Sketches from Formosa.

FAR AFIELD NORTHWARD 67
to have a parting look. There seemed to be a friendly
expression on every face. Through A-tun, A-rek asked
me when I would return, and almost forced me to accept
a small present of native cloth which his wife had prepared.
The entire journey was one of unusual difficulty. I think
I never witnessed such rain ; while the fearful crashes
of thunder, with prolonged bellowing and rumbling
among the mountains, were something judgment-like,
and gave me a peculiar feeling of headache. It was late
before we reached Gu-khun-soa, in a very bedraggled
condition.
I look back with much gratitude on this pioneer visit
to the region east from Po-li-sia. Not that it suggests
the duty of making any immediate effort for carrying
the Gospel to this Bu-hwan tribe ; because, apart from
attempting any aggressive movement among the swarming
Chinese at our very doors on the western side of the Island,
an immense amount of work has yet to be overtaken at
our present thirteen widely-scattered stations. Many of
the Church members, some of our preachers even, are
deplorably ignorant ;
while the trained labourers are few,
and myself the only pastor over a region which, at home,
would have several bishoprics, and a whole battalion of
Christian workers. This visit, therefore, was merely a
visit, but one which added greatly to our information,
and enabled us to scatter some seeds of kindness upon a
very needy, if uncongenial, soil.
I left Po-li-sia early on the morning of i6th May.
There was some little difficulty in inducing a party to
accompany me by the seldom-travelled road I arranged
to come out by. I had heard so often about the Tsuihwan
or water savages, and their lake, that the present
seemed as favourable an opportunity as I could get for
visiting that part of the country. We accordingly came
out from Po-li-sia across the southern range of mountains,