174 EXPEDITION TO JAPAN. 



seemed to have reached a region of a different geological character. We were ahout to pitch 

 our tent at this place, when the native officers gave us to understand that there was a Cung-qud 

 a short distance further, and urged us so strongly to go on that we shouldered our muskets and 

 haversacks and started again. But we had a rough tramp of nearly three miles further, and 

 finally came, with bruised feet and aching shoulders, upon tlie last descent to Barrow's Bay. 

 Picturesque crags studded the hillside, and a large village, completely covered with thickets of 

 hanana and hamhoo, lay before us. Over it towered a tall crag, rent through the centre and 

 surmounted with a square rock, like a ruined tower. We threaded the village by shaded alleys, 

 and at the further end, on a spot commanding a fine view of the bay, found a handsome Cung-qud, 

 in an enclosure planted with trees. A dignitary of some kind welcomed us, and we were at 

 once served with small cups of excellent tea. The soft, thick mats, the shelter and comfort of 

 the building, were well worth tlie fatigue of our forced marcli. Fresh water in earthen jars, 

 with a square wooden ladle floating on the top, stood ready for us, and there was a kitchen in 

 the rear where our men could cook conveniently. The Pe-ching came in after sunset and greeted 

 us with much cordiality. Eggs and fowls were immediately furnished, and, as at our former 

 camp, all payment was refused. The utmost curiosity appeared to prevail in the village 

 respecting us, and, as it grew dark, the circle of heads peering over the wall enclosins the 

 Cung-qua increased rapidly, till there could not have been less than two or three hundred. Fires 

 were kindled all around us, and the ruddy glow thrown up by them and by the torches carried 

 back and forth flickered brilliantly over the dusky foliage of the trees. 



A watch was set as before, and the mosquitoes being less annoying we all enjoyed a tolerable 

 rest. The Chinamen were, or feigned to be, completely spent, and for the greater part of the 

 day the baggage had been carried by Lew Chew coolies. The patience, good humor, and 

 endurance of the latter, quite put to shame the worthless and deceitful creatures whom we had 

 been indiscreet enough to bring 4vitli us. The natives kept their counter-watch, and on rising 

 before sunrise the next morning, we found that fifty or sixty of them had passed the night at 

 their camp fires. The object of the officers in having a watch kept seemed to be both to prevent 

 any of us from stealing a march upon them during the night, and to hinder any of the natives 

 from annoying us. 



Mr. Jones made application for a boat to carry us across the bay, but there was none to be 

 Lad. The name of the village to which the Cung-qua belonged was "Missikya." We set our 

 little file in motion and proceeded, by a pleasant path, over level land, a mile or two inland. 

 The cultivation was thorough, but confined mostly to beans and sweet potatoes. The villages 

 were so hidden away behind their alleys of tall, arched bamboo that the police scouts had little 

 need to precede us. A native guide ran ahead ; but as he constantly took the left-hand road, 

 leading into the middle of the island, evidently with a view of conducting us back to Sheudi, we 

 finally halted at the foot of an isolated hill, covered with wood, and held a consultation. The 

 wild mountain-range north of Barrow's Bay now appeared on our right, and it was plain that 

 our course was leading us away from the head of the bay, which we desired to reacli. We, 

 therefore, turned, in spite of the protestations of the guide and the native officers, and passed 

 around the eastern brow of the hill, whereon we found two grottoes of soft limestone rock. The 

 scenery here was a charming mixture of pine forest and cultivated field ; and both in its features 

 and its prevailing hue of dark-green resembled the landscapes of southern Germany. 



In the bottom of the valley was a stream lined with bristling ranks of the pandanus, or false 



