CHAPTER 11. 



THE LIU-KIU ISLANDS. 



Uncertainties of navigation — Geographical characteristics of Liu-kiu — Former 

 visitors — Orthography of Liu-kiu — Napha-kiang — Enormous crowds — Two 

 American waifs — "Walled streets — Kapha - kiang market — We interview the 

 Vice-Governor — The Liu-kiuan type — Peculiar method of dressing the hair — 

 Tattooing — Tombs and burial customs — Altars for burning hair — The inner 

 harbour— A sunset dance — Dinner habits of the Japanese. 



We left Tamsui on the evening of June 26tli, having crossed the bar 

 without accident. Hauling clear of the northern end of Formosa we 

 sighted Pinnacle Island, a lonely rock peopled with myriads of sea- 

 fowl, and shaped our course east for the Liu-kiu Archipelago. We 

 were without a general chart of these seas, and were accordingly com- 

 pelled to trust to the information afforded by the Sailing Directories. 

 The result was hardly satisfactory, and, had daylight not befriended 

 us, might indeed have proved somewhat more than unpleasant. 

 The Hoa-pin-su group of islands lay directly in our course, and on 

 sighting them early in the morning we were surprised to find them 

 much farther off than we had expected. We at first attributed 

 this to a strong head current, but, on taking an observation, we 

 discovered that the islands were in reality twenty-three miles 

 farther to the east than the position assigned to them. We then 

 altered course to pass well to the north of Ealeigh Eock, a solitary 

 island some hours' steaming to the eastward, discovered by a ship 

 of that name in 1837. It was with considerable astonishment, 

 therefore, that we sighted it well on the port-bow. Another ob- 



