30 THE LIU-KIU ISLANDS. [chap. 



the entrance to a little river, which affords shelter to the half-dozen 

 or so of Japanese junks that are busily engaged in discharging 

 cargo. The town, half buried in trees, with the red roofs of its 

 houses only visible here and there, seems to have wedged itself 

 between the dark gTeen waters of the harbour and the base of the 

 low hills behind. Northward it is flanked by a square headland of 

 limestone, which, with its flat top and perpendicular cliffs, rather 

 resemble some gigantic box than the freak of Nature that it is. 

 Around it the graves of past generations lie thickly clustered, 

 dotting the hillsides in every direction. Clumps of bamboos and 

 bananas surround the isolated cottages scattered over the slopes, 

 and field after field of mingled green and gold stretch up as far as 

 the eye can reach to the craggy, pine-crowned heights of Shiuri, 

 the capital of the island. 



We dropped anchor at 2 p.m. Few signs of life were visible 

 in the town. A group of long-robed natives were promenading the 

 cliffs, and stopped to regard us with evident curiosity. Before long 

 it was evident, however, that our arrival had become more generally 

 known, and crowds of natives flocked to the cliffs, manifesting no 

 little excitement. A Euro]3ean ship was plainly no everyday 

 sight to them. We rowed ashore, and landed on an excellently- 

 built pier in the inner harbour. The crowd had been increasing 

 every moment, but, though we had been watching it from the ship, 

 we were hardly prepared for the dense sea of human faces that 

 confronted us as we stepped from the boat. There was no disorder 

 or horseplay, such as would have been the case in England, and 

 those in our vicinity bowed to us as well as their position would 

 allow them ; but it was with the utmost difficulty that we were 

 able to make our way tlirough the dense mass of humanity sur- 

 rounding us. Every one was bent upon getting the best \dew 

 possible, and it was somewhat ludicrous to watch the desperate 

 efforts of those at the edge of the jetty to retain their position on 

 the few inches of terra Jinna which were slowly but surely dimin- 

 ishing beneath their feet. Not a Single woman was visible, but 



