rtly furnished in European style with tables, chairs,
Brussels carpets, &c. The dinner was European in the arrangement of
dishes, wines, and speeches. The dishes and wines were abundant and
in great variety. The company were very merry, and the host appeared
to be greatly pleased, when I mentioned that at one of the places
which I had seen that day I saw a wall adorned by a motto of his
composition. He immediately promised to write a similar one on me
with reference to my visit to the town, and when a few moments after
he had the first line ready, he invited his Japanese guests to write
the second. They tried for a good while with merry jests to hit upon
some suitable conclusion, but in vain. Early the following morning
Mr. Koba-Yaschi came to me, bringing with him a broad strip of silk
on which the following was pencilled in bold, nobly-formed
characters:

Umi hara-no-hate-made
Akiva-Sumi-watare,

which when translated runs thus:

"As far as the sea extends
The autumn moon spreads her beneficent light."

According to the explanation which I received the piece points out
that the autumn moon spreads her beneficent rays as far as to that
place in the high north where we wintered. After the above-quoted
verse came the following addition in Japanese: "Written by Machimura
Masanavo, Governor of Kioto-Fu, to Professor Nordenskioeld, on the
occasion of a dinner given to him during the autumn of 1879." The
whole besides was signed with the author's common, as well as his
poetical, name, and had his seal attached. His poetical name was
RIO-SAN, which may be literally translated "Dragon-Mountain."

The poetry of the Japanese is so unlike that of the Western nations
that we find it difficult to comprehend the productions of the
Japanese poets. Perhaps they ought more correctly to be called
poetical mottoes. They play a great part in the intellectual life of
the Japanese. Their authors are highly esteemed, and even in the
homes of the poorer classes the walls are often ornamented with
strips of silk or paper on which poems are written in large, bold,
pencil characters. Among the books I brought home with me are many
which contain collections of the writings of private poets and
poetesses, or selections from the most famous of the productions of
Japanese literature in this department. A roll of drawings which
turned up very often represents the sorrowful fate of a famous
poetess. First of all she is depicted