FORMOSA
ور
This island, one of the largest in Asia, is situated between latitude 22 and 16 degrees N., and longitude 120 and 122 degrees E., and is separated from the coast of Fukien, China, by a channel about one hundred miles in width. It is a prolongation of the Japanese and Loochoo Archipelagoes, and in 1895 was incorporated in the Jap- anese Empire. Its name Formosa, signifying "beautiful island, was conferred by the Portuguese, the first Europeans to visit it, but it was called Taiwan (Great Bay) by the Chinese, to whom it belonged from 1661 to 1894. It is said that the Japanese endeavoured to form a colony in the island in 1620, but large numbers of Chinese were settled there prior to that date. The Dutch arrived in 1634, and founded several settlements, and traces of their occupation are still to be found in the island, but they were compelled in 1661 to retire by the Chinese pirate chief Koxinga, who then assumed the sovereignty of western Formosa. His grandson and successor, however, was induced, twenty-two years later, to resign the crown to the Emperor of China. By the Treaty of Shimonoseki, which terminated the war between China and Japan in 1895, the island was ceded to Japan as one of the couditions of peace, and on the 1st June, 1895, the formal surrender was made, the ceremony taking place on board ship outside Keelung. The resident Chinese officials, however, declared a republic, and offered resistance, and it was not until the end of October that the opposing forces were completely overcome, the last stand being made in the south by Liu Yung-fu, the Black Flag General, of Tonkin notoriety. Takow was bombarded and captured on 15th October, and Ánping was peacefully occupied on the 21st of the same month, Liu Yung-fu having taken refuge in flight.
Formosa is about 260 miles in length, and from 60 to 70 miles broad in the widest part. It is intersected from north to south by a range of mountains, which forms a kind of backbone to the island, the loftiest peak of which, Mount Morrison (Niitakayama), is 13,880 feet high. On the western side of this range the slope is more gradual than on the eastern side, and broken by fertile valleys which lose themselves in the large undulating plain on which the Chinese are settled. The high land east of the dividing chain is peopled by an aboriginal race who acknowledged no allegiance to the Chinese Government and made frequent raids upon the outlying Chinese settle- ments, and they have proved troublesome also to the Japanese, notwithstanding that the latter spare no effort to establish amicable relations with them. They are a savage and warlike people, allied to the Malays and Polynesians, and live prin- cipally by the chase.
The population of Formosa in estimated to be as follows:- Natives (Chinese), males 1,789,508, females 1,692,325; Japanese (excluding military), males 93,802, females 72,819; Foreigners, males 19,480, females 5,356 (mostly Chinese); Savages, males 42,486, females 42,060--total, 3,757,836. In addition to the foregoing, there are tribes of aborigines, described in the returns as "savages," living within the adininistrative districts and under Government control aggregating approximately 48,000.
The revenue, which down to 1904 averaged about Yen 20,000,000 annually, has since steadily increased, the figure for 1922-23 being Yen 111,097,561, and for 1921-22 Yen 106,002,034. The value of the exports to foreign countries in 1923 was Yen 29,152,437 and the imports froin abroad totalled Yen 39,207,867, the previous year's returns being Yen 30,563,489 and Yen 36,921,874. The trade with Japan for the same period was :- Exports, Yen 169,442,365, and Imports, Yen 70,921,625, as compared with Yen 127,301,486 and Yen 82,173,435 in 1922.
The products of Formosa are numerous, vegetation being everywhere most luxuriant, testifying to the richness of the soil. Tea, camphor, rice, and sugar are largely cultivated, the two latter being extensively shipped to Japan. The fauna includes bears, monkeys, deer, wild boar, badgers, martens, the scaly ant-eater, and other smaller animals. Birds are not very numerous, and snakes not so common as might be expected where vegetation is so abundant. As regards minerals there are at present only two gold mines running (viz., those at Kinkosaki and Zuiho in the vicinity of Keelung). The total mineral products of the island during 1923, according to investigations made by the Mining Bureau are given as Gold Yen 548,865, Silver Yen 24,883, Copper Yen 540,964, Copper ores Yen 151,993, Coal Yen 11,415,500, Petroleum Yen 186,743, Sulphur Yen 45,807.