Chap. XI. 



FORMOSA FROM THE SEA. 



231 



of the shores of China, the high mountains of 

 Formosa came into view. When seen from this 

 position out at sea, the height of the mountains 

 seems greater than that of those in the vicinity of 

 Foo-chow-foo. J udging from the height of moun- 

 tains well known, I imagine those now in view 

 may be from 3000 to 4000 feet above the level 

 of the sea. Some others in the interior of the 

 island are said to be as high as 10,000 feet, but 

 these did not come under our observation. Night 

 came on as we neared the land, and we were told 

 by the pilot that we must anchor until daylight, 

 as he could not undertake to go in during the 

 dark. In the mean time, the wind had died away, 

 the sea was smooth, and all our Chinese friends, 

 the old mandarin included, were on their legs and 

 in the highest spirits, seemingly astonished at the 

 rapidity with which we had crossed the channel. 



Next morning at daylight we entered a river 

 which leads up to an important town called Tam- 

 shuy, and dropped our anchor abreast of a small 

 town near its mouth, amongst numerous other 

 junks and small boats which seemed to be trading 

 between China and Formosa. As soon as we had 

 anchored, the mandarins sent their cards to the 

 officials on shore, and soon afterwards left the 

 vessel themselves, promising to return again to 

 make arrangements for landing the treasure. 



As this was my first visit to this fine island, and 

 as I knew we had only a short time to stay, I lost 

 no time in going on shore. Before leaving the 



