l friend_ gives over to me the watch that I must
keep till four o'clock; and the sailors on duty, but half awake, make
a chain in the darkness, to haul on board all my fragile luggage.

LII.

_September 18th_.

I had planned to sleep late this morning, in order to make up for my
lost sleep of last night.

But behold, at eight o'clock, three persons of the most singular
appearance, led by M. Kangourou, present themselves with endless bows
at the door of my cabin. They are dressed in long robes bedizened with
dark patterns; they have the flowing locks, high foreheads and pallid
countenances of persons too exclusively devoted to the fine arts; and,
perched on the top of their chignons, they wear sailor hats of English
shape stuck jauntily on one side. Under their arms, they carry
portfolios filled with sketches; in their hands, boxes of
water-colors, pencils, and, tied together like fasces, a bundle of
fine stylets the sharp points of which glitter ostensibly.

At the first glance, even in the bewilderment of waking, I gather from
their appearance what their errand is, and guessing with what visitors
I have to deal, I say:--"Come in, Messieurs the tattooers!"

These are the specialists most in renown in Nagasaki; I had engaged
them two days ago, not knowing that we were about to leave, and since
they are come I will not turn them away.

My friendly and intimate relations with primitive man, in Oceania and
elsewhere, have imbued me with a deplorable taste for tattoo work; and
I had wished to carry away on me, as a curiosity, an ornament, a
specimen of the work of the Japanese tattooers, who have a delicacy of
finish which is unequaled.

From their albums spread out upon my table I make my choice. There are
some remarkably odd designs amongst them, appropriate to the different
parts of the human body: emblems for the arms and legs, sprays of
roses for the shoulders, great grinning faces for the middle of the
back. There are even, to suit the taste of their clients who belong to
foreign navies, trophies of arms, American and French flags entwined,
a "God Save the Queen" amid encircling stars, and figures of women
taken from Grevin's sketches in the _Journal Amusant_.

My choice rests upon a singular blue and pink dragon a couple of
inches long, which will have a fine effect upon my chest on the side
opposite the heart.

Then follows an hour and a half of irritation and positive pain.
Stretched out on my b