Before the end of February over forty transports sailed from Nagasaki, and a still larger embarkation went on at Ujina, near Hiroshima, where a great force of horse, foot, and artillery were steadily detrained every day and sent on board. The admirable arrangements made by the Japanese directors of mobilization and transport were the theme of universal praise among unprejudiced observers. Everything had been carefully thought out beforehand; all the necessary material was ready; and consequently, when war broke out, there was no confusion, no undue haste--only the ordered bustle of men who knew exactly what they had to do and how it was to be done, down to the veriest detail. Special wharves had been prepared and were in position within a few days, with railway lines laid upon them, connecting them with the main lines over which the troops travelled from the interior, so that the trains could be brought down almost to the water's edge. Here the soldiers were detrained, and, after a meal, embarked upon lighters and steam launches, and were conveyed swiftly to the ships to which they were assigned. These transports averaged 6,000 tons in burden, and were excellently fitted up for their purpose. An important part of the vessels' equipment in each case was a number of large surf-boats or sampans, about the most useful form of boat possible for landing troops in the shoal waters of the Korean harbors. [Sidenote: A Close Censorship] What was taking place in the meanwhile on the other side of the channel, and particularly upon the western coast of the Hermit Kingdom? We now know something of the strength and the disposition of the Japanese forces, although right up to the last moment before the general advance only the smallest items of information were allowed to pass through the narrow-meshed net of the censorship. [Sidenote: Japanese Landings]