MAIL SKETCHES.-No. VI.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 318, 2 April 1875, Page 3

MAIL SKETCHES.-No. VI.

A VIBIT TO THE JNTE&TOE OJ JAPAN- FBOlf' ? t6kohama. -*- We reached-Yokohama on Friday afternoon. For the first day or not do much more.than make frequent visits to the shop wliere all the curiosities 'are kept, and made a good few purchases. Having' a weakness for those things, and: having a good many commissions for other people, we didji good deal in_that line. We had also drives around the neighborhood, and also some rides. Upon the whole we enjoyed ourselves, and met agood many old friends. But the great thing was our trip to

MBINOSHTA. L , P , and myself were the iparty. P took his Japanese servant and a big bull dog, but these were the only other members of the party. As P had just returned from his "trip, and as L had "business to do, we arranged to start on the Friday morning, and get back on the Monday f night. The time'was far too short, and we determined to make the most of it. On the Thursday night we had four boxes packed with provisions and bedding, 'and. sent off on pack horses to travel all night; and reach Meinoslita as soon as ourselves.- On—Friday'morning we /were all ready, and made,a start exactly at six." .Meinoshta is sixty : milcs from Yokohama, right away inlandiamong the'mbuntains.i' Fori about', eight I miles. we ! had.a fairoroad, hired a. jlarge waggonnette; with- an American to ! drive: us;' •; ; We. had two :good stoutVhorsesj !in the ahd-had two more sent on the day before to the half-way house. We had also two bateans, or running ■grooms?-, who: took-it in turns to run .on ahead and clear the way4-standing also in turns on a step behind the waggonnette ! as a kind of The; road Oby we went is the great high road c-ffjapan, made hundreds of years ago by the G-o----vernment;of; the, \ country..; It goes from one end of Japan; to the other.: It is only within the last three years that foreigners have been permitted -to.go in it. Formerly it was as much as one's life was worth to venture, there,,. and' many a foreigner has been cut to pieces on it, and would be yet sometimes unless driving, or with a guard. "When we' were here before we went to some places in the country, and h^ad/ I .owing >;to r -the flooding of a river,' round' about' thirteen' 'miles along this road, aiad-though we were a Ipre.tty strong-party we ,went-,in fear and trembling,' and l a€ greater" risk than we were* a£ the time aware of. Bufc' r tHings'in Japan have changed.amazingly since then, ana-as-a-r,ule-&reigners -are-now-in-great safety.to move about wijthin, the laid'dowh by "treaty isHija'lljed the Tahida v It is, .as . I have said, very old, and runs lip' aiTd d'o'wn with little re-: gard to hills or hollows, but on the w.hple it is a good little Sadly kept 'in places. On both sides throughout its whole length it is bordered with trees, which in many places meet over it. Fine old-gigantic; trees.most of them'are—irany of them-covered with ivy and another creeper which bears beautiful clusters of whiteand yellow flowers. Many parts of the road run through towns and villages, and there are pretty little farm houses also near it, and lovely scenery the whole way; Our driver was well acquainted "trithjthe way, and di'Ove very well. • We soon left Yokohama behind, and were fairly on our way; The scenery was lovely*

, the country so fresh, and green, so well wooded, and such quantities of flowering trees:- Many were camellias. It waT~so amusing soiuetimes abo going through thetowns and villages. We stayed a-few minutes at tea-houses; where, the horses had water; and we were always offered tea in little cups —without cream or sugar of course.— but very refreshing. The people are all so clean, and so lighthearted and merry. .The;girls are pretty, and look so nice in their queer dressinggown sort of things and light-colored saslies. We got on beautifully till we reached Fugisawa, the half-way town. Here we drove to the principal native inn (of eourse there were no other), and here we found the ponies which were to draw ustherestoftheway. Itbeingsorough after that that only the native ponies could go. We went into the inn, and had tiffin. We had a small-basket with us, and were not quite dependent on "the supplies of the place. We got hot sweet potatoes, rice, scrambled eggs, and other stuffs, and were quite refreshed. The little waiting maids brought us two copper pans of warm water.;to" wash our hands, and a morsel of blue cotton,- about a foot square, by way of a towel. The whole household followed us to the carriage, and watched us start, all bowing to_Jhe ground, and saying "tyonara," which means "farewell." We started off at a brisk pace, over much the same style of road, but now full of hills, oyer which the little ponies scrambled when higher horses could not have gone. . We had two rivers to ford, and then by 2 o'clock we reached the town of Odawara,'and drew up at the town. -We stayed about half an hour, and had another tiffin,''as'the meal at Fugisawa was merely a second breakfast. At Odawara we left the high i - oad, and went over mountains for about twelve or fourteen miles. The path was so steep that we could neither ride nor walk it. So we hired native . chairs, or " norimus," ■'. as they are called. They are very different from Chinese chairs, being more like good sized boxes, with the sides.taken out, and the lid left on. It is carried by a long pole fixed to the,top. You creep into it, at a square opening "in the side, and sit down in'the bottom/with your feet crossed like a tailor. You'have just to double yourself up the best way you can. For the first hour, or two I thought it was impossible I could sit in it, but by and bye I got more accustomed to it, and by the time we left Meinoshta I quite liked it. We had each six coolies. Two only carry at a time, but they change very often, and when' ever they get a smooth bit of road they go at a good trot. Then we walked some parts. L and P walked most of the way." After we left the high road the scenery became very grand. , We ,entered,a narrow gorge, "with a wild" tumbling river at the" bottom/and high precipitous rocks rising -like walls from the bottom, and crowned-by thick woods.. ,The. rocks were perfectly hung with ferns —maiden-hair principally—and in every niche and crevice were wild azalia bushes, covered with scarlet and white flowers. Our path wound up and. up round the sides of the hills, now and then "through thick woods, but always going higher, and if in sight always within hearing of the roaring little river below. About half way up we came to a little tea-house or inn. Here we halted, and coolies and all had tea and rested a while. -We had lovely views at every turn, indeed every step of the road was There were thousands of lovely flowering shrubs and trees.'. Wild "peach, cherry and almond trees in full blossom,"and these' were also hanging full of a kind of honey-suckle with the sweetest_smell. There were thickets of wild citron, in full blossoms -which; smells like orange blossom," while camellia trees, rhododendrons, azalia,' &c,' were on every side.....The ground too was,.covered with little~blue violets and" ferns." I "pressed some of them, but fear Tmust have lost them, ,as I cannot find them now.;- "Besides all these, there were-great thickets of scarlet juponica. I could hardly get along without admiring and pulling things till tKe' roof of my ■" norimu " • was covered. There were so many things quite new to me, and all so' lovely, • and it wassuch a-beautiful-evening'too/and the smell of everything strfresh and sweet. But it was'getting late, and we pushed on, and, at last on turning "a- corner and coming out of a thick piece of wood we came suddenly upon the little village of Meinoshta, perched- high on the hill side, and at' the'very edge of' a "steep cliff, over which the little river tumbled in two or three great falls into the valley below, and away a little in a small garden stands the teahouse, or inn, where we were to stay. We could not go on for looking, nor indeed could we speak,, and r I must confess the tears came to my eyes, for I never saw anything so lovely all my life. The valley was so narrow we could not see down to 'the bottom, owing to the overhanging cliffs. The hills on the 6pp*k site side seemed so near, and indeed they were quite close—we "could sec even the little bushes"6"f flowering things, and all around rose .the high, green, wooded, and rocky hills, very_ high and very steep. We went on into the. one steep street of the small village, and up- it, and,, turned ;into the court of.the.inn.,>.■ The court was all paved with shingle, and with a well in the middle, and the house built all round it. The house was only one storey high, with all its walls of- purest white paper, and roof.of a light-colored thatch, which t overhangs and protects the-walls from wet. . . i