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transport carrying the regiment to which Gilbert was attached arrived at Nagasaki on July 2. She dropped anchor in the place assigned to her by the harbor-master, and her chief officer went ashore at once for despatches.

The sights to be seen in the large harbor of the Japanese searport interested Gilbert greatly. Strange craft were floating there,—curiously carved junks with their huge, awkward sails, broad merchantmen, and cascoes filled with fruits and fish and other commodities, all offered for sale to whoever might buy. Not far from the transport lay the British torpedo-boat destroyer Whiting, having on board a number of veteran soldiers from Ladysmith, South Africa, men who had gone all through the terrible campaign against the Boers. Russian, French, German, and Italian warships were also in evidence; and the number of national flags floating there were a spectacle in themselves.