Sketches from Formosa.

l6 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA
most alarming way. Another little item was that, when
several miles east from Amoy, we crashed into a large
fishing junk, and I seem still to hear the yells of those
poor drowning Chinamen.
On coming within sight of Takow, a bamboo catamaran
ventured out to take me off, and in a few minutes more,
the small hand-bag I had with me was thrown over, I
slid down the rope myself, jumped across, and got my
hands well fastened round the open bars of the raft.
The two oarsmen had a hard job in making for the harbour,
the scud from
for there was no ceremony shown by
those great tumbling waves which kept pressing upon us.
I reached the jetty in a very limp condition about dark,
but only to be told that my colleague stationed at Takow
was visiting some stations thirty miles off. Next morning,
however, Commander Bax of H.M.S. Dwarf generously
gave me a passage up to An-peng, the Port of Taiwan-fu.
The native Christians soon heard of my arrival, and I
cannot say how happy and relieved I felt when, through
old Elder Bun, they united in thanksgiving for my safety,
and in beseeching the great Head of the Church that I
might go forward to my work in the fulness of the blessing
of the Gospel of Christ. I also felt grateful and much
encouraged on seeing the way in which God had blessed
the Hospital work of Dr. Maxwell, and the occasional
visits of Mr. Ritchie to this part of Formosa.
As to Taiwan-fu itself, I may say that the brick wall
which surrounds it is about fifteen feet in thickness,
twenty-five in height, and some five miles in circumference.
Lofty watch-towers are built over the four main gateways,
and large spaces within the city are given to the principal
temples and yamens or quarters occupied by the civil
and military mandarins. There is much need in Taiwan-
fu for the carrying out of a City Improvement Scheme.
Pleasant walks, no doubt, there are, and some of the shops