The annual expenditure for this purpose amounts to over 24,000 yen. There is also a private defence force of volunteers called Aitei. These forces are undoubtedly smaller in number than they ever were during the Chinese régime, but nevertheless the number of those persons who have fallen victims to the ferocity of the savages has greatly decreased in recent years. This improved state of things shows that the savages entertain much less enmity towards us, Japanese, than towards the Formosan Chinese, and is evidence that they find they can place more dependence upon both Japanese officials and private persons than on the Chinese.

The camphor workers are, as stated above, exposed to constant danger, but their profits are large. The Japanese labourers who are employed by these manufacturers usually receive fourteen yen for every picul of camphor produced, and seven yen per picul for the camphor oil. Their average earnings are between twenty-five and thirty yen a month, but some specially successful distillers make as much as forty yen. The Chinese are employed on a totally different basis. Money is advanced to them by the manufacturers for the construction of stoves. Their earnings are slightly less than those of the Japanese workers.

One day I paid a visit to the camphor refinery at Taihoku and saw how the work was carried on. The distilling oven is in the shape of a large iron box. In this a quantity of the crude camphor is placed, and, heat being applied, the fumes pass through a number of pipes and apertures into the crystallisation chamber, where they crystallise as flowers of camphor.

A certain writer told the truth when he said that a few pounds of camphor which looks so like fresh-fallen snow represents many drops of human blood. It ought not to be forgotten that the production of camphor requires more labour and causes a larger effusion of blood than any other of the many Formosan staples. When I asked one of the officials at the camphor refinery whether the forests were not likely to become exhausted by the continual felling of camphor trees at the rate of 10,000 a year, he said with a smile that surveys were not sufficiently complete to afford exact information, but that it was known that the camphor trees covered an area of about 1,500 square miles. Supposing that the depletion of

the forests continues at the same rate as at present, the supply of camphor trees in Formosa will be sufficient to supply the world's requirements for another 100 years to come. In the meanwhile, he added, the new system of afforestation which has been introduced will replace all the trees destroyed. This I was much pleased to hear, and I sincerely hope that the Formosan Government will devote a large portion of its energy to the replanting of these valuable trees.

CHAPTER XI.

MINERALS.

GOLD.-Gold Deposits-Gold working before the Japanese occupation-Table of output.

COAL.-Coal supplies-Destruction of mines and machinery by a Chinese Governor-Present output-Japanese versus Chinese miners.

COAL OIL.-Coal oil producing localities—A foreigner's attempt to work the oilGovernment experiments.

SULPHUR.-Districts where sulphur is to be found-Table of production.

GOLD.

THE working of minerals in Formosa is in a most undeveloped state, but has a great future before it. Gold is to-day the most promising. Mining operations have already been commenced at Zuiho and Giran near Kelung, as also at Shinsho and Shukoran on the east coast; but, except at Zuiho, the prospects are not very encouraging.

The method adopted at Zuiho is hand digging, the ore being brought out by a light railway. Two or three years ago the owner of the mine considered it a burden, but now it has become a source of much wealth.

Moreover, the bed of the Kelung River belongs geologically to the Tertian period, while the Taihoku plain which was formed by the lower streams belongs, from the village of Suihenkiaku downwards, to the Quaternian period. Throughout these seventeen miles gold-bearing gravel is deposited over an area of about 984 acres altogether, which is divided into ninety-six mining districts, all of which are now being worked. In addition to these, there are a number of quartz-mining districts in the hills near the river banks which are mostly worked by natives. Their method of digging is very rough and antiquated, but all the same they gain large profits, which are increasing year by year.

In Shukoran, besides the gold mines, gold-bearing gravel

is to be found. This field is so out-of-the-way that it has only been discovered recently, but it is believed that it will hereafter become a large mine of wealth.

There is a tradition that gold mining was commenced in Formosa at the time of the Dutch occupation and that the Japanese then engaged in it; but the truth of this is rather doubtful. On the other hand, it is only recently that the gold-bearing gravel near Zuiho has been discovered. In 1890, when Liu Ming-chuan constructed the line from Kelung to Taihoku, some of the Chinese workmen caught sight of some glittering substance in the gravel which they were digging. When it was found to be really gold, reports spread all over and at last reached China, and it is said that the Chinese flocked to the place in thousands. It will not be surprising if some day when the savage districts come to be opened up, as sensational discoveries of gold are made as were disclosed in the Yukon Mines in Alaska a few years ago. Since 1898 the amount of gold produced has increased every year in a wonderful way, but it is most probable that there is really a much larger production from gravel washing than is shown in the

Coal crops out all along a belt extending from Shinten near Taihoku to the neighbourhood of Bioritsu. Deposits are also found in the central and southern parts of the island and also near Taito, but the only deposits which appear likely to prove profitable are those found near Taihoku and Bioritsu.

Both these seams are mostly two or three feet thick, sometimes even as much as four or five feet. The seams never run singly; they always run double and are from forty to fifty feet apart. The Formosan Chinese were the first to excavate the coal, and they persevered in spite of all the officials could do to stop them. At last, in 1874, the Chinese Government itself engaged an English engineer and imported the necessary mining machinery. This was erected at Hatto, and for a time the output from the mines there amounted to 46,000 tons a year.

Early in August, 1884, the difficulties between China and France having reached a crisis, the French fleet arrived at Kelung and bombarded the forts. Liu Ming-chuan, the then Governor of Formosa, fearing the worst and having no intention of presenting the French with a well-equipped mine and a large stock of coal, gave orders that the works should be destroyed, the pits flooded, and the stock of coal set fire to. His orders were carried out without loss of time, and thus was rendered useless a large plant on which much money had been spent and many lives sacrificed.

After the close of the war, new machinery was installed and the mining was resumed, but the annual output was only about half what it had been before. Since Formosa came into our hands all the coal-mining operations have been carried on by private individuals, permits having been granted for working 110 claims with a total area of a little over 5,600 acres. The output in 1899 was 24,074 tons; in 1900, 31,460 tons; and in 1904, over 61,500 tons. Considering the inferior quality of the coal, the expense of working it is so great that, if a little freight be added, it cannot compete with that brought from Japan and China, or even with that which is obtained in the southern part of the island. For this reason the annual exports are very small, amounting to only about 20,000 tons.

It is worthy of note that many Japanese are to be seen engaged in tropical Formosa, not only as mine owners, but also as workers in the mines. In the Gaden Mines at Borio, about three miles from Taihoku, thirty Japanese and sixty Chinese are employed. The Chinese receive 8 sen and the Japanese 9 sen per picul (133 lb.). The Japanese receive higher pay because they are more careful and show greater skill than the Chinese, whose product contains much small