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463
that some Japanese had come down to Prates from Formosa, and had been, a few days later, with their junk blown back by a typhoon up the Formosan Channel to Amoy, Mr. Newman's agent at Hong Kong sent a Japanese expert named Hasébé Tetsunosaké to see if any of his countrymen remained there, if the flag and cairn still stood, and to prospect and report generally.
Hasébé found the Island untenanted, though the flag had disappeared, whilst the cairn remained untouched. He returned very shortly to Hong Kong, with some 5 tons of Phosphate and a fair quantity of shell. Mr. Newman was at this time absent from Hong Kong, being down in the Gulf of Tonkin.
A second expedition of Japanese from Formosa reached the island about the month of June, where their junk was wrecked and the crew marooned till taken off by a Japanese steamer detailed for that service.
As the result of the reports brought back to Formosa