152 INLAND SEA — HIOGO. Chap. X. 
the ship got ashore on a bank of soft mud. Our 
Japanese pilots appeared to be steering right on 
to the island, t hinki ng, no doubt, that the wonder- 
ful English vessel, that went along without sails 
or paddles, could pass over land and villages as 
easily as she could plough the waters of the deep 
sea. Without much difficulty we got the ship 
afloat again, and proceeded on our voyage, hut our 
confidence in the knowledge of our pilots was 
considerably lessened. Going onward in a north- 
westerly direction, we approached the entrance to 
the hay of Hiogo and Osaca. 
This beautiful Inland Sea was greenish in colour 
and smooth as a mill-pond. In the direction of 
the towns just mentioned it was studded with the 
white sails of small junks, showing that this portion 
of the Japanese islands must be densely populated. 
Fishing-boats were seen in all directions busily 
employed in securing food for the teeming popula- 
tion ; and pleasant-looking villages and Daimios’ 
castles were observed scattered along the shores of 
the bay. 
The town of Hiogo, which is the seaport of the 
imperial city of Osaca, is one of the ports which, 
according to the treaty, should be opened to foreign 
trade in 1863 ; and from all accounts it is likely to 
prove the most important place in Japan. Kaemp- 
fer, who passed through Osaca about 170 years 
ago, tells us that he found it “ extremely populous, 
and, if we can believe what the boasting Japanese 
tell us, can raise an army of eighty thousand 
