CHINA. 



Chinese troops were defeated with a loss of 

 several hundred. In subsequent encounters 

 the Chinese claimed to have been victorious, 

 but the Chinese rule over the aborigines proved 

 to be far from being firmly established. Re- 

 ferring to the Japanese expedition in 1874, 

 against the Formosan aborigines, the British 

 vice-consul, Mr. Herbert Allen, says that, 

 whether it is now conceded that the whole 

 island belongs to China or not, it is very cer- 

 tain that the Japanese had some grounds for 

 arguing that up to last year Chinese rule had 

 not been established in the east and centre of 

 the island, for the Chinese have till now been 

 forbidden to pass certain boundaries which de- 

 fined aboriginal territory, and no taxes were 

 ever paid by the aborigines to the Chinese, and 

 the east coast of Formosa did not even appear 

 in the Chinese maps of the island. However, 

 a military road down the east coast, which was 

 commenced during the stay of the Japanese 

 force, with a view to Chinese defensive opera- 

 tions, is now to be completed, and Chinese set- 

 tlers are to be bribed to colonize along the line 

 of road ; the resources of the island are to be 

 fully developed, numerous officials are to be 

 sent to the wild districts of the interior, and 

 all these proposed reforms are to be under the 

 immediate supervision of the Governor of 

 Fo-kien, who is to reside at Taiwanfoe. The 

 vice-consul adds that the Rev. Mr. Mackay, 

 of the Canadian Presbyterian Mission, has 

 been alone in his missionary work in North 

 Formosa up to the end of last year, and that 

 to his energetic labors the establishment of a 

 better state of feeling between the Chinese 

 people and foreigners is mainly due. The trade 

 of Formosa, according to the last report of the 

 English consulate, appears to be on the increase. 

 The imports at Tarnsuy and Kelung in 1874 

 exceeded 300,000 in value, and the exports 

 exceeded 200,000, making a total of more 

 than half a million, or double the value of the 

 trade so recently as 1869. The demand for 

 brocades and chintzes, and for jadestone orna- 

 ments from Southern China for women's wrists 

 and ears, is noticed as showing that the people 

 are thriving on the profits of the sale of tea, 

 and are able to afford luxuries which formerly 

 they did not think of possessing. Streets of 

 well-built Chinese houses, built with bricks 

 and tiles, are springing np in the populous 

 towns of the district where only mud huts 

 formerly existed. The import of cotton and 

 woolen goods increases. Brass buttons are 

 imported in large quantities for sale to the 

 aborigines in the centre of the island in ex- 

 change for deers'-horns, hides, rattans, etc. 

 Last year's exports of tea and of camphor 

 show a good increase. The shipment of coal 

 shows, exceptionally, a great falling-off in 

 1874, chiefly attributable to an increase of lo- 

 cal taxation, or raising the price. Tamsuy, in 

 the northwest of that island, is on the right 

 bank of the Tamsuy River, about a mile from 

 its mouth ; but in the hot months the mer- 



chants remove to Twatutia, a settlement about 

 twelve miles up the river, where the tea is 

 brought for sale. Kelung, the coal port on 

 the northeast side of the island, about thirty 

 miles from Tamsuy, is also a small foreign set- 

 tlement, where the officers of the customs 

 staff and one or two other Europeans live. 



Among the arrivals in the harbor of Kelung, 

 in 1874, was the German bark Hydra, on a 

 voyage from Hong-Kong to Newchawang. It 

 had been wrecked in foggy weather on the 

 island of Komi, one of the Meiacosina group ; 

 the crew, fourteen in number, remained a 

 month on the island, were well treated by the 

 natives, and supplied with a compass and pro- 

 visions, and reached Formosa in a small boat, 

 which they built out of their ship. On another 

 occasion, sixteen copper-colored persons drifted 

 into Kelung harbor in three outrigged catama- 

 rans, much exhausted. By the help of a vocab- 

 ulary attached to Cheyne's sailing directions 

 from New South Wales to China, and by signs, 

 it was ascertained that the men were Pelew- 

 Islanders, who had drifted from their fishing- 

 grounds, and after a voyage of sixty days, 

 during which time they subsisted chiefly on 

 fish, sighted the coast of Formosa. They must 

 have traveled 1,600 miles on a current which 

 sweeps the northeast coast of Formosa and 

 then runs to Japan. They were sent down to 

 Hong-Kong, whence a vessel transported them 

 home. 



The Chinese Government has not yet given 

 up the purpose to reconquer Kashgar. Large 

 bodies of troops have for some time been on 

 the march to the frontier, but no encounter 

 with the troops, of Kashgar had been reported 

 up to the end of this year (1875). Tso, the Gov- 

 ernor-General of Shen-si and Kan-su, has been 

 appointed imperial commissioner of all mili- 

 tary and civil affairs in Sin-keang (Toorkistan). 

 He, as well as Kyling, the newly-appointed 

 Governor of Urumtsi in Soongaria, is regarded 

 as a man of great energy. The old and cele- 

 brated fortress of Urumtsi will be the centre 

 of the military operations and the central de- 

 pository of the war material, which includes 

 several Krupp cannon. (See KASHGAK). 



The country suffered less than usual from 

 civil disturbances. A renewal of the rebellion 

 in the province of Yun-nan was threatened. 

 The Government announced that a reconcilia- 

 tory policy would be pursued in regard to the 

 Mohammedan population. In Tien-tar, near 

 Ning-po, an insurrection broke out, in which 

 10,000 farmers were engaged. The outbreak 

 was in consequence of an increased tax on rice. 

 A body of 5,000 troops failed to subdue the 

 rebellion, and the increased tax was removed. 

 Protracted disturbances took place in Man- 

 tchooria, where large bands of robbers, after 

 plundering the country, threatened to effect 

 a permanent organization. The government 

 troops were for a time held in check, but 

 finally succeeded in dispersing the insurgents. 



On January 22d a mob attacked the labor- 



