314 TEAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPOET. 



Proceeding down the Inland Sea, the south shore 

 was about ten miles distant, and the north about 

 fifteen. The white puckered sails of junks were 

 plentifully scattered over the blue water, and their 

 seamen examined us through rather dim telescopes 

 of native manufacture. On the south side the moun- 

 tains were very high, rising up occasionally into vol- 

 cano-like peaks. There was a good deal of wood and 

 pasture upon them, but also many barren streaks, 

 especially near the shore, and the country was not so 

 rich as it is on the other side of the Fiki Passage. 

 Still, everywhere in Japan the amount of wood ex- 

 cites attention. The fields are surrounded by thick 

 belts of tangled trees and brushwood, and the growth 

 is preserved by a Japanese law, which requires every 

 person who cuts down a tree to plant another instead. 

 On the second day after entering we were surprised 

 by observing an English-rigged cutter in the distance, 

 and for a moment entertained the fancy that perhaps 

 Lord Dufferin, or some other adventurous English 

 yachtsman, might be trying to grope his way before 

 us " into the bowels of Japan " ; but it proved to be 

 a vessel which one of the Damios had got on a foreign 

 model. The Japanese have some wonderful antique- 

 looking large vessels, in imitation of what must have 

 been the Dutch build about two centuries ago ; but 

 they are by no means backward in adopting improve- 

 ments which increase their command over their own 

 seas. Already they have several steamers, which 



