Formosa
Burnard Selby visits the island of Taiwan, describing its landscape and people, as well as explaining its history.
Throughout most of its history, Formosa has been a frontier society; sometimes a colony in name, nearly always a colony in fact.
It has been perpetually on the fringe of civilizations: a land that demanded resourcefulness to settle and dogged determination to stay in and cultivate.
On the west coast, the island is flat, with shallow anchorages and dune-covered beaches.
The land rises gradually to the east, where a series of parallel mountain ranges intersect Formosa from north to south. The highest peak, Mount Morrison, reaches 13,000 feet, and along the east coast are some of the most rugged cliffs in the world.
Civilization moved from west to east: up the foothills in the wake of the settlers, as they planted rice and sugar, and searched for camphor trees.
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