\ 
are very plentiful: pheafants alfo are . fometimes feen, and 
monkies and ftags have multiplied fo much, that they wa 
der. through the country in ee flocks. The inhabitants 
areara great number of. a which they train 
of For 
for aang. froma peiapais of horfes an sree and which 
they accuftom to go s expeditioufly as the beft horfes, 
turnifhing them with ou idle, faddie, and ee The 
only important article that feems to be want ing in Finals 
is wholefome water, that ae it-fupplies being sil a dele- 
terious quality. In this ifland there are few mulberry 
trees, and sear eer) Hitele Rae is produced: but if, 
Chinefe w to form eftablifhments here, vari 
cient | be introduced. Thofe ale 
coine hither mutt be Ba by paffports from the Chinefe 
mandarins, who grant them at a very dear rate, and ac- 
ae them with intolerable exaGtions and oppreffions. 
The nefe connive at this conduét on the part of the 
beer ane it ferves to prevent numerous aa Ma 
tions to this ifland, which is pal place of grea 
— ce its proximity to a. Ever fince Tartar 
conquerors have been on — bine oe are afr aid left a any 
artars an a ga 
mens changing | it ake pees Sales or more frequently, if 
they fi oud fuch 
of ea tra — 
ae oy the natural hee sil of the 
ifland, tach as a, fugar, tobacco, falt, ftag’s flefh dried, 
ake of-all kinds, ioaieag oan herbs, cotton cloth, hemp, 
var ious forts of bark, 
or 
her, fuc eC 
35 varnifh, porcelain, ape kin $0 
ae “the exe tie hen of ey fun. 
o feet broad, and fome of them 
f 
with houfe 
o the n 
which are difplayed fille ituits, porcelain lacquer-ware, ° t 
and ot oa — of merchandize, | arran 
fo as to 
s' good, 
ut the ae of it 
ty On account of the ac- 
Befides this capital, the Chinefe have 
two other cities, and fome villages, ia which they refide 
by themfelves, as they do not permit the Indians, who are 
their a to live among them; flaves and domeftics ex- 
cepted. efe Indians are united into 45 tag dae Bo lying 
towards ae north, and nine towards the fou 
northern villages are very populous, and the ee are 
built after the Chinefe manner. The habitations of the 
mall grain, and the game ey take by 
courting, or kill on their arms. hefe iflanders poflefs 
a wonderful degree of agility, and run with fuch {wiftuefs, 
that they can almoft outitrip the fleeteft grey-hound. Their 
favourite arms are lances, which they dart tothe diltance 
of 60 or 80 feet, withthe greateft dexterity and precifion. 
They ufe bows and arrows, and can kill a pheafant 
FORMOSA. 
on wing with as much certainty as an Pepa fportf. 
man could do with a fufe As they have -neither 
plates, difhes, nor {poons, they ‘ufe cae fingers nt eau 
themfelves, and eeiee Heth halfraw. ‘Their beds are form 
ording to the judgment of 
their chiefs, have excelled _ agility ‘in running, or by 
dexterity in the chace, obtain the priv vile ege of marking on 
their fin, by a. very painful operation, 
The iflanders. 
arts, where the climate is colder, clothe 
themfelves with the fkins of flags, which they kill in hunting ; 
on their heads they wear a cap in the form of a cylin nder, macle 
of palm-leaves, and or namented with feveral crowns placed 
one above another, on the ee © aucun they fix plumes 
ee of the feathers of a or a pheafant. “The 
triage Pe ad of t 
to the fimple laws of 
confulted, a young perfons ie their matrimonial | won 
according to their own difcretio 
Although thefe iflanders are S ently fabjected to the 
Chinefe, they {till eat ag aor remains of theiran« 
cient nt government Di vill choo two oF thr iree old 
of the greatelt oueen for ocobity ¢ 
caenee of this choice, they become the’ niles or judge’ of 
the hamlet, ‘and have the power of finally ee a. 
differences: and if any one fhould oe to abide y the: 
i eat ae would be ‘imimediately ba fro the al 
age, n uld any of the eis afterwards dare t 
receive hi 
mm. 
The tribute impofed by the Chinefe is paid’i in aa and 
the mode of layi ing and colle&ting this impoft is fettled by a 
perfon {pecially < appointed for this purpofe. But*thefé per- 
fons are very arbitrary and oppreflive ; infomuch that they 
have hes ae tyranny caufed the defertion of three villages 
in the fouthern Ri rt of the ifland, where were form erly 
twelve. ‘Chey expelled the ee ice. refufed to pa 
tribute to the Chinefe, and joined ender ‘to thie tiide- 
pendent nation in the eaftern part of the ifla: 
In 1782 a dreadful difafter befel For mnie; oécafioned by 
a violent hu reicaney which oe ‘fuch a eed of the fea, 
of t he ifland, a eftroyed 
\ ftores of various kinds 
» feveral ship s and their cargoes in the 
harbour, a quantity of provifions a ‘and growing crops. This 
grievous calamity, however, was re dreffed by the paternal 
attention and care of the Chinefe emperot 
Between Formola and th 1 eantnent.: are feveral’ fmall 
iflands called “ce oo ? by the Chinefe, and ¢ Pif- 
cadores”’ ‘by the Europea ins, which form a kind “ 6F ‘Archi- 
e pelago; of thele ifiands, ‘the principal only is inhabited by a 
Chinefe garrifon under the command ofa mandari in. Du- 
halde. Grofiere 
Formosa, an “ifland of the Atlantic, near ae coaft of 
Africa, about fix miles long and one wide. e foil is fer- 
tile, and well covered with aa but wants fpr of good 
water, t. 11° 29" W. long. 14° 2 
Formosa, Beni or Argon ariver of “Africa, which 
ae in the aan part t of Benin, aa runs into. the 
ntic. N. lat. o'. W. long. 4°20’. For. vera 
ie along the river upwards the land is low aad marfhy 
but the bariks are adorned with lofty trees, and’ divided by 
branches of the river into a number of iflands, which afford 
a pleafant profpect: hdwever, the air is infalubrious, and 
the miuea infimerable, —Alfo, a river of Africa, which 
runs 
na 
o 
