CHAPTER VII.
FORMOSA.
Takow harbour. Formosa—La-mah-kai—Difficulties of navigation—Tai-wan-fu—The Taotai—His yamen— How to cancel a state debt—The Dutch in 1661— Sylvan lanes—Medical missions—A journey to the interior—Old watercourses—Broken land—Hak-ka Settlers—Poahbc—Pepohoan village—Baksa valley— The name 'Isla Formosa'—A long march—The central mountains—Bamboo bridges—'Pau-ah-liau' Village—The physician at work—Ka-san-po village— A wine-feast—Interior of a hut—Pepohan dwellings— A savage dance—Savage hunting-grounds—La-lung village—Return journey.
A Chinese pilot, named Opium, came off to the steamer and brought her to a secure anchorage about a mile from shore. There was a pretty heavy sea on at this time, rendering it dangerous, even in a surf-boat, to make for the mouth of the harbour; so Dr. Maxwell and I determined to go ashore with Opium, trusting to his local knowledge to land us safely somewhere along the coast. This pilot was a cool, imperturbable seaman, a daring specimen, who had been out in all weathers and who was said to have earned his singular cognomen of Opium from his notoriety as a smuggler of that valuable drug.
