本論文探索了美國前駐廈門領事李仙得（Charles Le Gendre）所敘述、繪製的「福爾摩沙風景」是如何幫助他「忠實再現」此島嶼在一八六○～一八七○年代的自然環境。李仙得對台灣的領土觀點、商／農產品的資訊或戰略上的興趣僅是他更廣泛的福爾摩沙風景描述上的一小部分而已。在處理李仙得對三個地區（即台灣北部、台灣中南部以及恆春半島）的風景描述時，我嘗試擴大檢視的焦點，而將其以文字敘述、地圖、地質截面、地形略圖及拍攝照片等來描述風景的模式也加入一併討論。李仙得對同一個地點所採取的多重觀點（例如由海港凝望或親自量測地形、查考岩石與土壤等），以及其多重描述模式產生了複雜（有時互相矛盾）且拼湊組合的風景。此研究也發現李氏雖然對恆春半島如此熟悉，但是關於該地自然風景的紀錄卻非常少。

This article attempts to analyze the 19th-century “Formosan landscapes” sketched by Charles Wm. Le Gendre (U.S. consul for Amoy) in his consular reports and illustrated manuscript entitled Notes of travel in Formosa. Although Le Gendre provided detailed descriptions of Taiwan's territorial space, agricultural production, and commercial potential in his writings, this was only one aspect of his larger perspective. By focusing on Le Gendre's portrayals of space in northern, central and extreme southern Taiwan, I attempt to understand the entirety of Le Gendre's “Formosan landscapes. ” This perspective includes detailed analyses of Le Gendre's textual landscapes, as well as his maps, topographical sketches, geological sections, and photographic prints. From this broader analysis, we are able to better apprehend Le Gendre's multiple(and sometimes contradictory) perspectives of a single landscape, and to fully understand the techniques and discourses he employed to render his “faithful representations of such places.”