with more favour than gold or silver coins. The Scotchman's love for his pound note is more than equalled by the respect which the ordinary Japanese feels for any piece of paper bearing the seal of his government. No superior intrinsic value can in his eyes make up for the want of the declaration signed by the authorities which inspires him with faith in every genuine note. Passports had also to be obtained. These we applied for at the office of our department, stating particularly the route we intended to take, the time we expected to be absent, and the object for which we were travelling. After a few days they arrived, written entirely, with the exception of our names, which were in both Japanese and English characters, in the Japanese language, and bearing the red seal of the Minister for Foreign Affairs. The written matter gave information as to our nationality, profession, route, etc.; the printed inscription stated the terms on which the passport was granted:-the object of the journey must be health, botanical research, or scientific investigation, the bearer must not light fires in woods, attend fires on horseback, trespass on fields, enclosures, or game-preserves, scribble on temples or walls (there was surely an insight here. into a notorious English weakness), drive fast on a narrow road, he must conduct himself in an orderly and conciliatory manner towards the Japanese authorities and people, he must, under pain of arrest, produce his passport to any officials who might demand it, and must not, while in the interior, shoot, trade, conclude mercantile contracts with Japanese, or rent houses or rooms for a longer period than his journey required. Some years ago, the Japanese Government presented each of the foreigners in their service with an open passport admitting of travel at any time and by any route within the empire. But this generous and thoroughly justifiable act raised the jealousy of the other foreign residents, and their agitation resulted in the recall of all the open passports, to the no little inconvenience of many persons in government employ who, being at a distance from the capital, had thenceforth to incur a delay of several days before they could get permission from headquarters to move an inch beyond treaty limits. At first, too, the regulations were somewhat strictly enforced, persons assigning ill health as their reason for travelling being required to produce a medical certificate. But less stress latterly came to be laid on such details as this. Any one of respectability may now, by applying to his consul, get a passport in a few hours. All our arrangements were now made, and we awaited with interest the 26th of December, the day on which it had been resolved to start. A Christmas Tour round Fuji-san. 295 CHAPTER VI. A CHRISTMAS TOUR ROUND FUJI-SAN. Thou kingly spirit, throned among the hills! Thou dread ambassador from earth to heaven ! Earth, with her thousand voices, praises God!' The Kôshiû-kaidô-Peasants' Cottages-A yadoya-Discomforts of Squatting-A Japanese Meal-Tsuun Kuwaisha, or Transport Office-Coolies' and Pack-horses' Standard Loads - Takenosuke's Importance - Inquisitiveness and Politeness - Stone Fascines-A Foreigner's Safety in Japan-A Nesan-Respect for Government and for Learning-Our Beds-The Makura, or Japanese Pillow-Pass of Kobotoke-Pack-horses-Picturesque Valleys-Fuji-san — A Water-wheel — 'Monkey Bridge' A Fellow-traveller-Polite Children-A Moonlight Walk-A Hospitable Reception-Intense Cold-A Sublime Morning-A Gift -Persistent Curiosity-Ride through a Forest-The Sacred Mountain by Moonlight-A Gipsy-like Scene-' Peke'-Our Pack-horse bolts-Silver Rope Falls-A Painful Ride-Cruelty -Generosity-Sunrise-Last Night of 1876-New Year CakeRide in a Kago-Snow-Severe Cold-Natural Hot SpringsThe Tokaido-Festivities. 'To the mountains!' exclaimed Marshall and I, as we mounted our horses on the morning of Tuesday, 26th December, 1876, and rode off from the college towards the Kôshiû-kaido, the high road leading from the capital to the inland province of Kai or Kôshiû. The weather was somewhat bleak and cold, and, as we passed the entrance to the Mikado's palace at Akasaka, a few flakes of snow fell; but fortunately our fears of a snow-storm were not realized. Half an hour's ride through by-streets and suburban lanes led to the Kôshiû-kaidô at Shinjiku (New town'). Soon thereafter we overtook our baggage, which had been sent on in advance in a jin-riki-sha under the care of our cook, Takenosuke. The road was in very bad condition, especially in places shaded from the sun, of which there were many, pines, bamboos, and other evergreens lining the way wherever there was room for them to grow. It was of fair breadth, and had few awkward slopes, but there were black quagmires ploughed with deep ruts marking waggon-courses. The numerous plantations relieved the bleakness of the bare hedgeless fields, and every here and there a thatch-roofed cottage, sometimes with garden and trimmed hedge, stood on the roadside against a background of wooding. These peasants' houses were generally built of wood and mud with high heavily thatched roofs of pavilion shape, but with the ridges long and heavy and sometimes projecting so as to form triangular upper-gables. They had no chimneys, the smoke. of the fire in the middle of the kitchen floor finding Peasants' Cottages. 297 its way out by a door after blackening the open rafters, while in the adjoining room or rooms charcoal-brasiers were the only fire-places. Some of them had a tumble-down appearance, the walls of caked mud full of cracks and the rafters bent. To our eyes the most of them looked comfortless enough. The interiors were generally moderately clean, but a pail of liquid manure sunk into the earth in front of each dwelling offended both eye and nose. The peasantry themselves seemed contented and happy. Clad in coarse blue cotton, they were busy pounding rice or other grain, or cooking, or fetching water from the well. The children were playing on the road, or creeping about the mats, and the old people were trying to warm themselves at the fire or at charcoal stoves. The first village we passed through was Takaido, long and straggling, like all Japanese villages, and with few houses superior to the ordinary peasant's cot. But beyond this was Fuda, a place of slightly more importance, the thatch-roofs being here varied with roofs covered with tiles or shingles, and the mud walls, with walls of wood or white plaster. Here we had arranged to take lunch. We turned into the courtyard of the Matsudaya inn, and were received in due form, the landlord bowing his head on the mats and the waitresses shouting welcome in shrill chorus. Little cushions |