【翻譯練習】1877 年，淡水至臺灣府記行
Notes of a Journey through Formosa from Tamsui to Taiwanfu
作者：翟理斯 (Herbert J. Allen)，英國駐中國領事
出處：《倫敦皇家地理學會報告 》(Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of London) 21 (1877): 258-266.
來源：https://www.reed.edu/Formosa/texts/Allen1877.html
[P. 258] Little is known of the interior of Formosa, and a short sketch of a journey from the Treaty port of Tamsui to that of Taiwanfu, in which the heart of the island was visited, will perhaps be of some interest. Formosa, situated about 100 miles from the mainland of China, is about 240 miles by 80 broad. The Chinese name of it, Taiwan, or Bay of the Raised Terrace, probably refers to the square flat-roofed blockhouse, Fort Zelandia, built by the Dutch when they were in possession of the island, and which is now a mark for vessels making the anchorage at the capital, Taiwanfu. The department is, according to Government statistical works, divided into the subdistricts of Komalan, Tamsui, Changhua, Kia-i, Taiwan, Fengshan, and Pênghu, or the Pescadores, of which Komalan is the only one on the eastern side of the island. The Chinese Government charts do not depict the coast-line on that side at all, the boundary being represented by a mass of mountains. The central ranges, the southern and eastern coasts, are principally inhabited by various tribes of aborigines, totally unlike in dress and features to the Chinese, who call them barbarians, and treat them accordingly. Some of the districts have been so enlarged lately by the constant encroachments of the Chinese on savage territory that last year it was deemed necessary to increase the number of governing officials; Komalan and Tamsui districts were abolished, and a department of North Formosa, with three dependent magistracies, [p. 259] established in their room. The Chinese Government forbade their people to cross the boundary of savage territory, at one time well defined; but since the Japanese expedition against the Bootan tribe of aborigines in the south in 1874, they altered their policy, and, finding themselves looked on as masters of the whole island, took active steps to improve their knowledge of it. Schemes for cutting roads through the hills were set on foot, colonists were bribed to settle in out-of-the-way places, and presents given liberally to the aboriginal chiefs, who were urged to acknowledge Chinese rule. These measures have not been altogether successful, in consequence of the persistent antipathy and mistrust shown by the savages, and the petty war goes on whenever the Chinese try to penetrate into the hills unaccompanied by a large force.
福爾摩沙島內仍罕為人知。本文簡述從淡水至臺灣府這兩處通商口岸的行程，途中穿越本島中央地帶，或許可引起讀者些許興趣。
福爾摩沙距離中國約 100 哩，長約 240 哩，寬約 80 哩。福爾摩沙的中文名臺灣，意為隆起臺地之海灣，這裡的隆起臺地可能是指方正的平頂堡壘熱蘭遮城，熱蘭遮城為荷蘭人在統治福爾摩沙時期所建，如今是下錨於福爾摩沙首府臺灣府的船隻用於辨識港口的標記。
根據政府統計資料，福爾摩沙行政區設有噶瑪蘭廳、淡水廳、彰化縣、嘉義縣、臺灣縣、鳳山縣、澎湖廳 (又名漁翁島)，其中僅有噶瑪蘭廳位於東部。清政府海圖完全未繪出本島東部的海岸線，僅以群山來呈現東部邊界。
中央山脈、南部海岸及東部海岸主要為各族原住民部落所居，原住民在服裝和外貌上和漢人毫無相像之處，漢人稱原住民為野蠻人，並將其當作野蠻人般看待。
漢人不斷侵占原住民領域，使得近來部分行政區的範圍持續擴大，去年已經達到有必要增設行政區的地步：清政府廢除噶瑪蘭廳和淡水廳，並在此地區改設一府 (台北府) 三縣 (淡水、新竹、宜蘭)。
清政府嚴禁人民跨越野蠻人地盤的邊界，漢番之間曾經井水不犯河水；但自從日本在 1874 年派出遠征軍攻打本島南部的原住民部落牡丹社後，清政府改變治理政策，而且清政府發現自身被視為福爾摩沙的統治者，因此積極採取行動以加強對這塊土地的認識。
清政府開始推動開闢山路的計畫，拿錢收買墾拓者要他們定居在偏遠地區，並慷慨贈禮給原住民頭目，令頭目被迫承認清政府的律法。這些措施並未皆以成功收場，導致野蠻人持續對清政府深感厭惡與不信任，而且每當漢人在沒有強大武力護衛的情況下試圖穿山越嶺時，便會觸發與野蠻人的小型戰事。
Being invited by Mr. Mackay, of the Canadian Presbyterian Mission in the north, and Mr. Ritchie, of the English Presbyterians in South Formosa, to accompany them on a tour they intended to take to visit their respective stations, I started on the 10th of November, 1875, from the old Dutch fort, then used as a Consular residence, at Tamsui. I crossed the harbour near its entrance, and skirting the western side of the Kuanyin Hill, 1720 feet above the sea, gained the table-land, which stretches some 30 miles down the coast. I halted at the little village of Doaheng for dinner, and went on 10 miles further by moonlight to the inn at Tionglek, where my companions were sleeping, they having earlier in the day left their chapel near Banka, the largest and most commercially active town in North Formosa, 8 miles up the Tamsui River, and gone by another road. The next morning we made an early start, and the air on the plateau being very invigorating, walked 8 miles before breakfast, passing many villages of Hakka Chinese immigrants from Kuangtung Province. The plain was cultivated with paddy and sugar-cane crops, and we constantly met heavy four-wheeled carts with axles, doubtless introduced by the Dutch, which were generally drawn by a buffalo, with two of the ordinary black cattle of the country on each side, yoked abreast. About 8 miles from Tekcham we reached Table Hill, or Windhill Slope, as its Chinese name signifies, which was the termination of the plateau. From this point we got a good view of the sea westward, the valley with its pretty river winding along at our feet, and clumps of bamboos on the opposite bank, which screened the town from sight. Descending the hill, we crossed the river in one of the flat-bottomed boats used here. The ferryman held on to a rattan-rope, securely fastened to stakes at each bank, as he swung his boat across the stream, which in the rainy season becomes a rapid torrent.
我收到本島北部的加拿大長老會傳教士馬偕 (Mackay)、以及本島南部的英國長老會傳教士李庥 (Ritchie) 的邀請，陪同他們一同加入參訪彼此傳教據點的行程。
1875 年 11 月 10 日，我從淡水的紅毛城出發，紅毛城是從前荷蘭人留下的堡壘，當時被英國租借作為領事館。我在紅毛城入口處附近穿越港灣，沿著海拔 1720 呎的觀音山的西側，來到順著海岸線綿延 30 餘哩的台地。
我在大園 (Doaheng) 這處小村莊中途休息吃晚餐後，藉著月光又繼續前進 10 哩路，來到中壢 (Tionglek) 的旅社，我的旅伴在此處過夜，他們當天稍早從艋舺 (Banka) 的小教堂出發，走的是另一條路。艋舺位於淡水河口上溯 8 哩之處，是本島北部規模最大、商業最繁榮的城鎮。
翌晨我們很早啟程。台地的空氣令人神清氣爽。我們走了 8 哩才吃早餐，途中經過許多客家村，這些客家人從廣東省移民而來。平原上種著水稻和甘蔗，我們一直遇見笨重的四輪有軸貨車，這肯定是荷蘭人引進的，通常這種貨車是由本島常見的黑色水牛並排套上牛軛，各自拖拉貨車的一側。
從竹塹 (Tekcham) 走了約 8 哩後，我們來到台地丘 (Table Hill)，漢人稱其為鳳山 (Windhill Slope？)，這裡已是台地的盡頭。此處視野極佳，向西望去有優美海景，山腳下是美麗小河蜿蜒流過的谷地，河的對岸生著竹叢，將城鎮遮蔽於視線之外。下了山丘，我們搭乘一艘此處使用的平底船渡河，船夫握著一根緊縛於在兩側河岸木樁上的藤條，一邊搖著船隻橫渡小河，這條小河在雨季時會變成湍流。
[P. 260] Tekcham, being the capital of the Tamsui district and containing the yamên of the sub-prefect, has acquired a sort of fictitious importance which its trade does not warrant. At the time of my journey the sub-prefect was absent in another part of his district, which stretched along the north and west coasts for a distance of, say, 100 miles, with a breadth of from 10 to 30 miles, and covering an area of 1250 square miles.
竹塹是淡水縣首府，同知辦公的衙門設於此處，竹塹擁有一種並非由貿易鞏固而來的虛浮重要性。我行經竹塹時，同知並不在竹塹，他在淡水縣的其他地區。淡水縣的北部和西部海岸總長約 100 哩，寬 10 至 30 哩，面積 1250 平方哩。
註：頂港、下港，在前清時，指的是淡水廳轄下之兩大區域。清代大安溪以北地區，皆屬「淡水廳」，廳治設在竹塹（今新竹市），但由於艋舺地區發展迅速，工商成長早已超過竹塹，為便於治理，同知乃每半年兩地移駐，因此才有頂港、下港之稱。(資料出處：陳華民，《台灣俗語話講古，頁 97。)
On our third day's march we soon came to the sands, which stretch some way out to sea, and make this part of the coast very dangerous for anything but flat-bottomed Chinese junks, and there had, in fact, been two wrecks of English vessels lately, as the timber lying about the shore testified. A proclamation posted at a road-side inn by one Lo, assistant commandant of the North Formosa troops, warned the people that they would be punished if they carried off the wrecked wood, on the ground that the ocean-men (foreigners) might make capital of the fact, and create disturbances. The authorities have certainly been more energetic than they were in old days in putting a stop to the evil of wrecking, although they work on the fears of the common people rather at the expense of our reputation. We passed through the large towns of Heongsan and Tiongkong, crossed a sandy shallow inlet of the sea half a mile wide, which afforded a good anchorage for junks, and leaving the large town of Oulan on our right, soon came in sight of Sinkang, our destination for the day. We were warmly welcomed by the catechist of the chapel here, who came running to meet us, and lodged us in the Mission-rooms. We had had a tedious march of 20 miles, most of the way over a desert, and had been not a little annoyed by the sand blown into our faces by the high wind. Sinkang is the last of Mr. Mackay's stations, and as it is but one day's journey from Laisia, the most northerly of the South Formosan Mission-stations, there is a complete chain of chapels from Kelung in the north to Takow in the South. Most of the converts in Sinkang are Pepohuans, or semi-civilised savages of the plains, who are found generally established in small colonies between their Chinese conquerors and their brothers, the wild aborigines of the interior. They practically adopt the Chinese dress and tonsure, but their features distinctly show that they were originally of the aboriginal or Malayo-Polynesian stock. A simple-minded and quiet people, they are looked down on by the Chinese as huans, i. e. barbarians, and they do not scruple to possess themselves of their lands, under pretence of renting them, the complaints for redress to the officials being too often unattended to. On the side of the hills they are frequently cut off by the wild savages, who look upon the acquisition [p. 261] of human heads with pigtails as proofs of valour, without a certain number of which a young chief cannot get a wife. The Pepohuans are sometimes called Sekhuan, which means civilised barbarians, to distinguish them from the Chihuan, or wild barbarians, and are governed by tongsu, or headmen. The one over this tribe paid a squeeze of 300 dollars a year for his post, part to the sub-prefect of Tamsui and part to the sub-prefect of Lokong, in the Changhua district, under the jurisdiction of which latter official he more immediately is. After leaving Sinkang we passed a string of Hakka Chinese villages, the largest of which was Bali. Rice and sugar are grown in this valley, and people seemed well-to-do. We halted at midday at Tunglowan. Crossing the rocky bed of what would evidently be a torrent in the rains, we travelled up a long and very pretty valley, then over a small range of hills and towards evening came down a very steep hill to Laisia. This Pepohuan colony, which is entirely Christian, the population of which numbers 200, including women and children, is an offshoot of the huans of Posia. They said thirty or forty of them came here twenty years ago, and that they were of the Padjieh tribe, the tribe at Sinkang being called Balua. The colony consisted of two small enclosures, about 100 yards square each, well fenced in with bamboos, and further protected from attacks of savages by sharp-pointed stakes, which stuck up a few inches out of the ground close to the outside of the fence.
行程第 3日，我們很快就走到沙地。這片沙地一直延伸到海邊，使得這一帶海岸對中式的平底戎克船而言相當危險，事實上最近就有兩艘英國船艦在此失事，從岸邊散落的木材就足以證明曾發生船難。
路邊旅社貼著一張由本島北部樂姓駐軍副司令發出的告示，警告民眾不得取走失事船隻的木材，否則將處以懲罰，理由是從海上來的人 (ocean-men？)(外國人) 可能會因民眾隨意撿拾木材之舉而興災作亂。清政府當局確實比以往更積極阻止民眾破壞失事船骸，不過政府卻是利用人民的恐懼來發布禁令，而不是因為這麼做有損我們的名譽。
我們步經香山 (Heongsan) 和中港 (Tiongkong) 兩處大城，穿越半哩寬的沙質平淺出海口，這裡很適合戎克船下錨停泊。接著我們經過右方的後龍 (Oulan) 大城，很快就看到新港 (Sinkang)，也就是我們今天的目的地。
當地小教堂的傳教員熱情迎接我們，他跑來與我們會面，並將我們安頓在傳教室。我們今天走了漫長的 20 哩路，大多數路途都是在沙地上行走，強風把沙子吹到我們臉上，實在不好受。
新港是馬偕在本島北部傳教範圍最南端的傳教據點，而本島南部傳教範圍最北端的據點位於內社 (Laisia),，從新港到內社只需一日行程。從本島之北的雞籠到本島之南的打狗，小教堂據點連成完整一串。
大部分改信基督教的人是平埔番，也就是住在平地的半開化野蠻人，他們通常定居在漢人侵略者和他們的兄弟 ── 未開化的深山原住民 ── 之間的小聚落。平埔番幾乎都改穿漢人服裝並薙髮，不過他們的外型特徵清楚顯示他們原本屬於馬來-玻里尼西亞語族。
平埔番心思單純，待人和善，但被漢人瞧不起，蔑稱為「番」，意為野蠻人，而且漢人肆無忌憚地假租借之名，行掠奪平埔番土地之實，平埔番向官員請求賠償的申訴也常遭無視。平埔番經常在丘陵的邊緣被未開化的野蠻人殺害，這些野蠻人想要獵取附有髮辮的人頭，他們認為這是英勇的證明，年輕頭目必須取得一定數量的人頭，才有辦法娶妻。
平埔番有時也稱作「熟番」(意為已開化的野蠻人)，用這個稱呼與「生番」(意為未開化的野蠻人) 區隔開來。平埔番由通事 (意為頭人) 負責治理，新港部落的通事每年上繳少少的 300 元來保住這個職位 (？)，這筆錢一部分繳給淡水縣同知，一部分繳給位於彰化縣的鹿港 (Lokong？) 同知，新港通事屬於這兩者的管轄，並以鹿港同知為較直屬的上司。
離開新港後，我們一連經過好幾個漢人客家村，其中最大的村莊是苗栗 (Bali)。苗栗種植稻米和甘蔗，人民看起來很富有。中午我們在銅鑼灣 (Tunglowan) 歇息。我們越過了在雨季顯然會變成滾滾洪流的岩石河床後，走在一處長長的美麗山谷，然後翻閱一小列丘陵，傍晚時分從一個很陡的小丘走下來，來到內社。
這處平埔番聚落包括婦幼在內共有 200 多人，全數信仰基督教，屬於埔社原住民的支系。他們說村民當中有 3、40 人是在 20 年前來到此地的，並說他們屬於巴宰族 (Padjieh)，新港部落稱此族為 Balua。內社有兩處圍起來的小場地，面積各約 100 平方碼，外圍密種竹子作為籬笆，又在靠近籬笆外側之處豎立了從地上突起數吋的尖頭木樁，以保護內部不受野蠻人攻擊。
On the sixth day we resumed our march, and passing through the small Chinese village of Sintiam, which has sprung into existence within the last two years, struck along the base of the hills over a plain some miles wide, strewed with rocks and boulders, without any discernible path through it, and reached Toasia early in the afternoon.
第 6 日我們繼續行走，經過新店 (Sintiam) 這處漢人小村。新店在近 2 年內才形成聚落，緊沿丘陵山腳，坐落在數哩寬的平原上，岩塊和鵝卵石散落平原各處，村中沒有任何可資辨別的路徑。我們在下午稍早抵達大社 (Toasia)。
As we were now going to have rougher travelling than we had had, we despatched a courier to Taiwanfu with our surplus baggage, and letters to inform the Consul of our plans. We went S.S.E. for 13 miles over a fertile plain, cultivated with sugar-cane, tobacco, ground-nut, sweet potatoes, &c., drawing gradually towards the range of hills on our left. At the head of the gorge, due east of the district town of Changhua, we were met by a party of thirty or forty tall, stalwart Pepohuans, armed with knives and matchlocks, who were to be our bodyguard through the mountains, to protect us from the savages. The gorge wound a good deal, but our general direction was east; the jungle on both sides was very thick, and the Pepohuans now and then set it on fire. After we had gone about six miles over rocks and stones, through pools [p. 262] of water, the pass narrowing as we went, we reached a point where a big camphor-tree blocked it up almost entirely, and we had great difficulty in getting the chair through. The pass was here only 5 feet wide, and I could touch the perpendicular walls of rock on each side. The scenery was magnificent; the mountains, rising 2000 or 3000 feet almost perpendicularly on each side, were covered with camphor and other forest-trees. At one time a felled tree across our path made an arch for us to pass under, and again we were obliged to scramble along the trunk of another big denizen of the forest. I noticed one or two veins of coal on the rocks; and a stratum of conglomerate pebbles in the clay, 600 feet above us, was also remarkable. We encamped for the night in the middle of the gorge; lit a fire, and boiled some of our tinned soups in true gipsy style. Blankets spread on bundles of leaves formed our beds, and in spite of a heavy dew we got a good night's rest. We started before daybreak on the morning of the eighth day of our march, and after five more miles of rough scrambling, at which our savage friends were quite au fait, got to the end of the gorge. The ranges of hills now opened out, and, although we occasionally had to cut our way with long knives through the jungle, travelling was much easier work. We found a small, edible, acid fruit, like a raspberry, growing here; as well as a sweet-smelling fern, which the natives called Tanpa. We did not meet any wild savages; but were pointed out a spot where, five years previously, the Pepohuans had a fight and killed thirteen of them. We crossed one pretty broad and rapid stream, in fording which the Pepohuans were immersed up to their necks, and six or seven smaller ones; and just after dusk reached the beautiful valley of Posia, or Polisia as it is also called. Torches had been sent to meet us by some of the party, who had pushed on quicker than the others; and the Chinese chair-coolies, being dead-beat, had to give place to the stalwart Pepohuans, who, with shouts of laughter at the unaccustomed task, picked up the chair and came along over the level ground at a rapid trot which nearly shook me out of it. We slept that night in comfortable beds at the Mission-station of Ougulan, one of the 33 villages in this plain. Posia is a fertile, almost circular, well-watered plain, about 8 miles in diameter, and surrounded by wooded hills in which the wild savages roam in their hunting-excursions. The population, numbering about 5000, include a few Chinese who come to trade with the Pepohuans in rattans, deers' horns, skins, &c., for which they exchange knives, matchlocks, and gunpowder. The Pepohuans are fair shots. We were out in the woods one day for a few hours, and they succeeded in bagging three moose-deer, the [p. 263] flesh of which was excellent. The missionaries have been very successful here. Their first chapel at Gukunswa, so called from a hillock said to resemble an ox reclining, on the other side of the plain, was built in 1871; the one at Ougulan was next put up; and a third one, with an upper storey, substantially built of brick, was built at the village of Toalam in 1874. I was shown a silver cup, about two inches long, which an old man assured me had been an heirloom in his family for 200 years. From some marks on it, I believe it is really an old Dutch matchbox. They said they remembered the foreigners being in the island. We remained five days at Posia, and were continually being feasted by the converts, a troop of whom escorted us to the bank of a river at the edge of the plain, when we took our departure. Of course we had a small bodyguard to escort us through another pass to the south, not so difficult as the one by which we had entered the plain, and as far as Ousia, a small village of perhaps 1000 Chinese inhabitants of Changchow. They then saluted us by firing their matchlocks in the air and shouting "Pahuria raki" (Peace be with you), returned to Posia. We passed some plantations of tea and before dusk reached the shores of a beautiful lake, 4 miles long by 2 broad, which went by the name of Tsui-sia-hai, of Lake of the Water Savages, a distinct tribe who live on its banks. They are a degraded race, and are employed as slaves by the Chinese, who make them carry heavy burdens, and give them samshoo, of which they are unfortunately only too fond. We found some of them lying intoxicated in their long low huts made of the bark of trees, and resembling their canoes inverted. The whole family live in the hut, which has partitions which only partially screen the women's quarters from those of the men. They tattoo their faces in broad bands across the nose, are tall, and would be well-proportioned, if it were not for a pernicious habit they indulge in of tying cloths tightly around their waists, which deform them very much; but which they said they did to keep them from feeling the pangs of hunger. They fish in the lake, paddling about in long canoes hollowed out of the trunks of trees, which reminded me of the dragon-boats common at Foochow and other parts of South China. I bathed in the lake, and found it very muddy and full of weeds. On a woody islet in the lake, we found a Chinese coffin-maker, who seemed comfortable enough with his bit of kitchen-garden and orchard adjoining his house. A Chinese scholar who lived near the lake took us in, and gave us quarters for the night. The next day, the fifteenth of our march, we travelled in a south-westerly direction over the hills, descending eventually a [p. 264] steep hill, from the top of which we had a fine view of a long valley, with a river flowing from east to west. We reached that evening the large town of Chipchip, which is entirely Chinese, and is the headquarters of a military Mandarin, name Lo, who, we heard, was in command of 500 troops, two days' journey up the valley, employed in cutting a road to Siukuluan, a port on the east coast of the island, in lat. 23û 30'. We had tried to get a Chinese guard to bring us through the hills in the morning; but as there was some difficulty about it, and we were a large enough party to awe the savages, we gave it up. We left Chipchip early the next morning, but were detained some time on the bank of a river. The ferryman had gone away, and some of the helpers swam across to get the boat. They were, however, unskilled in the management of it, the force of the current washed it down against a fish-weir and it was wrecked. This little contretemps obliged us to cross lower down on a raft. We passed a good many villages, one of them, Limkepo, said to contain 3000 inhabitants, had jurisdiction over 24 others in the vicinity. The valley we were travelling through wound about a good deal, and although we did not make much way in a direct line, it was getting dusk before we reached Toulak, our resting-place for the night. An underling from the district magistrate's yamên at Kagee met us here, and said he had been ordered to escort us to Kagee. He helped me in engaging another chair, my former bearers not wishing to go on to the capital, and was very attentive. We struck the main road at Tapons, where we had a good cup of tea at the house of a Mr. Huang; passed a few villages, at the largest of which, Tamao, my companions preached for a short time while we were resting; and reached the Mission-chapel at Kagee on the evening of the seventeenth day. I sent my card to the Magistrate to thank him for his kindness, but he was not at home. I was now within two days' journey of Taiwanfu, and so I bid adieu to my companions, who were going to visit some more stations in the hills to the eastward, and journeyed on solus to Ungkangbay. I slept at a comfortable inn kept by a Government underling; and early on the nineteenth day, after a journey of 220 miles, reached Taiwanfu, the capital of the island. Passing through the city gate, I went for some distance along pretty lanes bounded with cactus-hedges, no house being even in sight, and eventually found myself in the hospitable yamên of the British Consul. I stayed here some days, waiting for a vessel to take me across to the mainland, and spent my time pleasantly in making excursions to objects of interest in the city and visiting the few foreign residents in it. I went over the square Dutch fort in the [p. 265] city, on the gateway of which can still be traced the date "Anno -- 1650;" and also over the remains of Fort Zelandia at Amping, 3 miles off, on the sea-coast. It was being rapidly pulled down by the Chinese, in order that the bricks might be used in the erection of a grand new fort with four bastions, which was being put up under the superintendence of some French officers, a few miles off, to repel the Japanese and other invaders. I made a quick passage of twenty-four hours to Amoy, in an English merchant-vessel, and was rather sorry to leave Formosa.
由於接下來的路途將比先前的艱辛許多，我們把多餘的行李用快遞方式送去臺灣府，並發信向領事告知我們的計畫。我們朝南南東走了 13 哩，穿越一處肥沃的平原，種植的作物有甘蔗、菸草、花生、地瓜等，平原一路延伸到我們左方的丘陵。
在峽谷的起點，彰化縣正東之處，我們和一隊 3、40 名高壯的平埔番會合，他們帶著刀和火繩槍，將護衛我們穿越山區，防範野蠻人攻擊。峽谷非常曲折，不過我們的大方向是往東；兩側叢林十分濃密，平埔番時常放火焚林。
我們走了6 哩多的石頭路，涉過水塘，路徑愈來愈窄，之後我們到了一個幾乎被一株大樟樹完全擋住去路的地方，轎椅很難通過。這裡的路徑只有 5 呎寬，我碰得到路徑兩側的垂直岩壁。
景色相當壯麗：兩側山峰陡直拔地而起 2、3 千呎，長滿樟樹和其他森林樹種。有時路徑上的倒木形成一道拱門，我們必須從拱門下面鑽過去，然後我們又不得不再次爬過另一株外來種樹木的樹幹。
我注意到岩壁上有一、二條煤礦脈，而我們頭上 600 呎處的黏土裡有個礫岩地層，也很引人注目。
晚上我們在峽谷中段過夜；燃起火，煮了一些罐頭湯，很有吉普賽人的流浪風情。把毛毯鋪在落葉堆上，就成了我們的床，儘管露水厚重，我們仍睡了個好眠。
行程第 8 日，我們在破曉前動身出發，費力攀爬 5 哩多才抵達峽谷終點，我們的野蠻人朋友對此得心應手。
原本的丘陵在此鋪展開來，路勁變得好走多了，雖然偶爾仍需用刀在叢林間開路。我們發現這裡生長著一種小型可食的酸果，像是覆盆子；還有一種散發香氣的蕨類，原住民稱其為 Tanpa。
我們沒有遇到任何生番；不過平埔番向我們指著一處地方，他們說 5 年前曾和生番在該處開戰，並殺了 13 名生番。
我們涉水越過一條很寬的急流，水淹到了平埔番的脖子，另外還渡過 6、7 條較小的溪流；就在黃昏後，我們總算抵達美麗的谷地埔社 (Posia)，又名埔里社。
平埔番隊伍裡的有些人拿火把給我們，平埔番走得比其他人還快；至於負責扛轎的漢人苦力已經精疲力盡，必須請強壯的平埔番接手替他們扛轎，平埔番對這項不尋常的任務大笑不已，他們接過轎椅，在平坦的地面上快速小跑起來，幾乎要把我甩出轎椅。
當晚我們在烏牛欄 (Ougulan) 的傳教據點過夜，躺在舒適的床上。烏牛欄是這塊平原上 33 個村莊的其中一村。
埔社是一片水草豐美、接近圓形的平原，直徑約 8 哩，外圍是林木茂密的山丘所圍繞，生番出沒林中打獵。埔社人口約 5 千人，其中包括不少來此與平埔番進行交易的漢人，漢人用刀、火繩槍、火藥來和平埔番交換藤枝、鹿角、鹿皮等物。平埔番的射擊能力很準確。某天我們在林中行走數小時，平埔番成功捕獲 3 頭水鹿，這種動物的肉質鮮美。
傳教士在此處的傳教工作推行得相當順利。第一座小教堂在 1871 年興建於埔社平原另一端的牛睏山 (Gukunswa)，此地名得自一座聽說看起來像是一頭臥牛的小山丘；第二座小教堂興建於烏牛欄；第三座小教堂在 1874 年興建於大湳 (Toalam) 這處村莊，這座小教堂主要採用磚造，有二層樓。
一位老者拿了一只約 2 吋長的銀杯給我看，他信誓旦旦地說這只銀杯是他家族流傳 200 年的傳家之寶。從銀杯上的一些記號判斷，我認為這其實是個古老的荷蘭火柴盒。他們說，他們還記得來過這島上的外國人。
我們在埔社停留 5 日，這段期間一直接受基督教徒的盛宴招待。當我們要出發啟程時，有許多教徒集結起來，護送我們到平原邊緣一條河流的岸邊。看來我們現在有了一支小型的護衛隊，保護我們走過另一條往南的路徑，這條路不會像我們進入埔社平原時的那條路那麼難走了。
護衛隊最遠護送我們到五城 (Ousia)，這個小村莊住著約 1 千名來自漳州的漢人。接著護衛隊對空發射火繩槍來向我們致意，大喊「Pahuria raki」(願您平安)，然後他們便返回埔社。
我們經過幾處茶園，黃昏前抵達一個美麗湖泊的湖岸。湖泊長 4 哩，寬 2 哩，名為水社海 (Tsui-sia-hai)，意思是水番之湖。水番是住在這處湖岸的一支與眾不同的部族，他們的地位被貶低，漢人把他們當奴隸使喚，讓這些人背負沉重的貨物，再給他們三燒酒 (samshoo) 喝，水番很不幸地沉迷此酒。
我們發現有些水番醉倒在他們的低矮長屋裡，這種長屋是用樹皮製成，看起來很像水番獨木舟顛倒過來的樣子。全體家族都住在長屋裡，屋內有隔間，女性住處只是從男性住處遮掩住一部分作為區隔。
水番的臉上有橫過鼻子的寬條狀紋面，他們體型高大，且身材比例勻稱，不過這種身材卻是來自一種他們沉淪其中的陋習，他們會在腰際緊緊纏上布條，導致身材大幅變形；但他們說這麼做是為了不會感到飢餓帶來的痛苦。
水番在湖中捕魚，划著挖空樹幹製成的長獨木舟，令我想起在福州和華南其他地區常見的龍舟。我跳進湖裡洗澡，發現這湖十分泥濘，長滿水草。
湖中一座長滿樹木的小島上，我們發現一位漢人棺材匠，他的屋旁有小小的廚房、菜園、及果園，他似乎對這種生活怡然自得。
一位住在湖邊的漢人學者接待我們，騰出空間讓我們過夜。
翌日，行程第 15 日，我們往西南前進，越過重重丘陵，最後從一陡峭的山丘下山。我們在那座山的山頂清楚望見綿長的山谷，谷中有河由東向西流過。
當晚我們抵達集集 (Chipchip)，這是個全為漢人居住的大城鎮，也是一位滿族 Lo (？) 姓軍官駐紮的大本營，聽說他統領 500 個部隊，並奉命在山谷上溯 2 日行程之處，開路至東海岸位於北緯 23 度 30 分的秀姑巒 (Siukuluan) 港口。
我們一早本想找一位漢人護衛來帶領我們穿山越嶺，但由於此事有些難處，加上我們人數本來就多到足以嚇阻野蠻人，便打消找漢人護衛的念頭。
翌早我們離開集集，不過在河岸耽擱了一些時間。當時船夫不在，有幾名幫手便游泳渡河去取船，但他們不諳駕船之道，急流將船隻沖走撞上魚梁，結果船撞壞了。這個小意外令我們不得不搭木筏順流而下。
我們經過好幾個村莊，其中一村林杞埔 (Limkepo) 據說居住 3 千多人，並管轄附近其他的 24 個村莊。
我們取道而行的山谷非常蜿蜒曲折，雖然並沒有走很多直線路線，但抵達過夜點斗六 (Toulak)時，已接近黃昏了。
嘉義縣衙門知縣的一位小吏在斗六和我們會面，他說他奉命護送我們前往嘉義。先前負責扛轎的苦力不想繼續去臺灣府了，小吏便幫我安排另一頂轎椅，這位小吏非常彬彬有禮。
我們走在 Tapons (？) 的幹道上，並在黃宅飲了一杯好茶；我們經過數個村莊，其中最大的聚落是打貓 (Tamao)，我們在打貓休息時，我的旅伴在此短暫宣講教理；行程第 17 日傍晚，我們抵達嘉義的小教堂。我寄了一張卡片給嘉義知縣，感謝他的體貼招待，不過知縣不在家。
如今不出 2 日即可抵達臺灣府，因此我向旅伴告別，他們還要繼續往東前進，拜訪內山幾所其他傳教據點。我獨自上路，來到茅港尾 (Ungkangbay)，在一家由政府低階官吏經營的舒適旅社過夜。
行程第 19 日上午，我終於抵達福爾摩沙島的首府臺灣府，總共跋涉 220 哩路。
穿過臺灣府的城門，我沿著栽滿仙人掌圍籬的美麗小徑走了一段路，舉目所及全無屋舍，最後走到了友善好客的英國領事館。我在領事館待了好幾天，等船載我橫渡海峽前往中國。等待期間，我興高采烈地出遊探訪府城的有趣事物，並拜訪住在府城的少數外國人。
我造訪了府城裡荷蘭人建造的方形堡壘，堡壘的大門上仍可見到日期「Anno -- 1650」(1650 年)；我也去了府城 3 哩外的安平，見到築在海岸上的熱蘭遮城遺跡。熱蘭遮城很快就會被漢人拆毀，因為熱蘭遮城的磚石可能會用來建造有四座稜堡的新堡壘，這座新堡壘位於熱蘭遮城數哩之外，由數名法國技師監工修築，以抵禦日本人和其他侵略者。
我搭上一艘英國商船，只花 24 小時航程就快速抵達廈門。離開福爾摩沙，我頗感不捨。
Mr. J. Thomson, on being called upon by the President, as one who had travelled in Formosa, and brought home a magnificent series of photographs illustrating the scenery and natives, said he hardly knew any spot in the world better calculated to illustrate certain phases of Physical Geography than Formosa. The great central ridge, running from north to south, was so elevated, and its distance from the sea so small, that during the rainy season the excessive drainage caused a rapid denudation of its slopes, and the consequent formation of a great delta on the west side of the island. The rate at which this delta had been deposited was attested by the natives at Tai-wan-foo. Not many years ago, ships could lie at anchor a mile or two miles from the coast there: at the present time they could not approach nearer than three or four miles. When the Dutch occupied the island -- about the middle of the 17th century -- Tai-wan-foo had a spacious harbour, referred to in the Dutch accounts, but it was now entirely silted up, and the distance from the former position of the harbour to the available anchorage was at present four or five miles.
The President said, when he was Her Majesty's Minister in China, he visited Formosa, and was very much struck by the luxuriance of its tropical vegetation. He believed that Mr. Veitch, and other botanists, had enriched our greenhouses with many beautiful orchids, and ornamental plants that they or their collectors had brought home from thence. When visiting the southern port, noticing that pine-apples were plentiful, he asked the Consul to send to the market to get a basketful, which he though he might perhaps succeed in carrying the Peking, a voyage of ten or twelve days. The Consul said he need not send to the market, for one of his coolies could go out into the lane and gather them, as they grew wild, and had no money value. He did not know that they were equal to English hot-house pine-apples, but they were fine in growth and very pleasant to eat in that warm climate. Formosa would undoubtedly become a place of some importance, if it ever pleased God to give it anything like a decent government, and if colonisation advanced into the interior. At present it was merely fringed by settlers of the worst class of coast Chinese. It was badly governed by the officials sent there; but there was a middle class between the Chinese and the wild savages, who were semi-civilised, and would live peaceably if the Chinese officials on the coast, and the head-hunting barbarians in the interior, would give them the opportunity. At present, however, they passed rather an uneasy life. The climate was tropical, and although it had been contended that Europeans did not die more rapidly there than in other places, that was because they went away when they were likely to die. The English Consul in the north told him that it was very pleasant when the weather was fine, but that it rained incessantly for six months in the year. The island was rich in coal, which in the north was now worked with European machinery. This was likely to prove of very great advantage to steamers, and to the whole of the Strait trade on that coast. China also had an incalculable wealth in coal, but hitherto the Government [p. 266] had not seen its way to allow it to be worked. If the experiment, begun in the copore vile of Formosa, succeeded, it might encourage them to proceed in a similar way on the mainland. The information obtained from time to time about Formosa showed that everything there was in its infancy. Rice, camphor, wheat, coffee, tobacco, tea, and sugar were all grown there; and no doubt other tropical produce would thrive, if there was a good government and colonists were encouraged to settle. As far as Europeans were concerned, however, he might say of it, as the Irishman said of Ireland, that it was the finest if not the healthiest country in the world -- to live out of.
會長表示，他在擔任大英帝國駐中使節時曾到訪福爾摩沙，深受這塊島嶼上繁茂的熱帶植被所震撼。他相信維奇 (Veitch) 和其他植物學家已經從福爾摩沙帶回許多美麗的蘭花，還有他們或他們派出的採集者帶回的觀賞植物，為我們的溫室增色不少。
會長來到福爾摩沙南部的港口時，注意到當地盛產鳳梨，便請求領事遣人去市場買一籃鳳梨，他心想或許可以把鳳梨帶去北京，這段航程要 10 至 12 日。領事回答不需去市場買，因為他可以喚一名苦力去小徑上摘鳳梨，反正這些都是野生鳳梨，沒有金錢價值。領事不曉得這些鳳梨跟英國的溫室鳳梨是一樣的，只不過這裡的鳳梨在溫暖的氣候下長得很好，而且滋味相當可口。
如蒙上天垂憐，賜予福爾摩沙一個有為的政府，且墾拓足跡能夠深入本島內部的話，相信福爾摩沙必將成為頗富重要性的地區。目前僅有最低階的漢人移民住在本島沿海邊緣地帶。派駐本島的清政府官員治理成效極差；不過在漢人和未開化野蠻人之間，還有一個半開化的中間族群，若是住在沿海的漢人官員以及有獵人頭風俗的內山野蠻人，能夠給這個中間族群生存機會的話，相信他們可以過著平靜的生活。然而現在他們的生活一點也不平靜。
福爾摩沙屬於熱帶氣候，雖然有人認為歐洲人來到福爾摩沙後，不會像來到其他地方那樣很快就喪命，但這是因為這些人在可能喪命之時就離開福爾摩沙了。本島北部的英國領事對會長說，天氣好的時候，福爾摩沙是個非常宜人的所在，不過這裡一年當中有 6 個月會下著不曾停歇的雨。
本島盛產煤礦，北部目前有歐洲機具進行採煤工作。豐富的煤礦對於輪船及海峽兩岸整體交易而言，想必十分有利。中國亦擁有數不盡的煤礦礦藏，但清政府迄今尚未同意開採。若是彈丸之地福爾摩沙的採煤試驗成功，或許可望促使清政府在中國比照類似模式辦理採煤工作。
從偶爾獲得的福爾摩沙相關資訊可知，福爾摩沙的一切仍處於草創階段。稻米、樟腦、小麥、咖啡、菸草、茶葉、蔗糖，皆在福爾摩沙欣欣向榮成長；只要政府治理有方，並鼓勵墾拓者來此定居，其他的熱帶物產肯定也能在本島大獲豐收。不過，對歐洲人而言，一如愛爾蘭人對愛爾蘭的評價，歐洲人對福爾摩沙的評價或許會是：福爾摩沙即使稱不上世界上最健康，但仍可說是最美好的海外移居國度。
作者：翟理斯 (Herbert J. Allen)，英國駐中國領事
出處：《倫敦皇家地理學會報告 》(Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of London) 21 (1877): 258-266.
來源：https://www.reed.edu/Formosa/texts/Allen1877.html
[P. 258] Little is known of the interior of Formosa, and a short sketch of a journey from the Treaty port of Tamsui to that of Taiwanfu, in which the heart of the island was visited, will perhaps be of some interest. Formosa, situated about 100 miles from the mainland of China, is about 240 miles by 80 broad. The Chinese name of it, Taiwan, or Bay of the Raised Terrace, probably refers to the square flat-roofed blockhouse, Fort Zelandia, built by the Dutch when they were in possession of the island, and which is now a mark for vessels making the anchorage at the capital, Taiwanfu. The department is, according to Government statistical works, divided into the subdistricts of Komalan, Tamsui, Changhua, Kia-i, Taiwan, Fengshan, and Pênghu, or the Pescadores, of which Komalan is the only one on the eastern side of the island. The Chinese Government charts do not depict the coast-line on that side at all, the boundary being represented by a mass of mountains. The central ranges, the southern and eastern coasts, are principally inhabited by various tribes of aborigines, totally unlike in dress and features to the Chinese, who call them barbarians, and treat them accordingly. Some of the districts have been so enlarged lately by the constant encroachments of the Chinese on savage territory that last year it was deemed necessary to increase the number of governing officials; Komalan and Tamsui districts were abolished, and a department of North Formosa, with three dependent magistracies, [p. 259] established in their room. The Chinese Government forbade their people to cross the boundary of savage territory, at one time well defined; but since the Japanese expedition against the Bootan tribe of aborigines in the south in 1874, they altered their policy, and, finding themselves looked on as masters of the whole island, took active steps to improve their knowledge of it. Schemes for cutting roads through the hills were set on foot, colonists were bribed to settle in out-of-the-way places, and presents given liberally to the aboriginal chiefs, who were urged to acknowledge Chinese rule. These measures have not been altogether successful, in consequence of the persistent antipathy and mistrust shown by the savages, and the petty war goes on whenever the Chinese try to penetrate into the hills unaccompanied by a large force.
福爾摩沙島內仍罕為人知。本文簡述從淡水至臺灣府這兩處通商口岸的行程，途中穿越本島中央地帶，或許可引起讀者些許興趣。
福爾摩沙距離中國約 100 哩，長約 240 哩，寬約 80 哩。福爾摩沙的中文名臺灣，意為隆起臺地之海灣，這裡的隆起臺地可能是指方正的平頂堡壘熱蘭遮城，熱蘭遮城為荷蘭人在統治福爾摩沙時期所建，如今是下錨於福爾摩沙首府臺灣府的船隻用於辨識港口的標記。
根據政府統計資料，福爾摩沙行政區設有噶瑪蘭廳、淡水廳、彰化縣、嘉義縣、臺灣縣、鳳山縣、澎湖廳 (又名漁翁島)，其中僅有噶瑪蘭廳位於東部。清政府海圖完全未繪出本島東部的海岸線，僅以群山來呈現東部邊界。
中央山脈、南部海岸及東部海岸主要為各族原住民部落所居，原住民在服裝和外貌上和漢人毫無相像之處，漢人稱原住民為野蠻人，並將其當作野蠻人般看待。
漢人不斷侵占原住民領域，使得近來部分行政區的範圍持續擴大，去年已經達到有必要增設行政區的地步：清政府廢除噶瑪蘭廳和淡水廳，並在此地區改設一府 (台北府) 三縣 (淡水、新竹、宜蘭)。
清政府嚴禁人民跨越野蠻人地盤的邊界，漢番之間曾經井水不犯河水；但自從日本在 1874 年派出遠征軍攻打本島南部的原住民部落牡丹社後，清政府改變治理政策，而且清政府發現自身被視為福爾摩沙的統治者，因此積極採取行動以加強對這塊土地的認識。
清政府開始推動開闢山路的計畫，拿錢收買墾拓者要他們定居在偏遠地區，並慷慨贈禮給原住民頭目，令頭目被迫承認清政府的律法。這些措施並未皆以成功收場，導致野蠻人持續對清政府深感厭惡與不信任，而且每當漢人在沒有強大武力護衛的情況下試圖穿山越嶺時，便會觸發與野蠻人的小型戰事。
Being invited by Mr. Mackay, of the Canadian Presbyterian Mission in the north, and Mr. Ritchie, of the English Presbyterians in South Formosa, to accompany them on a tour they intended to take to visit their respective stations, I started on the 10th of November, 1875, from the old Dutch fort, then used as a Consular residence, at Tamsui. I crossed the harbour near its entrance, and skirting the western side of the Kuanyin Hill, 1720 feet above the sea, gained the table-land, which stretches some 30 miles down the coast. I halted at the little village of Doaheng for dinner, and went on 10 miles further by moonlight to the inn at Tionglek, where my companions were sleeping, they having earlier in the day left their chapel near Banka, the largest and most commercially active town in North Formosa, 8 miles up the Tamsui River, and gone by another road. The next morning we made an early start, and the air on the plateau being very invigorating, walked 8 miles before breakfast, passing many villages of Hakka Chinese immigrants from Kuangtung Province. The plain was cultivated with paddy and sugar-cane crops, and we constantly met heavy four-wheeled carts with axles, doubtless introduced by the Dutch, which were generally drawn by a buffalo, with two of the ordinary black cattle of the country on each side, yoked abreast. About 8 miles from Tekcham we reached Table Hill, or Windhill Slope, as its Chinese name signifies, which was the termination of the plateau. From this point we got a good view of the sea westward, the valley with its pretty river winding along at our feet, and clumps of bamboos on the opposite bank, which screened the town from sight. Descending the hill, we crossed the river in one of the flat-bottomed boats used here. The ferryman held on to a rattan-rope, securely fastened to stakes at each bank, as he swung his boat across the stream, which in the rainy season becomes a rapid torrent.
我收到本島北部的加拿大長老會傳教士馬偕 (Mackay)、以及本島南部的英國長老會傳教士李庥 (Ritchie) 的邀請，陪同他們一同加入參訪彼此傳教據點的行程。
1875 年 11 月 10 日，我從淡水的紅毛城出發，紅毛城是從前荷蘭人留下的堡壘，當時被英國租借作為領事館。我在紅毛城入口處附近穿越港灣，沿著海拔 1720 呎的觀音山的西側，來到順著海岸線綿延 30 餘哩的台地。
我在大園 (Doaheng) 這處小村莊中途休息吃晚餐後，藉著月光又繼續前進 10 哩路，來到中壢 (Tionglek) 的旅社，我的旅伴在此處過夜，他們當天稍早從艋舺 (Banka) 的小教堂出發，走的是另一條路。艋舺位於淡水河口上溯 8 哩之處，是本島北部規模最大、商業最繁榮的城鎮。
翌晨我們很早啟程。台地的空氣令人神清氣爽。我們走了 8 哩才吃早餐，途中經過許多客家村，這些客家人從廣東省移民而來。平原上種著水稻和甘蔗，我們一直遇見笨重的四輪有軸貨車，這肯定是荷蘭人引進的，通常這種貨車是由本島常見的黑色水牛並排套上牛軛，各自拖拉貨車的一側。
從竹塹 (Tekcham) 走了約 8 哩後，我們來到台地丘 (Table Hill)，漢人稱其為鳳山 (Windhill Slope？)，這裡已是台地的盡頭。此處視野極佳，向西望去有優美海景，山腳下是美麗小河蜿蜒流過的谷地，河的對岸生著竹叢，將城鎮遮蔽於視線之外。下了山丘，我們搭乘一艘此處使用的平底船渡河，船夫握著一根緊縛於在兩側河岸木樁上的藤條，一邊搖著船隻橫渡小河，這條小河在雨季時會變成湍流。
[P. 260] Tekcham, being the capital of the Tamsui district and containing the yamên of the sub-prefect, has acquired a sort of fictitious importance which its trade does not warrant. At the time of my journey the sub-prefect was absent in another part of his district, which stretched along the north and west coasts for a distance of, say, 100 miles, with a breadth of from 10 to 30 miles, and covering an area of 1250 square miles.
竹塹是淡水縣首府，同知辦公的衙門設於此處，竹塹擁有一種並非由貿易鞏固而來的虛浮重要性。我行經竹塹時，同知並不在竹塹，他在淡水縣的其他地區。淡水縣的北部和西部海岸總長約 100 哩，寬 10 至 30 哩，面積 1250 平方哩。
註：頂港、下港，在前清時，指的是淡水廳轄下之兩大區域。清代大安溪以北地區，皆屬「淡水廳」，廳治設在竹塹（今新竹市），但由於艋舺地區發展迅速，工商成長早已超過竹塹，為便於治理，同知乃每半年兩地移駐，因此才有頂港、下港之稱。(資料出處：陳華民，《台灣俗語話講古，頁 97。)
On our third day's march we soon came to the sands, which stretch some way out to sea, and make this part of the coast very dangerous for anything but flat-bottomed Chinese junks, and there had, in fact, been two wrecks of English vessels lately, as the timber lying about the shore testified. A proclamation posted at a road-side inn by one Lo, assistant commandant of the North Formosa troops, warned the people that they would be punished if they carried off the wrecked wood, on the ground that the ocean-men (foreigners) might make capital of the fact, and create disturbances. The authorities have certainly been more energetic than they were in old days in putting a stop to the evil of wrecking, although they work on the fears of the common people rather at the expense of our reputation. We passed through the large towns of Heongsan and Tiongkong, crossed a sandy shallow inlet of the sea half a mile wide, which afforded a good anchorage for junks, and leaving the large town of Oulan on our right, soon came in sight of Sinkang, our destination for the day. We were warmly welcomed by the catechist of the chapel here, who came running to meet us, and lodged us in the Mission-rooms. We had had a tedious march of 20 miles, most of the way over a desert, and had been not a little annoyed by the sand blown into our faces by the high wind. Sinkang is the last of Mr. Mackay's stations, and as it is but one day's journey from Laisia, the most northerly of the South Formosan Mission-stations, there is a complete chain of chapels from Kelung in the north to Takow in the South. Most of the converts in Sinkang are Pepohuans, or semi-civilised savages of the plains, who are found generally established in small colonies between their Chinese conquerors and their brothers, the wild aborigines of the interior. They practically adopt the Chinese dress and tonsure, but their features distinctly show that they were originally of the aboriginal or Malayo-Polynesian stock. A simple-minded and quiet people, they are looked down on by the Chinese as huans, i. e. barbarians, and they do not scruple to possess themselves of their lands, under pretence of renting them, the complaints for redress to the officials being too often unattended to. On the side of the hills they are frequently cut off by the wild savages, who look upon the acquisition [p. 261] of human heads with pigtails as proofs of valour, without a certain number of which a young chief cannot get a wife. The Pepohuans are sometimes called Sekhuan, which means civilised barbarians, to distinguish them from the Chihuan, or wild barbarians, and are governed by tongsu, or headmen. The one over this tribe paid a squeeze of 300 dollars a year for his post, part to the sub-prefect of Tamsui and part to the sub-prefect of Lokong, in the Changhua district, under the jurisdiction of which latter official he more immediately is. After leaving Sinkang we passed a string of Hakka Chinese villages, the largest of which was Bali. Rice and sugar are grown in this valley, and people seemed well-to-do. We halted at midday at Tunglowan. Crossing the rocky bed of what would evidently be a torrent in the rains, we travelled up a long and very pretty valley, then over a small range of hills and towards evening came down a very steep hill to Laisia. This Pepohuan colony, which is entirely Christian, the population of which numbers 200, including women and children, is an offshoot of the huans of Posia. They said thirty or forty of them came here twenty years ago, and that they were of the Padjieh tribe, the tribe at Sinkang being called Balua. The colony consisted of two small enclosures, about 100 yards square each, well fenced in with bamboos, and further protected from attacks of savages by sharp-pointed stakes, which stuck up a few inches out of the ground close to the outside of the fence.
行程第 3日，我們很快就走到沙地。這片沙地一直延伸到海邊，使得這一帶海岸對中式的平底戎克船而言相當危險，事實上最近就有兩艘英國船艦在此失事，從岸邊散落的木材就足以證明曾發生船難。
路邊旅社貼著一張由本島北部樂姓駐軍副司令發出的告示，警告民眾不得取走失事船隻的木材，否則將處以懲罰，理由是從海上來的人 (ocean-men？)(外國人) 可能會因民眾隨意撿拾木材之舉而興災作亂。清政府當局確實比以往更積極阻止民眾破壞失事船骸，不過政府卻是利用人民的恐懼來發布禁令，而不是因為這麼做有損我們的名譽。
我們步經香山 (Heongsan) 和中港 (Tiongkong) 兩處大城，穿越半哩寬的沙質平淺出海口，這裡很適合戎克船下錨停泊。接著我們經過右方的後龍 (Oulan) 大城，很快就看到新港 (Sinkang)，也就是我們今天的目的地。
當地小教堂的傳教員熱情迎接我們，他跑來與我們會面，並將我們安頓在傳教室。我們今天走了漫長的 20 哩路，大多數路途都是在沙地上行走，強風把沙子吹到我們臉上，實在不好受。
新港是馬偕在本島北部傳教範圍最南端的傳教據點，而本島南部傳教範圍最北端的據點位於內社 (Laisia),，從新港到內社只需一日行程。從本島之北的雞籠到本島之南的打狗，小教堂據點連成完整一串。
大部分改信基督教的人是平埔番，也就是住在平地的半開化野蠻人，他們通常定居在漢人侵略者和他們的兄弟 ── 未開化的深山原住民 ── 之間的小聚落。平埔番幾乎都改穿漢人服裝並薙髮，不過他們的外型特徵清楚顯示他們原本屬於馬來-玻里尼西亞語族。
平埔番心思單純，待人和善，但被漢人瞧不起，蔑稱為「番」，意為野蠻人，而且漢人肆無忌憚地假租借之名，行掠奪平埔番土地之實，平埔番向官員請求賠償的申訴也常遭無視。平埔番經常在丘陵的邊緣被未開化的野蠻人殺害，這些野蠻人想要獵取附有髮辮的人頭，他們認為這是英勇的證明，年輕頭目必須取得一定數量的人頭，才有辦法娶妻。
平埔番有時也稱作「熟番」(意為已開化的野蠻人)，用這個稱呼與「生番」(意為未開化的野蠻人) 區隔開來。平埔番由通事 (意為頭人) 負責治理，新港部落的通事每年上繳少少的 300 元來保住這個職位 (？)，這筆錢一部分繳給淡水縣同知，一部分繳給位於彰化縣的鹿港 (Lokong？) 同知，新港通事屬於這兩者的管轄，並以鹿港同知為較直屬的上司。
離開新港後，我們一連經過好幾個漢人客家村，其中最大的村莊是苗栗 (Bali)。苗栗種植稻米和甘蔗，人民看起來很富有。中午我們在銅鑼灣 (Tunglowan) 歇息。我們越過了在雨季顯然會變成滾滾洪流的岩石河床後，走在一處長長的美麗山谷，然後翻閱一小列丘陵，傍晚時分從一個很陡的小丘走下來，來到內社。
這處平埔番聚落包括婦幼在內共有 200 多人，全數信仰基督教，屬於埔社原住民的支系。他們說村民當中有 3、40 人是在 20 年前來到此地的，並說他們屬於巴宰族 (Padjieh)，新港部落稱此族為 Balua。內社有兩處圍起來的小場地，面積各約 100 平方碼，外圍密種竹子作為籬笆，又在靠近籬笆外側之處豎立了從地上突起數吋的尖頭木樁，以保護內部不受野蠻人攻擊。
On the sixth day we resumed our march, and passing through the small Chinese village of Sintiam, which has sprung into existence within the last two years, struck along the base of the hills over a plain some miles wide, strewed with rocks and boulders, without any discernible path through it, and reached Toasia early in the afternoon.
第 6 日我們繼續行走，經過新店 (Sintiam) 這處漢人小村。新店在近 2 年內才形成聚落，緊沿丘陵山腳，坐落在數哩寬的平原上，岩塊和鵝卵石散落平原各處，村中沒有任何可資辨別的路徑。我們在下午稍早抵達大社 (Toasia)。
As we were now going to have rougher travelling than we had had, we despatched a courier to Taiwanfu with our surplus baggage, and letters to inform the Consul of our plans. We went S.S.E. for 13 miles over a fertile plain, cultivated with sugar-cane, tobacco, ground-nut, sweet potatoes, &c., drawing gradually towards the range of hills on our left. At the head of the gorge, due east of the district town of Changhua, we were met by a party of thirty or forty tall, stalwart Pepohuans, armed with knives and matchlocks, who were to be our bodyguard through the mountains, to protect us from the savages. The gorge wound a good deal, but our general direction was east; the jungle on both sides was very thick, and the Pepohuans now and then set it on fire. After we had gone about six miles over rocks and stones, through pools [p. 262] of water, the pass narrowing as we went, we reached a point where a big camphor-tree blocked it up almost entirely, and we had great difficulty in getting the chair through. The pass was here only 5 feet wide, and I could touch the perpendicular walls of rock on each side. The scenery was magnificent; the mountains, rising 2000 or 3000 feet almost perpendicularly on each side, were covered with camphor and other forest-trees. At one time a felled tree across our path made an arch for us to pass under, and again we were obliged to scramble along the trunk of another big denizen of the forest. I noticed one or two veins of coal on the rocks; and a stratum of conglomerate pebbles in the clay, 600 feet above us, was also remarkable. We encamped for the night in the middle of the gorge; lit a fire, and boiled some of our tinned soups in true gipsy style. Blankets spread on bundles of leaves formed our beds, and in spite of a heavy dew we got a good night's rest. We started before daybreak on the morning of the eighth day of our march, and after five more miles of rough scrambling, at which our savage friends were quite au fait, got to the end of the gorge. The ranges of hills now opened out, and, although we occasionally had to cut our way with long knives through the jungle, travelling was much easier work. We found a small, edible, acid fruit, like a raspberry, growing here; as well as a sweet-smelling fern, which the natives called Tanpa. We did not meet any wild savages; but were pointed out a spot where, five years previously, the Pepohuans had a fight and killed thirteen of them. We crossed one pretty broad and rapid stream, in fording which the Pepohuans were immersed up to their necks, and six or seven smaller ones; and just after dusk reached the beautiful valley of Posia, or Polisia as it is also called. Torches had been sent to meet us by some of the party, who had pushed on quicker than the others; and the Chinese chair-coolies, being dead-beat, had to give place to the stalwart Pepohuans, who, with shouts of laughter at the unaccustomed task, picked up the chair and came along over the level ground at a rapid trot which nearly shook me out of it. We slept that night in comfortable beds at the Mission-station of Ougulan, one of the 33 villages in this plain. Posia is a fertile, almost circular, well-watered plain, about 8 miles in diameter, and surrounded by wooded hills in which the wild savages roam in their hunting-excursions. The population, numbering about 5000, include a few Chinese who come to trade with the Pepohuans in rattans, deers' horns, skins, &c., for which they exchange knives, matchlocks, and gunpowder. The Pepohuans are fair shots. We were out in the woods one day for a few hours, and they succeeded in bagging three moose-deer, the [p. 263] flesh of which was excellent. The missionaries have been very successful here. Their first chapel at Gukunswa, so called from a hillock said to resemble an ox reclining, on the other side of the plain, was built in 1871; the one at Ougulan was next put up; and a third one, with an upper storey, substantially built of brick, was built at the village of Toalam in 1874. I was shown a silver cup, about two inches long, which an old man assured me had been an heirloom in his family for 200 years. From some marks on it, I believe it is really an old Dutch matchbox. They said they remembered the foreigners being in the island. We remained five days at Posia, and were continually being feasted by the converts, a troop of whom escorted us to the bank of a river at the edge of the plain, when we took our departure. Of course we had a small bodyguard to escort us through another pass to the south, not so difficult as the one by which we had entered the plain, and as far as Ousia, a small village of perhaps 1000 Chinese inhabitants of Changchow. They then saluted us by firing their matchlocks in the air and shouting "Pahuria raki" (Peace be with you), returned to Posia. We passed some plantations of tea and before dusk reached the shores of a beautiful lake, 4 miles long by 2 broad, which went by the name of Tsui-sia-hai, of Lake of the Water Savages, a distinct tribe who live on its banks. They are a degraded race, and are employed as slaves by the Chinese, who make them carry heavy burdens, and give them samshoo, of which they are unfortunately only too fond. We found some of them lying intoxicated in their long low huts made of the bark of trees, and resembling their canoes inverted. The whole family live in the hut, which has partitions which only partially screen the women's quarters from those of the men. They tattoo their faces in broad bands across the nose, are tall, and would be well-proportioned, if it were not for a pernicious habit they indulge in of tying cloths tightly around their waists, which deform them very much; but which they said they did to keep them from feeling the pangs of hunger. They fish in the lake, paddling about in long canoes hollowed out of the trunks of trees, which reminded me of the dragon-boats common at Foochow and other parts of South China. I bathed in the lake, and found it very muddy and full of weeds. On a woody islet in the lake, we found a Chinese coffin-maker, who seemed comfortable enough with his bit of kitchen-garden and orchard adjoining his house. A Chinese scholar who lived near the lake took us in, and gave us quarters for the night. The next day, the fifteenth of our march, we travelled in a south-westerly direction over the hills, descending eventually a [p. 264] steep hill, from the top of which we had a fine view of a long valley, with a river flowing from east to west. We reached that evening the large town of Chipchip, which is entirely Chinese, and is the headquarters of a military Mandarin, name Lo, who, we heard, was in command of 500 troops, two days' journey up the valley, employed in cutting a road to Siukuluan, a port on the east coast of the island, in lat. 23û 30'. We had tried to get a Chinese guard to bring us through the hills in the morning; but as there was some difficulty about it, and we were a large enough party to awe the savages, we gave it up. We left Chipchip early the next morning, but were detained some time on the bank of a river. The ferryman had gone away, and some of the helpers swam across to get the boat. They were, however, unskilled in the management of it, the force of the current washed it down against a fish-weir and it was wrecked. This little contretemps obliged us to cross lower down on a raft. We passed a good many villages, one of them, Limkepo, said to contain 3000 inhabitants, had jurisdiction over 24 others in the vicinity. The valley we were travelling through wound about a good deal, and although we did not make much way in a direct line, it was getting dusk before we reached Toulak, our resting-place for the night. An underling from the district magistrate's yamên at Kagee met us here, and said he had been ordered to escort us to Kagee. He helped me in engaging another chair, my former bearers not wishing to go on to the capital, and was very attentive. We struck the main road at Tapons, where we had a good cup of tea at the house of a Mr. Huang; passed a few villages, at the largest of which, Tamao, my companions preached for a short time while we were resting; and reached the Mission-chapel at Kagee on the evening of the seventeenth day. I sent my card to the Magistrate to thank him for his kindness, but he was not at home. I was now within two days' journey of Taiwanfu, and so I bid adieu to my companions, who were going to visit some more stations in the hills to the eastward, and journeyed on solus to Ungkangbay. I slept at a comfortable inn kept by a Government underling; and early on the nineteenth day, after a journey of 220 miles, reached Taiwanfu, the capital of the island. Passing through the city gate, I went for some distance along pretty lanes bounded with cactus-hedges, no house being even in sight, and eventually found myself in the hospitable yamên of the British Consul. I stayed here some days, waiting for a vessel to take me across to the mainland, and spent my time pleasantly in making excursions to objects of interest in the city and visiting the few foreign residents in it. I went over the square Dutch fort in the [p. 265] city, on the gateway of which can still be traced the date "Anno -- 1650;" and also over the remains of Fort Zelandia at Amping, 3 miles off, on the sea-coast. It was being rapidly pulled down by the Chinese, in order that the bricks might be used in the erection of a grand new fort with four bastions, which was being put up under the superintendence of some French officers, a few miles off, to repel the Japanese and other invaders. I made a quick passage of twenty-four hours to Amoy, in an English merchant-vessel, and was rather sorry to leave Formosa.
由於接下來的路途將比先前的艱辛許多，我們把多餘的行李用快遞方式送去臺灣府，並發信向領事告知我們的計畫。我們朝南南東走了 13 哩，穿越一處肥沃的平原，種植的作物有甘蔗、菸草、花生、地瓜等，平原一路延伸到我們左方的丘陵。
在峽谷的起點，彰化縣正東之處，我們和一隊 3、40 名高壯的平埔番會合，他們帶著刀和火繩槍，將護衛我們穿越山區，防範野蠻人攻擊。峽谷非常曲折，不過我們的大方向是往東；兩側叢林十分濃密，平埔番時常放火焚林。
我們走了6 哩多的石頭路，涉過水塘，路徑愈來愈窄，之後我們到了一個幾乎被一株大樟樹完全擋住去路的地方，轎椅很難通過。這裡的路徑只有 5 呎寬，我碰得到路徑兩側的垂直岩壁。
景色相當壯麗：兩側山峰陡直拔地而起 2、3 千呎，長滿樟樹和其他森林樹種。有時路徑上的倒木形成一道拱門，我們必須從拱門下面鑽過去，然後我們又不得不再次爬過另一株外來種樹木的樹幹。
我注意到岩壁上有一、二條煤礦脈，而我們頭上 600 呎處的黏土裡有個礫岩地層，也很引人注目。
晚上我們在峽谷中段過夜；燃起火，煮了一些罐頭湯，很有吉普賽人的流浪風情。把毛毯鋪在落葉堆上，就成了我們的床，儘管露水厚重，我們仍睡了個好眠。
行程第 8 日，我們在破曉前動身出發，費力攀爬 5 哩多才抵達峽谷終點，我們的野蠻人朋友對此得心應手。
原本的丘陵在此鋪展開來，路勁變得好走多了，雖然偶爾仍需用刀在叢林間開路。我們發現這裡生長著一種小型可食的酸果，像是覆盆子；還有一種散發香氣的蕨類，原住民稱其為 Tanpa。
我們沒有遇到任何生番；不過平埔番向我們指著一處地方，他們說 5 年前曾和生番在該處開戰，並殺了 13 名生番。
我們涉水越過一條很寬的急流，水淹到了平埔番的脖子，另外還渡過 6、7 條較小的溪流；就在黃昏後，我們總算抵達美麗的谷地埔社 (Posia)，又名埔里社。
平埔番隊伍裡的有些人拿火把給我們，平埔番走得比其他人還快；至於負責扛轎的漢人苦力已經精疲力盡，必須請強壯的平埔番接手替他們扛轎，平埔番對這項不尋常的任務大笑不已，他們接過轎椅，在平坦的地面上快速小跑起來，幾乎要把我甩出轎椅。
當晚我們在烏牛欄 (Ougulan) 的傳教據點過夜，躺在舒適的床上。烏牛欄是這塊平原上 33 個村莊的其中一村。
埔社是一片水草豐美、接近圓形的平原，直徑約 8 哩，外圍是林木茂密的山丘所圍繞，生番出沒林中打獵。埔社人口約 5 千人，其中包括不少來此與平埔番進行交易的漢人，漢人用刀、火繩槍、火藥來和平埔番交換藤枝、鹿角、鹿皮等物。平埔番的射擊能力很準確。某天我們在林中行走數小時，平埔番成功捕獲 3 頭水鹿，這種動物的肉質鮮美。
傳教士在此處的傳教工作推行得相當順利。第一座小教堂在 1871 年興建於埔社平原另一端的牛睏山 (Gukunswa)，此地名得自一座聽說看起來像是一頭臥牛的小山丘；第二座小教堂興建於烏牛欄；第三座小教堂在 1874 年興建於大湳 (Toalam) 這處村莊，這座小教堂主要採用磚造，有二層樓。
一位老者拿了一只約 2 吋長的銀杯給我看，他信誓旦旦地說這只銀杯是他家族流傳 200 年的傳家之寶。從銀杯上的一些記號判斷，我認為這其實是個古老的荷蘭火柴盒。他們說，他們還記得來過這島上的外國人。
我們在埔社停留 5 日，這段期間一直接受基督教徒的盛宴招待。當我們要出發啟程時，有許多教徒集結起來，護送我們到平原邊緣一條河流的岸邊。看來我們現在有了一支小型的護衛隊，保護我們走過另一條往南的路徑，這條路不會像我們進入埔社平原時的那條路那麼難走了。
護衛隊最遠護送我們到五城 (Ousia)，這個小村莊住著約 1 千名來自漳州的漢人。接著護衛隊對空發射火繩槍來向我們致意，大喊「Pahuria raki」(願您平安)，然後他們便返回埔社。
我們經過幾處茶園，黃昏前抵達一個美麗湖泊的湖岸。湖泊長 4 哩，寬 2 哩，名為水社海 (Tsui-sia-hai)，意思是水番之湖。水番是住在這處湖岸的一支與眾不同的部族，他們的地位被貶低，漢人把他們當奴隸使喚，讓這些人背負沉重的貨物，再給他們三燒酒 (samshoo) 喝，水番很不幸地沉迷此酒。
我們發現有些水番醉倒在他們的低矮長屋裡，這種長屋是用樹皮製成，看起來很像水番獨木舟顛倒過來的樣子。全體家族都住在長屋裡，屋內有隔間，女性住處只是從男性住處遮掩住一部分作為區隔。
水番的臉上有橫過鼻子的寬條狀紋面，他們體型高大，且身材比例勻稱，不過這種身材卻是來自一種他們沉淪其中的陋習，他們會在腰際緊緊纏上布條，導致身材大幅變形；但他們說這麼做是為了不會感到飢餓帶來的痛苦。
水番在湖中捕魚，划著挖空樹幹製成的長獨木舟，令我想起在福州和華南其他地區常見的龍舟。我跳進湖裡洗澡，發現這湖十分泥濘，長滿水草。
湖中一座長滿樹木的小島上，我們發現一位漢人棺材匠，他的屋旁有小小的廚房、菜園、及果園，他似乎對這種生活怡然自得。
一位住在湖邊的漢人學者接待我們，騰出空間讓我們過夜。
翌日，行程第 15 日，我們往西南前進，越過重重丘陵，最後從一陡峭的山丘下山。我們在那座山的山頂清楚望見綿長的山谷，谷中有河由東向西流過。
當晚我們抵達集集 (Chipchip)，這是個全為漢人居住的大城鎮，也是一位滿族 Lo (？) 姓軍官駐紮的大本營，聽說他統領 500 個部隊，並奉命在山谷上溯 2 日行程之處，開路至東海岸位於北緯 23 度 30 分的秀姑巒 (Siukuluan) 港口。
我們一早本想找一位漢人護衛來帶領我們穿山越嶺，但由於此事有些難處，加上我們人數本來就多到足以嚇阻野蠻人，便打消找漢人護衛的念頭。
翌早我們離開集集，不過在河岸耽擱了一些時間。當時船夫不在，有幾名幫手便游泳渡河去取船，但他們不諳駕船之道，急流將船隻沖走撞上魚梁，結果船撞壞了。這個小意外令我們不得不搭木筏順流而下。
我們經過好幾個村莊，其中一村林杞埔 (Limkepo) 據說居住 3 千多人，並管轄附近其他的 24 個村莊。
我們取道而行的山谷非常蜿蜒曲折，雖然並沒有走很多直線路線，但抵達過夜點斗六 (Toulak)時，已接近黃昏了。
嘉義縣衙門知縣的一位小吏在斗六和我們會面，他說他奉命護送我們前往嘉義。先前負責扛轎的苦力不想繼續去臺灣府了，小吏便幫我安排另一頂轎椅，這位小吏非常彬彬有禮。
我們走在 Tapons (？) 的幹道上，並在黃宅飲了一杯好茶；我們經過數個村莊，其中最大的聚落是打貓 (Tamao)，我們在打貓休息時，我的旅伴在此短暫宣講教理；行程第 17 日傍晚，我們抵達嘉義的小教堂。我寄了一張卡片給嘉義知縣，感謝他的體貼招待，不過知縣不在家。
如今不出 2 日即可抵達臺灣府，因此我向旅伴告別，他們還要繼續往東前進，拜訪內山幾所其他傳教據點。我獨自上路，來到茅港尾 (Ungkangbay)，在一家由政府低階官吏經營的舒適旅社過夜。
行程第 19 日上午，我終於抵達福爾摩沙島的首府臺灣府，總共跋涉 220 哩路。
穿過臺灣府的城門，我沿著栽滿仙人掌圍籬的美麗小徑走了一段路，舉目所及全無屋舍，最後走到了友善好客的英國領事館。我在領事館待了好幾天，等船載我橫渡海峽前往中國。等待期間，我興高采烈地出遊探訪府城的有趣事物，並拜訪住在府城的少數外國人。
我造訪了府城裡荷蘭人建造的方形堡壘，堡壘的大門上仍可見到日期「Anno -- 1650」(1650 年)；我也去了府城 3 哩外的安平，見到築在海岸上的熱蘭遮城遺跡。熱蘭遮城很快就會被漢人拆毀，因為熱蘭遮城的磚石可能會用來建造有四座稜堡的新堡壘，這座新堡壘位於熱蘭遮城數哩之外，由數名法國技師監工修築，以抵禦日本人和其他侵略者。
我搭上一艘英國商船，只花 24 小時航程就快速抵達廈門。離開福爾摩沙，我頗感不捨。
Mr. J. Thomson, on being called upon by the President, as one who had travelled in Formosa, and brought home a magnificent series of photographs illustrating the scenery and natives, said he hardly knew any spot in the world better calculated to illustrate certain phases of Physical Geography than Formosa. The great central ridge, running from north to south, was so elevated, and its distance from the sea so small, that during the rainy season the excessive drainage caused a rapid denudation of its slopes, and the consequent formation of a great delta on the west side of the island. The rate at which this delta had been deposited was attested by the natives at Tai-wan-foo. Not many years ago, ships could lie at anchor a mile or two miles from the coast there: at the present time they could not approach nearer than three or four miles. When the Dutch occupied the island -- about the middle of the 17th century -- Tai-wan-foo had a spacious harbour, referred to in the Dutch accounts, but it was now entirely silted up, and the distance from the former position of the harbour to the available anchorage was at present four or five miles.
攝影家約翰．湯姆生 (John Thomson) 曾受皇家地理學會會長 (President？) 之託，踏上福爾摩沙這塊美麗之島，帶回一系列撼動人心的風景照和人物照。他說，世界上幾乎沒有其他地方能比福爾摩沙更透徹展現自然地理學的某些形貌。南北走向的中央山脈傲然挺立，且山海之間的距離極短，使得雨季時的洪水快速沖蝕山坡，進而在本島西部形成大片三角洲。臺灣府的住民見證了這片三角洲的沉積速度：只不過短短幾年前，船隻還可以在離岸 1、2 哩處下錨停泊；如今船隻再也無法駛進離岸 3、4 哩以內之處。荷蘭人在大約 17 世紀中期佔領福爾摩沙時，臺灣府有個寬闊的巨港，荷蘭文件中有所記載，但如今此港已完全淤積，現在從昔日港口位置到船隻可下錨處的距離已達 4、5 哩。
The President said, when he was Her Majesty's Minister in China, he visited Formosa, and was very much struck by the luxuriance of its tropical vegetation. He believed that Mr. Veitch, and other botanists, had enriched our greenhouses with many beautiful orchids, and ornamental plants that they or their collectors had brought home from thence. When visiting the southern port, noticing that pine-apples were plentiful, he asked the Consul to send to the market to get a basketful, which he though he might perhaps succeed in carrying the Peking, a voyage of ten or twelve days. The Consul said he need not send to the market, for one of his coolies could go out into the lane and gather them, as they grew wild, and had no money value. He did not know that they were equal to English hot-house pine-apples, but they were fine in growth and very pleasant to eat in that warm climate. Formosa would undoubtedly become a place of some importance, if it ever pleased God to give it anything like a decent government, and if colonisation advanced into the interior. At present it was merely fringed by settlers of the worst class of coast Chinese. It was badly governed by the officials sent there; but there was a middle class between the Chinese and the wild savages, who were semi-civilised, and would live peaceably if the Chinese officials on the coast, and the head-hunting barbarians in the interior, would give them the opportunity. At present, however, they passed rather an uneasy life. The climate was tropical, and although it had been contended that Europeans did not die more rapidly there than in other places, that was because they went away when they were likely to die. The English Consul in the north told him that it was very pleasant when the weather was fine, but that it rained incessantly for six months in the year. The island was rich in coal, which in the north was now worked with European machinery. This was likely to prove of very great advantage to steamers, and to the whole of the Strait trade on that coast. China also had an incalculable wealth in coal, but hitherto the Government [p. 266] had not seen its way to allow it to be worked. If the experiment, begun in the copore vile of Formosa, succeeded, it might encourage them to proceed in a similar way on the mainland. The information obtained from time to time about Formosa showed that everything there was in its infancy. Rice, camphor, wheat, coffee, tobacco, tea, and sugar were all grown there; and no doubt other tropical produce would thrive, if there was a good government and colonists were encouraged to settle. As far as Europeans were concerned, however, he might say of it, as the Irishman said of Ireland, that it was the finest if not the healthiest country in the world -- to live out of.
會長表示，他在擔任大英帝國駐中使節時曾到訪福爾摩沙，深受這塊島嶼上繁茂的熱帶植被所震撼。他相信維奇 (Veitch) 和其他植物學家已經從福爾摩沙帶回許多美麗的蘭花，還有他們或他們派出的採集者帶回的觀賞植物，為我們的溫室增色不少。
會長來到福爾摩沙南部的港口時，注意到當地盛產鳳梨，便請求領事遣人去市場買一籃鳳梨，他心想或許可以把鳳梨帶去北京，這段航程要 10 至 12 日。領事回答不需去市場買，因為他可以喚一名苦力去小徑上摘鳳梨，反正這些都是野生鳳梨，沒有金錢價值。領事不曉得這些鳳梨跟英國的溫室鳳梨是一樣的，只不過這裡的鳳梨在溫暖的氣候下長得很好，而且滋味相當可口。
如蒙上天垂憐，賜予福爾摩沙一個有為的政府，且墾拓足跡能夠深入本島內部的話，相信福爾摩沙必將成為頗富重要性的地區。目前僅有最低階的漢人移民住在本島沿海邊緣地帶。派駐本島的清政府官員治理成效極差；不過在漢人和未開化野蠻人之間，還有一個半開化的中間族群，若是住在沿海的漢人官員以及有獵人頭風俗的內山野蠻人，能夠給這個中間族群生存機會的話，相信他們可以過著平靜的生活。然而現在他們的生活一點也不平靜。
福爾摩沙屬於熱帶氣候，雖然有人認為歐洲人來到福爾摩沙後，不會像來到其他地方那樣很快就喪命，但這是因為這些人在可能喪命之時就離開福爾摩沙了。本島北部的英國領事對會長說，天氣好的時候，福爾摩沙是個非常宜人的所在，不過這裡一年當中有 6 個月會下著不曾停歇的雨。
本島盛產煤礦，北部目前有歐洲機具進行採煤工作。豐富的煤礦對於輪船及海峽兩岸整體交易而言，想必十分有利。中國亦擁有數不盡的煤礦礦藏，但清政府迄今尚未同意開採。若是彈丸之地福爾摩沙的採煤試驗成功，或許可望促使清政府在中國比照類似模式辦理採煤工作。
從偶爾獲得的福爾摩沙相關資訊可知，福爾摩沙的一切仍處於草創階段。稻米、樟腦、小麥、咖啡、菸草、茶葉、蔗糖，皆在福爾摩沙欣欣向榮成長；只要政府治理有方，並鼓勵墾拓者來此定居，其他的熱帶物產肯定也能在本島大獲豐收。不過，對歐洲人而言，一如愛爾蘭人對愛爾蘭的評價，歐洲人對福爾摩沙的評價或許會是：福爾摩沙即使稱不上世界上最健康，但仍可說是最美好的海外移居國度。
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