NAGASAKI
July 26th.—This morning at ten o’clock we arrived at Nagasaki, and
anchored alongside the _Voronege_, a Russian boat, bringing back to
Russia a thousand soldiers. These men, who had just finished their
military service in Siberia, and our recruits, who had not begun it,
exchanged frenzied hurrahs.
We stepped on shore and walked to the Hôtel Belle-Vue. After lunch we
took rikshas and wandered about the town. Our riksha-men stopped of their
own accord before a tea-house, muttering laconically, “Something to see!”
But there was only a big picture on the wall to be seen, representing a
sea-battle between the Japs and the Chinese, where all the Chinese boats
went down to the bottom.
July 27th.—This morning my husband went with a party of recruits to be
present at a funeral service in the Christian cemetery of Nagasaki, where
a great number of our sailors are buried.
July 28th.—We left Nagasaki in the afternoon, and were soon out of sight
of the Japanese Islands.
July 29th.—I was wakened in the middle of the night by the piercing
shrieking of the siren. We had entered a dense fog and were advancing
slowly, the horns blowing all the time.
July 30th.—Since dawn our sailors were preparing to land at Possiet. A
steam-launch came up to us with the chief of the brigade quartered there.
At noon we dropped anchor in the middle of the bay.
Possiet is marked as a town on the map, but it looks more like a large
village. We saw from afar a triumphal arch erected on the quay. The crowd
on the pier cheered us loudly. Nine big barges approached our steamer and
the disembarking of our soldiers began. Sergy went on shore to visit the
camp, situated twenty-eight miles from Possiet. As to me, I installed
myself with my book on deck, awaiting his return. A fresh breeze
succeeded to the stifling atmosphere. How nice it was!
Sergy returned on board towards night, accompanied by a whole flotilla of
boats carrying a number of officers with their families and a military
band. The quay was decorated with different coloured lanterns. We had an
impromptu dance on board, and weighed anchor after midnight.