Cii. III.] ISLANDERS OP MAKUNG. 47 



and anchored near the town of Makung, the chief town of 

 the archipelago, and were immediately saluted with half-a- 

 dozen guns fired' hy some junks lying farther ia the hay, 

 though with what object we could not teU. Two or three 

 boats presently came alongside, with persons of a very civi- 

 lized and decent appearance, and by no means the wild- 

 looking and half-clad feUows who might have been expected 

 to inhabit such a remote place. "We found it difficult to 

 communicate with them, however, for although a race of 

 Chinese, our China boys could not readily imderstand their 

 dialect, nor could they make themselves imderstood. We 

 landed shortly after at a large old Dutch fort, which once 

 commanded the harbour, and in which a number of rusty 

 guns were still lying in the ruined embrasures. The beach 

 was strewn with numerous worn blocks of coral, and several 

 fishermen were living under their boats, which they turn up 

 at night, to shelter them against the wind. 



We were very soon surrounded by an admiring crowd, 

 composed principally of the irrepressible boys, for although 

 some men followed us with them, no women were seen. 

 The men and boys usually wore blue turbans, and the 

 women, when we saw them, had universally small ban- 

 daged feet, and wore bunches of artificial flowers m their 

 hair, as we had observed them to do at Ta-kau — ornaments 

 imported from the opposite city of Amoy. The people 

 generally struck us as being decently clothed, and presented 

 a marked contrast to the squalor and dirt everywhere visible 

 among those we had hitherto seen ia Formosa. The 

 boys also were usually neatly dressed, and there was a some- 

 thing in their behaviour which gave an impression of good 

 breeding, such as we were surprised to meet with in this 

 isolated region. We entered a boys' school at the outskirts 



