290 
CRUISE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 
shall carry a lighted lantern on which his name is 
painted. 
While here in Japanese waters the opportunity 
was taken to have the vessel docked, for at Yokosuka, 
a run of 17 miles from the anchorage (Yokohama), 
is situated the government arsenal, where some two 
thousand Japanese workmen are employed, under the 
superintendence of French officers. Here they have 
already built two vessels for the Imperial Grovern- 
ment, and at the present time there is a large paddle- 
wheel vessel well on towards completion as a royal 
yacht for the Mikado, and engines on the most 
approved compound principle, with high-pressure 
tubular boilers, are also being prepared. All honour 
to this nation, which, after living an isolated life 
for centuries from the rest of the world, has now 
gone ahead in such an earnest manner, leaving all 
that any other Eastern nation has attempted far 
behind. In going over the workshops, which are 
well supplied with every modern appliance of ma- 
chinery for successfully carrying out extensive en- 
gineering work, we find that steam hammers, forges, 
lathes, and other appliances in the fitting, smiths’, and 
boiler shops are in full swing ; so a stranger cannot 
fail to be struck with the singular combination of 
energy and perseverance of these wonderful people, 
who within the past few years have thus almost by 
themselves laid the foundation of a steam navy, and 
taken quite naturally to a modern science which was 
