ing" each other in musical tones; the
encouraging voice of the driver to his jaded ox; and the warning "a--a"
of the _ricksha_ man; these are the music of the streets in "the land of
the rising sun."

The city can boast in the possession of several very fine and extensive
parks, that in which the Naval College is situate being one of the
largest. Here the youthful Japanese officers of the navy were educated
by English instructors in all the branches and requirements of the
modern naval service, and some of the work we saw in the different parts
of the building shews that the Japanese have become thorough masters of
the technicalities, and no mean adepts at their practical application.
All the foreign instructors--except one--have now been discharged, the
Japanese feeling themselves strong enough to walk alone in naval
matters. That one exception is a chief gunner's mate, who so rarely uses
the English language that, on conversing with us, he had frequently to
pause to consider what words he should make use of, and even then his
English was broken, and spoken just as a native would speak it.

On the return ride to Yokohama I was fortunate enough to find myself
seated next a gentleman who has been resident in Japan upwards of
twenty-five years, during which period he has travelled throughout the
length and breadth of the empire. As may be imagined he was a repository
of much valuable and varied information. He could hoist out facts and
figures as easily as you would fling a weevily biscuit to leeward. From
his conversation with me I gained much knowledge about Japan, which it
was impossible I could have acquired in any other way, and all of which
I have embodied in various parts of this narrative.

The manner in which the natural taste is assimilating itself to European
ideas appears more evident when one comes to observe the hundreds of
Japanese who take advantage of the railway. Stop at what station you
like, you will find the platform suddenly alive with gaily dressed and
clogged passengers, on pleasure bent, loaded with toys or wares that
have been purchased, in the gay capital.

A few days after the above events the Japanese squadron of smart
corvettes, and the large ironclad "Foo-soo" (Great Japan, as we say
Great Britain,) got under way and proceeded to sea. It was rumoured that
the mikado was to have accompanied in his yacht, and in anticipation of
his embarkation all the men-of-war in harbour dressed ship, tho