September 12, 1895.]
EACHINA ÖVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
Peak. He had a path cut (December, 1859) words of the mighty Liu the chief of the which led to the top of Victoria Peak and, after Southern Republic. There seemed to be great recovering from the Military Authorities the dissatisfaction among the soldiers, who were site of their abandoned sanatorium, arrange-anything but anxious for the fray, and the ments were made, in March 1860, for the erec village elders stated that they did not want to tion on that site of a bungalow for the use of fight, but were forced to by the Chinese soldiers, the Governor." If the military sanatorium who would kill them if they refused. Several was not opened until 1862 Sir Hercules Robin- Hakkas had been beheaded because they showed son could not have recovered from the military signs of weakness and did not want to join the authorities the site of their abandoned sana- movement against the Japanese. torium in 1860. However that may be, it was not until 1876 that residence on the Peak began to be popular and not until several years later that any large number of houses were erected.
At Olan, on the night of the 10th, eighty Chinese soldiers entered the town with great bravado to inspect the houses to see that no Japanese soldiers were concealed. A vigorous | We might make columns of interesting search was instituted, in the closets, under the extracts from Dr. Eitel's History. The whole beds, and in the attics; in fact every place where book, indeed, from beginning to end, is interest-they were not likely to be found. It might be ing and ought to be read by every one who mentioned that no search was made outside of wishes to take an intelligent view of the of the city. The next forenoon three Japanese history and progress of the colony. The earlier arrived and entered the city, the villagers in- part is of a higher order of excellence than the forming them that they did not want to fight latter part; it deals with more weighty events, and asking them to bring a body of soldiers as which are treated in a true historical manner. soon as possible, as they were afraid the Chinese Approaching more nearly to our own times we soldiers would return. The Chinese soldiers a find some want of due perspective and "the few miles away were burning the farms of the endeavour of the writer (we quote from the peaceful natives and were much feared by the preface)" to combine with the aims of the his neighbourhood. The next morning the Japa- torian, writing from the point of view of uni- nese army advanced, passed through Olan versal history, the duties of the chronicler of (Corn), and were fired upon by the Chinese from events such as are of special interest to Euro- the surrounding hills. Two men-of-war pean residents in the East," has been carried answered by bombarding from the sea out with such thoroughness that Dr. Eitel's and the Japanese artillery was brought pages are encumbered with mention of very into position and after a few shells the Chinese trivial occurrences, and the obituary lists include were scampering over the bills with a great names of no historical or political importance. deal of haste and no little confusion, but not The book, as regards these portions, bears until twenty or thirty had been killed, with one evidence of having been finished in a hurry Japanese killed and
seven wounded. The and sent to press with insufficient revision. Japanese then going a bit inland took possession For instance, on page 519" the completion of the of Mahli (Bioretsu) the next morning, the Cosmopolitan Docks" in 1875 is mentioned, and 15th. The division was then divided into on page 565 the "starting of opposition Docks at two columns, one advancing to Changwha Shamshuipo by the Cosmopolitan Dock Company (Shoka) and the other to Taiton or, as it is some- (February 3rd, 1880) "is spoken of. The "start times marked on the maps, Taiwanfoo, but there ing of opposition docks" was simply the turning is no village there, a few yamens near by only of an existing concern into a public company, marking the spot where once it was intended to We have noticed very few mistakes, however, erect and establish a city to be the capital of and those not of great importance. The want of Formosa. revision to which we have referred is noticeable! rather in the arrangement of the matter than in actual errors. The sequence of events is not always preserved and when the reader thinks he is being carried forward he unexpectedly finds himself engaged on a period a year or two anterior to that which he has just been reading of. The defects are trifling, however. Tak- ing the book as a whole it is an excellent one and Dr. Eitel deserves the thanks of the colony for having written it.
THE JAPANESE IN FORMOSA,
[FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT WITH
THE JAPANESE ARMY.] Taipehfu, Formosa, 2nd September.. That the reader may be able to follow the Japanese in their occupation of the island, I will take up the trend of events since my last letter, which found the Japanese in possession of Takoham and an occasional skirmish with the Chinese taking place at Teckcham (Hsin Chu). In my last latter it may be noted I criticised the Japanese severely for their extreme leniency in dealing with the rebels, but they are now pursuing more drastic methods, for the suicidal folly of elemency had only too forcibly been demonstrated.
The troops have slowly butsteadily been advan- cing south during the last month. We find them leaving Teckcham and on August 8th capturing Gutow (Otowshua) and on the 9th proceeding farther south and attacking and capturing the commanding position and fort at Senpitsu hill, the Chinese fleeing before them as they As the Chinese learned of the advanced. approach of the Japanese, in many of the towns consternation prevailed. On the 10th at Mahle, a town but a few miles away from the conquer. ing Japanese, the Chinese soldiers were gathered to the number of several thousands and seemed to be mostly Hakkas, although the leaders spoke the Mandarin dialect, and were from Hunan, Canton, and other districts on the mainland, and all were former officials under the old regime. One detachment of "Black Flags" had arrived from the south, evidently to cheer the soldiers up and to publish the mighty
On the 28th a combined attack was made on the forts outside the big inland city of Changwha (Shoka), the third city of importance on the island, one detachment taking the roadway direct to the city and building a pontoon bridge across the river which flowed between them and the city and forts; the main army going to the eastward to attack the fort erected on a large hill to the east of the city. At five in the morning the artillery was brought into position and the attack commenced. For nearly two hours the Chinese held their ground and then retreated with the greatest of haste, so that the fort and city were both in possession of the Japanese by seven o'clock, and the big city with the fort with modern guns, which has been always considered the most war like of any on the island, and which residents had long prophesied that the Japanese would have a difficult time with when they tackled Changwha, fell as easy a'capture as any army could wish. The Chinese made such a hurried retreat that boxes, bundles, clothes, everything was left behind. They evidently had not anticipated that defeat was possible, for the houses were found all in order. Fires were blazing with the food still cooking in preparation for the morning meal. Costly robes and valuables of many kinds were there undisturbed, the whole scene betraying a retreat unexpected and one carried into execu- tion at once. In the fort were four 12 centimetre Krupp modern breachloading guns, and 410 other guns of different kinds were captured in and about the city, besides a great many small arms, flags, uniforms, ammunition, etc.
The Chinese loss was about six hundred and the Japanese nine. A detachment of Japanese followed south for twelve miles to Tolokumun (Tolokum) and another party took possession of Lokang (Rokuko), the port for Changwha.
The Imperial Prince Yoshihisa is in com- mand of the division. Troops and coolies in great numbers have been arriving almost daily at Kelung, the Japanese journals stating that there are forty-six thousand in all, which, how ever, I think is considerably exaggerated; at all events the country is filled with them. One cannot look in any direction without seeing soldiers in crowds. Since the Government of
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Formosa has been changed from civil to military control there has been a little ill-feeling breated, caused by the forced obedience required by military rule, which in some cases seems to be exerted with rather a domineering spirit, and the ignorant Chinese, who are incapable of com prehending the workings of military organiza- tion, take the enforced strictness as a personal offence created only to allow of an opportunity for the Japanese to tyrannize and take advant- age of their position.
In some cases there has been just cause for offence and considerable ill-feeling has been created even among the foreigners, for many of the soldiers and the majority of the coolies seem to swell with conscious superiority and at every opportunity endeavour in little ways to make it disagreeable and tyrannize over the Chinese. It has been surprising to me that there have not been many cases of crime and disorder, considering the great number of soldiers and coolies, but to the credit of the men and their officers nothing has occurred worthy of a serious complaint, but it is the little irritating incidents that are of every day occurrence that are driving the Chinese to the mainland in hundreds. The Japanese should exert a greater police supervision, and orders should be laid down with a strict punishment for disobedience.
Guards are distributed all over the city, both inside the wall and out, and Chinese passing these sentries were for some time forced to take off their hats as they passed. I think orders were only given for this rule to be observed at the city gates, and as the Japanese, whether he be of high or low rank, must salute the guard in the same way, there is no criticism to be made if they wished to enforce the acknow- ledgement, but if such was the case official proclamations should have been published about the city, that the Chinese might not be subjected to the humiliating insolence of a common soldier, who in many instances knocked their hats off with his bayonet. This performance had not only taken place at the city gateways but op the public highway. It even reached to such an extent that Chinese passing the gates in jinrickshas were forced to step out and walk past the guard with uncovered head, to again get into the jinricksha, and proceed. In one case a foreigner was ordered to step out of his jin- ricksha while pasing the guard.
Of course the foreigner did not comply and as a result of the insult a written complaint was entered and the Japanese officials at once took steps to see that the offence was not repeated, as well as to repeal the order that the Chinese should un- cover, which was becoming very obnoxidus. The insolence of the coolies is greatly in need of control. The roadway seems to be their un- disputed possession and foreigners are always forced to step on one side when passing them. They enter the houses at their pleasure and are a terror to all Chinese, who possess as one of their most prominent characteristics the desire of seclusion and privacy of the home.
As to the reports of the great number of Japanese suffering with sickness, the following table will show to what extent the climate is affecting the troops
Hospital Location.
Kelung Taipehfu..
Teckcham (Hsinchu)
Total
Hospital Location.
Kelung Taipehfu Teckcham (Hsinchu)
Malaria.
Wounded.
Enteritis. Cholera. "Miscel-
laneous.
Average for
Total
one day dur
Typhus.
Dysentery.
ceing last week Beriberi. of deaths.
33 41 9103 669
106 189 182
16 188 237.
6 160 46 291
Total
128 537 465 1,985 18 New applications for admittance are coming into the hospitals at the rate of about one hun. dred a day, and about that number are being sent from Kelang to Japan on the transports. The great majority of cases are among the coolies.
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