380 General Notes. [ April, 
GENERAL NOTES. 
GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVELS.’ 
Asta.—The Island of Formosa.—A paper recently read by Mr. 
M. Beazeley, before the Royal Geographical Society, gave much 
information about this little-known island, and elicited more from 
other members. The Chinese do not seem to have been ac- 
quainted with the island until 1403, although it is distinctly visi- 
ble from the mainland and islands of the Chinese coast. So lit- 
tle did the Chinese emperors know or care about it, that in 1624 
they ceded it to the Dutch in exchange for the small group of 
the Pescadores. Previously to this the Spanish and Portuguese 
had traded there, and it is supposed that the curious red brick 
fort at Tamsui, now the British consulate, was built by the Span- 
iards in the 16th century. The Dutch drove the Japanese from 
Anping, fortified themselves in Fort Zelandia, and held the island 
until they were driven out by the celebrated piratical chieftain, 
Ching Ching-kung, whose grandson handed the island over to 
the Chinese government, and received his pardon. 
Formosa strait, between the island and the mainland, is 245 
miles wide at its southern end, but only 6214 at its northern end. 
The island is 245 miles in greatest length, and 76 in greatest 
width, and is computed to contain 14,982 square miles. A range 
of mountains, averaging about 12,000 feet in height, extends 
down the center of the island for the greater part of its length. 
The ridge of this range is extremely level, though heights vary- 
ing from 11,300 to 12,850 feet have been made out. Mr. Beazeley 
declares them to be wooded to the very top, but Mr. Barber states 
that he has seen snow on the northern parts of the range late in 
June. There are now no good harbors in Formosa, owing to the 
fact that the island is rising at- quite a perceptible rate. During 
the Dutch occupation in the 17th century the capital, Taiwanfu, 
was a port, Fort Zealandia was an island far out to sea, and an 
extensive harbor and bay separated the two. This is now a level 
plain of many miles in extent, and passengers are landed in cata- 
marans at Anping, under the ruins of the old fort. Anping is 
merely an open roadstead with no shelter in the south-west mon- 
soon, during which no vessels visit it. Tamsui, in the north, is 
at the mouth of a river, with only 114 fathoms on the bar, and 
2% fathoms inside, with bad holding-ground. Kelung, also in 
the north, is very small and much exposed during the north- 
east monsoon. Takow, in the south-west, twenty-four miles 
south of Anping, has a shifting bar and a very narrow entrance, 
: = while only the outer end of the lagoon affords anchorage. There 
-BE 
s a small harbor at Sao bay on the east coast. The neighboring 
small group of the Pescadores has two fine harbors, Ponghou and 
Makung, and it would be absolutely necessary for any foreign 
+ This department is edited by W. N. LOCKINGTON, Philadelphia. 
