1885. | Geography and Travels. 381 
power that wished to hold Formosa to possess these harbors. At 
present Amoy is practically the port of Formosa, and the produce 
of the island is sent thither in small vessels. There are no active 
volcanoes in the island, but there are signs of volcanic action in 
boiling springs, etc., and earthquakes are frequent. 
When Mr. Beazeley accompanied a party in 1875 to select a 
site for a lighthouse at the South cape, Chinese authority had 
not extended so far as it now has, and it was not without much 
difficulty and some danger that the travelers made their way from 
Takow to the cape. The Chinese inhabitants of the country are 
described as apparently well-to-do, the villages clean and the chil- 
dren, who are mostly naked, healthy and strong. The mangoes 
grown in Formosa closely resemble the Bombay mango in ap- 
pearance and flavor, and the pineapples are without a crown of 
leaves. The aborigines are much darker and more muscular than 
the Chinese, wear nothing but a scanty blue cloth round the 
waist, and are armed with bows and arrows and long knives, 
Many carry matchlocks. In shape Formosa has been compared 
to a cleaver with a short handle, or to a fish, the tail or handle 
being the narrow part just north of the South cape. It is cer- 
tainly one of the most beautiful and fertile spots on the face of 
the earth. 
Northern Afghanistan —The northern part of Afghanistan is 
watered by the Heri-rud, Murghab and affluents of the Amu- 
Daria, and thus belongs to the Aralo-Caspian basin. The Af- 
ghans do not extend beyond the mountains (Hindoo Koosh, 
Parapomisus, etc.) except in the north-west at Herat, though they 
hold in military subjection the Mongol tribes of the lowland areas. 
The Hazareh, etc. (Mongolian) of the mountains east and south-east 
of Herat are independent, and the region between the Murghab 
and Heri-rud is occupied by Turkoman tribes, among whom are 
about 30,000 who have recently come southward from Merv. 
Eastward of these Turanian tribes are various peoples of Iranian 
race, some of whom are thought to be the aboriginal inhabitants 
of this mountain land—the supposed cradle of the Aryan stock. 
Among these are the Black Kafirs or Siah-posh, who alone of 
these tribes have not embraced Mohammedanism, who use tables 
and chairs and into whose country an Afghan dare not penetrate. 
North of these are the Badakshi. The Russians claim that the 
Hindoo Koosh forms the northern limit of Afghanistan, but 
north of this line, at its eastern extremity, Aryan tribes extend 
even to Darwaz and Karateghin 
Hsi-Fans, or tributary aboriginal tribes of Thibetan race which 
live scattered along the Thibetan border of China from Yunnan 
to Kan-su, are now in Pekin. The Hsi-Fans are short, fond of 
red clothing, and adopt Chinese fashions in no small degree. 
Their faces are rounder than those of the Chinese, their heads 
