and volcanic tuffs, which projects
from the island Kiushiu, which at that place is nearly cut asunder
by deep fjords. No European lives at the place, and of course there
is no European inn there. But we got lodgings in the house of one of
the principal or richest men in the village, a maker and seller _of
saki_, or as we would call him in Swedish, a brandy distiller and
publican. Here we were received in a very friendly manner, in clean
and elegant rooms, and were waited on by the young and very pretty
daughter of our host at the head of a number of other female
attendants. It may be supposed that our place of entertainment had
no resemblance to a public-house in Sweden. We did not witness here
the tipsy behaviour of some human wrecks, and as little some other
incidents which might have reminded us of public-house life in
Europe. All went on in the distillery and the public-house as calmly
and quietly as the work in the house of a well-to-do country squire
in Sweden who does not swear and is not quarrelsome.

_Saki_ is a liquor made by fermenting and distilling rice. It is
very variable in taste and strength, sometimes resembling inferior
Rhine wine, sometimes more like weak grain brandy. Along with _saki_
our host also manufactured vinegar, which was made from rice and
_saki_ residues, which with the addition of some other vegetable
substances were allowed to stand and acidify in large jars ranged in
rows in the yard.

When my arrival became known I was visited by the principal men of
the village. We were soon good friends by the help of a friendly
reception, cigars and red wine. Among them the physician of the
village was especially of great use to me. As soon as he became
aware of the occasion of my visit he stated that such fossils as I
was in search of did indeed occur in the region, but that they were
only accessible at low water. I immediately visited the place with
the physician and my companions from Nagasaki, and soon discovered
several strata containing the finest fossil plants one could desire.
During this and the following day I made a rich collection, partly
with the assistance of a numerous crowd of children who zealously
helped me in collecting. They were partly boys and partly girls, the
latter always having a little one on their backs. These little
children were generally quite bare-headed. Notwithstanding this they
slept with the crown of the head exposed to the hottest sun-bath on
the backs of th