BOOK NOTICE. 207 



in a fine illustration. It must be one of the grandest coasts in the world, but 

 there is not much pleasure on it, and no anchorage. A party from the "Marchesa" 

 landed, well armed, and admired the scenery greatly; but saw only one bird (not 

 described) and caught nothing but a snake, 9 feet long (not identified). They 

 saw tracks of deer and wild cats, and on their return to the boats, those of a 

 native who had been dogging them, possibly with a view to dinner. After which, 

 the surf having risen, they had to swim off to their boat with the aid of a life-belt 

 and line ; and made no further attempt to inspect Eastern Formosa, which is entirely 

 in the hands of inhospitable and probably Cannibal savages, and likely to remain 

 so for some time yet. 



They therefore proceeded to the comparatively civilized portion of the island 

 colonized by the Chinese, landed at Ke-lung, and went overland (partly by 

 river) to Tamsui ; remarking, chiefly, the great variety and beauty of the bamboos, 

 a thing worth noticing, as these ports lie under the 26th degree N. L. Dr. 

 Guillemard observes that Aralia Papyrifera, the plant whose pith furnishes 

 what we somewhat perversely call " rice-paper," is peculiar to Formosa, " a fact 

 not generally known." He notes that the lofty eastern mountains of the island, 

 catching the rainstorms of the Pacific, make it " a sort of umbrella for the eastern 

 coasts of China" ; and that the detritus constantly washed dowu from them bids 

 fair some day to unite the island to continental Asia. 



Tamsui and Ke-lung have been a good deal before the public since the 

 " Marchesa's" visit, in connection with their occupation by the French ; and it is 

 not, therefore, necessary to quote here Dr. Guillemard's account of them and their 

 environs. On the whole, he considered Formosa "a very good country to live out 

 of;" and gladly departed for Liu-Kiu (which we used to call Loo-choo). 



His researches in that archipelago were such as may best be dealt with by our 

 " chum" Society, the Anthropological- The Islands, he says, "still remain an 

 almost virgin ground " in respect of natural history; and he brought no specimen 

 out of them to speak of, except a " large and beautifully iridescent shell (Avricula 

 Micropteron) very rare on the Island, and greatly valued for its beauty." Bird 

 life appears to be exceedingly poor in Liu-Kiu. Of plants he notices pine trees, 

 pink lotus, and "feathery fronds of the tree-fern." It is not easy for the reader 

 to guess whether this last is the same plant noticed a page or two further on as 

 " the stiff-looking Cycas." At any rate, this last is extensively planted, for what 

 purpose we are not told.* The other vegetation mentioned is all sub-tropical. 

 The Islands, at the time of the' "Marchesa's" visit, were passing under Japanese 

 dominion, and will probably soon cease to be terra incognita. 



She sailed from thence to Japan, and here again we have reason to be grateful to 

 Dr. Guillemard for judicious abstention. He really only bestows a line and a 

 half upon the " mousmis " ; and a page and a half on the whole country ; and 

 leaves the reader to learn " all about it" from the works of people who have seen 

 something more than the hackneyed excursion routes ; reserving himself for the 

 almost unknown glories of Kamschatka. With these he made his first acquaintance 

 at Petropaulovsky in Avatcha Bay, memorable chiefly for the fiasco of the naval 

 expedition undertaken against it by the French and English in 1S54. 



* Probably Sago. 

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