14 FORMOSA. [chap. 



lazily-moviiig junk. A faint blue mist hung over the town, and 

 away seawards the sharp pinnacles at the harbour's entrance stood 

 out ink-black against the burnished surface of the water. We 

 watched the scene as long as we dared, for our time was limited, 

 and then once more continued the ascent. Before long we reached 

 the ridge which forms the boundary of the amphitheatre of 

 Keelung, and for the first time we were enabled to get a view of 

 the country inland. A succession of hills of peculiar formation lay 

 before us, sloping gradually to the eastward, but with their western 

 sides almost perpendicular. They bore a singular resemblance to 

 lines of waves breaking on a lee shore. Behind, the dark blue 

 masses of the Mount Sylvia range, 12,000 feet in height, were 

 visible in the distance, and appeared everywhere to be clothed in 

 thick vegetation. Our path led us down through a little valley 

 deep in azaleas and ferns, and after another mile or two we came 

 upon a small creek, in which we found two boats awaiting us, for 

 our land journey ended here, and the rest of the distance was to be 

 performed by river. For this we were not sorry, as the large flat- 

 bottomed sampans of light draught, which are specially built for 

 passing the shallow rapids with which the river abounds, are very 

 comfortable, and a great improvement on the native chairs which 

 we had just left. We soon got clear of the creek and into the 

 main stream, which is here, without any apparent reason, called 

 the Keelung River. At first shallow, and beset with numerous 

 rapids, it afforded us a certain amount of excitement of a mild 

 kind which passed off' as we got farther down stream. A large 

 amount of traffic appears to be carried on here, the river being 

 crowded with boats of all sizes, many of them deeply laden with 

 produce of various kinds. The river wound round the bases of 

 picturesque hills, covered, as usual, with bamboo, but cleared and 

 under cultivation in many places. The soil, it appears, is especially 

 suitable for some kinds of tea, and lately some has been grown 

 which has brought as much as a dollar per pound in the Chinese 

 markets. That usually produced is, however, of a much inferior 



