THE KII COAST. 143 



world. Then comes the foreign liquor,— every descrip- 

 tion of vile and cheap poison, got up with gold and 

 silver tinsel-covered corks, spirits of every denomination 

 and abomination, — Bass's bottled ale in enormous quan- 

 tities being the least evil. Scores of low grog-shops 

 spring up, mainly for the accommodation of the crews 

 of merchant vessels of all nations ; a rougher or worse 

 lot of men cannot be conceived. Quickly, I am sorry 

 to say, all kinds of cheap bad liquor spreads from these 

 treaty ports into the native villages near at hand ; and 

 from them, step by step, far into the interior, contami- 

 nating most fatally the unfortunate natives as it goes. 

 In a wonderfully short time it is hard to find a spot 

 where it has not reached. Hand in hand with foreign 

 liquor travel foreign manners — drunkenness, coarseness, 

 and vulgarity. 



The refined and gentle manners of the natives soon 

 disappear before this Western civilisation. It is most 

 sad to relate this. As a matter of course immorality fol- 

 lows drunkenness and coarseness. The women change 

 from their heretofore charming manners, and take to 

 cursing and swearing to please the foreigner. 



I have often trusted the Japanese with money and 

 other valuables, as a loan, or to take temporary charge 

 of, and I have never lost a farthing, or the equivalent 



