but in vain. His final verdict was, that no European vessel of the smallest burthen could enter and lie with safety in the so-called port of Taiwan. I was therefore reluctantly obliged to give up all hopes of ever establishing a port of trade at the capital of Formosa.
The Tamsuy River, which was destined to become the British port of trade, discharges itself into the sea on the north-west coast of Formosa, over a bar, giving 16 feet of water at high tide. From its proximity to Foochow it has long been the highway between the Formosan and the provincial capital. The Ta-tun Mountains on its north bank, and the Lo-han Mountains on the south bank, both near its mouth, afford excellent landmarks to the entry of the river; and the narrow gorge, 6 miles further inland, where the river contracts, well defines the limits of the harbour, in which a good many ships of moderate burthen can procure safe anchorage. A sandbank, laid bare at low tides, runs east and west through the harbour, and unfortunately narrows its limits. Above the gorge the river enters a large plain, well cultivated in summer with rice, in winter with corn and vegetables. It here speedily divides into two, the main branch winding away past the town of Mangkia, or Banca, into the wild mountains of the interior; while the confluent branch takes a turn, and after a series of insignificant rapids, terminates about two miles from Kelung. This latter branch I ascended in 1857 to its source, in company with a party from H.M.S. Inflexible. On our return to the ship we anchored in Kelung Harbour. We had passed overland to the sulphur-mines, whence we crossed the hills and descended to the banks of the Tamsuy River. I published an account of our trip in the ‘Journal of the North China Branch of the Asiatic Society’ for 1858. The great danger to shipping in the Tamsuy Harbour is experienced in the early summer, when, after excessive rains and the melting of the snow on the mountains, the freshets convert the entire river into a large rapid, which drives everything before it. Ships then find it difficult to hold ground with their anchors, and the only means by which they can be prevented from drifting to sea is by mooring firmly to the land.
I must make my sketches of Tamsuy brief, and will therefore confine myself to a few remarks on my visit to the interior in search of the aborigines. About two hours’ walk eastward of Banca lies a large village, through which runs one of the most laborious works of art which the Tamsuy people have undertaken. The water supplied by the springs in this large marshy plain was found to be brackish and unwholesome. It was therefore thought advisable to bring down a mountain-stream to supply the population of the plains. Such a stream was found about 8 miles in the interior from Banca, leaping down the side
