Madame Chrysantheme | Page 3

in fact was wanting in the way of
ordinary, trivial, every-day objects.
Some day, when man shall have made all things alike, the earth will be
a dull, tedious dwelling-place, and we shall have even to give up
traveling and seeking for a change which shall no longer be found.
At about six o'clock, we dropped anchor noisily amid the mass of
vessels already there, and were immediately invaded.
Invaded by a mercantile, bustling, comical Japan, which rushed upon
us in full boat-loads, full junks, like a rising sea; little men and little
women coming in a continuous, uninterrupted stream, without cries,
without squabbles, noiselessly, each one making so smiling a bow that
it was impossible to be angry with them, and that indeed by reflex
action we smiled and bowed also. They all carried on their backs little
baskets, little boxes, receptacles of every shape, fitting into each other
in the most ingenious manner, each one containing several others, and
multiplying till they filled up everything, in endless number; from these
they drew forth all manners of curious and unexpected things, folding
screens, slippers, soap, lanterns, sleeve-links, live cicalas chirping in
little cages, jewelry, tame white mice turning little cardboard mills,
quaint photographs, hot soups and stews in bowls ready to be served
out in rations to the crew;--china, a legion of vases, teapots, cups, little
pots and plates. In one moment, all this was unpacked, spread out with
astounding rapidity and a certain talent for arrangement; each seller
squatting monkey-like, hands touching feet, behind his fancy
ware--always smiling, bending low with the most engaging bows.
Under the mass of these many-colored things, the deck presented the
appearance of an immense bazaar; the sailors, very much amused and
full of fun, walked among the heaped-up piles, taking the little women

by the chin, buying anything and everything, throwing broadcast their
white dollars. But, good gracious, how ugly, mean and grotesque all
those folk were. Given my projects of marriage, I began to feel
singularly uneasy and disenchanted.
* * * * *
Yves and myself were on duty till the next morning, and after the first
bustle, which always takes place on board when settling down in
harbor--(boats to lower, booms to swing out, running rigging to make
taut)--we had nothing more to do but to look on. We said to one
another: "Where are we in reality?--In the United States?--In some
English Colony in Australia, or in New Zealand?"
Consular residences, custom-house offices, manufactories; a dry dock
in which a Russian frigate was lying; on the heights the large European
concession, sprinkled with villas, and on the quays, American bars for
the sailors. Further off, it is true, further off, far away behind these
common-place objects, in the very depths of the immense green valley,
peered thousands upon thousands of tiny black houses, a tangled mass
of curious appearance, from which here and there emerged some higher,
dark red, painted roofs, probably the true old Japanese Nagasaki which
still exists. And in those quarters, who knows, there may be, lurking
behind a paper screen, some affected cat's-eyed little woman, whom
perhaps in two or three days (having no time to lose) I shall marry!!
But no, the picture painted by my fancy has faded. I can no longer see
this little creature in my mind's eye; the sellers of the white mice have
blurred her image; I fear now, lest she should be like them.
At nightfall, the decks were suddenly cleared as by enchantment; in a
second, they had all shut up their boxes, folded their sliding screens,
their trick fans, and, humbly bowing to each of us, the little men and
little women disappeared.
Slowly, as the shades of night closed around us mingling all things in
the bluish darkness, this Japan surrounding us, became once more, by
degrees, little by little, a fairy-like and enchanted country. The great
mountains, now all black, were mirrored and doubled in the still water

at their feet on which we floated, reflecting therein their sharply
reversed outlines, and presenting the mirage of fearful precipices, over
which we hung:--- the stars also were reversed in their order, making,
in the depths of the imaginary abyss, a sprinkling of tiny
phosphorescent lights.
Then all Nagasaki became profusely illuminated, covering itself with
multitudes of lanterns: the smallest suburb, the smallest village was lit
up; the tiniest hut perched up on high among the trees, and which in the
daytime was invisible, threw out its little glow-worm glimmer. Soon
there were numberless lights all over the country, on all the shores of
the bay, from top to bottom of the mountains; myriads of glowing fires
shone out in the darkness, conveying the impression of a vast capital,
rising up around us in one bewildering amphitheater.