Sketches from Formosa.

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SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA
nor recite any prayers. We spoke to several who
acknowledged a God, Creator of heaven and earth a
God in three Persons : Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
They told us that the first man was called Adam, and
the first woman Eve ; that these, having disobeyed God,
had drawn forth the Divine anger upon themselves and
all their posterity, and that it was necessary to have
recourse to baptism to efface this stain ;
of which rite,
too, the very formula is remembered to this day."
Coming down to more recent times, we find that certain
events which took place in Formosa during 1842 attracted
at home and abroad. The
the notice of many Europeans
first Anglo-Chinese war had just been closed by the Treaty
of Nanking, when two small British trading ships were
driven by stress of weather on to the north-west coast of
the Island, the wretched persons who came ashore being
brought to await instructions from the local Chinese
officials. After consultation, those civil and military
underlings concluded that the opportunity was a very
favourable one for enriching themselves, and obtaining
substantial promotion in their respective services. They
commenced proceedings by a wholesale plundering of the
two ships, and by inflicting as heavy fines as possible on
any private individuals who had been found looting on
their own account. Those miserable sailors and passengers
who had escaped the dangers of the sea were then
marched down the Island to Taiwan-fu, were most
scandalously treated during four months of imprisonment
there, and over fifty of them led out for execution beyond
the Great North Gate of the city.
The official Report sent up to Peking quite ignored the
cessation of the war with Britain, represented that two
of the enemy's battleships had attempted to land troops
but that, during a severe engagement, the
on Formosa ;
Imperialists proved equal to the occasion, attacking and