十九世紀中葉以後，因為商業、軍事、地緣政治等因素，越來越多的外籍人士前往臺灣東部調查。他們來到臺灣東部測量港灣、繪製地圖、採集博物學標本，也進行人類學調查、記錄語言，甚至建立教堂擴展教區。由於比較詳細的臺灣東部調查是在蘇澳灣展開，因此本文將集中討論蘇澳灣的調查及其後續影響，分析這些造訪蘇澳灣的外國行動者如何以近代國家的學知對於此地進行港灣測量、水文調查與製作海圖及水路誌。同時也關注這些在地知識如何抽象化，及被翻譯與再製（再現）。此外，本文也討論外國人對調查地區居民的興趣；他們使用人類學方法收集語言材料，描述觀察到的文化特徵，並探究蘇澳灣與附近區域的族群分類。

After the mid-nineteenth century, an increasing number of foreigners began arriving in Eastern Taiwan, for various commercial, military, geopolitical, and other reasons. They surveyed harbors, drew maps, collected natural specimens, conducted anthropological investigations, recorded languages, and built churches. The one part of Taiwan that received particular scrutiny was Suao Bay, located in the eastern part of the island. The present article focuses on the investigations carried out by British researchers in the Suao Bay area. It considers how British investigators applied modern methods to investigate local harbors. The waterway surveys, nautical charts, and harbor maps left behind by the British are examined. The article shows that, compared with traditional, local forms of knowledge, modern modes of knowledge production, as exemplified by the British investigators, are on a far more abstract level; modern knowledge production can also be reduplicated, re-presented, and translated, far more easily than local knowledge. In my paper, I also consider the anthropological surveys of the British in the Suao Bay area. I look at how British investigators used anthropological methods to collect language materials, describe observed cultural traits, and develop ethnographic classifications. Their observations of the Peipo ethnic groups are discussed in some detail.