FORMOSA or Pahan Island, called also Ty oan. is about 210 miles in length from N.N.E. to S.S.W., its south point, called the Cape of Formosa, being in lat. 21° 531-1 N., long. 150° 531' E. It is 20 to 80 miles wide, and is traversed down its centre by a mountain range, which rises to 8000 feet in the south and 12,000 feet in the north half ; the valleys and higher slopes are clothed with trees. As yet only 35 species of its mammals and 128 of birds are known, several of them identical with the species of India and Malay Peninsula ; 43 of its land birds are peculiar to the island. Formosa. is part of a chain -which lies along the Asiatic continent, and forms a dis tinct and well-defined ethnic and geographic group, which includes all the Japanese and Aino islands from Formosa to ICamtschatka ; and Mr. Logan proposed to call it Aino-Japanesia. It was known to the Chinese A.D. 1431. It was held by the Dutch for a short time. The western coast is occupied to a great extent by recent settlers from China, but the interior is inhabited by several rude tribes, whose language differs from the known Formosa. The aborigines, ca,lled Kebalan, are short in stature, of tawny com plexions, and lank hair. Although inhabiting a great and fertile island, affording to all appearance a fair opportunity of development, they have never made any progress in civilisation, and at present seem to live in a state of barbarism. The language
of Formosa, according to M. de Rosner, appears to be a branch of the Oceanic, which, however, belongs to a state intermediate between the mono tonic and the inflectional ; words of the Malayan languages are to be found in the language of the aboriginal inhabitants. In the north-western portion of the island sulphur mines are frequently met with, presenting blots in the otherwise beautiful scenery. The gigantic laurels from which the camphor is obtained are found on the moun tains in the possession of the aborigines. In the neighbourhood of Tamsuy alone, 800,000 lbs. of this valuable commodity are produced annually. Petroleum also adds to the riches of the island, which, both from its natural and artificial pro ducts, is well worth a struggle on the part of the Japanese to obtain, and on the part of China to defend. Aralia papyrifera in Formosa does not exceed 6 feet high. Formosa Pheasant is the Emplocarnus Swainhoii.—/ad. Arch. Supp. H. pp. 318-358; Japan, 410 ; Loo-choo ; Horsburgh; Latham's Descriptive Ethnology ; Adams ; Cornhill Magazine ; Jour. Ind. Arch. ; Marryat's Ind. Arch. p. 41 ; Dr. Collingwood, Trans. Ethn. So. A S. vi. p. 139 ; A. R. Wallace.