Oh, VII.] A SUNKEN EOOE. 115 



criminate, although in many, or rather most, instances, the 

 Kibalan man was bigger and more stalwart, and with a cast 

 of features superior to that of the Chinese. Some of them 

 may have been half-castes ; but I am of opinion that the 

 majority of the inhabitants were of pure aboriginal descent, 

 though how they became separated from the mountain 

 savages, and the process and reason of their domestication, 

 I have no means of knowing. Their present isolation in 

 their own special village in a great measure accounts for the 

 apparent purity of their blood. They were in all respects a 

 more intelligent and more engaging people than the Chinese 

 of Formosa, though these latter affect superiority. Thus, 

 when I inquired of a man in the Chinese village of Sau-o, 

 who I imagined had a dash of Kibalan in his face, if he 

 belonged to that race, he replied, " No, I am a man; " (that 

 is, a Chinese, not a foreigner). 



On the third day we weighed anchor and stood out of 

 the harbour; but we had scarcely got in motion when a 

 bump upon a sunken rock warned us that the dangers of 

 Sau-o Bay were not yet fully known. The anchor was at 

 once dropped, and a search made for the rock, which was at 

 length discovered 12 feet below the surface ; but as we, for- 

 tunately, only drew 12| feet water, and had but little way 

 on, no damage was done. Had it happened on our entrance 

 it might have been more serious. This circumstance gave 

 me, however, more time to inquire into the peculiarities of 

 the natives of this interesting and little known spot. 



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