This interesting character was bora in Hirado, Japah. is mother was Japanese and his father a Chinese. He evidently inherited the, diplomacy and neuteness of the Chinese, and the cout and dash of the Japanese, for he bec to my mind, one of the greatest warriors which the history of the world can show. He controlled while but a youth a great army which he himself had organised and which ruled supreme over " great strip of territory extending from near Foochow south almost to Canton. He attacked the Imperial Government so vigorously that its army was gradually, driven back ws far as Nanking, which Koxinga* actually beged for a considerable period. This all occurred between the years 1650 and 1660, Formosa was now in the hands of the Dutch. They had been practically given the island by the Chinese, whose title fas not, however, exactly clear inasmuch as they hnd not at sny time occupied it themselves. Koxinga had cast longing ces toward this beautiful land, and in {661 sailed from Amoy with a large force to capture it. In this he was after some months suecessfuil, and in 1662 he declared himself the first King of Formosa. is interesting to note that he undertook at once the preparation of an expedition to seize the Philippines from the Spay in which he would undoubtedly ha been successful, when the virulent Formosa fever claimed him s " victim. His death was in May, 1662, at the early age of thirty-nine.
Koxinga's family controlled the island for thirty-eight yours and then in 1683, it was handed over to the Imperial Chinese Government. The island now incrossed considerably in population, the new arrivals hoping, among other advantages, to escape the extortions of the Manda-tins. Rebellion after rebellion followed, and the island became the abode of a face of outlaws, or, as Lu Chow, the
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.