customs 



The Days of a Man Ci 9 n 



persuaded the curator, Mr. Potter, to give it to me, I 

 afterward named it Holacanthus potteri. 

 At the. San Upon our arrival at San Francisco, an amusing 

 incident occurred in the customs office. In one trunk 

 we had placed all the gifts received in Japan; I found 

 myself wholly unable to set a valuation on these, as 

 for the most part I could not remember what they 

 were nor could I indicate the worth of each. I there- 

 fore asked the inspector - - Everett, a Stanford man 

 by the way - - to make his own estimates. Fixing 

 upon one particular package as a sample, he un- 

 covered a wooden box about five inches square. 

 Within this appeared a similar smaller one which in 

 turn contained a third still smaller, while at the 

 center rested a tiny black and gold lacquer chest or 

 casket filled with infinitesimal bonbons, a souvenir 

 secured by Mr. Huggins at the Empress' garden 

 party. The customs official, like myself, was puzzled, 

 and to this day neither of us knows whether his valu- 

 ation of the whole lot was just or not. 



C 406 3 



