Sketches from Formosa.

1 88 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA
a recollection of the fact that, several years before, the
Chinese Government had paid half a million of dollars
to the Japanese under similar circumstances ; and
Second, that there seemed something exceedingly queer
about the proceedings of this American compatriot.
Mr. H. E. Hobson, the Commissioner of Customs,
was also on the alert that day, for no sooner had he
heard of my arrival from that remote southern part
of Formosa than he got me to say all I could tell him
about the one unvarying story of the two ships, the cargo
of coal in the one which was destroyed, the wreckage
washed ashore, and the lonely tent at the water's edge
for accommodating the guard sent from Heng-chun
to tender every assistance in their power. In short,
I attended the Court (presided over by my old friend
Consul Henderson) on the invitation of His Excellency
Governor (To-tai) Ha and ; among all the Chinese
officials present, none gave me a more joyful welcome
than the Magistrate in whose county the alleged wreck
and plunder had taken place ; the result of the whole
being that my carefully prepared
written statement had
its own share in leading to the apprehension and imprisonment
of the American captain for wilful fraud.
This Heng-chun Magistrate, then, was the same man
before whom I now stood on the back verandah of the
Chiang-hoa Yamen. He had been promoted about
a year before to administer the affairs of this much
larger county. He was somewhat stiff when I entered,
but the circumstances under which we met eight years
ago were no sooner recalled than the manner and very
appearance of the man completely changed. He at
once caught me by the arm, led me gently into his private
apartment, told an attendant to bring in refreshments,
and then asked what he could do for me. I told him
about the difficulty we were having with a certain land-