20 FORMOSA. [chap. 



enjoying a cheroot, and to hear of old friends of undergraduate 

 days, from whom a wanderer's life had separated us for many 

 years ; pleasanter still to think that there was a chance of meeting 

 them aoain before lono- in China. But our time was lunited, and 

 a strong sense of duty being implanted in some of us, we were 

 duly escorted to the sights of Tamsui. The most interesting was 

 the consular prison. The two rooms, of the same date as the old 

 fort, looked charmingly cool and quiet, and one wondered at their 

 being unoccupied. When one learnt further that the far nicntc was 

 the only occupation, and that tobacco was not forbidden, one felt in- 

 deed that the morality of the place must be something superhuman. 

 It was a pity to spoil the thought by a further reflection that there 

 were barely twenty Europeans from whom to select a tenant. 



We had enjoyed our visit to Formosa even more than we had 

 expected, and our regret at our departure was not lessened at 

 having to leave behind us one of our crew, who had been seriously 

 ill for some time. It must, doubtless, have seemed hard for him to 

 be left practically alone in such a far-off land. But we had no 

 alternative, as the voyage might very probably have proved fatal 

 to him. Happily, the result was a favourable one, for, some 

 months afterwards, on our return from Kamschatka, we heard of 

 his recovery and safe arrival in England. 



In these latter days of bad trade and land-grabbing, the eyes of 

 Europe have been turned with ever-increasing interest to the far 

 East. Kussia has acquired Saghalien and its coal-fields. -.Japan, 

 anxious for the well-being of the Liu-kiu Islands, has in^dted the 

 King to Tokio, and replaced him by a Governor of their own. The 

 English, regardless of malaria and a poor soil, have established them- 

 selves in northern Borneo. But it is in Eormosa, " the eye of the 

 Empire of China," that the interest has of late been centred, and 

 there are few of us who did not watch with curiosity for the 

 dmoument of the Franco-Chinese comedy, where the one country, 

 at peace with the other, was nevertheless bombarding its towns 

 and blockading its ports. For the time the danger seems to have 



