The chief town is Taipe (called by the Japanese Taihoku), which is on
the Tamsui-yei river, and has a population of about 118,000, including
5850 Japanese. Taipe may be said to have two ports; one, Tamsui, at the
mouth of the river Tamsui-yei, 10 m. distant on the north-west coast,
the other Kelung (called by the Japanese Kiirun), on the north-east
shore, with which it is connected by rail, a run of some 18 m. The
foreign settlement at Taipe lies outside the walls of the city, and is
called Twatutia (Taitotei by the Japanese). Kelung (the ancient Pekiang)
is an excellent harbour, and the scenery is very beautiful. There are
coal-mines in the neighbourhood. Tamsui (called Tansui by the Japanese)
is usually termed Hobe by foreigners. It is the site of the first
foreign settlement, has a population of about 7000, but cannot be made a
good harbour without considerable expenditure. On the west coast there
is no place of any importance until reaching Anping (23 deg. N. lat.), a
port where a few foreign merchants reside for the sake of the sugar
trade. It is an unlovely place, surrounded by mud flats, and a hotbed of
malaria. It has a population of 4000 Chinese and 200 Japanese. At a
distance of some 2-1/2 m. inland is the former capital of Formosa, the
walled city of Tainan, which has a population of 100,000 Chinese, 2300
Japanese, and a few British merchants and missionaries. Connected with
Anping by rail (26 m.) and laying south of it is Takau, a treaty port.
It has a population of 6800, and is prettily situated on two sides of a
large lagoon. Six miles inland from Takau is a prosperous Chinese town
called Feng-shan (Japanese, Hozan). The anchorages on the east coast are
Soo, Karenko and Pinan, which do not call for special notice.
Forty-seven m. east of the extreme south coast there is a little island
called Botel-tobago (Japanese, Koto-sho), which rises to a height of
1914 ft. and is inhabited by a tribe whose customs differ essentially
from those of the natives on the main island.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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