THE OCEAN AS A BATTLEFIELD 269 



to the coast-dwellers, so successfully that the hapless 

 ones petitioned the emperor for protection. This he 

 was unable to give them, as Koxinga was supreme at 

 sea, and to overthrow him meant fighting; so, in a 

 diplomatic mood, the emperor issued an edict that 

 all the dwellers on the coast were to retire nine miles 

 inland, where they would be quite safe from piratical 

 raids. The edict was obeyed, and, in the result, was 

 triumphantly successful. There is no record of how 

 many fishermen starved to death, or what sort of 

 experience the inland folks endured, but we learn 

 that Koxinga, baffled by the ingenious method of 

 frustrating his efforts, turned his attention to Formosa, 

 then recently colonized by the Dutch. Having driven 

 the hated Fanqui out those who were not murdered 

 the enterprising pirate was ennobled as the " Sea- 

 Quelling Duke," and became one of the chief officers 

 of the emperor. As Dr. A. K. Smith, from whose 

 delightful book, "Chinese Characteristics," I take 

 the present episode, remarks, " The foreigner reading 

 this singular account is compelled to wonder why a 

 Government which was strong enough to compel such 

 a number of maritime subjects to leave their towns 

 and villages, and to retire at such great loss into the 

 interior, was not strong enough to equip a fleet and 

 put an end to the attacks upon their homes." 



That, however, would not have been the Chinese 

 way, and they alone among the nations who practised 

 navigation may therefore be acquitted of having ever 

 made a profession of naval warfare. But when we 

 get away from the coasts of the Celestial Empire, and 

 explore the islands of the Indian Archipelago or the 

 groups of scattered islets in the Pacific, we find a 



