ain till the gale abates.
Nothing can be finer than the coast. We have passed to-day some very
high hills, one especially on an island to the right, and a conical-
shaped one on the left, on the Japan mainland. I see little sign of
population on this coast off which we are anchored: only one little
fishing village. There were a good many junks yesterday. It is very
hot though, and I find it difficult to sit at my table and write.

_August 7th.--Three P.M._--Still at anchor in the same spot. The storm
has not abated, and the wind is dead against us. My time is so short
that I cannot well afford to lose any.

_August 10th.--Ten A.M._--I wonder if I shall be able to write a few
lines legibly. There is still a good deal of motion, but a cool
breeze, which is such a relief after the sweltering six weeks we have
spent. Ahead of us is a great conical-shaped mountain, the sacred
mountain of Fusiama (etymologically 'the matchless mountain'), and
somewhere nearer on the long range of bold coast which we are
approaching, we expect to find Simoda. But I must tell you of our two
past days--days of suffering. At about twelve during the night of the
7th, the wind shifted and began to blow into our anchorage, so as to
make it unsafe to stay there, and to promise us a fair wind if we
proceeded on our way; so off we started. We have had our fair wind,
but a great deal of it; and as the 'Furious' is both a bad sailer and
a good roller, we have passed a very wretched time,--every hole
through which air could come closed. However, we have made good
progress and burnt little coal, which is good for the public interest.
We see now in the distance two sails, which we suppose may be our
consorts, the 'Emperor' and 'Retribution.' We have travelled some 1000
miles since we left Shanghae, besides spending two days at Nagasaki.

[Sidenote: Coast view.]

_Same day.--Noon_.--It is a magnificent prospect which we have from
the paddle-box. Immediately before us a bold junk, its single large
sail set, and scudding before the breeze. Beyond, a white cloud,
slight at the base, and swelling into the shape of a balloon as it
rises. We have discovered that it rests on a mountain dimly visible in
the distance, and which we recognise as the volcanic island of Oosima.
Towards the right the wide sea dotted with two or three ro