P o r t o f
T a -wan.
N a t iv e s o f
F o rm o sa .
expulfiofi, has been given at p. 122 o f this volume, in my account
o f their firft commerce in thefe parts with the empire o f China.
T h e coails o f Formofa are rude, lofty, and rocky. The principal
port is that o f Ta-wan, the fame with that which the Dutch
took poffefiion of. Near it is the capital city o f the fame name;
unfortified, but garrifoned by ten thoufand Tartars, and very
populous, to which CneCbinefe, who area commercial people, carry
on a prodigious trade. There are befides three other cities and
feveral villages, all inhabited by Cbinefe. The whole is remarkably
fertile, produitive o f grain; and all the fruits which the cor-
refpondent parts o f China afford. As the whole o f the ifland
was inhabited by a barbarous people, domeftic animals are in
fome degree fcarce. Oxen are in ufe for riding inftead o f horfes;
flags abound; and among the wild animals, monkies; but it
does not appear that tygers or beafts o f prey are known in any
part o f Formofa.
T h e ifland is divided from north to fouth by chains o f lofty
and inaccefiible mountains. The greater part o f the wefterd fide
is inhabited by Cbinefe, the natives have the eaftern entirely
to themfelves; thofe which continue on the weftern are not
better than fervants to the colonifts, except the inhabitants of
three out o f the twelve diftriits formed by the Cbinefe, which
have revolted. The Formofans are a fine people, and o f remarkable
fwiftnefs, which they attain by praffice, fo that they can
outrun a horfe at full fpeed. Their ihape is eafy and flender,
their complexions olive, and their hair lleek, and hanging over
their ihoulder6. In the fouthern part o f the ifle they wear a
linen wrapped round the middle; and .falling to the knees: in
the
thè nòrthern, the ikin o f a flag made into a fleevelefs jacket.
Their bonnet isv formed of Banana leaves, adorned with tufts of
the feathers o f cocks or pheafants.
T h e i r morals have been much mifreprefented by the Cbinefe
and the Jefuits. They have no external worihip, but a ftrong
notion o f a Supreme Being,; which renders them a quiet, honeft,
and benevolent race. An inveteratehatredfubfifts between them
and the Cbinefe. The laft had reafon to fuppofe that the ifland
had its gold mines ; but as they could not difcover them in-their
part, they equipped a ihip, and failed to the eaftern. They were
received' by the natives in the moft humane manner, invited
on fhore, and furniihed with every neceffary. In this vifit the
Cbinefe obferved in the poor cottages a few ingots of gold left
negligently, as i f of no value. This excited their avarice; they
made their hofts drunk, and in their fleep cut all their throats,
and carried away the gold, the incitement to this horrid action.
I t muft not be forgotten, that the hiftory o f Formofa was
written by- a perfon who pretended to be a Japanefe converted
to chriftianity, and to have fled from his country to avoid the
dreadful punifhment inflicted by the emperor on all profelytes.
He affumed the name o f P/almanazar, and is generally fup-
pofed to have been born in the fouth of France. He was a man
of uncommon abilities. After leading a vagabond life through
various parts o f Europe, in which he aited the part o f a moft
confummate impoftpr, and fuffering frequently the greateft mi-
fery from his profligate life, he was reduced to become a common
foldier in a Scotch regiment at Sluys.; there he firft affumed
the character o f the Japanefe. Innes, a worthlefs chaplain o f
the
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z a r .