Sketches from Formosa.

194
SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA
Chinamen eagerly engaged in bartering with the savages ;
who, sure enough, were now to be seen with loads of
charcoal, firewood, skins, and other such commodities.
Considerable delay was caused by the barterers spreading
the report, that we wished to go inland only for the
purpose of injuring the people, and it was not till
a small reward was offered that several stalwart Ka-le
undertook to lead us to their settlement at Ka-piang
an arrangement which suited very well, as that place
was said to be the head-quarters of a Chief who ruled
over eighteen of the surrounding villages.
Soon after, we were toiling up the side of a very high
hill, from the summit of which a most magnificent view
was obtained. The plains away to the west appeared
to be one immense rice-field, broken only by occasional
clumps of tall feathery bamboos, while on before, the
great wooded mountains rose range upon range as far
as the eye could reach. Our guides said that a commencement
had been made there, and that those
mountain-sides yielded them fine yearly crops of millet,
tobacco, and sweet potatoes. About an hour before
sunset, we halted on another ridge in view of Ka-piang ;
at a lonely village in the midst of glorious scenery,
and where we had the unspeakable joy of telling its
inhabitants for the first time the story of Jesus and
His love.
We no sooner entered Ka-piang than the cleanliness
and appearance of rough comfort arrested our attention.
The houses are built of stone, and tiled with huge slabs
of a slaty kind of rock often met with in Central Formosa ;
while inside, they all seemed nicely fitted up with
accommodation for sleeping, and cooking, and storing
up things for household and personal use. The people
themselves were found to be a finely-made, healthylooking
race ; their faces free from tattoo marks, and