36 EAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. [Oh. HI. 



without blushing, adds the Dutch chronicler : the women, of 

 short stature, yet corpulent and strong, of a lighter com- 

 plexion than the men, well dressed, and exhibiting a natural 

 modesty. Both sexes friendly and good-natured, they would 

 not readily cheat or steal, not treacherous like other Orientals, 

 anxious to learn ; the men, however, averse to labour, so 

 that the women had to do aU the work of the field, and the 

 heaviest work at home. Formosa was discovered for Europe 

 by the Portuguese, and from its pleasant aspect called by 

 them Ilha Formoza, which name it has retained. The 

 Dutch, however, who found the natives as above described, 

 occupied and colonised the island, and doubtless did much 

 good there ; raised the people from a state of barbarism, 

 educated them, and instructed them in the Christian religion. 

 The Chinese, already conscious of the advantages of settling 

 in so fertile a country, treated the aborigiues like dogs- 

 robbing and murdering them as it suited their convenience ; 

 and it is no matter of surprise, therefore, that the natives 

 felt an attachment to the Dutch, who enforced their own 

 laws, prohibited fighting among them, made the education 

 of their children compulsory, and left them nothing of their 

 own barbarous customs and laws, except the privilege of 

 selecting their own chiefs to manage the affairs each of his 

 own village ; each chief being himself under the jurisdiction 

 of a Dutch military officer, who, with 25 men, was stationed 

 in every village of importance. 



The aborigines of Formosa are reputed still to have a 

 traditional reverence and regard for white men, and it is 

 much to be regretted that so firm and benignant a rule as the 

 Dutch seem here to have inaugurated should have been cut 

 short by an overpowering attack of the neighbouring half- 

 civilised Chinese. ' 



