130 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
For Forest and Stream . 
-♦—-— 
[Concluded from last number .] 
EAVIHG Liang kian in tlie morning the party passed 
through the fields of the half castes, then through the 
Halika village of Poliac, a face who, claimed by China, pay 
iribute also to the aborigines, and to the fort hills, where 
the “Peppo’s” reside; and then crossing the first mountain 
they arrived at the valley of Tanketok. Here among the 
mountains these reputed cannibals (the general denies the 
imputation) have their stronghold, and at evening arrived 
at the principal village^ 
Their way had led through a wild country, with bam¬ 
boos, tree ferns, and pine apples growing wild. With the 
exception of monkeys, no animals had been seen, and but 
few birds. The cocoanut and other palms, quite plentiful 
a degree farther north, were missing. This was attributed 
to the effect of the strong winds, which in both monsoons 
sweep across this narrow elevated plat from sea to sea. 
They were welcomed kindly by the natives, and entered 
the village through the only gate in a strong bamboo stock¬ 
ade; they pitched their tents in an open square and slept 
in peace, except the Chinese servants, who had become de¬ 
moralized at the sight of the queus of extinct countrymen 
which ornamented the spears of the savages. 
Tanketok was away hunting, and they became the guests 
of the second chief, Esauck, who was, by the way, the 
head chief of this tribe, old Tanketok being the head chief 
of the confederation of eighteen tribes, of which this was 
the principal one. 
Le Gendre speaks with enthusiasm of the neat and well 
kept farm, cattle yard, poultry yard, etc., of Esauck. The 
chief’s house was a model of neatness, and comfortably 
furnished with chairs, tables, and pictures of Chinese ori¬ 
gin. On a gun rack, made from deer’s horns, a well pol¬ 
ished musket was lying; he was treated with tea, spirits, 
and tobacco, and invited to sup. On the whole, he arrived at 
the conclusion that the term “savage” was decidedly misap¬ 
plied as regarded this tribe. The men were clothed in deer 
and leopard skins, and the women neatly attired in linen 
trousers, with jackets covering their entire persons; their hair 
was dressed prettily with silver chains and red cloth, and 
thrown up into a crown-like coil on the top of the head. 
He noticed here, as did I when with him on previous ex- . 
cursions, the peculiar ear-rings worn by the women. In 
childhood a hole is pierced through the lobe of the ear; 
this is enlarged by degrees, as the ear grows, by pushing in 
wedges of increasing size, until at last in womanhood the 
ear itself seems but an appendage to the ornament below, 
which, formed of -wood or metal, is somewhat similar in 
size and shape to an ordinary checker. He found the 
women “fair and prepossessing.” On this point he and I 
differ. All of the native women whom I have seen were 
very homely, and many naked to the waist; but I did not 
visit the Sabarees, and it is the general’s notes that I am 
giving as regards this particular trip, not my own. 
- The interview with Tanketok was eminently satisfactory; 
the chief recognized and welcomed the general, and seemed 
pleased to hear that our government had approved and rat¬ 
ified the treaty made the year before, and that no more 
war ships would be sent to attack them while they main¬ 
tained their compact. 
The general drew up a document at the request of the 
chief, embracing the agreement of 1867, that he might 
have means of communication with any castaways. Per¬ 
haps some of the readers of Forest and Stream may, in 
running around the world in ninety days, as one can now, 
get cast away on Formosa, so I will give you briefly this 
treaty and thus show them how to act. 
“Territory Under Tanketok, ) 
Village of the Sabarees, February 28, 1869. [ 
“At the request of Tanketok, ruler of the eighteen tribes 
south of Liang-kian, including the South Bay, where the 
crew of the American bark Rover were murdered by the 
Koaluts, I, Charles W. Le Gendre, United States consul for 
Amoy and Formosa, give this as a memorandum of the un¬ 
derstanding arrived at between myself and Tanketok in 
1867, the same having been approved by the United States, 
and assented to by the foreign ministers at Pekin, viz:— 
“Castaways will be kindly treated by any of the eighteen 
tribes under Tanketok. If possible, they are to display a 
red flag before landing. 
“Vessels needing supplies are to display a red flag, and 
are not to make landing until a corresponding signal is per¬ 
ceived on the shore; they are not to visit the hills or vil¬ 
lages, but to confine themselves to the locality embraced 
between two streams, the Tuiasokang, the first stream north 
of South Cape, and the Toapanguack, just to the westward 
of the large rock where the Rover’s crew were murdered. 
In asking for supplies the following native words to be 
used:—Water is lalium; stones for ballast, chacliilia; for 
food, macboolia; for the chief, mazangieV 1 
Presents were given to the chief, who accepted them 
with great dignity, saying:—“If these were intended to buy 
my friendship they would not avail, but as tokens of friend¬ 
ship they please me.” 
A ceremony apparently religious now took place, which 
consisted of an old crone walking slowly to and fro, sprink¬ 
ling water from a cup and mumbling prayers. After this 
a feast of pork, rice, and samshu, and a friendly adieu was 
bidden. 
This description of the Sabarees will, with modifications, 
answer for all of the tribes. We never found the “canni¬ 
bals,” for, upon reaching their assigned locality, like the 
best trout stream in our beloved land, a new one much 
farther off was assigned. 
In 1872 the United States steamer “Ashuelot” anchored in 
Liang-kian Bay, and her commander, with two officers, ac¬ 
companied the general on a third trip to the mountains, 
he to see how his pet treaty survived, they for the fun of 
the thing. One marine with his Remington formed either 
a guard of honor or protector against buffaloes. Since our 
buffalo adventure in 1867 the general seemed to be recon¬ 
ciled to having one gun along. The month was March, 
and until they got among the hills and in the shelter of the 
forest our party found it hot travelling. 
They found the natives engaged in harvesting their crop 
of millet, and all at work in the field were fully armed— 
more arms than clothes, in fact; the reason of this they 
found upon their arrival at the village. There was a little 
war going on between the Sabarees and another tribe, and 
Tanketok w T as out fighting. Esauck made liis appearance, 
but was not more than barely civil; he took no notice of 
the party wfliatever, passing by the general, who spoke to 
him, without even an answer. It was considered that he 
was jealous of Tanketok and the larger quantity of pres¬ 
ents that had been received by the latter. However, he 
was not hostile, simply boorish. The chief next in rank, 
and the natives generally, were civil and pleasant, and when 
Tanketok came in he was very cordial, greeting the general 
warmly, and seeming much pleased at his visit. The treaty 
made five years ago he was still ready to hold to, but he 
impressed upon the general strongly that if the sailors be¬ 
haved badly they should be killed. A grand dinner fol¬ 
lowed, one dish of which was to be remembered. In a 
huge bucket of bailing samshu were floating chunks of 
raw pork. Samshu is a liquor distilled from rice, and re¬ 
sembles in flavor a mixture of hot water, red pepper,, and 
sour whey, with an odor of assafoetida and sulph. hyd., and 
in effect can only be equalled by the “.Injun whiskey” so 
graphically described in one of your former numbers. 
After the dinner a concert took place, our people enter¬ 
taining the savages with an accordeon; no one knew how 
to play it, but that made no difference, while the latter 
howled an accompaniment. I don’t wonder they howled! 
Gifts were distributed, including the accordeon, and the 
party returned, satisfied that the treaty of ’67 would be car¬ 
ried out. 
Hunting is with the natives a pursuit more than a pas¬ 
time. Wild hogs, bears, and deer they kill for the nieat, 
and leopards, wild cats, and several other felines for their 
hides, all of which they preserve for their own uses during 
the rainy season, or barter with the Chinese through the 
half castes for mirrors, guns, etc. 
The vegetable kingdom is magnificently represented in 
Formosa, and the variety of valuable trees is almost un¬ 
equalled in any other country. Foremost in importance is 
the camphor tree, a species of laurel which grows to an 
immense size and in great profusion. Unfortunately, the 
procuring of the drug involves the sacrifice of the tree, of 
which, however, every pound is utilized. Timbers are 
selected for boat building, boards cut for export to China, 
where they are manufactured into chests and wardrobes, 
and the refuse chips are placed in cauldrons and steamed, 
the vapor is caught in another iron pot inverted over the 
lower one, and on its surface the crude camphor clirystal- 
izes. This is packed in wmoden vats, with perforated bot¬ 
toms, through which exudes an oil highly valued by the 
Chinese as a medicine. It is afterwards packed for export 
in air tight tubs, as like salt it will absorb moisture from 
the air. In 1869, 450,000 pounds of Formosa camphor was 
exported to Hew York. Teak, ebony, pines, larches, and 
a wood called “sung-pili,” hard as live oak and indestructi¬ 
ble in water, abound. 
On the western side the mountains fall away into hills, 
and then a belt of alluvial plains to the sea. The hills are 
highly cultivated, and are dotted here and there with nu¬ 
merous little villages of the half castes and Chinese. Tea 
of not very good quality is produced; that exported goes 
mostly to Amoy, and is used to adulterate the more expen¬ 
sive blacks and “English breakfasts.” In 1869, 742,000 
pounds were exported to New* York. Hemp, from whose 
fibre the Chinese grass cloth is woven, indigo of a brilliant 
shade, vegetable wax, or tallow, from the berries of which, 
when boiled, a fair substitute for tallow is procured, bam¬ 
boos, rattans, pomelons, pine apples, and the “aralia papy- 
rifera,” a reed from the pith of which the Chinese so-called 
“rice paper” is manufactured, are the principal hill pro¬ 
ducts. 
On the plains great quantities of rice and sugar canes are 
cultivated. The former is so abundant that the island has 
a Chinese name, signifying “the granary.” The geological 
structure of the mountains is but little known, the dread 
of the liillmen having kept the hammermen away, but so 
far as known a carboniferous sandstone prevails. Sulphur 
I mentioned in a previous paper. Coal of an inferior qual¬ 
ity is mined at Kelung, a little port on the northeast coast; 
it is very bituminous, and of but little value for steaming 
purposes; for an American built boiler and furnace it is 
useless. Deeper mining than the scratching system now in 
vogue would probably produce better results, but the super¬ 
stition which makes the Chinese fearful of offending the 
Fung-shui (or spirit of good or evil luck), by permitting the 
bowels of the earth to be pierced, arrays itself against a 
better system. Coal oil, very like our own petroleum, was 
found by Mr. John Dodd flowing naturally from a crevice 
in the rocks; it is more volatile than ours, but has fine illu¬ 
minating qualities. The attempt to develop this • 
wealth was of course frustrated by the Chinese a ? 6nf 
like many another investor in oil, lost. " ’ 
The northern and western coasts possess a few Sm 
inconvenient harbors. At each of these is located ** ^ 
nese settlement, vizKelung, Samsui, Taiwanfoo w? 
Ponglian, and Liang-kian. The first five are classed ^ 
the “treaty ports” of China, and except at Kelun^ 
ers have established themselves for commercial" 0 X ' Jiei ^' 
In each place—but a very few, six or eight I 
Samsui, perhaps a dozen or so at Takao—represent?^ 81 
civilization are living, but they contrive not to n? 0 * 
They are mostly young men, English and German ^ 
nected with large firms in China, and because the 
vim and character are sent over here to deal with li ^ 
of unexpected crises. They cannot have horse races? 
there are no roads, and the quiet Sedan chair a? ^ 
footed coolies take the place of China ponies and 
clippers; but the half dozen of elegant “cups” that 
ment the dining room of my friend Dodd tell by fi? 
scriptions that he himself can do liis own racino- G I' 1 
look through his and others’ boathouses reveals an' 
ment of as fine lined shells, single and 
double. 
a 
assort- 
Slx oared 
gigs, “pull aways,” etc., as one would care to see. Th 
they have the resource of dining; not simply eating th^ 
dinners, but meeting at each other’s houses at seven°p 
in dress coats, white cravats, and immaculate black 
throughout, they with all the decorum imaginable dine 
Afterwards with cheroots and wine, lying back in whjtj 
jackets, etc., ah ease in comfortable sofa-like, cane seated 
verandah chairs, or the next morning in pyjammas sli 
pers, and smoking caps, still mere at their ease over their 
matutinal mangos, orangas, pomelons, and coffee they con¬ 
trast with the stiffness seemingly incidental to the hour of 
an English dinner. At first this custom struck me as rather 
ridiculous—to breakfast with a man in our night clothes 
to go out pulling in our undershirts, to go into the marshes 
for snipe in jack boots and flannel shirts, and then to with¬ 
draw for an hour to put on our best clothes to meet him at 
dinner seemed nonsense. But these young men, away 
from all home restraints, with no lady society, and few re¬ 
sources of any kind, perhaps it is well for them to claw to 
this one vestige of the civilized world. 
Pong-lian and Liang-kian have no foreign inhabitants. 
Taiwan-foo is, as the terminal “foo” indicates, a large city 
with seventy or eighty thousand inhabitants; it is sur¬ 
rounded by a brick wall about twenty feet in height, and 
five miles in circuit. Vessels anchor some distance from 
the shore on account of extensive mud fiats, and their car¬ 
goes are boated up to the city warehouses through canals, 
From the w T alls the city presents a more pleasing aspect 
than a closer examination makes good; the buildings are 
clumped together, and in consequence there are many va¬ 
cant spaces, which are laid out in parks and gardens; and 
groves of bamboo and great banian trees give a country as¬ 
pect to the scenery. 
The Dutch, who, after the Chinese and the Portuguese, 
had in turn discovered this much discovered island, made 
settlements about two hundred and fifty years ago. They 
built strong forts, but failed to maintain their footing. The 
Chinese settlers arose against them, and under the lead of 
“Coxshinga,” a noted pirate, the Captain Kidd of those 
days, drove them from their strongholds. Their strongest 
fort was at Taiwan-foo, and its ruins still exist. Over the 
main gate, still unyielding to the Corrosive touch of time, 
an inscription is carved—“TE CASTEL ZELAND GS 
BOWED ANNO 1630.” 
Taiwan is the seat of government of the island, and has 
a full corps of Chinese officials, from Prefect down, who, 
coming from Pekin poor, and with small salaries manage 
by a process known as “squeezing” (not understood, I be¬ 
lieve, among more civilized officials) to retire rich at the 
eDd of their term. 
The climate of Formosa is not an agreeable one; there is 
too much rain. During the southwest monsoon it is to be 
expected, for that is the rainy season; but -when in the- 
autumn and winter months all China is revivifying under 
the influence of the clear, dry, northeast m®nsoon, For¬ 
mosa is not so lucky. Sweeping, as this wind does, across 
the warm current of the Kuro-siwo, it becomes laden with 
vapor, which the high lands draw from it as it rushes ovei, 
and thus an undue proportion of moisture affects the 
island. 
To sum up, there is hardly in the world so limited an ex¬ 
tent of country that will produce so great an amount o 
valuable articles for export as Formosa. Its hills are u 
of coal and sulphur, and covered with magnificent tin* 
Game of many kinds is plentiful. I have had hut 1 
personal experience with the gun, having simply ki e ‘ 
few snipe and curlew in the marshes near Takao, but 1 1 
seen some fine bags of beautiful pheasants brought in l0 J ] 
the hills, and have listened to hunters’ stories of the e ^ 
scenes of leopards and wild boars, and have seen anc l taS ^ 
elegant venison from a beautiful species of spotted 
and have played with tamed fawns, which in fearless £ 
sported in safety in the midst of Dodd’s troop of dogs. 
If ever this island could but fall into the hands or und^, 
the control of a more liberal government, or if thepe is 
ent efforts of men like Le Gendre meet with good succe > 
the world will be the better for it. 
