All the Chinese junks
which sail from Ning-po and Chusan touch at Pou-to, both outwards and
homewards-bound, making offerings for the safety of their voyages. There
is another island named Kim-Tong,[329] five leagues from hence, on the
way towards Ning-po, where a great many mandarins are said to live in
retirement, after having given up their employments. On that island
there are said to be silver mines, but prohibited from being opened. The
rest of the circumjacent islands are either desert, or very meanly
inhabited, but all of them abound in deer.
[Footnote 328: The sequel of these observations is said by Harris to
have been taken from another letter to the same correspondent with the
former, and dated in November, 1701; but, from circumstances in the
text, it would appear to have been written in 1702. - E.]
[Footnote 329: Probably that named Silver-island in modern maps. - E.]
It is not long since this island of Chusan began to be inhabited. Yet in
the days of Father Martini, about fifty years ago, it was very populous
for three or four years; at which time, in the fury of the Tartar
conquest, it was laid entirely desolate, not even sparing the mulberry
trees, which were then numerous, as they made a great deal of raw silk
here.
