THE INLAND SEA OF JAPAN. 325 



conduct, and must have set them down, according 

 to his theories, as aristocratic braves. During the 

 evening a number of people from shore paid us 

 visits, but they were all of the lower class ; and 

 one of them, I am sorry to say, demeaned himself 

 so far as to steal a pepper-box. That, however, was 

 the only thing taken, and otherwise no fault could 

 be found with their demeanour; nor was their natural 

 curiosity displayed in any impertinent manner. They 

 seemed to know something about us, for many of 

 them accosted us with the phrase, "Ingleese Ipiocha," 

 and appeared to rejoice at the prospect of the very 

 good English being settled in their neighbourhood. 

 Nothing was to be got from them, even for itzebues, 

 except some fish of an inferior kind. On leaving 

 in the morning we had a practical illustration of the 

 closeness with which vessels might approach the 

 shore ; for, when attaching the hawsers and getting 

 under way, the Fanny was allowed to drift so close 

 in that it really looked as if one could jump from 

 her on to the beach. Certainly Hiogo is to be the 

 place for foreigners in Japan, and Nagasaki and 

 Yokohama must hide their diminished heads before 

 it. The mercantile houses will have their head- 

 quarters there, and the waters of the Inland Sea 

 will afford them delightful opportunities for boat and 

 yacht excursions. But it will not do to anticipate, 

 for the prospects of foreign trade in Japan have been 

 all along somewhat doubtful, and now the recent 



