FORMOSA. 



[chap. 



bamboo, some guarding a square frame net much like that used 

 in England for catching sprats and other small fish. Wliile 

 passing one of these, the phlegmatic owner became suddenly- 

 galvanised into what, in a Celestial, might almost be termed a 

 state of excitement. He had caught a fish ; but it was no sprat. 

 Whether he ever landed it or not I cannot say, but its splashing 



OUR SKU'Jb'£K. 



was distinctly audible full half a mile away, and, if success 

 attended his efforts, the fisherman must have provided himself and 

 his family with dinner for a good week or more. A mile or two more 

 brought us to the junction with the already united To-ka-ham and 

 San-quai rivers, two large streams which convey all the produce 

 of the interior to Tamsui. Some five miles up stream is the large 

 town of Bang-ka or Meng-ka, a place of considerable trade, where 



