en shrubs and trees, ready to
destroy any unwelcome intruder.

As the ship advanced the harbour widened out. On one side appeared the
beautiful little island of Pappenberg, so named by the Dutch, though the
Japanese call it Tacabooco. Its sides rise directly out of the water in
lofty precipitous cliffs, their summits crowned with dark luxuriant
cedars. It was to this island that a large number of the Japanese who
had been converted to Christianity by the celebrated Roman Catholic
missionary Xavier were carried when they refused to abjure the religion
they had adopted. Conducted up to the summits of the cliffs, they were
cast over the edge, bound hand and foot, at low water, meeting certain
death as they reached the rocks below. Here the mangled remains lay
till the tide coming in carried them off to sea. In late years many
hundred Christians were treated in a similar manner in Madagascar. We
looked with sad interest at the spot, having just before read an account
of the massacre.

The ship continued her progress up the inlet or gulf, which is four
miles long, till at length she came to an anchor off the town of
Nagasaki. On either side were towering cliffs, precipitous peaks with
green and shady groves below, amid which appeared prettily-painted
picturesque cottages, not altogether unlike those of Switzerland. Many
small bays were passed, in which were moored little boats, kept
scrupulously clean, though unpainted. The sails consisted of three
stripes of sailcloth or matting, united by a kind of lacework, thus
forming one whole sail for light winds. By unlacing one portion, the
sail can quickly be reduced in size. The boatmen, unlike the natives of
the places lately visited, were almost as fair as Europeans. They wore,
however, scarcely more clothing than their brethren in more southern
regions. A Japanese boat is moved by a scull in the stern, with which
she is steered when under sail--no oars being used: the passengers
always sit in the fore part.

As soon as the ship dropped her anchor the Japanese officials came on
board, one who spoke a little English acting as interpreter. They were
dressed in long flowing robes confined at the waist by a band wound
round the body, in which is suspended a case containing a pipe, a
tobacco-pouch, an ink-horn, and a small brush used when they write.
Over this is worn a transparent dark coat with a white mark on the arms
and back. On grand occasions public official