Sketches from Formosa.

WOMEN AND CHILDREN OF THE ISLAND 251
the household being mere concubines. It is easy to see
what an unsatisfactory state of affairs such practices
give rise to ; the most serious being that it robs many
decent well-behaved women of rights which nothing else
can replace.
I feel constrained here also to mention the fact that,
especially within recent years, many young women and
even girls in their teens, are being lured into an organized
system of immorality which appears to flourish in every
town and good-sized village of the Island. This evil
certainly did exist when Formosa was under Chinese
domination, but less publicly and within much narrower
licensed brothels and
limits ; whereas, now-a-days,
licensed harlots are met everywhere ;
being the positive
one painful feature
attractiveness which is made to en-halo
all the ramifications of this vile traffic. I certainly have
no desire to be censorious, or wish to ignore the fact that
similar sights may be seen in cities like London, Paris,
Vienna, and Berlin ; but that is a very poor defence to
make of what I am now referring to ; and surely every
true lover of Japan would give almost anything to see
Tokyo and other populous
centres connected with it
wholly purged from such a pernicious system,
no matter
how money-making it is, or however much it may be
encouraged
and condoned.
Although it may be only like comparing little things
with great, I cannot conclude this sketch without calling
attention to the way in which Christianity is already
beginning to have an influence in bringing blessing to
the women and children of Formosa. Even at the
close of fifty years' work, our converts do not number more
than thirty thousand, and we dare not say that these
are all earnest disciples who can render good reasons
for the hope that is in them. That leaves well over
three millions who have still to be evangelized ; but we