688 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 



situated at the foot of a rocky ridge, and consisted of a number 

 of houses arranged in a row along a single street, the fronts of 

 the houses being as usual occupied as shops, places for selling 

 saM, and workshops for home industry. The only remarkable 

 things besides that the village had to offer consisted of a Shinto 

 temple surrounded by beautiful trees and a considerable salt- 

 work, which consisted of extensive, shallow, well-planned ponds 

 now nearly dry, into which the sea-water is admitted in order 

 to evaporate, and from whi<3h the condensed salt liquid is 

 afterwards drawn into salt-pans in order that the evaporation 

 may be completed. It was remarkable to observe that 

 several Crustacea throve exceedingly well in the ver}^ 

 strong brine. 



On the surrounding hills we saw thickets of the Japanese 

 wax tree, Bhus succeclancus. The wax is pressed out of the 

 berries of this bush with the helj) of heat. It is used on a 

 large scale in making the lights which the natives themselves 

 burn, and is exported bleached and refined to Europe, where it 

 is sometimes used in the manufacture of lights. Now, however, 

 these wax lights are increasingly superseded by American kero- 

 sene oil. The price has fallen so much that the preparation of 

 vegetable wax is now said scarcely to yield a profit.^ 



We left this place next morning, and on the 21st October the 

 Vega anchored in the harbour of Nagasaki. My principal 

 intention in visiting this place was to collect fossil plants, 

 which I supposed would be found at the Takasima coal- 

 mine, or in the neighbourhood of the coal-field. In order to 

 find out the locality without delay, I reckoned on the fondness of 

 the Japanese for collecting remarkable objects of all kinds from 

 the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms. I therefore hoped 

 to find in some of the shops where old bronzes, porcelain, 

 weapons, &c., were offered for sale, fossil plants from the neigh- 

 bourhood, with the locality given. The first day, therefore, I 

 ran about to all the dealers in curiosities, but without success. 

 At last one of the Japanese with whom I conversed told me 

 that an exhibition of the products of nature and art in the 

 region was being arranged, and that among the objects exhibited 

 I might possibly find what I sought for. 



Of course I immediately availed myself of the opjDortunity to 

 see one of the many Japanese local exhibitions of which I had 

 heard so much. It was yet in disorder, but I was,' at all events, 

 willingly admitted, and thus had an opportunity of seeing much 

 that was instructive to me, especially a collection of rocks from 

 the neighbourhood. Among these I discovered at last, to my 



1 Further information on this point is given by Henry Gribble in "The 

 Preparation of Vegetable Wax" {Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, 

 vol. iii. part i. p. 94. Yokohama, 1875). 



