"But there is land on both sides of us, Captain Ringgold," said Mrs. Belgrave. "Which is Formosa?"
"That on your right. We are going through the Formosa Channel; and the islands on the port side are the Pescadores, about twenty miles from Formosa."
After breakfast, when the ship had passed the smaller islands, and the passengers were seated on the promenade, the commander opened upon them with a talk about Formosa: "The name of the island in Chinese is Taiwan; and it is off the province of Fu-chien, and from ninety to two hundred and twenty miles from it. It has an area of 14,978 square miles, or about the size of the States of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut put together. It has a chain of mountains through it, the highest peak of which"—and the speaker looked at his memoranda—"is 12,847 feet high.
"The number of inhabitants is estimated at about 2,000,000, mostly immigrants from China, with the original natives. The island is exceedingly rich in its vegetation, and the plants are about the same as those of the main land. Rice paper is made of the pith of a tree found only in Formosa. In the south sugar and turmeric are the staples. The latter is a plant whose root is bright yellow, used in dyeing silk. Formosa tea has become well known at home as of excellent quality. Other productions are about the same as in southern China.
"There are plenty of birds there, but no wild animals of any consequence that are game for the Nimrods. A great deal more might be said about the island, but you have more now than you are likely to remember. You can see many junks now, and the trade with China is mostly carried on in them; and some of them are pirates in these seas, even to the south of Hainan, for a trading-junk turns into a pirate when her captain can make some money by it."
After lunch the Blanche's people came on board, and all hands had the usual frolic during the afternoon and evening. The next morning the captain told his passengers that they had passed out of the China Sea the day before, and that they were on the Tung-hai, or Eastern Sea, outside of which was the broad Pacific Ocean. On the third morning from Hong-Kong, when the company came on deck, they found the Guardian-Mother at anchor, but just getting under way with an English pilot on board, who had been taken late the evening before.
"Where are we now, Captain Ringgold?" asked Mr. Woolridge, when the party had seated themselves on the promenade to see what was to be seen.
"We are at the mouth of the great river Yang-tsze-Chiang; but we shall soon pass into a branch of it called the Woo-Sung, and find Shang-hai, for it is correctly written with a hyphen between the syllables," replied the commander. "But the tide is right; and we can go over the bar without any delay, the pilot says. It is about twelve miles up the river to the town; and, as you can see, the country is low and flat. The city has 250,000 inhabitants, and is the principal central port of China for foreign trade."
The channel of the river was crowded with junks, and there are sometimes as many as three thousand of them between the town and the sea; but they were careful to keep out of the track of steamers, even though they had the right of way. The two steamers picked their way through the native boats, and they were at anchor off the city in season for the late breakfast ordered.
"Shang-hai stands on low ground; and cholera, dysentery, and fevers prevail here in summer," said the commander when they were all seated at the table. "The English, French, and American quarters are in the suburb north of the native city, and they have broad and clean streets; but in the city proper, they are narrow and filthy, not unlike those of Canton. It is enclosed by a wall five miles in extent. What else there is here you can see for yourselves."