The department of Hinghwa, situate on the coast between Tsiuenchau and Fuhchau, is exceedingly populous, and its dialect differs distinctly from both of the adjoining prefectures. Its people have a bad reputation, and female infanticide prevails here to a greater degree than elsewhere. At Yenping, on the Min River, the people speak the dialect of Nanking, showing their origin of not many scores of years past; there are many patois in these hilly parts of Fuhkien, and the province as a whole exhibits probably greater discrepancies in its dialects than any other. Its produce is exported north and west, as well as coastwise, and this intercourse tends to assimilate the speech of the inhabitants with their neighbors. The natural scenery in the ranges near the Bohea Hills in the borders of Kiangsí attracts visitors from afar. Fortune describes the picturesque grouping of steep rocks, lonely temples on jutting ledges and hidden adits, alternating with hamlets, along the banks of the stream which carries the boats and produce away to a market. The rocks and cliffs here have furnished Chinese artists with many subjects for pen and pencil, while the valley in addition to its natural beauty brings forth the best of teas. ~THE ISLAND OF FORMOSA.~ The island of Formosa, lying 90 miles west of Amoy, together with the Pescadore group, forms a department called Taiwan. The former is a fertile, well-watered region, possessing a salubrious climate, and meriting in every respect its name _Formosa_--a descriptive term first given by the Portuguese to their settlement at Kilung in 1590, and extended afterward to the entire island. Its total length is about 235 miles, while the width at the centre is not far from 80 miles; the limits of Chinese jurisdiction do not, however, embrace more than the western or level portion, leaving to untamed aborigines the thickly wooded districts beyond the _Muh kan shan_, a lofty range of mountains running north and south and forming the backbone of the island. The western coast presents no good harbors, and vessels lying a long distance off shore are exposed to the double inconvenience of a dangerous anchorage and an inhospitable reception from the natives; the eastern side is still less inviting, owing to its possession by savage tribes. From recent reports it appears, moreover, that the whole coast line is rising with unusual persistence and regularity, and that the streams are being choked up at their mouths.