File:Sketches in Formosa - In a bamboo forest.gif

English: Our Illustrations of the scenery and natives of the Island of Formosa furnished by the sketches of Mr. E. H. Grimani, have been accompanied by much descriptive comment. The view of a glade in the bamboo forest represents that kind of tropical vegetation, in all its luxuriance, with much fidelity to the effect of nature. An enthusiastic admirer of such exotic beauties of plant-growth, lit up by the rays of the declining sun, may be tempted to wander long in the labyrinth of enticing paths, till rising mists from the swampy ground warn him of the danger of malaria and consequent fever. It is a treacherous climate in the low-lying region of the western coast; but Formosa, "the Beautiful," as the old Spanish navigators called it, is an island abounding in scenes of loveliness and grandeur. The plains, watered by numerous clear streams and lakes, and partly under cultivation by Chinese planters, are overlooked by highland ranges, thickly wooded, which rise to mountain summits 10,000 ft. in altitude, with doomed or peaked tops, walls of cliff and jutting rocks, emerging from the dense verdure of the forest. All the central highlands, and the mountainous east coast. All the central highlands, and the mountainous east coast, are inhabited by savages never yet subdued, whose incursions have recently spread havoc over the civilised districts. It would demand a considerable military effort, and great administrative skill, on the part of the Chinese Imperial Government, to effect a thorough conquest of this large island.