ns, Japan would not only
become independent of other countries with respect to her importation of
provisions, but, as I said before, it would also provide for the
settlement of millions of Japanese peasants; and, furthermore, we should
then get some decent bread to eat in Japan."

This conception of the Japanese problem seemed to open new vistas to the
secretary of legation. He listened attentively to the captain's words
and threw inquiring glances toward the Shanghai merchant. The latter,
however, was completely absorbed in the dissection of a fish, whose
numerous bones continually presented fresh anatomical riddles. In his
stead the thread of the conversation was taken up by Dr. Morris, of
Brighton, an unusually cadaverous-looking individual, who sometimes
maintained absolute silence for days at a time, and who was supposed to
possess Japanese bronzes of untold value and to be on his way to
Hokkaido to complete his collection.

"You must not believe everything you see in the papers," he said. "If
the Japanese were only better farmers, nobody in Japan need go hungry;
there is no question of her being overpeopled, and this mania for
emigration is nothing but a disease, a fashion, of which the government
at Tokio, to be sure, makes very good use for political purposes.
Whoever speaks in all seriousness of Japan's being overpeopled is merely
quoting newspaper editorials, and is not acquainted with the conditions
of the country."

Dr. Morris had scarcely said as much as this during the whole of his
two weeks' stay on board the _Tacoma_. It is true that he had got to
know Japan very thoroughly during his many years' sojourn in the
interior in search of old bronzes, and he knew what he was talking
about. His views, however, were not in accord with those current at the
moment, and consequently, although his words were listened to
attentively, they did not produce much effect.

The conversation continued along the same lines, and the possibility of
a war again came up for discussion. The German officer was the only one
to whom they could put military questions, and it was no light task for
him to find satisfactory answers. He could only repeat again and again
that such a war would offer such endless possibilities of attack and
defense, that it was absolutely impossible to forecast the probable
course of events. The Shanghai merchant conversed with the captain in a
low tone of voice about the system of Japanese spies in Ame