ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYRS. 
Chap. L 
the seventeenth century. It was the Golgotha of 
the many martyrs to the Roman Catholic faith. 
There, by day and by night, its steep cliffs had 
rung with the agonized shrieks of strong men, or 
the wail of women and children, launched to rest, 
after torture, in the deep waters around the island. 
If Jesuit records are to be believed, the fortitude 
and virtue exhibited by their Japanese converts 
in those sad hours of affliction have not been ex- 
celled in any part of the world since religion gave 
another plea to man to destroy his fellow-creature ; 
and may it not be that the beauty with which 
Nature now adorns that rock of sorrows is her halo 
of glory around a spot rendered holy by the suf- 
ferings, doubtless, of many that were brave and- 
good ? ” As we passed the island we gazed with 
awe and pity on its perpendicular side, from 
which these Christians were cast headlong into 
the sea. 
As soon as our ship rounded Papenberg the 
harbour and town of Nagasaki came full into view. 
On each side of this entrance to the hay there are 
numerous batteries, apparently full of guns. On 
Papenberg itself, as well as on every little island 
and headland, fortifications were observed as we 
sailed along. There is also a flagstaff and tele- 
graph station on one of the hills ; and the moment 
a ship is seen approaching, a signal is made and 
passed on to Nagasaki. We were not molested 
by either guard-boat or customhouse officer, hut 
allowed to sail quietly in to our anchorage. Here 
