n
taste and extravagance they will undoubtedly become contaminated and
grow extortionate.

A pleasant excursion of a hundred miles inland, with Nikko as the
objective point, enabled us to get some idea of posting with Japanese
ponies, which are the most nervous and vicious little creatures of their
species upon the face of the globe. One little rogue required six men to
harness him, and then was dragged forward by his mate for a long
distance. The driver, however, finally got the animal into a run, and
kept him at that pace until the close of the stage, and another change
took place. The fact is, a horse, on the dead run, has not much time to
be vicious, but is obliged to go straight ahead by the simple force of
circumstances.

Two thirds of the national road between Tokio and Nikko is lined on
either side by large and ancient cedars, so thickly set that both body
and roots, in many instances, have mingled and become one. These trees,
completely overarching the narrow road, form a welcome shade, and are
also very ornamental, with their straight shafts and thick foliage. The
first half of the distance to Nikko is perfectly level, in fact one vast
rice field. The journey was divided by stopping at Utsonomiga, where we
passed the night in a native tea-house. Our sleeping arrangements were
very simple. A Japanese bed consists of a thin cotton mattress spread
upon the floor, and a similar article with big sleeves for the arms,
which forms the covering. The pillow is a block of wood, for which the
experienced traveler usually substitutes his valise. There is not much
privacy afforded by the paper screens which divide the several
apartments, and which prove to be no obstacle to conversation, if one
desires a colloquy with his neighbor. Our night-lamp was a floating
wick, in a cup of cocoanut oil, placed in a square paper lantern on
legs. The morning toilet was made at a basin of water in the open
court-yard. There are no chairs, tables, or wash-stands, unless you
improvise them. However, we had a very good night's rest, and started
off bright and early in the morning for Nikko.

One is impressed with the manifest fertility of the soil and the high
cultivation it receives at the hands of the farmers; and this must be
characteristic of a country which, as is shown by government statistics,
with but eleven millions of acres under cultivation, feeds and clothes
thirty-five millions of people; besides there are twenty-five milli