PEEFACE. 



with the mania for Western civUisation, ideas, 

 etc. etc. I was also obliged to meet prince 

 and peasant, the latter more particularly ; and 

 it is of him I principally speak, and through 

 him that I judge the Japanese as to character 

 and disposition. 



I am only a lover and an observer of nature, 

 and not in any way scientific. One thing 

 those who read this book may feel assured of : 

 everything I have stated came under my own 

 observation, except in those cases I have par- 

 ticularly mentioned. 



I constantly kept a dredge at work ; nothing 

 is more simple or easy, and nothing will bring 

 to Kght more objects of natural history, full of 

 wonder, interest, and beauty. I was fortunate 

 in picking up many new things in the way 

 of Crustacea and moUusca, which are now in 

 the British Museum. I only wish I had 

 the opportunity of again visiting the eastern 

 coasts of Yesso and the Kuril Islands. 



