in arranging a plan to cover contingencies.

As we approached De Castries we could see the spars of a large ship
over the islands at the entrance of the harbor. A moment later she was
announced.

"A corvette, with steam up."

She displayed her flag--an English one. As we dropped anchor in the
harbor a boat came to us, and an officer mounted the side and
descended to the cabin. The ship proved to be the British Corvette
Scylla, just ready to sail for Japan. Escaping her we did not
encounter Charybdis. The mission of the Scylla was entirely pacific,
and her officer informed us there had been war between Prussia and
Austria, but at last accounts all Europe was at peace. The war of
1866 was finished long before I knew of its commencement.

De Castries Bay is on the Gulf of Tartary, a hundred and thirty-five
miles from Nicolayevsk. La Perouse discovered and surveyed it in 1787,
and named it in honor of the French Minister of Marine. It is in Lat.
51° 28' N., Lon. 140° 49' E., and affords good and safe anchorage.
Near the entrance are several islands, which protect ships anchored
behind them. The largest of these islands is occupied as a warehouse
and coal depot, and has an observatory and signal station visible from
the Gulf. The town is small, containing altogether less than fifty
buildings. It is a kind of ocean port to Nicolayevsk and the Amoor
river, but the settlement was never a flourishing one.

Twelve miles from the landing is the end of Lake Keezee, which opens
into the Amoor a hundred and fifty miles from its mouth. It was