202 Mr. R. Swinhoe on Formosan Ornithology. 



was honoured with the rank of Chinese Count, and detained for 

 life at Peking ; and Western Formosa, or Taiwan, was placed 

 under the government of the Mantchoos, and became a district 

 commanded by a Taoutai or Prefect, under the Viceroy of the 

 province of Fokien, in the 22nd year of Kanghe (a.d. 1683), 

 as it remains to this day. 



The island of Formosa, lying between north latitude 25° 20' 

 and 21° 54', of an area about equal to the half of Ireland, was 

 first designated by the name it now bears by the Portuguese, from 

 the beauty of its scenery ; the Spaniards applied to it their word 

 with the same meaning — Hermosa. It is termed by the Chinese 

 Taiwan or Terrace Bay, which name was first applied to the once 

 small island ofi" the capital. The whole island, as we before noted, 

 was, some two centuries back, in the hands of wild tribes of the 

 Malay type, who were divided, according to Dutch records, into 

 a vast number of petty communities, each ruled by its king or 

 chief, and speaking different dialects. The lapse of time has 

 wrought a great change in the condition of the inhabitants. 

 The Chinese emigrants from Amoy, Chinchew, and Swatow, 

 with a small number of Cantonese, have possessed themselves 

 of almost the entire western seaboard, as far south as lat. 22° 20', 

 up to the foot of the mountains, which run north and south, 

 and nearly divide the island in half. The Chinese territory 

 continues round the north coast, and on the east side down to 

 Sawo, lat. 24° 37'. It will thus be seen that on the west side 

 the savage has been driven almost entirely from the coast to the 

 refuge of the mountain fastnesses, on which the colonists are 

 daily encroaching. On the east he still enjoys a long line of 

 coast ; but it is so steep and precipitous, destitute of harbours, 

 and bounded by a fathomless ocean, that the Chinese make no 

 attempt to possess themselves of it. On this coast there are a 

 few sandy nooks, with barred-up mountain-streams, whence 

 small fishing-boats issue on to the sea. These boats are plied by 

 the few Chinese who make a living among the savages ; for the 

 aboriginals are too wild and too proud to stoop from the chase 

 to such menial work. The savages still maintain their distinct- 

 ness of tribes and dialects; but they have sadly dwindled in 

 number, and will continue to decrease before the sturdy ad- 



