New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1860-10-06
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ing mist, all wel-known beadIands disappeared al
together. In the uncertainty of such navigation.
the hidden dangers Of a little-known coast AZ
greatly increased. The ports of Japan were opeDed
now year since, aud the concurrent testimony Of
the nasjQatOrs hithT confirms the ancient bad repu-
taton of the coast Frequent gales OF wind, and
heavy weather in Winter; banks of fog and mist In
Summer with the variation of an occasional ty-
nboon in the doo-days are the bugbears and dread
NJ tbe mariner in these waters. HE evils
are greatly enhanced by the want OF
better suryeys-such surveys as the lncreas-
ing commerce and the vade of tne shipping
property imperatively demand. Here Is a.
opportunity for our navy to be honorary enp'oyou
10 the advantage of the world. An example or Two
will illustrate the iinperfections Of the now-used
charts. The southernmOst extremity OF the island
of Sikok. Cane Tosa of the old charts, by ITS trde
position is - miles inland from It's position a. lai
down in the charts at present use1. Our OWL
steamer crossed brayely over rough nils ana nign
mountains, if the chart we had was 10 Do trusted
Another point on the island OF Niphop, cape Daioo-
saki, makes out half the same number OF miles iur-
Their seaward than the chart indicates, while 6y the
surveys, as yet unpublished, Of her Majesty f1gate
AoteOn the entire line of the northwest coast OF
NIPPON. from 81 to 80 30 NJ, u.s. on the charts
now in use, nearly 80 miles to the west OF its true
position the island itself being by that much too wide
in al our maps and charts. On the 23th the
weather Hdn changed, W US u Ntooi
atmosphere and the fairest OF Summer winds
and seas light breeze from the north
crsped the blue waters and the skies shone out az
placidly as if they had never been suiled with
frown. A few miles distant on our starbOard, Cape
Chichakoff visible, together with its singular
wave.wOrn grottO, through whose arch the blue
waters beyond were visible. Not sail fecked the
dark ground of the ocean. Wooded shores and
cultivated fields, alternate billy ridges and inland
threading valleys, lay still in the quiet sunshine as If
smitten with enchanted sleep. The solitary msJes-
tic cone of HOrner's Peak, with it's exact symmetry
of shape Fus- Yama in miniature, rises in the dis
lance. We pass the dangerous reefs OF the Sym
plegades rocks the scattered islands of KOslk and
far in the dn-lying distance is beautiful Amakusa,
beloved of the old monks and priests who converted
it to the faith of the Church. and made it their IA
vorite retreat In the clear mOonlit night We
threaded our way through rocks and islets and the
morning dawn found us entering the Bay of Maya
saki.
Before us in a semicircular sweep we're the hills
that covered the bay, more abrupt and less densely
crowded than the low elevations that inclose the
Bay of Yokohama. The sun was just rising when
we made the entrance of the inner bay, but the
clouds strangled the birth of the young day. We
followed the serpent-lke trail OF the narrow chan
mel between islands covered with the rich vegeta-
ton of Summer and the terraced hills OF the main
land. The cold mists of the morning were yet
sweeping across and hiding the loftier peaks. And
if could not the picturesque shores the de-
Gghtful visions that eDtranced Capt. Osborne's
sailor heart of maidens in unfettered limbs twining
red roses in their dark hair and serene old gentle
men sitting at the doors of Swiss cottages tanning
themselves. il was b, cause | had lived so long
among the Japanese that my eyesght had grown un-
POLITICALLY real at even a half-mile range. But
could see how these islands were under martial
rather than poetic aspect OF lfe. How at
every turn and bend of the channel batteries faced
the approaching shipping, and looked defiance out
Of their dark muzzles Here, to the LETT, an
oval island of steep, inaccessible shores, covered
with thick growth of trees and underwood, amid
whose vines and shrubbery other grim-m0uthed
cannon are half concealed A stone stairway lead
ing from the waters edge, protected by guard
house. is the only access to the fortified summit.
Athwart the bay lies Papenburg, OF infamous mem
Ory, every plateau of its smiling slopes brsthng
with guns In little hooks here and there were
Daibans of the Prince of Satsuman, or official sta
tons of Imperial officers, all just alike, black cot
tages of one story with black and white tiled roofs,
incosed by black painted board fence, neat but
somber in their appearance. Singly or IN groups
on the islands and hisides were the matched houses
of the peasantry, surrounded by fields tenaced
against the hills and shaded by the cy-
press and pine. One more turn in the
bay, and before US, at its head, is Nagasaki.
The city lies along the waters edge, and spreads
upward between and among the hills-broad, steep
hills-frOm thousand to eighteen hundred feet high,
sparsey wooded, but green to their tops andstrewn
with stone and shapeless masses OF cacare0us rock
The greater part of the city lies in an ascending
valley, between two bills, spreading on either hand
some distance up the hill sides. Three consider
able rivers issue out of the hill gorges, and dsem
bogue themselves into the bay. Conspicuous fea-
lures in the landscape are the Buddhist and SintO0
temples, everywhere crowding the ascent Of the
hills and mOnOpOlizing the choice localities-their
steeptiled roofs and dragon-scup tured gables just
peered above the dark foliage of the hrs that sur
rounded them. Thanking every temple were the
graye-yards whose conspicuous monuments,
reaching from temple to temple, and SO Gov
eriug the circuit of the hills, looked seawsrd like
so many grim files of silent soldiers. Never was
such a mementO mort written before the eyes az
thus stands inscribed in Titanesque characters
across the brow of Nagasaki. Broad flights OF
stone steps led up to temple gateways. Borne
family through the quiet morning air were the hfe
sounds of large city. A few foreign vessels and
feet of native boats and junks lay in the harbOr.
Flags of the various COnsulates shook out their
folds to the stirring wind with the morning gun.
In the foreground was Observation-Disclosures
Desima; prison home of Portuguese and H0llander
for long centuries. Its little space of three acres
was not more crowded with buildings than with
past associations gazed at it's long rows OF two
soried buildings, white, and built in oppressive rect
angular exactness with their green Venetian blinds
and heavy -paneled green DOORS with peculiar SEN
sation of puzzled interest. On these yerandas bad
sat the indoent Dutchman patient Of his golden
cage, in the long Summer evenings, like these now
ENJOYING his schnapps, his pipe, the cooling breeze
that still nightly wrinkles the beautiful pay, ana
perhaps the soace of the brown daughters Oh Npnon
who had for term of years at least suppanted
the blue-eyed, fair. haired vrouws OF Amsterdam.
Z h aza1i in ger for ha