Reflecting that in the worst case I would be back in Montreal in one and a half days, I fell asleep. At 6.30 in the morning I was awakened by the voice of the porter saying, "the train is waiting for you, sir," as he rolled up the curtain. It really was the Imperial Express! The big red cars stood there quietly in the sunshine of the early morning. In a few minutes I was dressed, and never with greater satisfaction have I paid a porter his fee. The station was Chalk River, and the train had waited forty minutes. What a comfortable feeling to know that all my belongings were safely on board! I had not only saved time and money but an interesting trip across the continent lay before me. Having washed and put on clean garments, I had my breakfast while passing through an enchanting hilly country, amid smiling white birches, and the maples in the autumn glory of their foliage, with more intensely red colouring than can be seen outside North America. The oatmeal porridge seemed unusually well prepared: the waiter intimated that the cook was a Parisian. However that might have been, he was probably of French descent. Four days later we arrived at Vancouver, where I wrote to the three gentlemen of Montreal, my appreciation of services rendered, addressing them care of _The Star_. Their names I did not know, but it was not the first time that I had been reminded of Darwin's assurance, in the account of his travels round the world, as to "how many truly kind-hearted people there are, with whom he (the traveller) never before had, nor ever again will have any further communication, who yet are ready to offer him the most disinterested assistance." Early in the morning on October 19 we saw the first Japanese fishing-boats. The sea was green and in the atmosphere a kind of haze, which almost seems peculiar to Japan, imparted an artistic tone to everything. In splendid weather, almost calm, we sailed along the coast of Nippon. As we entered the bay of Yokohama the sun was setting over a landscape that realised one's preconceived ideas of the beauty of the country. On one side, low ridges with rows of picturesque pine-trees just as you know them from Japanese prints, while in the background to the west, above the clouds rose the top of Fuji, nearly 4,000 metres above sea-level. We steamed up in absolute calm, while the long twilight was still further prolonged by a brilliant afterglow.