390 
THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 
[chap. 
see one of the many Japanese local exhibitions of which I had 
heard so much. It was yet in disorder, hut I was, at all events, 
willingly admitted, and thus had an opportunity of seeing much 
that was instructive to me, especially a collection of rocks from 
the neighbourhood. Among these I discovered at last, to my 
great satisfaction, some beautiful fossil plants from Mogi, a place 
not far from Nagasaki. 
Immediately the following morning I started for Mogi, accom¬ 
panied by the Japanese attendant I had with me from Kobe, 
and by another adjutant given me by the very obliging governor 
of Nagasaki. We were to travel across the hills on horse¬ 
back. I was accompanied, besides my Japanese assistants and a 
man from the Vega, all on horseback, by a number of coolies 
carrying provisions and other equipment. The Governor had 
lent me his own horse, which was considered by the Japanese 
something quite grand. It was a yellowish-brown stallion, not 
particularly large, but very fine, resembling a Norwegian horse, 
very gentle and sure-footed. The latter quality was also quite 
necessary, for the journey began with a ride up a hundred 
smooth and not very convenient stone steps. Farther on, too, 
the road, which was exceedingly narrow and often paved with 
smooth stones, went repeatedly up and down such stairs, not very 
suitable for a man on horseback, and close to the edge of preci¬ 
pices several hundred feet deep, where a single false step would 
have cost both the horse and its rider their lives. But as has 
been said, our horses were sure-footed and sure-eyed, and- the 
riders took care in passing such places not to pull the reins. 
None of the mountain regions I have seen in Japan are so well 
cultivated as the environs of Nagasaki. Every place that is some¬ 
what level, though only several hundred square yards in extent, is 
used for growing some of the innumerable cultivated plants of 
the country, principally rice : but as such easily cultivated plaoes 
occur in only limited numbers, the inhabitants have by industry 
and hard labour changed the steep slopes of the mountains 
