but a series of
tiny pink-tipped heights (the Fukai Islands). Soon, however, appeared all
along the horizon, like a misty veil over the waters, Japan itself; and
little by little, out of the dense shadow, arose the sharp, opaque
outlines of the Nagasaki mountains.

The wind was dead against us, and the strong breeze, which steadily
increased, seemed as if the country were blowing with all its might, in a
vain effort to drive us away from its shores. The sea, the rigging, the
vessel itself, all vibrated and quivered as if with emotion.

CHAPTER II

STRANGE SCENES

By three o'clock in the afternoon all these far-off objects were close to
us, so close that they overshadowed us with their rocky masses and deep
green thickets.

We entered a shady channel between two high ranges of mountains, oddly
symmetrical--like stage scenery, very pretty, though unlike nature. It
seemed as if Japan were opened to our view through an enchanted fissure,
allowing us to penetrate into her very heart.

Nagasaki, as yet unseen, must be at the extremity of this long and
peculiar bay. All around us was exquisitely green. The strong sea-breeze
had suddenly fallen, and was succeeded by a calm; the atmosphere, now
very warm, was laden with the perfume of flowers. In the valley resounded
the ceaseless whirr of the cicalas, answering one another from shore to
shore; the mountains reechoed with innumerable sounds; the whole country
seemed to vibrate like crystal. We passed among myriads of Japanese
junks, gliding softly, wafted by imperceptible breezes on the smooth
water; their motion could hardly be heard, and their white sails,
stretched out on yards, fell languidly in a thousand horizontal folds
like window-blinds, their strangely contorted poops, rising up
castle-like in the air, reminding one of the towering ships of the Middle
Ages. In the midst of the verdure of this wall of mountains, they stood
out with a snowy whiteness.

What a country of verdure and shade is Japan; what an unlooked-for Eden!

Beyond us, at sea, it must have been full daylight; but here, in the
depths of the valley, we already felt the impression of evening; beneath
the summits in full sunlight, the base of the mountains and all the
thickly wooded parts near the water's edge were steeped in twilight.

The passing junks, gleaming white against the background of dark foliage,
were silently and dexterously manoeuvred by small, yellow, naked men,
with long ha