124 
IN FORBIDDEN SEAS 
charge of the industry. All the information that 
could be got out of me was noted, and then my 
acquaintance was dropped. From subsequent events 
I know that my information was made use of. For¬ 
tunately, or unfortunately, what I considered the 
real essentials for the successful working of the 
industry I withheld, and in a few years the business, 
so far as the Japanese were concerned, practically 
failed from a want of knowledge as to how to manage 
it, and a very valuable industry was lost to the 
country. 
The year 1876 proved for me a wasted year in 
the way of otter-hunting, as I spent the greater 
part of it in Yokohama over the negotiations just 
referred to. However, obtaining something to do 
to keep me going, I found the time pass quickly; 
and as those were the good old days when I was 
young, and when the east was east, and not “ east 
by west,” if I may coin a new point, as it is now, I 
enjoyed life thoroughly. Towards autumn Captain 
Blakiston asked me to join him in Hakodate, and 
later on to take charge of the business of Blakiston, 
Marr and Co., while he went away for a holiday. 
This I did, and spent the autumn, winter, and 
spring there. Soon after arriving in Hakodate I 
made arrangements, in conjunction with a friend, to 
get another schooner built by Thompson and Bewick 
for the next season’s hunting. The keel was laid, 
and for a time everything went along swimmingly. 
In the meanwhile I took life pleasantly, and 
about this time I find one or two little incidents 
recorded in my diary which may perhaps serve to 
relieve the monotony of my story, as they have 
nothing to do with otter-hunting. 
