wander loosely to Singapore, Hong-Kong, the Cape of Good Hope, and St Helena, for the sole purpose of abusing a colonial system which still keeps Great Britain a neck and shoulders ahead of the whole world, and enables us to care but little what the opinion of the United States may be as to how we treated Napoleon Buonaparte.

CHAPTER II.

THE valley of deep water, four hundred and fifty miles in a direct line from the shores of China to those of Japan, delightful though it was to us river-sick seamen, is at present a very lonely sea. The interdiction of foreign trade by the Emperors of Japan included China as well as Europe, and during the centuries in which the flag of Holland alone crossed the sea we were traversing, China was only allowed to send thirteen junks annually to and from Nangasaki. We therefore saw no vessel in our track; and it was generally remarked that, excepting great numbers of flying-fish, there was a dearth of animal life, whether fish or bird, where, from our proximity to land, it would have been natural it should be the reverse.

On the afternoon of the 2d August 1858 we reached a group of rocky but picturesque islets, the outposts in this direction of the Japanese empire-Miaco-Sima, or the "Asses' Ears," so named because their peaks run up in a manner not unlike the ears of that animal. Their coasts are bold and craggy, lashed by the rollers of a wild though narrow sea, whose spray has left a mark far up the polished wave-worn sides; yet there was green grass and stout pine-tree immediately above the wash of the sea, and vegetation made a bold fight to reach the sum

mits of the craggy peaks. "How different from Chinese scenery!" we naturally exclaimed, as our good ship sped past Miaco-Sima, and all declared themselves perfectly satisfied with this first instalment of Japan: it was evident we were determined to be pleased.

The mountains of Kiu-Siu Island, on which the city of Nangasaki is situated, were next to rise upon the eastern horizon. The night proved dark and gloomy, and as in the middle watch the bold coasts of Gotto Island were seen to the northward, warning us that we were approaching Japan faster than was prudent, in spite of our anxiety to be quickly into port the speed had to be very much reduced. Day-dawn showed this to have been prudent, for the land about Cape Nomo, the southern entrance of the bay leading to Nangasaki, was on our starboard bow; and thence, stretching far away to our left, rose peak, mountain, and table-land, until lost in the distance. Away to the north, a channel dotted with islets was seen between Gotto and Kiu-Siu. It led to Hirando, or Firando, that port so well known to European mariners of centuries now long gone by, when Spaniards and Portuguese, Dutchmen and English, were struggling for a footing in Japan, and each doing his best to have his brother Christian exterminated how they eventually succeeded, and the Dutchman turned up the trump-card, we will hereafter relate. For the present, we must go at full speed for a mark in the land ahead, which, the charts tell us, leads us to our haven.

For a while heavy mists swept over land and sea, and we could only see a mile or so ahead. It was very tan

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talising. Those who had not witnessed day-dawn would not believe we had seen Japan, and growled out complaints of the nuisance, to use a seaman's phrase, of "being jammed in a fog off our port." The consolation was, that possibly the sun would master the fog; and presently there was a play of light along the surface of the sea; the hulls of our vessels came out sharp and clear. Then the forms of Japanese junks were seen; presently their sails and masts showed ;-the fog was lifting, breaking, and dispersing. Down the mountains of Kiu-Siu rolled masses of cloud; out of every vale and valley came sweeping down dense mists, wrathful at the enemy that was expelling them. Poor cloudland fought at a disadvantage with the lusty youth of a morning sun;-his fierce glance pierced her densest array, and, in sullen showers and flying squalls of wind, night and darkness passed away; whilst day, bright and beaming, burst fairly upon us with a shout of welcome. It was a glorious sight-mountain and plain, valley and islet, clothed with vegetation, or waving with trees and studded with villages-blue sea for a foreground, crisped with the breeze, and calm spots with sandy bays, in amongst islands dotted with fishing-boats and native junks. We must not attempt it, for pen or pencil could never reproduce such a picture.

Early in the forenoon, H.M.S. Furious was entering the charming series of channels leading through islands to Nangasaki. Cape Nomo was now hidden from view, whilst on either hand lay the lovely spots known by the native names of Iwosima and Kamino-sima, "Sima" being Japanese for island. They looked like pieces of

land detached from the best parts of the south coast of England, and it is impossible, we believe, to pay them a greater compliment. Their outline was marked and picturesque, clothed, wherever a tree could hang or find holding-ground, with the handsome pine peculiar to Japan. Villages and richly cultivated gardens nestled in every nook, and flowers, as well as fruit-trees, were plentiful.

To our eyes, the multitude of guns and extraordinary number of batteries which covered every landing-place, or surmounted every height, on these islands, did not enhance their beauty; and we regretted to see the men entering the batteries as we approached. We suspected then, what afterwards proved to be the case, that our Transatlantic friends had taken great care to work upon the fears of the Japanese, by spreading some marvellous tales of what we Britishers had done in China, and intended to do to them. The garrisons of the batteries, however, appeared desirous only of showing how prepared they were; and having gone to their guns, quietly sat down to smoke their pipes, while the officers, seated on the parapets, gracefully fanned themselves. Yet it will be well for all the world that the Japanese are jealous of their liberty; and that its people will, if need should arise, gallantly defend the beautiful land God has given them.

It would be hazardous to say how many guns are mounted on the islands and points commanding the approach to Nangasaki: some of them may be of woodmerely quakers; but we saw hundreds that decidedly were not. The majority were of brass, some of iron, all