Sketches from Formosa.

XXXIV
WELCOMED BY THE TSARISEN TRIBE
THE Chinese use the name Ka-le in referring to the
savages occupying the south-eastern part of Formosa,
and I have just returned from a visit to several villages
of the Tsarisen tribe. It was during the course of my
recent stay at Lam-gan I found that the mother of the
Church Elder there belonged to that tribe, and that
he himself was familiar with its language and customs.
The information he gave me regarding them only
whetted my desire to ascertain personally how far they
differed from the Bu-hwan, Ban-hwan, and Kan-ta-
ban tribes I lately visited in the mountain region east
from Po-li-sia. It happened, too, that I had then a
few spare days on hand before going on for the Communion
service at Tek-a-kha ;
so that, with the preacher
from this station, and a good sturdy burden-bearer,
I started shortly after daybreak on the morning of
25th ultimo.
The hills stand out well towards the West in the
neighbourhood of Lam-gan, but it required a stiff walk
of
fully five hours before we reached the point at which
our climbing commenced. While still a good way off,
it was with some surprise we saw a great crowd of natives
in front of us, who were shouting and hurrying about
in rather an alarming way. There were no villages at
hand, and no way of escape from being mixed up in
what seemed to be a serious clan-fight. On coming
up, however, we were relieved to find only a mob of
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