A CHINESE COURT OF LAW.A CHINESE COURT OF LAW.
CHINESE PUNISHMENT.CHINESE PUNISHMENT.
"But now I am coming to a trial that I witnessed myself. I remember, as I went into the Provincial Criminal Court, one day, seeing the judge sitting behind a large table, covered with a red cloth. Secretaries, interpreters, and turnkeys stood at each end of the table, only the judge having a right to sit down. Soon after I arrived the prisoner was led in by a chainwho immediately threw himself down on the ground before the judge. The crime brought against him was robbing an official of high rank. It was thought that he could not have committed the robbery alone, and was asked how it was effected, and who were his accomplices. He would not say. Then he was beaten; but still this brought no answer. Both an arm and a leg were then put into a board, which made it almost impossible for him either to walk, or sit, or stand. His poor back must have ached terribly; and while one man dragged himalong by a chain, another held a whip to urge him forward.
"And he had never committed the robbery after all, but gave himself up in place of his father, a man named Wang-Yangsui, who was really the culprit."
Tears were in Sybil's eyes as she listened.
POOR OLD WANG-YANGSUI IN THE CAGE.POOR OLD WANG-YANGSUI IN THE CAGE.
"And he suffered all that?" she said.
"Sons have been known to allow themselves to be transported to save their parents, and then only to have felt that they did their duty."
"And in this case was the real culprit ever found out?"
"Yes; the father, moved with compassion for his boy, gave himself up."
"And did they not let him off," Leonard asked, "as the son had suffered so much for him?"
"No; they put him into a cage in which were holes for his head and feet, but in which he could neither sit down nor stand upright. Round the cage was an inscription relating the nature of his crime."
"How long was he left there?"
"That I was not able to hear, but the day he was incarcerated I saw his daughter feeding him with chop-sticks. These, which consist of two sticks that people hold in the same hand wherewith to feed themselves, instead of knives and forks, the Chinese always use when they eat. She must have found it difficult to get to him, as she was carrying a basket, as well as a baby on her back, for she had small feet, and women with small feet cannot walk any distance, even without a load at all. It is not the rule for lower class girls to have their feet made small, though in some cases it is done. This woman had once been better off."
"Why do Chinese ladies have small feet?" Leonard asked.
"But, father," Sybil put in, "please tell us first what became of that poor old man. I am so sorry he stole."
"I heard that great poverty had tempted him to do so, but that he afterwards bitterly repented of the crime which he had committed. How long he remained in the cage I was never able to ascertain; but I really think now that we must close our 'Peep-show' for to-day."
"After we've heard about the small feet ladies, father. I think you have just time for that."
"The feet of Chinese women would be no smaller than, perhaps not as small as, other women's feet, were they not compressed."
"What does that mean?"
"Made smaller by being pressed."
"How painful it must be!"
"So it is. When very young, a little girl's foot is tightly bandaged round, the end of the bandage being first laid on the inside of the foot, then carried round the toes, under the foot, and round the heel till the toes are drawn over the sole, in which an indentation becomes made and the instep swells out. After a time the foot is soaked in hot water, when some of the toes will occasionally drop off. Every time the bandage is taken away another is put on, and tied more tightly. For the first year there is, as we can imagine, dreadful pain, but after two years the foot will become dead and cease to ache. You can therefore understand that it is very uncomfortable for Chinese ladies to walk, and if they go any distance they are carried on the backs of their female slaves."
"Are all Chinese parents so silly as to have their little girls' feet bandaged?"
"A few are strong-minded enough to break through the rule, and all the Tartar ladies have natural feet. Anti-foot-binding societies have now been formed by the Chinese gentry in Canton and Amoy."
"I wonder what made people first think of doing this?" Sybil said.
"Some people think that it was first done to help husbands to keep their wives at home; others say that it was to copy an Empress who had a deformed foot which she bandaged; but whatever thereason may have been, we cannot but wish very, very strongly, that the cruel custom might be soon completely done away with!"
"I shall like to see the ladies being carried on their slaves' backs," Leonard said. "That will be fun!"
"You will soon see it now," was his father's answer, "for we have been six weeks at sea, and the captain says we may expect to be at Shanghai in another ten days' time, so I think I had better not tell you any more, and let you find out the rest for yourselves."
"I think we might have just one more 'Peep-show,'" Sybil replied, "and hear how we get our tea-leaves. I think we ought to know about that before we arrive."
The missionary smiled, and the next time his children wanted a "Peep-show" very much, only a very little persuasion was required to make him sit down between them and let them have it.
Small feet
Landscape
THE MERCHANT SHOWMAN.
Man sitting
"W
ELL, so it is to be about tea to-day," Mr. Graham at once began. "Supposing I do not know anything about it, though; what are we to do then? I know tea comes from an evergreen plant, something like a myrtle, but that isn't much information, is it? Wait a minute, though, children," he then went on, "and you shall have a proper lesson to-day." And as he spoke Mr. Graham disappeared, soon to return with a fellow passenger, a tea merchant, who would be the kind "show-man" for to-day.
"How far did you get?" he asked, as he sat amongst the group of father, mother, and children, for Mrs. Graham had also come to "the show" to-day.
"That tea was an evergreen plant, something like the myrtle," Sybil said, laughing; and all laughed with her.
GATHERING TEA-LEAVES.GATHERING TEA-LEAVES.
SIFTING TEA.SIFTING TEA.
"Then I have it all to do, it seems. Well, the tea-plant yields a crop after it has been planted three years, and there are three gatherings during the year: one in the middle of April, the second at midsummer, and the third in August and September. I suppose it will do if we begin here. The plant requires very careful plucking, only one leaf being allowed to be gathered at a time; and then a tree must never be plucked too bare. Women and children, who are generally, though not always, the tea gatherers, are obliged to wash their hands before they begin their work, and have to understand that it is the medium-sized leaves which they have to pick,leaving the larger ones to gather the dew. When the baskets are full, into which the leaves have been dropped, they are carried away hanging to a bamboo slung across the shoulders, which is a very usual way of carryingthings in China. The tea-plant is the most important vegetable production of the 'Flowery Land.' But as there are, you know, several kinds of tea, I think I had better tell you how that called Congou, which, I suppose, you generally drink yourselves, is prepared. The leaves are first spread out in the air to dry, after which they are trodden by labourers, so that any moisture remaining in them, after they have been exposed to the air or sun, may be pressed out; after this they are again heaped together, and covered for the night with cloths. In this state they remain all night, when a strange thing happens to them, spontaneous heating changing the green leaves to black or brown. They are now more fragrant and the taste has changed.
"The next process is to twist and crumple the leaves, by rubbing them between the palms of the hands. In this crumpled state they are again put in the sun, or if the day be wet, or the sky threatening, they are baked over a charcoal fire.
"Leaves, arranged in a sieve, are placed in the middle of a basket-frame, over a grate in which are hot embers of charcoal. After some one has so stirred the leaves that they have all become heated alike, they are ready to be sold to proprietors of tea-hongs in the towns, when the proprietor has the leaves again put over the fire and sifted.
"After this, women and girls separate all the bad leaves and stems from the good ones; sitting, in order to do so, with baskets of leaves before them, and very carefully picking out with both their hands all the bad leaves and stems that the sieve has not got rid of. The light and useless leaves are then divided from those that are heavy and good, when the good are put into boxes lined with paper."
"What is scented Caper Tea?" Mr Graham asked.
"Oh, father! I am so glad that there's something you have to ask," Leonard said, "as you seemed to knoweverything."
SORTING TEA.SORTING TEA.
"The leaves of scented Orange Pekoe," the merchant answered, "obtain their fragrance by being mixed with the flowers of the Arabian jessamine, and when scented enough, they are separated from the flowers by sieves. Scented Caper Tea is made from some of the leaves of this Orange Pekoe.
PRESSING BAGS OF TEA.PRESSING BAGS OF TEA.
TEA-TASTING.TEA-TASTING.
"Those leaves which are prepared at Canton are black or brown, with a slight tinge of yellow or green. The tea-leaves growing on an extensive range of hills in the district of Hokshan are often forwarded toCanton, where they are made into caper in the following manner. But I wonder if Leonard knows what 'shan' means?" the merchant interrupted. He did, for he had seen in his geography that "shan" meantmountain. "A tea-hong," the merchant continued, "is furnished with many pans, into which seventeen or eighteen handfuls of leaves are put. These are moistened with water, and stirred up by the hand. As soon as they are soft they are put into coarse bags, which, tightly fastened, look like large balls.
WEIGHING TEA.WEIGHING TEA.
"These bags are moved backwards and forwards on the floor by men holding on to wooden poles, and standing upon them. In each bag the leaves take the form of pellets, or capers.
"The coarse leaves, gathered from finer ones, thus made into Caper, after being well fired, are put into wooden troughs, and chopped into several pieces, and it is these pieces which become the tea which we call Caper."
"Thank you very much," said Mr. Graham. "I did not know anything of this."
"Tea-merchants are most particular, before buying and selling tea, to taste it and to test its quality.
"And before it is shipped away it is also very carefully weighed, when I myself, I know, for instance, sit by, watching the process, and taking account of the result."
"I suppose tea isn't ever sent about in wheel-barrows?" then said Leonard, who liked very much indeed the idea of wheel-barrows with sails up, such as he had heard about.
GOING TO MARKET.GOING TO MARKET.
"I never saw it," was the merchant's reply; "but if you are interested in wheel-barrows, you might like to hear about one that I once saw in China. It was conveying not only goods, and the scales wherewith to weigh them, to market, but the family also to whom the goods belonged. The family party made a great impression upon me. The master of the barrow was pushing it from behind, a donkey was pulling it in front, and on the donkey rode a boy; a woman and two children were driven in the wheel-barrow, besides the goods for market. I thought the man and donkey must have a heavy load between them, but both seemed to work mostcheerfully and willingly; and a sail in the centre of the wheel-barrow, gathering the full force of the wind, must have been a great help to them.
"The donkey was guided by no reins, only by the voice of the boy on his back, who carried a stick, but had no occasion to use it, although every now and then he just raised it in the air. Sometimes the boy ran beside the donkey. Anyhow suited the willing little beast, who was as anxious as his master to do his best. A dog completed the number of the party.
"The man told me that he was truly fond of this dog, and gave him 'plenty chow-chow' (plenty to eat), and that he considered he owed all his wealth to him, as he had once come to the house, and had since then remained with the family.
"A strange dog coming to, and remaining at, a house is looked upon by the Chinese as bringing good luck to the family, but a strange cat coming is a bad omen."
The children laughed.
"This man certainly treated his dog very well, as do some few of his countrymen; but, alas! alas! so many poor little faithful dogs in China, as in other countries, lead anything but happy lives!"
Landscape
On river
LITTLE CHU AND WOO-URH.
Decoration: Palm tree
N
O more story Peep-shows of what might be seen in China, no more wondering what the Celestials would be like, for Sybil and Leonard had now landed on Chinese soil, and were themselves at Shanghai, face to face with its inhabitants.
Shanghai seemed, and was, a very busy place, but not a town of very great importance in itself, owing, really, its recent prosperity to having opened its port to foreign commerce. The custom-house, through which the Grahams' boxes had to be passed,struck the children as a very strange and beautiful building, quite different from anything that they had seen before; and there was a great noise of chattering going on outside, which sounded most unintelligible. Coolies were carrying bales of silk and tea to and fro; there were also, ready at hand, some of the sedan-chairs that Sybil had longed to see, and everywhere "pig-tails," or cues, as they were called, seemed to meet Leonard's gaze.
But the ships! Watching them was what he enjoyed better than anything else. The town of Shanghai is situated on the River Woosung, a tributary of the Yangtse-kiang, just at that point where it joins the great river, and about one hundred ships were anchored before this busy, commercial city. Many families resident there have their junks and a little home on the river. There were some very pretty buildings to be seen at Shanghai, and at one of these our little party stayed—on a visit to another missionary from the Church of England—for the three days that they remained there.
At some cities and towns, on the banks of rivers, floating hotels are to be seen; and as people generally have to travel by water, and the Chinese are not allowed to keep open their city-gates after nine o'clock at night, these hotels prove very useful to those arriving too late to enter the city. Lighted with lanterns, they look very pretty floating on the water, and both Sybil and Leonard were very pleased to be taken over a large floating hotel before they left Shanghai. Leonard was very anxious to know how long this town had been open to foreign commerce, and was told since the Opium War, which lasted from 1840 to 1842, when the British,having occupied several Chinese cities, and having captured Chinkiang in Hoopeh, were advancing to Nanking, and the Chinese suing for peace, a treaty was concluded which opened the ports of Amoy, Foochow, Shanghai, and Ningpo, in addition to Canton, to the British, who were henceforward to appoint consuls to live in these towns.
The Chinese are very polite to foreigners in Shanghai; and as the kind missionary who bade the Grahams welcome to his home endeavoured, during their short stay, to interest and show them sights, they enjoyed themselves very much. Sybil and Leonard could not help noticing how very many people they met in spectacles, but they were told that the Chinese suffer very much from ophthalmia, and that when they wear spectacles, some of which are very large, they often have sore eyes.
"There is one thing I cannot understand the Chinese doing," Leonard said one day to Sybil: "and that is, everybody that we have seen, as yet, spoiling their tea by not taking any milk or sugar in it; and father says all the Chinese drink tea like that, and call milk white blood, and only use it in medicine."
"Tea like that would not suit us," Sybil answered, "as we like plenty of both milk and sugar; but I dare say they think we spoil our tea by putting such things into it."
A visit to some rice-fields, a little sight-seeing, a little more watching of ships carrying rice and other products away, and then it was time for the Grahams once more to take their seats on board.
THE CUSTOM-HOUSE, SHANGHAI.THE CUSTOM-HOUSE, SHANGHAI.
We can imagine how both children strained their eyes, as they steamed farther and farther away fromShanghai, to see what that port looked like in the distance, and how Sybil examined her map as they left the province of Kiang-su, to see at what port, and in what province, they would next touch.
This was Ningpo, in Che-kiang, but they did not land here; neither did they go on shore at their next halting-place, Foochow, in the province of Fu-kien. It was at Amoy, in the same province, where their father had a missionary friend, who had invited them to pay him a few days' or a week's visit, as would suit them best, that they next purposed landing, and this they did about four days after they left Shanghai.
"Whoever thought," Sybil said one day on board, "that we should actually be on the Yellow Sea ourselves? It seems almost too good to be true now."
"I never knew people like to stare more at anybody than they seem to like to stare at us here," Leonard thought to himself when first at Amoy.
He and Sybil were then being very carefully observed by a group of natives of that place, but Leonard had yet to become accustomed to being stared at in China.
"And, father," he said later, "I wonder why so many of them wear turbans? I did not notice people doing this at Shanghai."
A FLOATING HOTEL AT SHANGHAI.A FLOATING HOTEL AT SHANGHAI.
Mr. Graham did not know the reason of this either; but he and Leonard were later informed that the men of Amoy adopted the turban to hide the tail when they were made to wear it by their conquerors, and that they never gave it up. Leonard was also told that they were good soldiers, which, he said, he thought they looked. One thing remarkable about the people of Amoy was that thedifferent families seemed to consist almost entirely of boys. A great many of the inhabitants were very poor, living crowded together in dirty houses very barely furnished. Mrs. Graham had not to be long in China to discover that cleanliness is not a Chinese virtue. Sybil bought some very pretty artificial flowers of some of the inhabitants of Amoy, which they had themselves made. They manufactured them principally, she heard, to be placed on graves.
THE PORT OF SHANGHAI.THE PORT OF SHANGHAI.
Like other Chinese, these people were very superstitious. Here and there large blocks of granite were to be met with, which were regarded by them with reverence, and looked upon as good divinities. On one the Grahams saw inscriptions, which related some history of the place.
Granite seemed to abound here, for the temples and monasteries were, for the most part, erected on the heights between rocks of this description.
Two days after reaching Amoy, Sybil was dreadfully distressed, and shocked, to see a little girl named Chu, of eleven years old, put up for sale by her own parents. At ten dollars (£1) only was she valued;and for this paltry sum the parents were ready to sell her to any one who would bid it for her. They were very poor, and could not afford to keep her any longer. She had four sisters and only two brothers; the youngest of all, the baby, was to be drowned by her father, later on in the day, in a tub of water. They had never done anything like this before: this man and woman had never killed a child, although they had had five girls, and many of their neighbours had thought nothing of destroying most of their daughters so soon as they were born; but now, as the man was ill, and able to earn so little, they had resolved to rid themselves of two of them that day. If the baby lived, the mother comforted herself by saying, she must be sold later, or grow up in poverty and misery.
Parents think it very necessary that their children should marry, and sometimes sell, or give them away, to their friends, when they are quite little, to be the future wives of the sons of their new owners.
If sold, they will then fetch about two dollars for every year that they have lived; so a child of five years old would fetch ten dollars; and this little girl, put up for sale, was now eleven years old; therefore she was being offered, poor little thing, below half price. And some little girls of Amoy have been even offered for sale for a few pence!
A FAMILY OF AMOY.A FAMILY OF AMOY.
THE MISSIONARY'S TEACHER.THE MISSIONARY'S TEACHER.
It seemed incomprehensible to Sybil, as it must to us, that a mother could wish either to kill or to sell her little child, but neither the one nor the other event is uncommon in some parts of China, where the parent is poor; and even amongst the well-to-do classes little girls are sometimes put to death, if the parents have more daughters than they care to rear,not only at Amoy, but at other places in the neighbourhood; and even Chinese ladies will sometimes have their poor little daughters put to death.
"Why do people not kill their boys too?" Sybil asked, when she heard all about this.
"Because when they grow up they can earn money that girls could not earn; and not only can they help to support their parents when old, but they can worship their ancestral tablets and keep up the family name."
"I am sure a girl would do this too."
"Her doing so would be considered of little use."
A VIEW OF AMOY, WITH A BLOCK OF GRANITE IN THE FOREGROUND.A VIEW OF AMOY, WITH A BLOCK OF GRANITE IN THE FOREGROUND.
It seemed that the very day before Mr. Grahamarrived in Amoy, a widow lady there had had her little baby girl destroyed, and then, in her widow's dress, had sat down quietly to talk matters over with her sister-in-law, who thought that she had acted very wisely. Killing a daughter, in China, is hardly looked upon as being sinful. A widow's mourning consists of all white and a band round the head, white being Chinese deepest mourning.
LADIES OF AMOY.LADIES OF AMOY.
LITTLE CHU.LITTLE CHU.
Whilst Mr. Graham stood by, a purchaser for little Chu stepped forward, holding the ten dollars in his hand; but the missionary was before him, and through a teacher,whom he had already been able to engage, offered the father twice that sum not to sell the little girl at all, but to let him have her for a servant. He hesitated, as though he would rather sell his child right off to any Chinaman than trust her to a foreign "barbarian." But the sum tempted him; and although he could not understand how receiving it did not give Chu altogether to her purchaser, he seemed to be contented, especially when the teacher explained that she would not be a slave, but would be paid for what work she did. Little Chu was well off to have stepped into so happy a service, and the baby was rescued also. A certain sum was to bepaid weekly to the father, towards her support, until he recovered his health, if he would only spare her; and both parents, who really fondly loved their children, were very glad to spare their baby, fifth girl though she was. Her name was Woo-Urh, which means fifth girl.
It did not take long to have little Chu tidily dressed, with money that her new master supplied, and her poor mother, who had some beads stowed away, now looked them out and also put these on her. Chu was only eleven years old, but poverty and care had given the little one an old expression beyond her years. Chinese children of from ten to sixteen years of age—about which time they are supposed to marry—have a fringe cut over their foreheads, and Chu wore this fringe now. It has to grow again before they marry.
That evening Chu was sent round to Mr. Graham's brother missionary's house, where, as Sybil's little maid, she was housed for the two or three days longer that they would spend at Amoy; and though Chu had come to live with foreigners, in the family of a "barbarian," as her father thought, we can well imagine that she had never been so happy in her life. Mr. Graham had told her parents that when they reached Hong-Kong he should send her to the mission school.
"And the father would have killed the baby himself!" said Sybil. "How could he have done so?"
"That is the marvel; but it is generally the fathers who commit the deed; other people might be punished if they interfered."
CHAPTER VII.
LEONARD'S EXPLOIT IN FORMOSA.
A
BOUT the middle of November, eleven weeks after Mr. Graham and his family had left England, they arrived in the beautiful island of Formosa, whither they had crossed over from Amoy.
Three more persons were now added to the travelling party—the teacher, a Chinese maid, and little Chu, the latter having already begun to show herself really useful.
ENTRANCE TO THE PORT OF TAKOW.ENTRANCE TO THE PORT OF TAKOW.
There is but little fun in travelling, and one does not see half there is to be seen unless one climbs; and as the Grahams were all bent on having fun and seeing as much as they could, on reaching the port of Takow, in Formosa, they ascended a very high mountain, called Monkey Mountain, because it is the home of verymany monkeys, and they were rewarded by having, from its height, a capital view of the entrance to the port. To the front of the mountain were some European houses, belonging to English merchants from Amoy. The port of Takow is a very difficult one at which to anchor, and is closed for commerce during six months of the year, whilst the wind is blowing in an adverse direction; but when the wind and tide are favourable, barks pass between some rocks at the entrance to the port. It is only at the north that the water is deep enoughfor merchant-ships to pass by. Here Leonard saw men fishing quite differently from what he had ever seen people fish before; and as they walked in the water behind their nets, which they seemed to manage very cleverly, he wished so much that he could have been there with them.
Takow is one of the four ports in Formosa which, through treaties, have been thrown open to foreign trade, the others being those of Kelung, Tamsui, and Taiwan-fu.
THE EXTREME NORTH OF TAKOW.THE EXTREME NORTH OF TAKOW.
Formosa, as its name implies, is a very lovely, picturesque island, and the Spaniards, who first made it known to Europeans, named it "Isla Formosa," which, in their language, means "beautiful island." Takow seemed to abound in tropical vegetation, palm-trees being very conspicuous. The gong, used everywhere in China, was much in use here also; and as in other places men carried things by balancing them across their shoulders, so also they did here. But as Mr. Graham's special object in coming to this island was to visit Poahbi, the first centre of the population of a tribe of aborigines, whom the Chinese have named Pepohoans, or strangers of the plain, he moved on thitheras quickly as he could. The country through which they now passed was very beautiful, palm-trees and bamboos overshadowing the way.
FISHERMEN OF TAKOW.FISHERMEN OF TAKOW.
Although it was the month of November, the weather was hot here, and women, wearing white calico dresses, were hard at work in the fields. Many of the women of Formosa had compressed feet, and most of the children wore charms round their necks.
The Pepohoans used to live in fertile plains, but when greedy and grasping Chinese drove them fromthe rich and beautiful lands that were then theirs, and had belonged to their ancestors before them, they took shelter, and made themselves homes, in mountain fastnesses.
Sybil and Leonard were charmed with the people of Poahbi, and thought both their faces and manners very pretty. Although some of the people stared at the foreigners, and laughed at them, many wished to make them welcome in their midst. One woman gave them shelter for the night—a very kind-hearted woman, with a dear little baby, and a very clean and comfortable home. She was a Christian.
At Poahbi Mr. Graham saw a little Christian chapel, which the natives had not only built, but which they also kept up, themselves. Pepohoans are good builders, and do also much work in the fields. They have a most affectionate remembrance of the Dutch, who were once their masters, but who were afterwards expelled from Formosa by a Chinese pirate.
VIEW OF TAKOW, A TOWN IN FORMOSA.VIEW OF TAKOW, A TOWN IN FORMOSA.
The huts, or bamboo cottages, of the Pepohoans, raised on terraces three or four feet high, looked very picturesque, and consisted first of a framework of bamboo, through which crossbars of reeds were run; the whole being thickly covered over with clay. The houses were afterwards whitened with lime. A barrier of prickly stems extended round the huts, throwing a shade over them, whilst these dwellings often had for roofing a thatch of dried leaves. Most things in Formosa were made of bamboo, such as tables, chairs, beds, pails, rice-measures, jars, hats, pipes, chop-sticks, goblets, paper, and pens. Many of the Pepohoans' habitations were built on three sides of a four-cornered spot, with a yard in the centre, where the families sometimespassed their evenings together. The natives assembled here, in numbers, at about nine o'clock, where they made a fire when it was cold. Old and young people here often formed a circle on the ground, sitting together with their arms crossed, smoking, and talking. It was not unusual for dogs also to surround them. These people were fond of singing, but played no musical instruments. Sybil said, directly she saw them, that they were just the sort of people she liked, but this was before she heard that they ate serpents and rats. The women had a quantity of hair, which they wound round their heads like crowns. None of them painted their faces. Some of the men were very badly dressed. All Pepohoans seemed to have very beautiful black eyes. In the different villages the inhabitants were different, and where they had most contact with the Chinese they dressed better, but were less affable. They seemed to be a very honest race.
The Pepohoans are subject to the Chinese Government. Some of them, like the Chinese, have been ruined by opium. The aborigines, consisting of different tribes, talk different dialects. The people of one tribe, the most savage of all, are very warlike, and think nothing of killing and eating their Chinese neighbours when they get the chance to do so; therefore, they are held in great terror. Sybil and Leonard would not have liked to have visited this tribe, for they also hate Europeans.
MOUNTAINEERS OF FORMOSA.MOUNTAINEERS OF FORMOSA.
There was a grandness of beauty in this island of Formosa which could not fail, more and more, to charm Mrs. Graham, and many a pretty sketch did she here make, both for herself and for Sybil's letters. Sybil also liked being here very much; "but if she had only seen," Leonard said, what he and his father saw oneday, when they went for a ramble through the mountains, whilst Sybil was helping her mother to sketch by keeping her company, and making clever little attempts at sketching herself, "she would want to be off that very moment."
There were caverns in Formosa, and they were walking along, exploring some, Leonard some little way in front of Mr. Graham, the teacher, and a native guide, who followed a few yards behind, when the English boy suddenly caught sight of two huge, yellow serpents twined round the branch of an overhanging tree. No one but Leonard was near enough to see them, and as the first creature stretched its dreadful-looking head out, hissing towards him, the brave, self-possessed little fellow, who held a stick in his hand, struck his deadly foe with it with all his might, and hit and aimed so well that he had the satisfaction, the next moment, of seeing the serpent roll over and over down the rock. But then the further one (which, although rather smaller than the other, measured about six feet) wound, in a moment, its wriggling body round the branch of the tree, stretching its head out almost within reach of Leonard, when the boy-guide and Mr. Graham, the same instant, came upon the spot. The boy, accustomed to such encounters, at once dealt the snake a blow, that caused it to lose its balance, and thus all were able to pass on their way in thankfulness and safety.
When Sybil heard of the adventure she was very proud of her little brother; but, as he had imagined when she heard that Formosa was inhabited by serpents, she was glad also to think that it was settled for them to leave that island for Swatow in two days' time.
PEPOHOANS AND THEIR HUT.PEPOHOANS AND THEIR HUT.
That evening was spent very pleasantly comparingnotes of adventure with an English gentleman, who had been in Formosa for some time, and now called upon Mr. Graham and his family, who were staying at the consul's. He had seen and done a good deal, he said, but he spoke very highly of Leonard's brave exploit.
HUT OF ONE OF THE SAVAGE TRIBES.HUT OF ONE OF THE SAVAGE TRIBES.
In the course of his wanderings, he told them, he had visited the village of Lalung, which is situated on the narrowest part of a large river. During the rainy season the waters would here rise and cover a vast bed, opening out a new passage across the land, and flowing away towards the eastern plain. Great mountain heightssurrounded the bed of the river, and the violence of the torrent carried away very large quantities of all sorts of rubbish, which the sea would collect, and deposit, along the eastern coast. Mr. Hardy explained to Leonard how this would account for the port of Thaï-ouan disappearing, and that of Takow forming lower down.
SERPENTS OF FORMOSA.SERPENTS OF FORMOSA.
THE BED OF THE RIVER LALUNG DURING THE DRY SEASON.THE BED OF THE RIVER LALUNG DURING THE DRY SEASON.
"Formosa," he continued, "shows very plainly how the violence of waters can quite transform the physical aspect of a country."
Mr. Hardy then told them that he, with a guide, had once visited the bed of the river of Lalung, during the dry season, as an explorer, when he had taken off his boots and socks, so as to be able to walk wherever he chose, and fathom the depth of the water in different parts.
How Leonard wished he had been with him on this occasion, which seemed to him a regular voyage of discovery!
Two days later, as arranged, the Grahams made sail for Swatow. In crossing the channel, which separates the island from the mainland, Leonard, as usual, had some questions to ask.
"What made the Chinese call Formosa Tai-wan?"
"Because that word means the terraced harbour."
"The east coast hasn't a harbour at all, has it?"
"No; mountains are on the east, and to the west are flat and fertile plains, and all the ports."
"I suppose you know, Sybil, that there are some wild beasts in Formosa?" Leonard went on.
"Yes, I heard Mr. Hardy say so: leopards, tigers, and wolves."
"I think it's my turn to ask a question now," Mrs. Graham said. "I wonder if you and Sybil can tell me what grows principally in Formosa?"
"Rice," Sybil began, "sugar, wheat, beans, tea, coffee, pepper."
"Cotton, tobacco, silk, oranges, peaches, and plums," Leonard ended. "We saw most of these things growing ourselves, so we ought to know."
"Yes; and flax, indigo, camphor, and many fruits that you have not mentioned."
"The Chinese part of the island, I suppose, belongs to Fukien?" Sybil said, "as it is painted the same colour on my map."
"Yes."
What religion had the aborigines? she then wanted to know.
Mr. Graham answered this question by telling her that he believed they had no priesthood at all.
"What a pity it is," Sybil said, "that a number of missionaries could not be sent out there. I do so like the Pepohoans!"
"How long is it now since the Dutch were driven away?" Leonard asked. "And how long were they in Formosa?"
"About 1634 the Dutch took possession of the island, and built several forts, but a Chinese pirate drove them out in 1662, and made himself king of the western part. In 1683 his descendants submitted to the authority of the Chinese Emperor, to whom they are now tributary. The Chinese colonists, however, often rebel."
"People have not known very long, have they, that the island of Formosa is important?"
"No; only since about 1852."
"About how many inhabitants has Thaï-ouan, the capital?" Leonard asked.
"I should think about 70,000, but it is now decreasing in population."
"How much you know, father," Sybil said. "I wish I knew all you did!"
"I am afraid that is not very much; but if you notice things that you come across, and try to remember what you hear and what you read, you will soon gain plenty of knowledge and useful information."