Page:Scented isles and coral gardens- Torres Straits, German New Guinea and the Dutch East Indies, by C.D. Mackellar, 1912.pdf/421

Rh words were, "Please come back again"— who cares if they were meant, they were pleasant to hear, pleasant to remember, and made me want to go again.

Auf Wiedersehen you pleasant, kindly land of gentle manners, of cherry blossoms, of quaint little children—you land of smiling, soft-voiced women! I liked you all—I bear you in faithful remembrance, and for your sake I am ever a friend to Da Nippon. Saronaya!

On the 22nd of February I left for Vancouver by the Empress of India. Usually the ship at this date encountered a blizzard and was coated with ice. This did not happen, so it was said to be a wonderful trip—but it was continually wet, and icy winds blew down on us from Arctic latitudes, and it was dull. Passengers were not numerous some pleasant enough, and some I had known before.

For hours I used to pace the wet deck with a couple of Japanese gentlemen, Messrs. Sugawa and Nishimura—wonderfully clever, well-informed men, knowing a great deal more about every subject than I did about one. You could not mention a country, a place, or a thing, but they knew all about it. They talked to me even about queer old feudal land laws and customs in the Scottish Highlands which one would have imagined that no one but the unhappy lairds who suffer under them would know.

Whilst I was in Japan and all the East was full of the passing away of Queen Victoria, a question was raised in the Japanese parliament as to whether the Court and people should go into complimentary mourning. It seems, when the Emperor's mother died, no notice was taken of it by our Court or people— Japan was hurt. But the people had settled the question