Unbeaten Tracks in Japan | Page 5

nothing near or far to detract from its height and
grandeur. No wonder that it is a sacred mountain, and so dear to the
Japanese that their art is never weary of representing it. It was nearly
fifty miles off when we first saw it.
The air and water were alike motionless, the mist was still and pale,
grey clouds lay restfully on a bluish sky, the reflections of the white

sails of the fishing-boats scarcely quivered; it was all so pale, wan, and
ghastly, that the turbulence of crumpled foam which we left behind us,
and our noisy, throbbing progress, seemed a boisterous intrusion upon
sleeping Asia.
The gulf narrowed, the forest-crested hills, the terraced ravines, the
picturesque grey villages, the quiet beach life, and the pale blue masses
of the mountains of the interior, became more visible. Fuji retired into
the mist in which he enfolds his grandeur for most of the summer; we
passed Reception Bay, Perry Island, Webster Island, Cape Saratoga,
and Mississippi Bay--American nomenclature which perpetuates the
successes of American diplomacy--and not far from Treaty Point came
upon a red lightship with the words "Treaty Point" in large letters upon
her. Outside of this no foreign vessel may anchor.
The bustle among my fellow-passengers, many of whom were
returning home, and all of whom expected to be met by friends, left me
at leisure, as I looked at unattractive, unfamiliar Yokohama and the
pale grey land stretched out before me, to speculate somewhat sadly on
my destiny on these strange shores, on which I have not even an
acquaintance. On mooring we were at once surrounded by crowds of
native boats called by foreigners sampans, and Dr. Gulick, a near
relation of my Hilo friends, came on board to meet his daughter,
welcomed me cordially, and relieved me of all the trouble of
disembarkation. These sampans are very clumsy-looking, but are
managed with great dexterity by the boatmen, who gave and received
any number of bumps with much good nature, and without any of the
shouting and swearing in which competitive boatmen usually indulge.
The partially triangular shape of these boats approaches that of a
salmon-fisher's punt used on certain British rivers. Being floored gives
them the appearance of being absolutely flat-bottomed; but, though
they tilt readily, they are very safe, being heavily built and fitted
together with singular precision with wooden bolts and a few copper
cleets. They are SCULLED, not what we should call rowed, by two or
four men with very heavy oars made of two pieces of wood working on
pins placed on outrigger bars. The men scull standing and use the thigh

as a rest for the oar. They all wear a single, wide-sleeved, scanty, blue
cotton garment, not fastened or girdled at the waist, straw sandals, kept
on by a thong passing between the great toe and the others, and if they
wear any head- gear, it is only a wisp of blue cotton tied round the
forehead. The one garment is only an apology for clothing, and
displays lean concave chests and lean muscular limbs. The skin is very
yellow, and often much tattooed with mythical beasts. The charge for
sampans is fixed by tariff, so the traveller lands without having his
temper ruffled by extortionate demands.
The first thing that impressed me on landing was that there were no
loafers, and that all the small, ugly, kindly-looking, shrivelled,
bandy-legged, round-shouldered, concave-chested, poor-looking beings
in the streets had some affairs of their own to mind. At the top of the
landing-steps there was a portable restaurant, a neat and most compact
thing, with charcoal stove, cooking and eating utensils complete; but it
looked as if it were made by and for dolls, and the mannikin who kept
it was not five feet high. At the custom-house we were attended to by
minute officials in blue uniforms of European pattern and leather boots;
very civil creatures, who opened and examined our trunks carefully,
and strapped them up again, contrasting pleasingly with the insolent
and rapacious officials who perform the same duties at New York.
Outside were about fifty of the now well-known jin-ti-ki-shas, and the
air was full of a buzz produced by the rapid reiteration of this uncouth
word by fifty tongues. This conveyance, as you know, is a feature of
Japan, growing in importance every day. It was only invented seven
years ago, and already there are nearly 23,000 in one city, and men can
make so much more by drawing them than by almost any kind of
skilled labour, that thousands of fine young men desert agricultural
pursuits and flock into the towns to make draught-animals of
themselves, though it is said that the average duration of a man's life
after he takes to running is only five