July i6, 1903] 



NA TURE 



243^ 



sums needed in addition to all the resources the 

 colleges at present possess. 



Funds needed for University Education in Wales. 



A. For Buildings 

 and equipment 



University College, Aberystwyth 



University College, Bangor 



University College, Cardiff 



The University of Wales 



99,800 

 176,500 

 162,000 



B For endow- 



i. 



1,071,500 

 960,400 



1,176,400 

 288,400 



In round figures, therefore, we may say that univer- 

 sity education in Wales needs an endowment of four 

 millions sterling to secure its efficiency. This will not 

 be thought an extravagant figure when it is remem- 

 bered that the need of the Birmingham University was 

 estimated at five millions, and that the Welsh colleges 

 minister to the needs of a far more diverse population. 

 The agriculture, the manufactures, the mining and 

 the over-sea commerce of Wales all demand the en- 

 lightenment and intelligence which can only be de- 

 veloped in universities efficiently equipped for their 

 work. 



FORMOSA. 

 The Island of Formosa. By James W. Davidson, 

 Consul of the United States for Formosa. Pp. 646 + 

 xxviii + 46. (London and New York: Macmillan 

 and Co., Ltd., 1903.) Price 25s. net. 



CONSUL DAVIDSON'S work on Formosa is a 

 heavy quarto volume of 700 pages, in which the 

 liberal use of small type indicates that its author has 

 tried to pack as much as possible within a given space. 



It is not a lap book, but a book for the study table, 

 in which 168 photographs and other pictures give of 

 themselves a liberal education about things Formosan. 

 A coloured frontispiece shows Mount Morrison capped 

 with snow, 13,880 feet in height. This, which is one 

 of the many peaks in the mountain ranges which form 

 the backbone of Formosa, is the highest mountain in 

 the Japanese Empire. Another illustration is that of 

 sea cliffs on the eastern coast. These, which attain 

 heights of 5000 to 6000 feet, are possibly the highest 

 sea cliffs in the world. Orographic features with these 

 magnitudes in an island about half the size of Scotland 

 are certainly remarkable. From other pictures, in 

 which are depicted generals, battles, dismantled forts, 

 Chinese temples, the surrender of the Dutch to 

 Koxinga, the torturing of Dutch by the Chinese, 

 Japanese streets, tea houses and barracks, a Christian 

 church, a police station, a meteorological observatory 

 and railways, it may be inferred that, politically and 

 socially, Formosa has had a chequered history. 



The Chinese, who have known Formosa since a.d. 

 608, tell us that it was created by certain fierce dragons 

 which glided out from the gates of Foochow, and 

 NO. 1759, VOL. 68] 



lashed up the bed of the ocean until Formosa was- 

 created. The origin of this may rest on the fact that 

 Formosa has, at least in part, resulted from volcanic 

 activity, and in the Eastern mind such activities and 

 dragons were in past ages closely associated. In the 

 early Middle Ages the harbours of this island, which 

 are almost entirely confined to its western shores, were 

 used as clearing houses for trade between China and; 

 Japan, and also as homes for pirates. One princely 

 freebooter who settled and married in Japan started, 

 lif.i as a Chinese tailor. Before he died, by raids and; 

 intrigues he commanded 3000 sail, and was so powerful, 

 that he could riot be opposed even by the Emperor of 

 vast Cathay. He became a Christian, and was 

 christened Nicholas. His son, Koxinga, born in. 

 Japan, was more powerful than his father, and re- 

 mains one of the most remarkable characters in 

 Eastern history. In 1662 he drove the Dutch (who- 

 had supplanted the Chinese) from Formosa, established 

 a court, promoted industries, enacted wise laws, and 

 ruled a nation of exiles and outlaws. China was help- 

 less against him, and but for his sudden death it seems . 

 likely that he would have driven the Spanish from the 

 Philippines. His grandson, a weakling, allowed the 

 " Beautiful Isle " to fall back under Chinese mis- 

 management, and had these original owners only, 

 taken steps to award punishment for massacres and 

 murders of shipwrecked crews, chiefly of foreign 

 nations, Formosa might possibly have remained part 

 of the Celestial Empire until the present day. 



In 1874, in consequence of an outrage committed ou 

 the crew of a Loochooan vessel, Japan undertook a 

 punitive expedition against Formosan outlaws. This 

 was the thin end of a wedge which, after the war of 

 1895, was driven home, and Formosa was added to the 

 Japanese Empire. It is, however, yet far frorn being 

 completely under Japanese jurisdiction. The moun- 

 tainous and densely wooded centre and eastern parts 

 of the island still safely shelter head-hunting savages, 

 whilst the borderland of these pathless jungles is a 

 home for outlaws, and it is particularly against the 

 latter that the Japanese seem helpless. The difficulty- 

 is to find them. At night villages may be looted by a 

 howling mob, but next morning the sun rises upon . 

 smiling agriculturists. 



After describing the tea industry, we are entertained 

 with a long account relating to camphor. The cam- 

 phor trees are, unfortunately, within the domains of 

 the Aborigines, with the result that the camphor in- 

 dustry, head-hunting and butchery still go hand in 

 hand. The chief victims appear to be the Chinese, 

 the Japanese being but rarely attacked. Other in- 

 dustries are those of sugar and the mining of coal and: 

 gold. When speaking of the sulphur deposits, which 

 are associated with geysers and a variety of spiteful 

 volcanic vents, Mr. Davidson tells us that, in order to- 

 prevent certain insurgents obtaining material for the 

 manufacture of gunpowder, an Imperial edict arrived 

 from Pekin ordering officials to destroy all sulphur de- 

 posits by fire, and to stop up all offending craterlets 

 which produced this substance. Altogether eighty- 

 eight volcanic orifices were discovered, on which for- 

 several years officials paid quarterly calls, and with* 



