producing, for such beauty and grandeur. For
hundreds of miles, day after day, we were borne past a moving diorama of
scenery unrivalled by anything here below. On a smooth blue sea, and
under a cloudless sky, onward we sped, passing, one after another, the
most delightful islets the eye ever dwelt on, each appearing to us a
perfect paradise in itself. Further on, indicated by a mere purple haze,
appeared others, and yet others, in almost endless perspective. I should
say the islands in this sea may be numbered by thousands.

Not many years since, strangers were debarred from using this passage. I
fancy I can imagine the impressions the first Europeans must have had of
this fairy land, of such a climate, such a soil, and such delightful
glades and woodlands!

On each of the larger islands we noticed snug temples, like miniature
Swiss chalets, embowered in woods--their peculiar architecture standing
out in relief from a tangled mass of vegetation.

The channels where there are so many islands as here are necessarily
intricate and dangerous; and as it would be to court danger to continue
our course after sundown, there are several well-marked anchorages where
it is customary to bring up at night. The first of these was a sheltered
bay with twin villages at its head, which I fancifully designated
Kingsand and Cawsand--the promontory forming one arm of the bay, looking
not unlike Penlee point--greatly adding to the conceit.

June 14th.--At noon we reached Kobe, or Hiogo, and let go our anchor far
out in what appears to be an open roadstead. This town is one of the
most recent of the treaty ports--in fact it and Osaca opposite, are the
last thrown open to trade; hence we shall probably find Kobe more
_native_ and less Europeanized than are the other towns we shall visit.

The native town is very extensive, reaching far back to the basis of the
hills, and well away to the left of the anchorage. To the right a
stretch of low-lying land, with its tiny fields of ripe grain, looks
very fine. This track leads to the water-falls--a prettier place for a
pic-nic and one more accommodating one can scarcely find. Between this
plain and the old town of Hiogo the Europeans have raised their pretty
picturesque dwellings. The streets here are very regular and well kept,
the trees planted along the sides giving the place quite a French
appearance.

There is at least one I was about to say magnificent street in the town,
with an exten