xviil] 
THE JAPANESE WAX TREE. 
389 
evaporate, and from which the condensed salt liquid is 
afterwards drawn into salt-pans in order that the evaporation 
may be completed. It was remarkable to observe that 
several Crustacea throve exceedingly well in the very 
strong brine. 
On the surrounding hills we saw thickets of the Japanese 
wax tree, Rims succedaneiis. The wax is pressed out of the 
berries of this bush with the help of heat. It is used on a 
large scale in making the lights which the natives themselves 
burn, and is exported bleached and refined to Europe, where it 
is sometimes used in the manufacture of lights. Now, however, 
these wax lights are increasingly superseded by American kero¬ 
sene oil. The price has fallen so much that the preparation of 
vegetable wax is now said scarcely to yield a profit.^ 
We left this place next morning, and on the 21st October the 
Vega anchored in the harbour of Nagasaki. My principal 
intention in visiting this place was to collect fossil plants, 
which I supposed would be found at the Takasima coal¬ 
mine, or in the neighbourhood of the coal-field. In order to 
find out the locality without delay, I reckoned on the fondness of 
the Japanese for collecting remarkable objects of all kinds from 
the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms. I therefore hoped 
to find in some of the shops where old bronzes, porcelain, 
weapons, &c., w^ere offered for sale, fossil plants from the neigh¬ 
bourhood, with the locality given. The first day, therefore, I 
ran about to all the dealers in curiosities, but without success. 
At last one of the Japanese with whom I conversed told me 
that an exhibition of the products of nature and art in the 
region was being arranged, and that among the objects exhibited 
I might possibly find what I sought for. 
Of course I immediately availed myself of the opportunity to 
^ Further information on this point is given by Henry Gribble in ‘^The 
Preparation of Vegetable Wax’’ {Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, 
vol. iii. part i. p. 94. Yokohama, 1876), 
