Of the unarmored vessels, the sister ships _Naniwa-Kan_ (already described) and _Takatschio_ are at present the most important, though six modern cruisers now under construction in Japanese dockyards will soon be added to the fleet. The navy is manned and officered exclusively by natives, and the service is well administered and popular. Owing to possible complications with China, coast defence has become a live national question, and the wealthy Japanese are subscribing large sums for ships and forts. In addition to these voluntary contributions, the new tax which has been imposed will enable Japan to put herself in an excellent condition for attack or defence. The other navies not described in these pages have afloat or under construction but few modern ships-of-war. Still, there are vessels in the minor services which ought to be briefly described. One of these, the _Almirante Brown_, of the Argentine navy, is a twin-screw, central-battery steel ship which was launched in 1880. Her dimensions are: length 240 feet, beam 50 feet, draught 20 feet 6 inches, and displacement 4200 tons. With 4500 horse-power she attained 13.75 knots, and her coal endurance is given as 4300 knots at 10 knots speed. Her armament is made up of eight 8-inch and six 4½-inch Armstrongs, and of four machine guns; the armor is compound, nine inches thick on the belt and eight inches on the battery. There is also building in England for this government a central casemate steel cruiser of 4400 tons displacement. The armor on the casemate is to be compound, ten inches thick, and the armament is to be composed of eight 8-inch breech-loading Armstrongs, with a secondary battery of rapid-fire guns and torpedo-tubes. The estimated speed is fourteen knots. In addition to these two vessels the Argentine navy has two small coast-defence turret-ships, one 14-knot steel cruiser (the _Patagonia_, which is similar in appearance to the United States steamer _Atlanta_), six gun-boats, eleven torpedo-boats, and a few other vessels of an unimportant character.