A.PANESE SCENERY,
the abov^moWev er, make as fine. a shoJ^inthis, their
native country, as they do in our greenlwi^Hn Eng-
h ^ id ^ o r have the. majority of j a p anes^iowers much
haiid, I cannot endorse the state-
nit:ni i_ ^ T ^ ^ p T ^ b y one of the earliest explorers of
this ^«w e stin g flowers have no scent,
birds no song, trust anir v^TPtal>lpg>vo
1 the sweet sounds of
singing birds, andNiart eqixally disprove the other assertions.
Thé rose smells the mon'ieVt von enter the
garden; the soy-bean tell its n tale
I might name scores of instaijcesSiJüfiEiïfertaxing'
evergreens.
Childrer
s and flying altes, whilst their fUfcrs "
in the field; they are essentially an agri
ion. On reaching Fotrzisawa about noon
and warm saki,—a concoction of rice distilled like the
sam-chow of China, completed our meal for which a very
small sum was charged. We then started afresh, and
a t three in the afternoon arrived at the pretty village
of Oudawara ; here we had to abandon the carriage and
•continue our route in kaengos. These were procured,
two of them, for the munificent hire of three dollars, including
bearers; in exchange I received a receipt in
Japanese, a perfect piece of caligraphy (Plate XXV.);
also porters were engaged to carry our traps and provisions.
The narrow proportions of the soi-disant palki
did not take my fancy, and with very little interruption
I walked the whole way, occupying three hours,
and immensely enjoyed the marvellous scenery we
passed through.
On leaving the village the noise of roaring waves intimated
our proximity to the sea, and right in front of
us a very broad river barred the way ; this we crossed
by a succession of small bridges, five in number, and
then followed its bank along a narrow valley bounded
by magnificent mountain scenery, wilder and more imposing
than any I can remember, even in Switzerland.
After half an hour’s trudging, all the while gazing
around in sheer amazement, and regretting the want of
time to commit my impressions to paper, we branched
•off to the right into a deep gorge, down which came