142 
FROM HONG-KONG TO YOKOHAMA. 
to add that our two soundings described above do not refer to exactly the same spot, the 
ship having drifted in the interval, though only a short distance. 
In the afternoon of the 6th April, when westward of the Bonin Islands, we observed 
an eclipse of the sun, which was due upon that day. Favoured by cooler breezes, we were 
now rapidly approaching the coast of Japan. On Sunday morning, the nth April, the 
YOKOHAMA. 
snow-covered cone of the celebrated Fusiyama (12,450 feet), so often figured by the Japanese 
painters on various objects of ornament and utility, rose before our admiring gaze, and, 
sailing up between the picturesque shores of the Uraga channel, H.M.S. “Challenger” 
dropped her anchors at 5 p.m. in the Bay of Yeddo, and in the midst of the shipping 
which crowded the port of Yokohama. 
JAPAN. 
After the usual eager look-out for the boat with the Union Jack at its stern which was 
to bring the home mail—seeing it at last alongside with its bags full of letters and 
newspapers, and receiving the ever-welcome messages from home—fraught though some of 
these might be with “dole” as well as with “delight”—we hastened on shore to see Japan 
and its people. We remembered the Japan of our youth, as depicted in old books of travel 
—a land of mystery, leading a life apart from all other nations, and still continuing in a 
state of semi-barbarism, not very unlike the Europe of the Middle Ages, with its castles 
and barons, its troubadours and pilgrims—a land which to endeavour to penetrate was 
certain death to the adventurous traveller. We found it in the throes of a great revolution, 
both political and social, casting aside the shackles of time-honoured traditions, and, as is 
unfortunately the case with most revolutions, uprooting not only the noxious w r eeds which 
had grown up in the course of ages, but also the noble oak which had needed centuries to 
bring it to maturity. We remembered the gallant two-sworded warrior of Japanese romance 
in helmet, coat of mail, and fierce-looking mask ; we found him trying, not figuratively but 
in reality, to force his strong, angular frame into the strait garments and tight boots of 
Western civilisation. However, it was to the disestablishment of this roaring swash-buckler— 
who was wont, after imbibing an undue quantity of “ sake,” to display his prowess upon the 
defenceless foreigner—that we owed the facility and perfect security in travelling which 
so much enhanced the enjoyment of our excursions into the interior. 
