12 FORMOSA. [chap. 



There is, of course, a waterfall at Keelung. So charming a place 

 would be incomplete without one, and our visit equally so had we 

 omitted to see it. So, packing ourselves away with some difticulty 

 in the Chinese chairs provided for us, and commending ourselves to 

 Ivwan-yin, the Goddess of Mercy, during our passage through the 

 town, we started on our journey. It was a Dragon Feast, and the 

 streets were crowded with people. In the notion that enjoyment 

 and noise are inseparably connected, the Chinese do not differ from 

 other more western nations, and the processions carrying the 

 emblems wxre surrounded by a yelling, tom-tom-beating mass of 

 humanity. In the harbour below us, boat processions of a similar 

 nature were taking place. We struggled on through the narrow 

 streets, past pigs wallowing in pink mud, past half-naked men 

 devouring the unknown horrors of a Chinese dinner, past pools of 

 filth and garbage indescribable, till on the outskirts of the town 

 we were once more able to breathe freely. The heat was intense, 

 and the cramped position necessitated by the native chairs rendered 

 it so oppressive that we were only too glad to get out and pick our 

 way on foot along the narrow paths between the rice-fields. Our 

 way led up a little valley, the sides of which were luxuriantly 

 clothed with bamboo. There are said to be no less than thirteen 

 varieties of this plant in Formosa, and it is certainly one of the 

 leading characteristics of the scenery at the northern part of the 

 island. In no other part of the world have I seen the plumy 

 foliage of so bright a green, or the sprays so light and feathery. 

 Here it was of no great size, but on the western coast it is said to 

 attain a height of nearly a hundred feet. We were not sorry to find 

 ourselves at our journey's end, and, buried in masses of fern and 

 moss, to lie and watch the little stream plunging into the cool, dark 

 basin below. The island has, doubtless, many a mighty fall as yet 

 un viewed by European eyes, deep in the heart of those magnificent 

 mountains that have for so long remained a sealed book to us. 

 But at that moment we would not have exchanged them for the 

 quiet little cascade tinkling at our feet, and the feeling of placid 



