The temperature, on our arrival, we found very materially different from what we had left at Simoda; the difference of latitude is about seven degrees. The snow still lay on the mountains around, and the air made thick boots and an overcoat comfortable. The bay of Hakodadi is most spacious and majestic in its sweep, and for facility of entrance and security of anchorage, it can scarcely be surpassed by any other in the world. The width at its mouth is so great that no two fortifications could command or protect it, yet the curvature of the high land around is such as to afford the greatest shelter. For all the uses of Americans it is worth fifty Simodas; here our enterprising whalers, after being buffeted about in the rude seas of Ochotsk and Japan in its vicinity, may ere long repair to recruit and refit, and procure supplies of wood and water, instead of being compelled as hitherto, to make the long stretch to the Sandwich Islands. Besides this, a line drawn on the arc of a great circle from California to North China, passes through the straits of Sangar and by Hakodadi; and here, and not at Simoda, which has been mentioned as a depot, would coal have to be placed for the use of steamers between San Francisco and Shanghae. It was agreed by all the old Mediterranean cruisers aboard, as we dropped anchor, that the view around was the counterpart of Gibraltar and its vicinity. The northern side from where we lay was the main land of Spain; the low sandy peninsula, over which we could easily see the water of Sangar, was the “neutral ground,” encircling Smugglers’ bay; on our left hand lay a small fishing-village, which corresponded to the Spanish town of Algeciras. The southern part of the hill under which the town is, was Point Europa; the hill itself, in its high and rugged isolation, was the frowning rock that enclosed the sulphurous engines, while in the distance, across the straits, on the north end of Niphon, now well discerned, or vaguely seen, as the sun shines out or the mists vary, is the natural prototype of Ape’s hill, in Africa, whose simial inhabitants are said to find their way most mysteriously across the Mediterranean. To my eye, the place bore a great resemblance to Cape Town, Cape of Good Hope, if the mount in the rear were little more flattened on the summit, while an adjoining hill was the “Lion’s Rump.”