Page:The journal of the Royal Geographic Society of London. Volume 34, 1864. (IA s572id13663720).pdf/213

Rh that he had observed trees and logs of wood floated up by the Kurosiwo, whereas north of Formosa the line of downward set of the China Sea is marked by accumulations of drift-wood, rattans, and so forth. To the kindly conveyance of this stream, I have read from Russian accounts, the Kurile islanders are indebted for the wood they apply to household wants, their islands affording none of their own. The warm water of the Kurosiwo manages, however, to find an entrance into Sawo Harbour, as it does also into Kelung Harbour, in both of which places white branching coral, usually characteristic of the tropics, is seen in the deep clear water, adhering to the rocks below, with brightly-coloured coral-fish gliding about amongst its branches. I witnessed these myself in Kelung in 1857, and watched fishermen catching, with hook and line, the richly-coloured fishes. I have not observed such coral or similar fishes anywhere on the west coast of Formosa, and believe that their existence is due to the warm stream. Large numbers of turtles and flying-fish are found in this tepid water all the year. The former occur on the west coast chiefly in spring, and the latter is somewhat rare in the China Seas. In January at Kelung, when it was raining in torrents, the air felt so warm that the cabin doors were obliged to be thrown open. North of Formosa, Captain Meincke informed me, a strong current, setting to eastward, extends up as far as Pinnacle Island, the influence of which is felt even over the tides west and east.

The almost isolated peak of Ape’s Hill is of comparatively modern elevation, remains of living corals and shells being found at its summit. It is formed chiefly of volcanic rock, trap, and basalt. From the blocks of conglomerate limestone and fossil remains that lie about near its base I chipped off several specimens, most of which are coral and shells (pecten) referable to a late tertiary era. If this be the case, the beds of deposit which have been raised by the upheaval of the volcanic mass would prove of older date than I was inclined to suppose, from the comparatively recent formation of the rest of this low coast.

Judging from the bold appearance of the eastern, northern, and north-western coasts, the coast-line may be said to be in the course of gradual recession rather than of progression. Unfortunately the rock specimens I procured at Tamsuy were from near the coast, and only consisted of remains of modern shells and corals, and some bits of sponges, the portions of the limestone—the prevailing rock of the neighbouring high hills—that I brought with me having no fossils in them to lend a clue to the formation. At Ape’s Hill the lime used for domestic purposes is, by the Chinese, burnt out of the white nuggets of limestone that they unearth from the hill-sides. At Kelung they use for this purpose the masses of