Directory_and_Chronicle_1923 — Page 586

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FORMOSA

This island, one of the largest in Asia, is situated between latitude 22 and 26 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, whỏ 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 conditions 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 Anping 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 Governinent 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 1920-21 being Yen 114,751,829, and for 1919-20 Yen 100,165,543. The value of the exports to foreign countries in 1921 was Yen 23,541,621 and the imports from abroad totalled Yen 40,433,290, both showing a considerable falling off from the previous year's returns of Yen 35,172,945 and Yen 60,366,731. The trade with Japan also suffered a marked shrinkage, the figures for 1921 being Exports Yen 128,896,879 and imports Yen 93,521,168, as compared with Yen 181,091,635 . and Yen 112,070,364 in 1920.

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. Although the mineral wealth of the island is thought to be considerable there are at present only two gold-mines running (viz., those at Kinkaseki and Zuiho, in the vicinity of Keelung), their united output in 1921 amounting to about Yen 700,000 gold and Yen 36,000 silver. Other mines on the north and east coasts have closed down owing to the current high cost of working. The yield of copper in 1921 was Yen 562,907, and the value of the coal