from this island cluster is a large bay and inlet near the head of which is the fortified city of Chan-yon. In January, 1867, Commander R. W. Shufeldt, in the U. S. S. Wachusett, visited this inlet to obtain redress for the murder of the crew of the American schooner General Sherman, and while vainly waiting, surveyed portions of it, giving the name of Wachusett Bay to the place of anchorage. Judging from native maps, the scale of the chart made from this survey was on too large a scale, though the recent map-makers of Tōkiō have followed it. The southern coast also is dotted with groups of islands, and made dangerous by large shoals. One of the approaches to the national capital and the commercial city of Sunto, or Kai-seng, is navigable for junks, through a tortuous channel which threads the vast sand-banks formed by the Han River. Hai-chiu, the capital, is near the southern central coast, and Whang-chiu, an old baronial walled city, is in the north, on the Ta-tong River, now, as of old, a famous boundary line. Though Whang-hai is not reckoned rich, being only the sixth in order of the eight circuits, yet there are several products of importance. Rock, or fossil salt, is plentiful. Flints for fire-arms and household use were obtained here chiefly, though the best gun-flints came from China. Lucifer matches and percussion rifles have destroyed, or will soon destroy, this ancient industry. One district produces excellent ginseng, which finds a ready sale, and even from ancient times Whang-hai’s pears have been celebrated. Splendid yellow varnish, almost equal to gilding, is also made here. The native varnishers are expert and tasteful in its use, though far behind the inimitable Japanese. Fine brushes for pens, made of the hair of wolves’ tails, are also in repute among students and merchants. The high road from the capital, after passing through Sunto, winds through the eastern central part, and crosses a range of mountains, the scenery from which is exceedingly fine. Smaller roads thread the border of the province and the larger towns, but a great portion of Whang-hai along its central length, from east to west, seems to be mountainous, and by no means densely populated. There are, in all, twenty-eight cities with magistrates.