The Portuguese sailors who sighted Taiwan almost 400 years ngo and called it ha Formosa were nob mistaken in their judgment. Had they been able to travel up and down its valleys, and through ite mountain passes,.as it is, possible to now, their wonder and enjoyment would have been greatly increased, Ever since those early days when the Portuguese mariners first came Uupon this island of the southern it has been known to Europeans Perhaps the world tourist whose ship stops at Keelung for a day, and who is taken to see something of the modern city of Taihoku, may not be Breatly impressed with what he shown of Formosa. But if he had lived in the interior of North Ching for a time, and then came to live in Formosa, he could not but come to appreciate not only the. wonitrou natural beauty: of this island, Jalso the security for life and pros erty which is here. It has been said that comparisons are odious, ut who could live in China and then in Formosa without longing to see in China something of the peace and Prosperity that is evident he After the SinowJapancse war in 1894-05 Formosa became a colony of Japan. Then, as now, it was a beautiful isle, but* there was little Jevidence of' pence beauty in the life of its inhabitants, either Chinese or aborigines. Sine the days of the famous Koxinga, chose family roled Formosa well from 1661 to 1683 the Manchu em= Perors always had trouble with the forces of disorder in Taiwan, When the wily Li Hung-chang was sent to negotiate the Treaty of Shimonoseki he is alleged to have said to. the Japanese that Formosa was one of the dearest possessions of the Chie nese, and that its loss would national sorrow. When he returned home, however, he chuckled to him= self that he had "put one over" on the enemy, for he knew well that the island was only a thorn in the Side of China, and he hoped that it would prove to be the same to the new rulers, Probably the rest of the World thought that Japan was winning a white elephant, but Japan had at least (we firet class surprises for the world, which became evident in the next ten years. One was the result of the Russo-Japanese war, and the other was the administra: tion of Taiwan, In' 1895 there were only about sixty miles of a very rickety rai way here. The rich western plains were infested with robbers, making travel even in the agricultural arcas an often disastrous adventure. 'The mountains were held by the various tribes of aborigines, many of them savage head hunters, and a trip ross the island from east to west would then have been almost' im= Forsible. The whole island is now well served by a splendid system of railways, the main parts: of which
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.