Wrote Yu: "In all of Taiwan north of Touliu there is naught but wilderness. Towering forests and impenetrable briar thickets are everywhere, deer herds run in great multitudes, and one discovers nary a sign of Han Chinese presence."
盡覽寶島風光的郁永河在書中形容斗六以北的台灣：「… … 至淡水，均荒蕪之地，材木遮天，荊棘餘丈，麋鹿成群，漢人足跡未到」。