The Days of a Man ^1900 



alcohol to be delivered to us at Nagasaki. But the 

 Boxer uprising having broken out in China, and 

 the Japanese government needing all available trans- 

 ports for troops, it seized the vessel and put off our 

 Formalin alcohol at Moji. This deprived us of the usual pre- 

 repiacfs servative, leaving no resource except to try formalde- 



alcohol 6 ji 



hyde, a substance not before used on any large scale 

 for such a purpose. But we found it very satisfactory 

 for quick work, as great numbers of fishes could be 

 washed, pricked to admit the fluid, wrapped, and 

 stowed away within a few hours without the tedious 

 process of successive baths in alcohol. It is, however, 

 inadvisable to leave specimens more than a few weeks 

 in formalin, as they grow spongy and the bones are 

 partly dissolved; nevertheless, for field work it 

 proved a real boon, and after our return to Tokyo 

 the Japanese government, at the instance of Pro- 

 fessor Mitsukuri, paid us in full for the alcohol 

 dumped on the Moji wharf. 



In Nagasaki it poured and poured, day after day. 

 But the rainy season being due to end on July 15. 

 Mogi we confidently drove that day to Mogi, a fishing 

 village on the sandy shore of the Bay of Obama, east 

 of Nagasaki peninsula, over a road which ran 

 through exquisite scenery resembling a bit of northern 

 Italy. Mogi swarmed with kindly, primitive folk, 

 very scanty of apparel as befits the hot climate, and 

 delightfully unconscious of the fact; old women 

 naked to the waist showed a fine dignity and returned 

 our "Ohayo" 1 with grace and good nature. 



In Mogi we were joined by James H. Means, the 

 Stanford engineer, just back from Mongolia, whence 

 he had escaped from the Boxers on the last train to 



1 "Good morning." 



