Chapter VIII— From Yokohama to Valparaiso. 
-♦ 
HE day of our departure from fair Japan had arrived. At 3.30 p.m. on the 
16th of June, H.M.S. “Challenger” steamed out of Yokohama Bay. It was 
a beautiful afternoon, and as we glided down the Gulf of Yeddo, a golden 
sunset lighted up the hills of Yokoska and Kamakura, reminding us of the 
pleasant hours we had spent in exploring the flowery valleys and glens of 
Nipon. Next day the land was out of sight, and a cruise of 4500 miles over the waters of 
the wide Pacific lay before us. Only he who, day after day, it may be for months, has 
marked off on the chart the short span run by the ship during the past twenty-four 
hours, can have an adequate conception of the immensity of the ocean. To the sailor, the 
land, with all it contains—its plants, animals, human beings, cities, fields, and mountains— 
seems a mere accident. For weeks and months his eyes have scanned the level horizon, 
delighted if perchance he espied a distant sail, or the long dusky line of smoke denoting a 
far-off steamer. Some morning, with the first rays of the sun, a faint crooked line appears 
above the waves; it is land, and he thanks Providence for having spared him to see it 
once more. As his feet touch the solid ground, a delicious sensation possesses him. Every 
object around—“ the league-long roller thundering on the reef, the shore, the houses, the 
people, the running river, the green hills—seems as if created anew, and for his special 
enjoyment. A little time, all too quickly gone, and he finds himself again in his watery 
home. Nothing is changed—it is the same blue, restless sea ; the same sky, with its sun, 
moon, stars, and scudding clouds ; the same albatross poising itself on its bioad wings along¬ 
side the ship ; the same shark warily cruising in the vessel’s wake, ever watching for its prey 
—and all he has lately seen on shore mentally appears like the insubstantial fabiic of a dream. 
The bed of the sea deepens rapidly off the east coast of Japan. Thus, on the 17th, 
we sounded in 1875 fathoms, at a distance of only forty miles fiom the nearest point on the 
coast; and on the 18th found a bottom in 395 °> or near ty 4 °°° fathoms, about 170 miles to 
the eastward of Cape Inaboyesaki. Next day’s sounding was nearly as deep namely, 3625 
