The currents and tides are strong, sunken rocks are
frequent, and the greatest care is requisite. Indeed, many people at
Yokohama urged Tom to take a pilot.
[Illustration: Yoken San or Sacred Mountain, Inland Sea]
We had one lovely view in the afternoon of the island of Yoken San,
with its snowy mountain at the back, and a pretty little village, with
a few picturesque junks in the foreground. The yacht passed between
Oki Sama and Le Sama, steering straight for the cone-shaped little
island of Odutsi. Towards dusk we made the light of Nabae Sinaon Yo
Sina, and, steering past it, had to take several sharp and awkward
turns, to avoid two reefs off Siyako and Usi Suria. Thus we threaded
the St. Vincent's Channel, and, avoiding the Conqueror bank by another
sharp turn, dropped anchor at Imo Ura, in Hurusima, precisely at 8.30
p.m. Tom had been on the look-out since 5 a.m., and we were all more
or less worn out with the fatigue and excitement of last night.
_Friday, February 16th_.--Off again at 4 a.m. The scenery was much
finer than yesterday, and the wind not quite so bitterly cold.
About 11 a.m. I heard a hurrying to and fro, and once more the cry of
'Fire!' This time it was in the store-room that it broke out. The iron
plates on which the saloon and galley grates are fixed had become
red-hot, and the wooden deck below had consequently caught fire.
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