THE INLAND SEA OF JAPAN. 311 



previous day. The passage we had now to go through 

 was that between the great islands of Kiusiu and 

 Nippon ; and the abundance of population began to 

 show itself. There were numbers of large junks, 

 perfectly clean, elaborately carved, and each carrying 

 a large beautiful white sail on a mast composed of 

 various pieces of wood bound together with rings of 

 iron, as is the case with the best class of English and 

 American ships. The lower hills had plenty of wood ; 

 the sandy gravel of the shore was covered with trees 

 and bushes to where it abruptly broke at the water's 

 edge ; and there was sufficient bright blue sky, with 

 a few white clouds floating across it, to give fine 

 effects of light and shade on the forests and green 

 fields which stretched up the hills behind, and on 

 the great green rolling mountains beyond. On the 

 right, as the passage began to narrow, there was a 

 Damio's palace, and a large town, or a succession of 

 villages, extending for several miles, and larger than 

 Nagasaki. The junks which we saw did not appear 

 to have any guns or stinkpots like those of China ; 

 for foreign trade, with its disorganising influence, 

 had not been there to prepare the way for native 

 piracy. The snug little bays and villages had quaint 

 vessels lying before them, some of which were painted, 

 gilded, and adorned with fine carved filigree work. 

 The cottages of the smaller villages were shaped 

 somewhat like the huts of the islands of the Pacific ; 

 but in the other villages there were good large houses, 



