62 THE INLAND SEA REVISITED. 



througli which the tides run like a mill-sluice. The 

 inhabitants of Hirado are considered as foreigners by 

 their brethren on the mainland ; " uncouth beings " is 

 the expression applied to them by their compatriots. 

 I never myself observed any such radical difference. 

 In a beautiful harbour on the western side, I often lay 

 snugly at anchor when it was blowing great guns outside. 

 On a point running out between two bays grew a grand 

 cover for deer; it was scarcely a mile in length, the 

 land side terminating on a smooth grass-covered slope, 

 the ridge of which, if viewed from the wood, cut against 

 the sky. Before daybreak one morning I hid myself 

 in some bushes by the edge of the wood, expecting at 

 dawn the deer would return from their feeding-grounds 

 on the open hills beyond. The grey morning light had 

 hardly reached the western side of the hiU when a 

 single pair of antlers appeared over the ridge. A fine 

 stag soon stood clear against the sky. He scented no 

 danger, and on he came; twelve more followed, and 

 then a herd so thickly packed I could count no longer. 

 Seventy or eighty stags were now within one hundred 

 yards of me. At this moment, as well as I could judge, 

 as many hinds crossed the ridge and followed the stags 

 towards the cover. It certainly was a grand sight. I 

 had only a muzzle-loader, but if my " express " had 



