Sketches from Formosa.

256
SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA
the respect of all for his modesty, and the effective
service he was able to give. The School for the Blind
at Chin-chiu was afterwards put in charge of Mr. Cook,
a blind teacher who was specially brought from England
to superintend this department of work.
Meanwhile, our efforts in Formosa continued to make
progress till the time for another furlough began to
loom in sight. I happened then to be on a visit to
Tokyo, where Count Kabayama sent me a courteous
invitation to call upon him he was at that time
Minister for Education, and had been the first Governorgeneral
of Formosa. Through the Rev. Mr. Hosokawa
as interpreter, that kind-hearted and popular gentleman
expressed himself as being much pleased to hear of
the prosperous condition of things in Formosa, and seemed
especially interested in what was being done for the
blind people there. It was at that moment I summoned
up courage to ask if His Excellency
could not do some-
thing towards placing our work on a basis for its better
consolidation and enlargement. He replied by saying
that his present Administration did not extend to
Formosa, but that he would willingly furnish me with
a favourable letter to Viscount Kodama, who was then
at the head of affairs in the Island ; and, a few days
after, I presented this letter myself at Headquarters.
It appeared at once to produce a very good impression ;
for the Governor-general assured me that no time would
be lost in making necessary investigation, and that he
hoped it might be possible to establish a Government
School for blind boys and girls at Tainan. Of course,
I rendered all the assistance I could about apparatus
and methods of teaching ; and, in less than six months,
the School was opened at Tainan with Mr. Akiyama
of our Mission High School as its first Principal. Viscount
Kodama was a man of small stature, and it was during