Littell's Living Age/Volume 126/Issue 1622/A Trip into the Interior of Formosa
A TRIP INTO THE INTERIOR OF FORMOSA.
If I could only keep my health, I would not care how long I remained here, for the island has many attractions, and is particularly interesting, now that the Chinese have been roused up to a sense of the necessity of reclaiming the whole island, and, as a matter of consequence, to a perception of the value of the coal, metal, and timber, in which Formosa abounds. During the China New-Year holidays I had a most delightful trip into the mountains. A party of six of us (three Englishmen and three Frenchmen) started from Taiwanfoo, the capital of Formosa, lying some thirty miles to the north of Takow, and after two days and a half of very rough travelling indeed, arrived at Lak-tu-li, a village hidden away in a lovely valley among the mountains. The villagers, half Pepo-hwans, half hill-savages, flocked out to stare and wonder at us, with our enormous train of coolies and baggage-carriers — for we did not by any means intend to rough it, and the man who looked after the commissariat did his work nobly — and after they had got over their first feeling of astonishment and distrust, showed their innate good-breeding by welcoming us by every means in their power.
Offers of food, pipes, fruit, etc., were showered upon us, all of which we declined in favour of a large square table, which we placed under the shade of a convenient tree, and which was soon covered by a most substantial tiffin. You should have seen the countenances of these innocent children of nature as they watched the varied preparations for the repast. The unfolding and outspreading of the snowy table-cloth, the endless variety of plates, glasses, knives, bottles (containing vile-looking liquors), and forks (pure silver to their eyes), all seemed to be matter of endless wonder to them, and to create a hilarity among them which made one reflect what an exceedingly expensive thing civilization was, and how many really unnecessary luxuries were essential to the comfort and happiness of a civilized being. After tiffin, the Frenchmen, like brave fellows, went out shooting, and the three Britons stretched themselves in the shade, and yielding to the influence of pipes, and of the still, calm beauty of the place — shall I say it? — fell asleep. I must say, in excuse for myself, that sleeping during the day is not a failing of mine; in short, I cannot do it, however hard I may try, except when very tired indeed, and my climb over the mountains in the morning had been quite enough to bring me to that state. As it was, I woke up with a very bad headache and in an exceedingly bad temper; both were dissipated, however, by a stroll in the evening and a bathe in the river, or rather gigantic mountain torrent, full of deep pools and rapids, and its water cold and clear as crystal. The Frenchmen came back in time for dinner, gameless, tired, and hungry; indeed, I had said all along that the cover was too thick for them to be able to shoot anything, and they had of course put this down to my discouraging way of looking at things.
We all went to bed early, and after sleeping the sleep of the weary, were turned out at 6 A.M. by our indefatigable caterer, who is one of those men who cannot sleep in the morning, and who are intolerable nuisances as a rule; he had, however, on this occasion, spent the interval between 5 and 6 A.M. in rousing up the boys and cook, and seeing that the breakfast was being got ready, so we only smiled upon him when he rudely roused us, and after having bathed and dressed and fed, we proceeded to discuss the plans for the day quite amicably. The Frenchmen were very hot on shooting; my two compatriots were undecided, being half-inclined to believe in my prognostications, and half-inclined to follow the Frenchmen. It ended by their doing the latter, and I was left alone to enjoy a most delightful "dawdle" about the place. It is a great pity that the only word that expresses this most refined of pleasures (the word "loaf") should be so intensely vulgar, besides being an Americanism. I have not said a word yet about the beauty of the women at Lak-tu-li; and indeed, it is a subject by which I am apt to get carried away, and on which I hesitate to descant freely. It will be enough if I say that they are, in their way, the most lovely I have ever seen; that their dress and their manner of doing their hair is in keeping with their personal beauty, and is the perfection of good taste, and that every movement and posture in them is as full of grace as in Diana herself. Finally, that they are as brave as good, as innocent and as simple as they are beautiful, and they are fitting mates for their husbands, who, if they don't come up to them in personal beauty, are equally honest, true, and simple-hearted. As it was, while lying on the grass, and looking sometimes at the beauty of the surrounding scenery, sometimes at the picturesque happy groups of women and children — the men were all out hunting or at work — it seemed to me that I was strangely out of keeping with the place and scene. I, with my dingy, foreign-cut clothes and hideous sun-hat, seemed as it were a blot on the picture where all was grace and beauty. Nor did the sense of dissonance stop at externals; what had I to do, it seemed, with my weary craving for change and excitement, among these happy, contented, simple-minded people, who, if they did not know much of good, knew very little of evil? I straightway began to dream dreams, and I determined to throw up everything, cast my lot with the Pepo-hwans, and offer my hand and heart to Lai-lai, whose great black, wondering eyes had captivated me the evening before; I would become a mighty hunter, and the healthy life would make me strong as a horse, and I would teach the people all kinds of things which it was good for them to learn, and so on; till all of a sudden I heard my unmusical name bawled out in anything but musical tones by my friend E——, who put an end to my dreams, by informing me that tiffin was ready and that they were all waiting. I rose unwillingly, but I am forced to confess that the sight of tiffin reminded me that after all civilization had its advantages, and that it was, on the whole, more likely to suit my wants, than was the simple life of a Hwan. After tiffin I did a good deal more dreaming — how curious it is that one feels ten times more sentimental after meals than at any other time — while my fellow-Britons slumbered, and the gallant Frenchmen, though somewhat disheartened at having seen nothing whatever in the morning, set forth again in quest of la chasse When it got cool, we three Britons had another stroll and another delicious bathe, and returned to look after the preparations for dinner. The Frenchmen turned up in due course gameless, and this time utterly disgusted — somehow or other they never were late for meals — and we sat down to dinner, sorrowing that we should have to be away on our journey back before the sun was up the next morning.
We had little idea of doing anything else but going to bed as soon as possible after dinner — and, indeed, the boys had set up our camp-beds — when we were told that the villagers were going to have a dance in our honour, and were requested to go to the place where it was to be held. We found the whole village assembled, men, women, and children, in a large open space surrounded by trees, and with a house here and there at the edges. After they had given us seats, the dance commenced. The men all took hands and formed a semicircle, then came the married women, then the unmarried women, and lastly the children, till a great ring was formed. Then they began to sing, the men commencing, the married women taking it up, the unmarried women coming next, and the children following them, Apparently the men sang what would be equal to two lines of a song with us, and after the others had each done the same in their turn, went on with the next two, and so on. The ring was all this time moving round, first one way then the other, and at the same time extending and contracting itself (in the same way as is done with us sometimes, if I remember right, in the Lancers, in place of the "Grand Galop," or something or other), every one keeping time to the slow measures of the music, which, though monotonous, was not at all unpleasing. Altogether it was rather imposing as a sight, and would have been much more so had there been a moon, for the lanterns were few and far between. At 11 o'clock we expressed our intention of turning-in, as we had a long journey before us the next day, and after I had distributed a lot of small silver five-cent pieces among the children, which afforded immense satisfaction apparently, and which have doubtless by this time been converted into necklaces — the only use to which these people put silver coin of any kind — and when we had impressed upon the villagers our sense of their kindness and hospitality, we managed to get away to bed. The next morning we had breakfast in the dark, and were off long before the Pepo-hwans had stirred, for they have the rare virtue of not getting up till 8 o'clock or so. The journey back was accomplished in two days, and the less I say about it the better. I had left my heart behind me, and altogether it was very sad. Finding oneself among Chinamen again is such a dreadful experience, too.