THE INLAND SEA OF JAPAN. 301 



hitherto known to junks alone covered with nearly 

 two hundred vessels flying the English flag, from the 

 little rolling gunboat to the fifty-gun steam frigate, 

 or the not less magnificent chartered steamer of two 

 or three thousand tons. The utmost harmony pre- 

 vailed throughout the expedition. Entire confidence 

 was placed in Sir Hope Grant and its other chiefs. 

 The water of the bay became a pleasant green plain, 

 over which we hastened daily to pay pleasant visits 

 from ship to ship. The little villages on shore gave 

 occasion for lively foraging excursions, on which good 

 Mexican dollars were exchanged for very porcupine- 

 like pigs and ancient fowls. It was extensively 

 rumoured that some man had shot a hare, which 

 led to a general furbishing - up of fowling-pieces. 

 But our gallant allies were not ready ; their saddles 

 had been sunk somewhere near Saddle Island, on the 

 coast of China. Further delay was inevitable, and I 

 began to tire of Ta Lien Wan. 



The captain of the steamer Carthage had some 

 very amusing stories of old times, when he and 

 British rule in India were both a good deal younger 

 than they are at present. Among others, he used to 

 tell of an Indo-Portuguese steward he once had, who, 

 as a deadly act of revenge for some real or fancied 

 insult, filled his pocket with silver spoons, jumped 

 overboard, and so drowned himself. But even the 

 best stories require new relays of hearers. The 

 monotony was slightly relieved by a mandarin, who 



