Page:Through China with a camera.pdf/183

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of the town, harbour and island of Ku-lang-su. It is on Ku- lang-su that European settlers chiefly reside; and there the houses environed with parks and gardens, are second to none in China. Some Christian missions also are established in the same quarter, and not unfittingly, for there is a wide opening for mission labour in a field so benighted and so woe- stricken as Amoy.

From Amoy I crossed over by steamer to Formosa; but before I left the harbour I had time to pull off to the steam- ship "Yesso," and take a hurried leave of an esteemed friend broken down in health, and then homeward bound. I never saw him again, for he died before reaching home. I had a pleasant companion in Dr. Maxwell, the medical missionary of Tai-wan-fu, in Formosa, and from him I heard some interesting accounts of the savages on this strange island. Leaving the harbour at 5 p.m., we passed the Pescadore group of islands at daybreak next morning. The wind all the while blew strongly from the north, forcing me to forego my dinner, and to confine myself a prisoner in my berth until I was summoned on deck to see land. It was a grateful sight, but how the sea was rolling! and the land —alas! the only thing that struck me about it was that it must be a very long way off. Having once gained my sea legs, I had one or two hours' leisure to scrutinise the coast and the inland mountain ranges, which lost themselves in the clouds above. A narrow rocky inlet was pointed out to me as the only harbour accessible in this quarter; and it was abreast of this spot, some two miles from shore, that the steamer came to her moorings. Here I found myself keenly interested in the experiences of a Malay on board, who informed me that vessels were constantly being wrecked along this shore, and that their crews were invariably eaten to a man by the