(Concluded.)
At half-past six we arrived at Narumi, found a fairly good hotel, anddined and slept well. 3rd July.—Turned out at a quarter past five. It was pouring with rain, but it was now too late to turn back, as I could only have vot back to Kioto in time to take train at once for Kobe and catch the Nagoya Maru there. We started at half-past six, still raining hard, and at seven passed through Arimashi.' This town is the centre of the trade in the crimped cotton goods known as Narumi shibori, and it seemed strange to find in an apparently lifeless village a succession of handsome shops, with a good display of pink and white, and blue and white, cotton stuffs; and if I had not been already overburdened with baggage, I should have bought some, Here we wore in a hilly country, which would have looked pretty but for the rain. At 7.30 we crossed the Sakaigawa into an uninteresting tract, and at eight passed through Chinn, getting on to a most atrocious piece of road which lasted until ten, when we reached Yahangi, and stopped for' the coolies' second breakfast at a teahouse overlooking the river, having done six n, or 15 miles, in the 3 hours. At 10.30' we were again underway, crossing the Yahangi, by a bridge over 300 yards long. Shortly before eleven we passed through Okazaki, a large town with good shops, and the ruins of a castle. At half-past eleven we crossed the Kofujigawa, and at noon passed through a dull village called Fajikawa, Atone we stopped at an inferior roadside tea-house in Kwajaji for tiffin, This district appears to be the headquarters of the manufacture of gourds, and we passed several shops full of them of all sizes. Shortly before two we were underway again, the road running down a pretty valley. At two the rain ceased, for the first time since daylight. At half-past two we passed through Akasaka, and shortly before three crossed the Go-u river, the road running through the plain. At a quarter past four we crossed the Toyohashi, navigable river with a number of rafts and junks moored to the banks. At half past five we left the Tokaido by a new road ox the right, which avoids the top of the Kauabati mountain, while the Tokaido apparently crosses the crest of the hill. The road was infamously bad, the mud being nearly up to the axles of the rickshas, and I had to walk the whole length of it. On the highest peak of the hill which we skirted is bronze statue of the goddess Iwaya. At 6.30 we arrived at Futonagams, and here Matsu insisted on my stopping for the night, assuring me that the road onward was too bad, and that we should not reach the next town until nine, when no teschonse would fake us in, I remonstrated however successfully, and with the aid of two extra coolies, making three to each ricksha, we proceeded. The road, which was an excessively bad one, lay over 'a barren, scrubby moor, past a remarkable headland, It was a beautiful sunset, and just after seven I got the first view of Foji over the intervening mountains. After an hour's hard work, for with three coolies to each ricksha, Matsu was too proud to allow me to walk, we plunged down the valley, and at eight reached the small town of Sorijo, where I dined and slept in an upper room of a pleasant little ton-house overlooking the sea, the only drawback being an infamous smell all night from the as usual defective drainage of the town, 4th July.—Turhed out at half past four, and an hour after started to cross the bay in a steam launch, manned as usual entirely by Japanese, The steam-sanyo didn't work, and the water-gauge was quite empty, but we got along fast, and safely. It was a lovely morning, and I got occasional glimpses of Fuji over the hills, At a quarter past seven we arrived at Shitoro, and transhipped ourselves and baggage to a sailing-boat, in which we proceeded through well-preserved canal under innumerable bridges, with a light fair wind, to Hamamatsu, which we reached just after nine. Here the wheels were replaced on the rickshas, and the baggage was repacked, and at 9.30 we got underway, Hamamatsu is a handsome town with very good shops. In an hour we reached Tendugawa, and stopped as usual for the coolies' second breakfast. We started again shortly before eleven, crossing the river by a bridge about 1,250 yards long. On the other side of the river, we took a short cut over a ridge, infamous road as usual, and at 11.50 reached Miitsuke, a large town with handsome shops, and with a largo temple on a hill at the end of the street, dominating the town. Here we rejoined the Tokaido, the road being intolerably bad, so that I did most of this day's travelling on foot. At a quarter past one we reached Tukuroi, and stopped for tiffin, At 2.20 we state again over perfectly antal rod, onecootio, atsa, having broken down a victim to Tokaido water, which Matsu had warned me against soon after starting, but which nevertheless he and his comrade drank freely. Just before four we crossed the Tasigawa, the weather being very hot, with a broiling sun nearly all the day. The road now lay through a long and pretty glen, and at 5.30 we reached the hill village of Nishisaka, where Matsu wanted me to stop for the night, representing that we had to go over a long pass where the rickshas could only go empty. I insisted on going on, and at 6.15 we started, the rickshas being unloaded and the baggage carried by coolies with bamboos, I leading the way on foot. The pass was moderately steep, but extremely pretty, lined with fine trees, and giving a constant succession of beautiful views. We reached the summit at seven. That Japan is the source of modern wstheticism was proved to me by Chioubé suddenly, near the summit, climbing up the bank, and picking a magnificent white lily, which he was very anxious for me to carry.' I declined it with thanks, and he bore it himself for a little way in one hand, while he pulled the ricksha, with the other, but before long toil conquered culture, and the lily was discarded. It was a touching incident, and would have made charming subject for a Maudle or a Postlethwaite, At a quarter past seven
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.