A 22-year-old Russian (spy?) Visits Taiwan in 1875 - S5-E6

Pavel Ivanovich Ibis, or Paul Ibis, a 22-year-old Russian naval
officer (he was born in today’s Estonia) embarked alone on a
dangerous and adventurous journey – on foot – through Taiwan in
the winter of 1875. At the time, much of the island was under
Qing rule; a prefecture of Fujian Province.





So, what was he doing here? He left very detailed accounts of
places, people and customs, and Paul Ibis seems to have had a
genuine “anthropological” interest in this island. But was he
also possibly a spy? Or at least gathering data for his superiors
in the then-still powerful Russian Empire under Tsar Alexander
II? (And, yeah, that was the Tsar who sold Alaska to the US in
1867.) 





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