Directory_and_Chronicle_1887 — Page 398

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FORMOSA-TAIWAN-FOO AND TAKOW.

Courbet, but was evacuated on the 21st June, 1885. The rivers of Formosa are few, shallow, and winding, only navigable to small flat-bottomed boats. The scenery is delightful, and the climate is very pleasant in the winter, but hot and malarious in

the wet season.

TAIWAN-FOO AND TAKOW.

The city of Taiwan-foo, situated in lat. 23 deg. 6 min. N. and long. 129 deg. 5 min. E., is the capital of the island of Formosa, and is credited with a population of 235,000 inhabitants. Compared with other Chinese cities it is moderately clean and well paved. The walls are some five miles in circumference. The shipping port of Taiwan-foo is Anping, situated on the coast about three miles to the eastward of the city and connected with the suburbs by a creek. The port is an open roadstead, vessels having to anchor a mile or so from the beach. From the 1st November to the end of May the anchorage is a perfectly safe one, but during the S. W. monsoon a heavy swell sets in, rendering it difficult, and at times impossible, for vessels to load or discharge. Anping has of late risen greatly in importance, the foreign firms making it their headquarters instead of Takow, which port in former years was considered of more significance. Tempered by sea breezes, Anping, during the summer months can boast of a cool and healthy climate. From 1st October to the end of April there is little or no rain, and the temperature leaves nothing to be desired. Sugar is the principal export of South Formosa, shipments in 1880 having reached 997,690 piculs; in 1884 the export amounted to 899,348 piculs. Supplies in 1885 were much curtailed in consequence of the blockade of the island by the French. The import of Opium during 1885, according to Customs returns, was 2,339 piculs; the value of the total revenue being TIs. 152,376.

Takow is a port twenty-four miles to the southward of Anping. It takes little or no share in the import trade, and is rarely visited by the foreign merchants, excepting for a few months in the winter.

Consulates.

DIRECTORY.

BRITISH, also DANISH, GERMAN (vice- consulate), AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN (vice- consulate), SPANISH (vice-consulate), AND UNITED STATES (consular agency). Consul-Pelham L. Warren

Assistant-M. F. A. Fraser Constable-Antonio Alborado

NETHERLANDS.

Consul-A. W. Bain

Imperial Maritime Customs.

Tai-wan-kwan.

Acting Commissioner Jas. Mackay Assistant-S. von Fries (Anping)

Do. -A. Duncan

Medical Officer-W. Wykeham Myers, M.B. Acting Tide-surveyor-E. Molloy Boat Officer-L. le Breton (Anping) Examiner-G Swainston do. Assistant Examiner-F. Cartman

Tidewaiters-C. H. Erskine, J. W. Scott

(Anping), A. Rogister, G. Kopp Chinese Clerks-Mak Sze-che; A. Hon, and

Mok Sih Chun (Anping)

Pilots.

H. Vosteen, E. A. Kröncke

Agencies.

Bain & Co., agents-

Canton Insurance Office, Limited Hongkong Fire Insurance Co., Ld. Douglas Steamship Co., Ld.

Iudo-China S. N. Co., Ld.

Boyd & Co., agents-

Lloyd's

China Traders' Insurance Co., Limited Chinese Insurance Co., Limited

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