

Rev. K. F. Junor, B.A., and wife 1878 1882

Rev. John Jamieson and wife .. .. .. 1883 1891

REV. W. GAULD, B.A., and wife 1892

Rev. Thurlow Fraser, B.D., and wife . . . . 1902 1904

REV. J. Y. FERGUSON, M.D., and wife . . . . 1905

REV. MILTON JACK, B.D., and wife . . . . 1905

Miss J. KINNEY, B.A 1905

MlSS H. CONNELL 1905

REV. D. MACLEOD, B.D., and wife . . . . 1907

Miss M. G. CLAZIE 1910

Miss J. M. ADAIR 1911

MR. G. L. MACKAY and wife 1911

A. A. GRAY, M.D., and wife 1913

MR. K. W. Dowm 1913

Miss (NURSE) J. ELLIOT 1913

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III.— STATISTICS OF THE SOUTHERN MISSION
SINCE 1877.

Year.

Baptized Adults.

Total
Baptized
Children.

Total
Children
and Adults.

Total
Givings In
Mex. Dollars.

In full
Communion.

Under
Discipline

Total.

18/7

950

,031

169

,2OO

618

1878

947

,OO7

161

,168

,338

1879

985

,056

224

,280

,793

1880

,023

,H3

167

,480

,427

1881

,172

,248

465

,713

,320

1882

,174

,269

560

,820

,316

1883

,167

,258

553

,811

,358

1884

,317

108

,425

600

2,025

,570

1885

,412

108

,520

800

2,320

,662

1886

,476

108

,584

962

2,546

2,143

1887

,348

119

,467

937

2,404

1,641

1888

»307

122

,429

946

2,375

2,033

1889

,259

I4O

,399

1,017

2,416

2,603

1890

,211

I58

,369

1,056

1,425

2,372

1891

,179

1 86

,365

1,094

2,459

1,814

1892

,180

198

,378

1,140

2,518

1,911

1893

,225

1 86

,411

I,2IO

2,621

2,130

1894

,265

191

,456

I,24O

2,696

1,658

1895

,256

189

,445

1,297

2,742

1,815

1896

,291

175

,466

i,354

2,820

2,488

1897

,399

159

,558

1,368

2,926

3,752

1898

,587

158

i,745

i,436

3,i8i

4,491

1899

.875

163

2,038

i,583

3,621

6,222

I9OO

2,019

152

2,171

1,666

3,837

5,685

I9OI

2,190

152

2,342

1,708

4,050

7,460

1902

2,325

174

2,499

i,837

4,336

9,584

1903

2,55i

165

2,716

1,898

4,6i5

8,031

1904

2,703

157

2,860

2,104

4,964

10,817

1905

2,942

151

3,093

2,211

5,204

n,954

1906

3, JO1

158

3,259

2,407

5,766

11,605

1907

3,250

165

3,415

2,583

5,908

14,693

1908

3,345

1 80

3,525

2,746

6,271

16,124

1909

3,445

153

3,598

2,9OI

6,539

9,539

1910

3,612

193

3,805

3,190

6,995

13,982

I9II

3,773

197

3,970

3,434

7,404

16,401

1912

3,880

211

4,091

3,602

7,693

15,016

1913

4,050

2O2

4,252

3,924

8,176

19,685

1914

4,170

1 2O

4,290

4,072

8,362

23,339

382

IV.— THE LORD'S PRAYER IN SEVEN DIALECTS.

(1) From Gravius's Gospel of St. Matthew.

" Raman-jan ka itou-tounnoun kow ki vullu-vullum ; Pakou-
tiktik-auh [lou-mou-louh] ta Nanang-oho. Pak-irou-au ta Pei-
sasou-an-oho. Paamt-au ta kamoei-en-hou, mama ton tounnoun
ki vullum, k'ma-hynna tou Naei. Ph'ei-kame woe'i k'atta ki
paoul-ian ka mams-ing. Atta-ral-a ki kaeu-itting-en-hou ymiaen-
an, mama ka atta-ral-kame ta ymi-aen ki kaeu-itting-'niaen. Ka
inei-kame dmyllough tou repung-an, rd haoumi-ei-kame ki Lit-
tou. Ka a'mouhou ta Pei-sasou-an, ta pei-lpoug-han, ta keirang-
en ki kidi tou yhkaquan myd-darynnough, Amen."

(2) From Gravius's Formulier des Christendoms.

" Rama-jan ka tou tounnoun kow ki vullum. Pakou-tik-tik-auh
lou-moulough ta Nanang oho. Pa-irou-au ta Pei-sasouan-oho.
Paamt-au ta kamoei-en-hou, mama tou tounnoun, kma-hynna
tou Naei. Pei-kame waei katta ki paoulian ka mamsing. Attaral-
1A ta kaeuitting-en-hou ymi-sen ki kaeuitting-nian. Inei-kame
dmilough tou r'poung-in, ra haoumi-ei-kame ki Lyttou. Ka
'a-mhou ta pei-sasou-an, ta pei-lpoug-en, ta keirang-an ki kidi
tou yhkaquan myddarynnough, Amen."

(3) From Junius's Formosan Catechism.

" Diameta ka tii vullum, Lulugniang ta nanangh oho, Mabaton-
gal ta tao tu gou moho, Mamtalto ki kamoienhu tu naly mama
tu vullum, Pecame ka cagniang wagi kata, Hamiacame ki vari-
viang mamemiang mamia ta varau ki, Tao ka mouro ki ruch
emitang, Inecame poudanga dangach Souaja mecame. Ki lito,
ka imhouato, ta gumaguma kalli puchang kasasamagang mikiqua,
Amen."

(4) From Vertrecht's Favorlang MS.

" Namoa tamau tamasea paga de boesum, ipadasa joa naan.
Ipasaija joa chachimit o ai. Ipa-i-jorr' o oa airab maibas de boe-
sum, masini de ta channumma. Epe-e namono piadai tora uppo
ma-atsikap. So-o abo-e namo tataap a kakossi namoa, maibas
channumma namo mabo tamasea parapies i namo. Hai pasabas
i namo, so-o barras' i namo innai rapies ai. Inau joa micho
chachimit o ai, so-o barro ai, so-o adas ai, taulaulan, Amen."

383

384 APPENDIX

(5) Present-day Sek-hwan Version.

" Niam a A-bah kai-dih ba bau ka-wuss. Ni-suh a la-ngat
tsah, ma-su-zau-u hau riak. Pa-pang-a-sai ni-suh-ah ki-nu la-an.
Pa-pa i ta-du-i ki-ni-sui-a li-ni Xa-dan, di-ni da-Xuh hai-ki, ba
bau ka-wuss. Ba-Xei au-no da-li-o nu-sau-a ki-na-sa-de-lan
yam-i-kah, i-la a na pi-ter-ut-o niam-a-ki-na sa-de-lan. A-na
pa-pa Xi-ta-lam-i yam-i-a ai-za sei-sei. Tu-tul-i niam-mih
pa-ter-ia-di de-sa-del. Hhamoh ki-nu la-an, wa-rut Xi-na ria-
ria-kan, ka kai-i swoan da-duah, mau sei-o ma-si-lo ba-zu ba-
zoach. Lai-ki naim-a hi-niss-a Xi-na la-tu-dan."

(6) Romanized Chinese used by Christians in Formosa.

" Goan e Pe toa ti thi-nih, goan li £ mia tsoe seng ; li e kok
lim-kau, li e chi-i tioh chia ti toe-nih chhin-chhiu ti thi-nih ;
so tioh eng e bi-niu kin-a-jit ho goan ; goan sia-bian tek-tsoe
goan 6 lang, kui sia-bian goan e tsoe ; boh-tit ho goan tu-tioh
chhi, tioh goan chhut phai ; in-ui kok, koan-leng, eng-kng,
long si li e kau tai-tai ; sim so goan."

(7) Psalmanaazaar's Fictitious Version.*

" Amy Pornio dan chin Ornio viey, Gnayjorhe sai Lory,
Eyfodere sai Bagalin, Jorhe sai domion apo chin Ornio, kai chin
Badi eyen, Amy khatsada nadakchion toye ant nadayi, kay
rodonaye ant amy sochin, apo ant radonem amy sochiackchin,
bagne ant kau chin malaboski, ali abinaye ant tuen Broskaey,
kens sai vie Bagalin, kay Fary, kay Barhaniaan chinania sendabey,
Amien."

*The late Dr. Terrien De Lacouperie gave widespread currency to his belief that
the language represented here was not fictitious after all, but no satisfactory evidence
has yet been produced to upset Psalmanaazaar's own confession of deliberate forgery.
See Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. Vol. xix, p. 413 ; the Academy for gth April, 1887 ;
and the present writer's Articles of Christian Instruction in Favorlang-Formosan, pp. xvii.

V.— DESPATCHES RELATING TO FORMOSA.

(1) From Prince Rung to Mr. Wade.

October i, 1874.

The Prince of Kung presents his compliments to Mr. Wade.

The Prince is in receipt of Mr. Wade's Note of the 1 8th day of
the 8th moon (28th September). It contains the fullest proof of
Mr. Wade's very friendly feeling. While treating of what affects
the common interests, it even more concerns the Chinese Govern-
ment. The Prince is extremely grateful for it.

His Highness has learned from the Ministers with whom
Mr. Wade has conferred, everything from first to last that has
fallen from Mr. Wade ; but as, in the questions in the Note under
acknowledgment, there are some points that present difficulties,
and some that require explanation, His Highness has arranged
with the Ministers of the Yamen that they should proceed to the
Legation at i o'clock on the 23rd day of the moon (3rd October)
for a conference with Mr. Wade, when His Highness hopes he
will receive them.

(2) From the Japanese Minister to Earl Derby.

Legation of Japan, 9, Kensington Park Gardens,

February 8, 1875.

My Lord, — I am instructed by Terashima Muenori, Minister of
Foreign Affairs of Japan, to express to your Lordship the deep
sense entertained by my Government of the assistance rendered
by Her Britannic Majesty's Representative at Peking, in effecting
a settlement of the recent difficulty between Japan and China,
with respect to the Island of Formosa.

My Government has already stated to Sir Harry Parker its
keen appreciation of the value of that assistance ; requesting
him, at the same time, to be good enough to transmit its thanks
to your Lordship.

It is, therefore, my duty to repeat and renew the expression of
that appreciation and of those thanks, and I beg your Lordship
to be convinced that I could not possibly have a more agreeable
duty to discharge.

I venture to hope that your Lordship will be pleased to acquaint
Mr. Wade with the feelings which I have the honour to express here,
and that he will accept for himself personally the thanks which
my Government most cordially offer him.

I have, etc.,

WOOYENO KAGENORI.

25 385

INDEX

A-CHUN'S hospitality .
A-li-kang, Coal fields near

— visited by Pastor lap
A-mi-a tribe have schools .
A-rek, Bu-hwan Chief

A-tun, barterer with Bu-hwan .

— boy led out from Po-li-sia
A-ui-a-tan, Ban-hwan Chief
Aborigines in Po-li-sia
Account of Mr. Junius' work .
Admiral Bort at An-peng .

— Courbet dies at Pescadores
Advocatus diaboli
Agricultural College at Wu-chang
Akiyama, Mr., and the blind
Alliance with Japan .

Alston, Bailie (Glasgow) and the

blind

Ambassador Paats at An-peng .
American captain's claim

— clocks sell in China

— Mission, Pastor lap from .

— teachers at Fuh-chau
Amoy, Formosa missionaries at .

— Presbytery of, meets

— Teacher Liong from

— Hymn-writers at .
An-hai station near Amoy
An-peng, Port of Taiwan-fu
Ancestral tablets burned .
Anderson, Dr., on Japanese rule
Ang-khe (student) at Gu-ta-wan
Annals of Formosa .

Anti- Japanese feeling in Formosa
Arabic language

Archbishop on the opium trade .
Archives (Mission) taken to Amoy
Area and population of Formosa
Assault on Elder Bun
Assembly (Westminster), Members
of .....
Asylum for the blind, Glasgow .
Aw-gu-lan, New chapel at

— Ordination at
Aw-sai station near Amoy

" Aye finnin* bits o' things "

PAGE

277

248

60
60
123
66
273
346
344
176
321
288
256
287

254
345
187
290
23
370
I57
1 66

233

245

157

296

223

273
321
241
324
155
261

367

347
254
149
239
1 60
138

PAGE

BA-NIH, Hakka town . . 55
" Babylon the great is fallen " . 334
Bailie Alston and the blind . 254

Bak-sa village and Church . 25

Bamboo leg, Man with a . .143
Ban-hwan tribe . . .307
Bandits in Formosa . . . 332
Bang-kah and Mr. Douglas . 50

— Mackay and Campbell visit 50
Bantam in the Philippines . 2 71
Baptism of 5,900 by Junius . 355
Baptisms increase under Japanese 2 96
Barbadoes millet . . .169
Barbour, Rev. R. W., of Bonskeid 191
Barclay, Rev. T., at Tau-lak . 225

— baptizes 22 in Po-li-sia . 239

— on Japanese rule in For-

mosa .... 362
Bartering with the savages . 194
Bastian, Dr. A., of Berlin . . 122
Batavia, Dutch headquarters . 266

— fails to help Formosa . 267

— Candidius and others at . 337
" Battle of Chiang-hoa " . . 191
Baw-tans punished by Japanese 70, 2 77

— visited by Mr. Campbell . 118
Bax, R. N., Commander . 16, 102
" Beautiful Isle " or Formosa . 265
Beggars in Taiwan-fu . . 17
Belcher, R.N., Captain . . 47
Ben Nevis, Hills higher than . 39
Beng-ho preaching in Sek-hwan . 109
Berlin Ethnographical Museum . 122

— Immorality in . .251
Bethel at Peh-tsui-khe . .103
Bi, Deacon at Bak-sa . .210
Bible dictionary in Chinese . 51
Bird Island of the Pescadores . 1 79
Black-flag soldiers . . .282

— Rock Bay ... 48
Blind, 17,000 in Formosa . . 255

— Education of the . . 254

— Employment for the 254, 259

— brother's sudden calamity . 82

— girls, Work for . .260

— youths as interpreters . 260

386

INDEX

387

PAGE

Blind, Mission School for the . 255

— Government School for the 256
• Glasgow students' help . 257

— Mrs. Graham's help . 254

— Westminster students' gift 257

— Printing books for the . 258
Blockade of Formosa by the

French . . . .156

Bombardment of N. Formosa . 342
Books in the brogue of S. Formosa 362
Borneo, Head-hunters of . .63
Bort, Admiral, at An-peng . 344

Botel Tobago, Island of .47

Bound-footed women . . 23
Boys in Formosa . 54, 165, 180, 200
Bride " led out " . 250

Britain's influence . . . 290
British subjects, Execution of . 274

— Commission on opium . 285

— Philistine in Formosa . 300
trade in opium . .323

Brogue or dialect of S. Formosa . 362
Bu-hwan villages . 42, 59, 62, 115
Bun, Elder, Obituary notice of . 365
Bun-liong killed at Lai-sia . 151

CAKES of human brains . 64, 122

Calcutta Gardens, Seeds from . 311

Cambell, Wm., a Scottishman . 270

Campbell, Mrs. . . . 302

Campbell, N. Moody, Rev. . 239

Camphor, Cultivation of . .312

• Oil produced from . . 307

Camping out . . . 38, 115

Canadian Mission . . 49, 276
Candidius, Lake ... 68

Rev. George . . -336

Candles being stolen . . .141

Cannibals . . . 63, 121
Capital of Formosa, Old and new

15, 363

Carruthers, W., of British Museum 125
Catechumens . 25, 30, 36, 214, 242
Census of Church attendances . 361
Certificate of character . .140
Ceylon and coffee blight . .312
Chambers of Commerce . . 298
Chang Chih-tung, Viceroy . . 288
Chapel in Taiwan-fu described . 18
Chapels in Po-li-sia . . .107
Charges against the Japanese . 293
Charles, King, of England . . 270
Chiah-be, Teacher and Pastor 225, 240
Chiah-kham in the Pescadores . 178
Chiang-hoa, Work begun at .184
Missionaries resident at . 292

Chiang-hoa, First meeting of Synod

held at . . . 190
Chief A-rek .... 60

— A-ui-a-tan ... 66

— of Ka-piang . . . 195

— Pai-ta-buk . . .107
Chieftainess, Tsarisen . .195
Children at Government schools . 318
Children's service at Toa-lam . 109
Chin-chiu city, its fame . . 157

— Work for the blind at .255
China Association . . . 298
China Mail .... 293
Chinese mandarinate . .284

— marriages . . .250

— students in Japan . . 288

— written characters . .241
Chinese Recorder for Nov. 1908 . 362
Ching-keng-mai, King of Tywan 269
Chiu ..... 17
Chiu Paw-ha, Preacher . . 46
Chiu-nih village . . .51
Chiu-sia-hun cannibals . . 121
Christian Movement in Japan . 363
Christian officials in Formosa . 295

— progress under the Japanese 297

— traditions in Formosa . 273
Church children at school . . 318

— title-deeds of property . 312
Churches (Japanese) in Formosa. 335
Cimmerian darkness . . 133
Cinchona planting in Formosa . 311
Civil Governor, Dr. Goto . .298
Cliffs (very high) on E. Coast 48, 261
Climate of Formosa . . . 264
Clocks can be sold in China . 290
Coal-fields near A-li-kang . . 265

— near Keelung . . . 277
Coffee blight in Ceylon . . 312
College at Fuh-chau . . .370

— at Cambridge . . 257

— Theological at Tainan . 233
Collinson, R.N., Captain . . 171
Colonizing at Luchu . . . 327

— in Korea . . . 329

— in Sandwich islands . 328

— in Formosa . . . 328
Colporteur Ham's address . 162

— Li Pa's work . . . 209
Communicants' class at Bak-sa . 25
Concubinage in China . . 250
Conference of Christian women . 252
Consul Bullock . . .115

— Gibson .... 17

— Henderson . . . 102

— Hurst 262

388

SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

Consul Swinhoe

— Wawn .

— visits the Pescadores
Consular offices opened

PAGE

47
312
179
275

— order about Saw Bay . 308
Conversion of hospital patient . 144
Converts, Disputes amongst . 112

— their exemplary lives . 94

— of the Dutch Mission . 361

— Mr. Tan at Hong Kong . 140

— Po-tsai, Dishes prepared by 131
Cork leg, Bamboo instead of a . 143
Correspondent of the China Mail

293, 299

Couch Island, Evangelizing on . 134
Courbet, Admiral, at the Pesca-
dores . . . . .173
Court of Enquiry at Giam-cheng 147

— at Takow . . .187
Courtship among the savages . 247
Coyett, Governor at An-peng 267, 269
Crete, Island of . . .164
Crispe, Mr. Ellis . . .270

DARWIN'S Origin of Species . 133
Dashing-Lake County . .171
De Mailla's Notes on Formosa . 273
De Wet, A Formosan . -332
Deacon Bi of Bak-sa . .210

— Ka-pau of Lai-sia . . 372

— Tsu-ong of Giam-cheng . 223

— Ui-jin of Tek-a-kha . 215
Delacouperie, Prof., on Formosa 266
Dentistry by Dr. G. L. Mackay . 153
Devotees at Sa-te-chu . . 323
Dialect or brogue of S. Formosa . 362
Dickson, Dr. Matthew . 29, 33, 82
Dictionary, Sakams . . • 339
Discontent in Formosa . .321
Disputes among the converts . 112
Divorces among the people . 250
Dome Point in E. Formosa . 47
Dominicans in Formosa . .275
Donations for the blind . 255, 257
Douglas, Rev. C. . . 28, 157
Drinking-cups, Double . . 203
Dutch in the Pescadores . 171, 266

— in Formosa . 171, 266, 336

— Pastors, list of . - 345

Dwarf, H.M.S 16

Dzoe, pioneer preacher in N.

Formosa ... 50, 53

EARLY Christian converts . 361

Earthquake at Ka-gi . . 82

East Formosa harbourless . . 262

— opened by Governor Liu . 279

East India Co. (English) in For-
mosa ..... 270
Eclipse of the moon at Ka-gi . 78
Edinburgh Missionary Conference 363
Editor of China Mail . .299
Editors (Japanese) in China . 289
Education in Government schools

242, 314

— an aid to evangelizing . 363
Egresse or Regresse of Mr.

Junius . . . 352, 356

Embossed books for the blind . 254
Emperor canonizes Koxinga . 321
Eng-chun a good field for work . 157
English E. India Co. in Formosa . 270

— Mission begins work . 276

— services conducted . 21, 52
Erromango, Williams of . .48
Europeans help missionaries . 102
Evangelizing in Mid-Formosa . 150

— aided by educational work 363

— Importance and methods of 1 66
Execution of British subjects . 274
Executive Committees, Mission . 363
Exorcising spirit from well . 66
Exploded shells at Ma-keng . 1 74
Exploitation of China by Japan 288
Eyes closed during prayer . . 162

FAVORLANG district . . 340

Feasting at Tu-kuh-vul . . 202

Female field workers . 170,247
Ferguson,Mrs.D., Obituary notice 374

— Rev. D., quoted . . 363
Fire at Tang-kang . .22
Fisher Island, Pescadores . .168
Flesh (human) eaten by savages . 121
Flight of President Liu . .283
Fokienese in Formosa . .170
Foot-binding custom . . 55
Foreigners in Formosa . . 292
Formosa, its area and people . 261

— women and children . 247

— has 1 7,000 blind people . 255

— opened to foreign trade . 2 75

— ceded to Japan . .281

— Association . . .329
Formulary of Christianity . . 341
Fort Zeelandia . . .267
Forty-day disciples . . . 362
Franco-Chinese war . . 154,277
Frater, Consul . . . .148
Free Church College, Glasgow . 15
French bombard N. Formosa 154, 172
Fruits of Formosa . . .264
Fugita, Dr., of Taichu . . 3°4

INDEX

389

Fuh-chau missionaries
Fung-shui superstition

PAGE

48, 37°
95. 297

" GAEPIT wide but naething

spak " . . . .114

Gardiner in Patagonia . . 48
Gaw-che, Evangelizing in . 150, 228
Gaw-chi-ko, his illegal acts 87, 97

Gaw-khaw village ... 50
General Nogi captures Tainan . 283
Genii-water as medicine . . 320
Geographical Society of Tokyo . 329
German clocks sell in China . 290
Gi-lan County .... 266

— Messrs. Mackay and

Campbell in . .151
Gibson, Acting Vice-Consul . 17

— Dr. J. C., on Wen-li. . 362
Giquel, M., of the Fuh-chau Ar-
senal ..... 71

Girls' School buildings at Shang-
hai 288

Girls' Mission Schools in Formosa 252
Girls, Work for blind . . 260

Glasgow Free Church College . 15

• students raise ^525 for
blind . ... 255 i

Goa-in of Ka-poa-soa deposed . 148
Gold, Working of, in Formosa . 265
" Golden Longevity " shop sign . 230
Gorge in the mountains . .123
Gospel embossed for the blind . 254
Goto, Dr., Civil Governor . .298

— his reforms in Formosa . 300
Government teaching savages 248, 316

• school for the blind . . 256

— servants as Christians . 335
Governor Liu Ming-chuan . 278, 334

— Tang of Fuh-chau . .277
Governor General Kabayama . 256

— Kodama and the blind . 256

— and the Ka-gi earthquake 83

— powers extended . - 333
Graham, Miss, and the blind 255, 372

— Mrs., and the blind . . 254
Grant, Dr. D., of Chin-chiu . 158
Gratitude of Chinese patients . 143
Gravius, Rev. D. 340
Great Island of the Pescadores . 169
Greek Kalends . . . 229
Gu-khun-soa in Po-li-sia . . 59
Gu-ma-thau village . . .150
Gu-ta-wan, Evangelizing in .221
Gutzlaff, Rev. Dr., at Pescadores 176

HA, To-tai (or, Governor) . .188

Hai, Mr. Saw, and the blind . 259
Hakkas in Formosa . . 55,249
Ham, Colporteur, his address . 162
Hambroek, Rev. A., his bravery 268, 343
Handicrafts for the blind . . 259
Hans, Olaf, Rev. . . . 339
Harbours in Formosa . 262, 307
Hare, Mr. G. T., on romanizing . 362
Hau-hi Tng-soa, Preacher . . 102
Haunted house in Ka-gi . . 76

— well at Tur-u-wan . . 66
Haw-law-tun town . . .150
Head-hunters . . 64, 120, 279
Henderson, Consul (American) . 102
Heng-chun, Alleged wreck at . 187
" Hey, Johnnie Cope " . 290
Hill stations, Sacraments at . 30
Hiogo, Mr. Detring at . .280
History of the Dutch Mission . 336
Hobson, Commissioner . . 188
Hoe-lian-kang on E. Coast 279, 307
Holy men and water at Sa-te-chu 320
Hospital (Mission) at Tainan 16, 144

— at Takow closed . 233, 369

— at Chiang-hoa sub -centre 292
House of Commons, Members of . 347
Human-brain cakes . . 64, 122
Hurst, Consul, on Takow harbour 262
Hwan-a-chan station . 44, 84
Hymn-book for S. Formosa . 244

— found very useful . .223
Hymn-tunes of the Sek-hwan . 245
Hymnology at Amoy . .244

IAP, Pastor, from Amoy . 23, 24

Ichikawa, Murder of Mr. . -333
Idol-burning at Giam-cheng . 90
" Ilha Formosa," Cry of the

Portuguese . . . .265
Immorality in Formosa . .251
Imperial canonization of Koxinga 321
Improvement Associations in China 289
Improvements of the Japanese . 328
In-patient's gratitude . .144
Indemnity from China to Japan . 281
India, Commission on opium . 285
Ingresse of Mr. Junius . -352
Inquest on Un-ong . . .167
Interpreting by blind persons . 260

— by A-tun for Bu-hwan 62, 64

— Ku-a-mih for the Ka-le . 204

— Schravenbroek at Sakam . 344
long sim si hymn-book . .259
Irrigation in Formosa . .264
Islington Church, London . . 15
Ito Hirobumi, Marquis . .288

390

SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

lu-boe-kio, near Amoy

PAGE
1 60

JACK ROBINSON, Ere he could

say 127

Jam-making, Attempt at . .136

Japan has high ideals . . 290

— punishes the Baw-tans . 70
Japanese army enters Tainan . 282

— churches in Formosa . 335

— expedition of 1874 . . 276

— officers at Tainan . . 71

— officials, Christians amongst

them .... 296

— population of Formosa . 331

— rule in Formosa commend-

able .... 295

— sell clocks in China . . 290

— school buildings at Shang-

hai . . . . 288

— script in Formosa . . 241

— sentry fires . . . 283
Jih sin pao of Tientsin . . 289
Journal of Formosa Association . 329
Junk Island of the Pescadores . 169
Junius, Rev. R. 336

KA-BA-LAN Plain . . .151
Kabayama, Count . . . 256
Ka-gi . . .72, 99, 104, 272
Ka-le or Tsarisen tribe . .193
Ka-pau, Obituary notice of . 372
Ka-piang village . . .194
Ka-poa-soa station ... 44
Ka-ti, Elder, Obituary notice of . 369
Kam-a-na station . . 25, 30

Kan-ta-ban tribe . . 68, 307
Kap-tsu-lan Plain . . . 151
Karenko in E. Formosa . . 307
Keelung . . .154, 280

Khai-san of Po-li-sia . . 40

Khe-chiu village . . .217
Khi-boe, near Amoy. . . 165
Kiam-tsui-kang town . .221
Kiat-poe-su in Pescadores . 179

Kinoshita, Prefect . . 303, 313
Kirk-session in Formosa . 338, 339
Kui-kiong-na village . .105

Knitting work for blind girls . 260
Kodama, Viscount, and the blind 256
Kong-a-na station . . 26, 30
Korea, Japanese in . . . 328
Koxinga invades Formosa 267, 342

— becomes King of Tywan . 269

— canonized by Emperor . 321

— Temples erected to . 320, 321

Koxinga' s successor submits to

Manchus . . .271

Ku-a-lut savages . . 118, 187

Ku-a-mih, Interpreter . . 204

Ku-a-thau village . . . 308

Ku-la-lutch village . . . 203

Kumi Island . . . .47

LA-KU-LI village . . .263
Ladder of knives ... 77
Lagoon at Takow . . . 262
Lai-sia village . . .34, 55, 150
Lake Candidius . . 68, 106

Lam-gan station . . .193
Lam-liau in Pescadores . .177
Lambay Island . . .187

Lang, Dr., operates on barber . 146
Lang-wah ! lang-wah ! .198

Languages, Eastern . . . 241
Lapsed Church members . .219

Lau-long, east of Tainan . . 311
Lau-seng's sermon . . . 234
Law Liong, College Tutor . . 233
Law-tek, School-teacher . .317
" Leading out " Chinese bride . 250
Leg of bamboo, Man with a ,143
Letter from English E. India Co. 270

— Charles, King of England . 270
Leviticus, Book of, quoted . 139
Li-Hung-chang, Viceroy . . 281
Li Pa, Colporteur 72, 209, 228, 230
Liau-tung Peninsula . .281
Lim Ang, Teacher of the blind 255, 372
Lim Chiah-be, Pastor . 225, 240
Lim-ki-paw village . . 106,311
Lim Kiam-kim of Pescadores 21, 177
Lin-lok Plain, Chased over . 130
Liong- bun-si, near Amoy . 160, 165
Lip tumour removed . .146
List of Dutch Pastors . 345, 346
Literati of China . . 17, 284
Liu-liu-pan village . . . 148
Liu Ming-chuan, Governor 278, 334

— Yung-fuh, President . 282
" Live-and-let-live " principle . 298
Liverpool, Departure from . 15
Loa, Mr., stealing candles . . 141
Location of churches . . 360
Locomotion at Ka-piang . .201
Lok-kang, Harbour at . . 307
London Executive Committee . 363

— Immorality in . .251

— Presbytery (of E. P. Church) 15
Long-kiau village . . 71, 266
Luchu, Japanese colonizing in . 327
Luchuans on Samasana Island . 47

INDEX

391

PAGE

Lundie, Rev. R. H., of Liverpool. 15
Lutgens, Mrs., Matron of Orphan-
age . . 341

— Rev. I., died on Pescadores 341

MA-KENG, premises rented at . 181
Macao and the Dutch . .171
Machine for Braille printing . 259
Machinery for turbine wheel . 309
Macgregor, Rev. Dr., of Arnoy . 135
Mackay, Rev. G. L., at Swatow . 49

— at Takow and engages Dzoe 50

— visited by Mr. Campbell 48, 151
at Amoy before the blockade 155

— his teeth-pulling work . 153

— high character of the man . 153
Macleish, Dr., of Amoy . . 157
Macphail, Rev. W. M., from

London . . . .192

Magistrate of Heng-chun . .188

— of Ka-gi superstitions . 79

— of Pi-thau oppressive . 23
Manchuria, Mission work in . 242
Manchus invade China . . 267
Manson, Dr. P., at Takow . . 369
Mark Tapley's opportunity . 124
Marquis Ito signs Treaty . . 288

— Salisbury and opium . 324
Martyrdom of Dutch pastors 268, 344
Massage done by the blind . 259
Matheson, Mr. H. M . . 298
Maxwell, Dr. J. L., senior . . 16

— at Lai-sia . . .162

— on Elder Bun . . 366
Medical Colleagues, Work of 143, 363

— College at Taihoku . .369
Messenger (Church) Ka-pau . 373
Methodist College at Fuh-chau . 370
Milton's Paradise Lost . .270
Ming dynasty overthrown . 267
Miriam and Moses, Song of . 114
Mission work has two sides . 361
Missionaries' house at Tainan . 18

brave act . . . 283

— withdraw from Takow . 233
Miyako islands . . 40, 70
Monkey cutlets for dinner . 1 32
Moon letters for the blind . . 254
Moonlight for open-air preaching 180
Morals, Japanese and public . 334
Moses' song at the Red Sea . 1 14
Mott, Dr., on uniting our Colleges 363
Moulvie stealing our candles . 141
Mount Morrison referred to . 19
Mountain scenery described . 37
Mulvaney's advice . . . 287

Murder of Bun-liong

— Un-ong

— Mr. Ichikawa

PAGE

no
J47
333

NATIVE Pastors, Efficiency of . 24
National Poet, Our great . .114
Naturalist from America . . 115
Needles given to savages . . 66

Newspaper suspended at Tainan 294
Newspapers in Formosa . . 243

— at Shanghai and Tientsin . 289
Nieuhoff, Dutch historian . . 343
Nippon Yusen Kaisha . . 290
Nogi, General, at Tainan . . 283
North China Herald . . .332
Norwegian barque Daphne . 46

OBITUARY Notices . . 365
Officials and merchants, Friendly 102
Ong Kia baptized . . .28
Open-air meetings by moonlight . 180

— Interruptions at . 44, 52
Opium in Japan proper . . 325

— in Formosa . . 285, 323

— in the Pescadores . .170

— trade statistics . . 326

— Europeans trading in . 212
Ordination of Mr. Tsan . . 238
Orders in Council for Formosa . 333
Origin of Species by Darwin . 133
Orphanage at Sakam . . 341
Osaka, Chinese prisoners at . 280

— harbour . . . 307

— Shosen Kaisha . . 290
Out-patients are grateful . . 145

PAI-A village visited . . 229

Pai-ta-buk, Tsui-hwan Chief . 107

Pak-kang market-town . . 308

Palaver meeting-place . .203

Paradise Lost . . . .270

Paris, Immorality in . .251

Pastor lap from Amoy . . 27

— Tan Swan-leng . . 159
Pastors superior to missionaries . 24
Patagonians, Gardiner among the 48
Patented machine for printing . 259
Pathological work at Taichu . 304
Pecksniff, Mr., in Formosa . 300
Peh-tsui-ia, near Amoy . . 157
Peh-tsui-khe converts . . 43

— • Persecution at . .91

— persecutors punished 103, 148
Peking Gazette on Formosa . 279
Peng Ong at Tur-u-wan . . 61

392

SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

PAGE

Pentateuch circulating in For-
mosa ..... 273
Perils of waters at Tai-an . .125

— at Tang-kang . .126
Persecution at Pi-thau . . 23
Pescadores described . 168, 263

— Dutch settle there . .266

— Mr. Campbell pioneering

on . . . 168

Petroleum wells . . .265
Philistine, British, in Formosa . 300
Phoenix-hill County . . .272
Photographic Club, Gift to . 293
Pi-po-hwan aborigines . 26, 248
Pi-thau chapel destroyed . . 23
Pickering, Mr., of Singapore 40, 237
Pickwickian honesty . .138

Pistol fired by Mr. Steere . .117
Plants (dried) lost at Tai-an . 125
Po-li-sia described ... 39

— Gospel reaches 40, 41, 42, 59, 237

— Mrs. Ritchie's work in . 150

— Mr. Barclay visits . . 239

— first ordination there . 237
Po-song on East Formosa . . 47
Po-tsai or Precious- treasure (cook) 138
Poah-be station . . 26, 30
Poet, Our great National . . 114
Population of Formosa . .286

— of Japanese there . 331

— of the Pescadores . .169
Port Arthur, Fall of . . .280
Portuguese cry out " Ilha For-
mosa ! " . . . 265

Preacher Beng-ho . . .109

— Hau-hi Tng-soa . .102

— Li Pa . . . .72

— Lim Ang . . . 372

— Lim Kiam-kim . 21, 177

— Tek-tsu of lu-boe-kio . 159

— Teng-iam ... 45

— Tiong at Pescadores . 1 79

— Tsok-pang . . . 371
Prefect Kinoshita of Taichu 303, 313

— of Tainan and the blind . 260
Presbytery of Amoy . .166

— of Tainan . . 239, 244

— of Glasgow (Free Church) . 15

— of London (E. P. Church) . 15
Prison at Taichu . . . 304
Proclamation on Christianity . 104
Productions of Formosa . .264
Progresse of Mr. Junius . -353
Prostitution, Taxes on . . 251
Psalm cxxiv, Singing of . .190
Psalms in Chinese . . . 244

" Puddin," our house mastiff . 137

Pulex irritans . . . .119

Pulo Ay, Island of . . . 269

Pun-tih, Ka-le village of . .198

QU ARTUS, a Formosan brother . 3 72
Quinine, Attempt to introduce . 311

RAILWAYS introduced . 277, 279
Rats cooked for breakfast . . 131
Rattan used as a rope . .123
Rebels in Formosa . . . 332
Red Sea, Song at the . .114
Reforms under Governor Tang . 277

— Governor Liu . .278

— Dr. Goto . . . 299
Registering Church title-deeds 293, 312
Regresse of Mr. Junius . .356
Rennie, Dr. T., of Takow . . 369
Republic of Formosa 261, 282, 294
Ritchie, Mrs., in Po-li-sia . .150

— Rev. H., his work . . 16
River system of Formosa . .263
" Rock of Ages " in Chinese . 245
Roman Catholic Mission . .360

— orphanage work . .260
Romanizing versus Chinese writing 362
Rover Channel in the Pescadores . 1 69
Russian aggressiveness . .287

S.P.G., in Formosa . . . 360
Sa-tsap-tiu-le village . . 229

Sabbath, Keeping of, by foreigners 2 1
Sai-le oranges . . . .265
Saigo, General, at Long-kiau . 71
Sakam village . . 337, 340, 342
Sakams dictionary . . -339
Samarang, H.M.S. ... 47
Sand Island, Pescadores . .179
Sand kept out of the sugar . 291

Sandwich islands . . . 328
Saturday-ites' mistake . . 113
Saul of Tarsus . . .142

Savages under Governor Liu . 279

— Bartering with . 1 94

— boy carrying human heads 120

— women and children . 247

— attending school . . 247

— Books prepared for the 339, 341
Saw Bay, Foreigners south of . 308
Saw Hai, his work for the blind . 258
Scenery of Formosa . . .19

— of the Pescadores . .169
School, Central, in Po-li-sia . 109
Schoolmaster abroad in Formosa . 315

INDEX

393

Schools in Formosa . 252, 314, 316
Schravenbroek, Mr., at Sakam . 344
Scotland, One's own dear native . 49

— Village with turbine wheel

in . . -3°9

— Help from churches in . 255

— Highlanders of . .290
Scottishman W. Cambell . . 270
Scriptures for the blind . .254
Se-keng, Elder, at Gu-ta-wan . 223

— Obituary notice of . . 368
Sea-cliffs, highest in the world . 261
Seals for stamping title-deeds . 314
Seamy side of Mission work . 361
Sek-hwan, Work begun amongst . 41

— and Tai-peng rebellion . 103

— Dialect for preaching in . 109
Seng si koa hymn-book . . 245
Sermon by Lau-seng . . . 234

— on the Mount studied . 164
Servant-boy (former) ordained . 238
Servant-question in China . 138
Shanghai, Japanese school at . 288

— Tung-wen Hu-pao . .289
Shimonoseki, Treaty of .281
Shipwreck (alleged) at South

Cape . ... 187

Shipwrecks on N.W. Formosa . 274
north of the Pescadores . 179
Shoka or Chiang-hoa, Work

begun at . .182

— Missionaries residing at . 292
Synod of Formosa formed

there .... 190
Shore, R.N., Lieut. . . .102
Sim Po-seng from Peking . . 70
Simon van Breen, Rev. . . 339
Sin-ki, Mr., College Tutor . . 369
Sin-tek, Railway to . . .280
Sinbad the Sailor . . .128
Singapore, Protectorate of Chinese 237
Sio Paw-sia region . . .308
Siong-te or God . . . 207
Slaughter of Dutch by Koxinga . 343
Small-footed women can walk far 23
Smith, Rev. Dr. A. H., quoted . 241
Rev. D. Smith at Ka-gi . 369
Soldiers at Peh-tsui-khe . .100
Sooke, Captain . . .271

Statistics of Churches, see Appendix.

• of opium trade . . 326
Steeple channel in the Pescadores 1 69
Steere, Mr., Naturalist . .116
Stone- thro wing at Ka-gi . . 79
Students sent to Japan . .288
Sulphur deposits . . .265

" Survival of the fittest " . . 290

Swatow, Rev. G. L. Mackay at . 49

Swinhoe, Consul ... 47

Sylvia, H.M.S. ... 47

Synod, first meeting in Formosa . 1 91

TAI-AN, River, Fording of . 125
Tai-kah, Accident at river . . 127

— Evangelizing at . .229
Tai-peng rebels and Sek-hwan . 102
Taichu Daily News . . . 303

— Prefecture, Long sojourn in 302
Tainan, formerly Taiwan-fu . 255

— Prefecture of . . .278

— described . . .16

— School for the blind at . 256

— Threatened destruction of 283
Taiwan-fu, the former capital . 15

— origin of the name . .265

— Prefecture in Mid-Formosa 278
Takow, Rev. G. L. Mackay at . 49

— its harbour room . .262

— opened to foreign trade . 275

— Court of Enquiry at . 187

— Mission Hospital at . 369

— Missionaries cease to reside

at . . .233

Tamil language . . . 241
Tamsui, Description of .49

— opened to foreign trade . 49

— Canadian Mission begun

work at ... 49

— French bombardment of . 154
Tan Ching's certificate . .140

— Swan-leng, Pastor . .159

— Toa-lo of Thaw-khaw . 208
Tang, Governor of Fuh-chau . 277
Tang-kang town ... 22

— Dangerous crossing of river 126

— Fire at . . . .22
Tang-si-kak, Evangelizing at . 150
Tang-toa-tun village . . 230, 303

— site of Prefectural city . 303
Tau-laktown . . . .148
Taw-kun-eng, Dr. Lang at .145

— Lau-seng's sermon there . 234
Taxes on opium and prostitution . 334
Teeth-pulling by Dr. Mackay . 153
Tek-a-kha village . 22, 214
Tek-cham town . .54
Tek-tsu, Preacher . .159
Telegraphs introduced . 277
Temples, Koxinga . . 320
Teng-chioh village . .177
Teng-iam, Preacher . . 45

394

SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA

Thain, Davidson, Rev. Dr. . 15

Thau-sia, Beginning of work at . 84
Thaw-kaat-khut village . . 307
Thaw-khaw, Evangelizing at . 207
Thaw-sia village . . . 308

T hales, SS 300

" The Lord's my Shepherd " . 201
" The sands of time are sinking " 201
Theological College, Union . 363

Thian-su, Mr., at Fuh-chau . 370
Thick baptized at Tek-a-kha . 217
Thompson, Sir Wm. . .270

Thong-su of Ka-poa-soa . . 148

— of Peh-tsui-khe . . 88

— of Sin-kang . . .210
Tiau, Mr., College student . . 207
Tientsin Jih-jih Sin-pao . . 289

— Treaty of, opens Formosa

Ports ... 49

Tilosen or Tsulosan . . .272
Tiong, Preacher, at the Pescadores 179
Title-deeds of Church property 293, 312
Titus, Epistle to, examined . 164
To-tai (Governor) Ha . .188
Toa-kho-ham district . . 265
Toa-lam village . . 58, 107
Toa-sia Church . . 34, 36

— Missionary meeting at . 181

— begins work at Chiang-hoa 182
Toa-un, blind evangelist . . 82
Tokyo, Mr. Campbell's visit to . 256
Toronto Executive Mission Com-
mittee . . . . 363

Trade of Formosa . . . 266

— pushed by Japanese . 289
Traditions (Christian) in Formosa 273
Translation Societies in China . 289
Treaty of Nanking . . .274

— Shimonoseki . . .281

— Tientsin . . . 275
Trolley lines in Formosa . . 303
Tsan, Mr., ordained as Pastor . 238
Tsarisen tribe visited . 193, 199
Tsok-pang, Obituary notice of . 371
Tsu-chip town visited . .105
Tsu-ong, Deacon . . . 223
Tsui-be in East Formosa . . 279
Tsui-hwan savages . 59, 68, 106
Tsui-li-khi village . . .149
Tsulosan or Ka-gi . . .272

PAGE

Tu-kuh-vul village . . .201

Tunes (hymn) in Po-li-sia . . 244

Tung-wen Hu-pao . . .289

Tur-u-wan village . . 60, 115

Turbine wheel machinery . . 309

Turkish language . . .241

Twa-tiu-tia, Railway to . . 279

Twenty shillings to the pound . 29 1

Types for Braille printing . 254, 259

UI-JIN, Deacon at Tek-a-kha . 215

Un-ong murdered . . . 147

Union Theological College . 363

Uprisings in Formosa . . 332

VALENTYN, Dutch historian . 336
Van Breen, Rev. Simon . . 339
Variegated-net Hill County . 272
Viceroy Chang Chih-tang . .288

— Li Hung-chang . .281

— Liu .... 289

WADE, T. E., British Minister at

Peking . . .277

— averts war between China

and Japan . . 73, 321
Wall of Tainan pierced for rail-
way 297

War-scare in South Formosa . 155
Watches, two presentation ones

lost .... 100, 130
Wawn, Consul, on camphor . 312
Well, Haunted, at Tur-u-wan . 66

— Holy, at Sa-te-chu . . 320
Wen-li books for Chinese . . 362
Westminster Abbey . . .314

— College students' gift . 257
Williams of Erromanga . . .48
Women (Christian) met in Con-
ference . . .252

— Bound-footed, walking far
Work for the blind . . .23
Worms eaten on Couch Island . 134
Wright, Rev. Dr. W., and the

blind ..... 254
Wu-chang Agricultural College . 288

YANG-TZE valley . . .288
Yokohama sea wall . . 307

HUNT, BARNARD & Co., LTD., PRINTERS, LONDON AND AYLESBURY.

BY THE SAME.

In square 8vo., pp. XIV and 630. Price 12s.

FORMOSA UNDER THE DUTCH: Described from Con-
temporary Records with Explanatory Notes, and a Bibliography.

" It forms a monumental evidence of this devoted missionary's interest in the Island where he has
laboured in connection with the Presbyterian Church of England for over thirty years. . . . We
congratulate Mr. Campbell on the successful accomplishment of a most laborious task in the preparation
of an invaluable compendium of first-hand historical material. The very full Bibliography appended
completes the volume as an exhaustive work of reference on the subject of which it treats." — Missionary
Record of the United Free Church of Scotland.

II.

In small 8vo., pp. XII and 1067. Price 6s.

A DICTIONARY OF THE AMOY VERNACULAR:

Spoken throughout the Prefectures of Chin-Chiu, Chiang-Chiu and
Formosa.

III.
In square 8vo., pp. XVI and 199. Price 5s.

FAVORLANG-FORMOSAN : The Articles of Christian Instruc-
tion in Favorlang-Formosan, Dutch and English. From Ver-
trecht's MS. of 1650; with Psalmanazer's Dialogue between a
Japanese and a Formosan, and Happart's Favorlang Vocabulary.

" These documents are of the greatest possible interest and value to students of the history of the
Formosan dialects, and incidentally they have much in them that deserves the attention of students of
Mission history. As the recent cession of Formosa to Japan promises to have definite effects upon
the course of missionary enterprise there, the book may be said to appear at an opportune moment ;
and every one who reads or consults it will be grateful to Mr. Campbell for the skill and care with
which he has edited the texts." — Scotsman.

In square 8vo., pp. XVI and 174. Price 5s.

SINKANG-FORMOSAN : St. Matthew in Sinkang-Formosan,
Dutch and English. Edited from Gravius' edition of 1661.

" Leyden possesses the only known copy of this striking witness to Dutch missionary zeal, and
the present edition is published by permission of the University Authorities. It gives the original
text in Formosan and black-letter Dutch in parallel columns, with the corresponding English at the
foot of each page, a facsimile of the original Title-page, and the Translator's address " To the Godly
and Discreet Reader." In this curious and ingenuous production, Gravius refers to his labours in
that part of the Island of Formosa which was then one of the possessions of the Dutch East India
Company, and ' a choice field of action in the Indies for zealous and energetic preachers ' ; of whom,
assuredly, Gravius was an eminent example. Now, in other circumstances, the need is not less great,
as Mr. Campbell points out, nor is the field of action more restricted, of which Mr. Campbell gives an
interesting account. The edition is admirably printed by Messrs. Constable."— Saturday Review.

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