and her daughter, a pretty young creature, who was called by the French residents of Yokohama the handsome Spaniard. It was near to this house that the unfortunate Richardson was assassinated. He was dying, but managed to get to the house, where he was well known, and asked for something to drink. The kind courageous girl troubled herself nothing about the assassins being present, but no doubt well remembering the friendly salute which Richardson had given her on passing in the freshness of youth not many minutes before, she brought him a cup of water, which he drank with the feverish anxiety of a man who had received his death wound. A little afterwards he expired. The girl went and found a mat and covered his body with it. At the same moment some soldiers, forming the escort of the Prince of Satzuma, passed by, they kicked away the inanimate body of Mr. Richardson, and commenced mutilating it, and then threw it as a loathsome object into a neighbouring field. The girl followed it, and covered the mutilated remains a second time, and it was in this condition that M. du Chesne de Bellecourt, the French minister, Messrs. Vyse and de Graeff van Polsbruck, the English and Dutch consuls, found it.

In the garden at the back of the halfway house there is an eminence from which is a view of the gulf of Yeddo. Before us lay this -magnificent sheet of water, and to our right was the port of Yokohama. About twenty European ships were lying at their anchors; a steamboat plying rapidly dashed into the midst of them; it was the Yangtse, Mr. Dent's famous boat, which every European resident in China and Japan knows and loves, because full often has she brought them news from the West two days sooner than any other vessel from Hongkong or Shanghai.

It appears that the best steamers are built for the Chinese and Japanese seas that England and America can produce, and the great mercantile houses of Hongkong and Shanghai rival each other in having the fastest boat. Many of these vessels cost enormous sums;

there is not one but what is laden with some hundred tons of merchandise, and has cost her proprietors above £80,000; but the service between Hongkong and Shanghai is done with wonderful regularity, and this, too, in spite of the severe hurricanes which visit that navigation.

From the halfway house a well made road soon led us to Kavasaki. The road which crossed the rice-fields is crossed towards the end by a small river, over which is thrown a wooden bridge. The few peasants that we met at this early hour did not take much notice of us, but the presence of our escort inspired them with some respect: they all hastened to remove their hats as soon as they saw us, and did not attempt to replace them until we were well past them. A single peasant, either intentionally or not, forgot, and looked at us as we passed his head enveloped in a large handkerchief. One of our officers approached him quickly and gave him a violent blow de cravache on the head and spoke to him angrily. The poor man immediately threw himself on his knees, bare headed in a moment, imploring pardon. Certainly in

no country in the world as in Japan is so strict an attention paid to civil manners of etiquette and polite attention. This explains in some measure the good will of the Japanese character, and above all the good manners which their political system enjoins, and which is one purely feudal and belonging to empire. Respect due to nobility is the religion of Japan. But it is both intolerant and fanatic, and has its martyrs and victims. Japanese history supplies abundance of examples which prove that every noble (samourai) must be ready to sacrifice his life to take that of him who offends his sovereign. Here is a case. A functionary of high rank having been insulted by one of his colleagues, retired from court, and after making his will committed suicide in the midst of his family. A certain number of his friends, become celebrated in Japanese history, undertook to avenge him. They went by night to the palace of the person who had caused the death of their chief, massacred a large number of his servants, and obtained possession of the person of his enemy, and without hesitation struck off his head. Then they placed the bloody trophy on the tomb of him whom they had sworn to revenge. On the following morning they assembled round the same tomb, and after making a long oration to the manes of their chief, and pronounced a short prayer, each of them drew his sabre, ripped open his bowels, and died on the spot. This story, called the history of the thirty-five lonines, is popular in Japan. Every child knows it by heart and has learnt to admire it. True or not it proves that they are a people who can glory in the sentiment of personal honour to the highest degree. Thus an insult is a most grave affair in Japan. Great care is taken not to give unnecessary offence, and in all the relations of life a studied and even exaggerated politeness is observed. Hence it naturally follows that an act of incivility being most rare, is at the same time more serious in Japan than elsewhere, a want of courtesy is equivalent to an insult, and a man who is badly brought up in respect of manners is looked on as a dangerous person if not a criminal.

Kavasaki is a large town, probably about six miles round. The houses are handsome, mostly new, a fire having recently destroyed a great part of the old buildings. We passed the post and the town-hall, the residence of an officer with the rank of vice-governor, and performing the office of mayor. A little beyond it we met one of the couriers who do the duty of the post in Japan. Winter as it then was these men are seen when they are on duty almost naked: they have nothing on but a narrow girdle of white cotton round the loins and straw sandals on their feet. The shoes of the Japanese are very extraordinary things: a pair of common sandals, such as is used in travelling, do not even cost a halfpenny. They are soon worn out and as soon replaced. A great number of them may be seen for sale by the roadside, and beggars even do not take the trouble to pick them up. The courier carries a bamboo pole on his left shoulder, to one end of it is attached a box sealed up containing the letters and a paper lantern hangs to the other, on which are painted the arms of the prince in whose service he is employed. In his right hand he

carries a bell, and in balancing his arms as he goes along he rings it at short but regular intervals. It answers the purpose of a horn. On being heard at a station which is the end of a course, the next courier for service prepares to start immediately. He receives the packet of letters that is brought and is off with a bound. The Japanese post, served in this manner, runs a distance of 125 miles in the twenty-four hours. The ordinary post, however, does not travel so fast, for to have a letter from Nagasaki to Yokohama, eight days are required, although the distance is only 700 miles. The Japanese couriers are strong and well built, they have pliant joints, shoulders back, they skim the ground with their feet and blow hard in breathing.

At the skirts of Kavasuai, by the banks of a small river, the Lokoungo, which falls into the gulf of Yeddo, there is a tavern (tschaja) which, like the halfway house, is well known to the visitors of Yokohama. The Lokoungo forms the boundary of the free territory. Kavasaki is the last village on the coast of Yeddo which foreigners are allowed to visit, and as in the environs there is a very curious temple, and the tscha-ja is well kept, those who reside at Yokohama come here frequently, and sometimes in a numerous and merry company. They are received of course with open arms, for they pay without consideration or knowing anything when the landlord presents his bill but now we were no longer among the welcome. The mayor of Kavasaki, acting no doubt according to instructions which he had received from high quarters, did not choose to allow the tsdjins (men of the West) to be on such familiar terms with the people of the village. He has forbidden their spending money there, and the tscha-ja is not only placed under a strict surveillance, but is subject to an extraordinary tax, so heavy that the proprietors, desirous enough otherwise of seeing foreigners, rather suffer than profit by their presence. So the old lady who keeps the tavern at Kavasaki, is obliged, against her wish, to suspend all those attractions which make her house desirable. The active young attendants who busied themselves in 1859 in ministering to the stranger's comforts, are now replaced by old hags, who regard us with a suspicious look, and trouble themselves very little about attending to us.

Near Kavasaki stands the large temple of Daisi-Gnavara-Hegensi, reckoned among the most beautiful in Japan. It is an ancient building, covered with a large roof, ornamented with handsome and curious sculpture, standing in the middle of an extensive paved court, and surrounded by a thick grove of trees. Like most Buddhist temples, the interior much resembles Catholic edifices. The chief altar has next to it a sanctuary, approached by much circuitous walking, and has right and left of it other altars with gilded wooden images, many among them with an aureole (gloria) which connects their heads and the clouds which receive their feet, and are, in fact, copies of our virgins and saints. The ex-voto cover the walls. Near the entrance door stands a man who sells images, medals, chaplets, and printed prayers: he involuntarily reminded us of our gift of

the holy water. The floor was covered by mats of remarkable cleanliness, and here and there were seen the monks which belong to the monastery of the temple, their heads shaved and their clothes similar to those of Catholic priests. Gene- rally speaking it is difficult not to admit when one sees a Japanese temple that there are numerous points of resemblance between the religion of the East and the West. The tenets of the Japanese are surprising: if their devotion is sincere, one must acknowledge that they are not much restrained by very severe external forms. Those who came into Daisi with us both laughed and talked loud, called to us from one end of the temple to the other to direct our attention to any particular object, and made noisy comments when we made remarks or asked questions. At length, tired of following us, they crouched round a brazier and began drinking tea and smoking. I then approached a monk who since we had entered was officiating, and who had scarcely turned his head to look at us. Kneeling before a large low table, covered with fruit and grain, he was murmuring his prayers, and feeding the fire, in an antique bronze vase, with small pieces of wood and drops of odoriferous oil; from time to time, also, he took leaves or grain, which he threw into the flames. He was a young man, of good figure and intelligent features, as are often seen in Japan. He was dressed in a long white robe and wore the сариchon, so that he was a monk of the Carthusian order. On leaving the temple we were accosted by a fat bonze, who appeared to be the superior of the community, and who with a good grace invited us into the refectory to take some refreshment.

At the door of the temple of Daisi some leprous mendicants, lame and of a most pitiable appearance, 'surrounded us, imploring our charity. Generally there is but little of the kind in Japan: their mode of living costs so little that even beggars themselves are scarcely reduced to distress: moreover the Japanese, it appears to me, without having much compassion about them, are tolerably generous with their alms. Beggars are seldom met in the streets or high roads; but almost always seen about the doors of the temples. They call attention by uttering a plaintive cry, reciting certain forms of prayer, or by making a noise with a wooden hammer against a varnished bowl, which is placed before them. They belong to a particular class, and are looked on to a certain extent as impure. Filth and deformities render them so repulsive that they excite more disgust than pity. Many leprous subjects may be seen among them as well as blind; and a great many of them are deformed hideously by elephantiasis. Before coming to the little river Lokoungo above mentioned, it was necessary to pass a door guarded by a police station. Here they examined our passports, and then took us with our horses in the ferryboat to the other side of the river-the Yeddo territory. The approaches to the capital have some peculiar character in all parts of the world. The roads became animated with more life and gaiety, the houses were larger and richer in appearance, and ornamented with taste and luxury. Even the animals seemed to be better orna

mented in the vicinity of the great centre of civilization. The same traits of character distinguish Yeddo. The road from Kavasaki, and which is about eight miles long, is even tended with greater care than that of Kanagava. Handsome houses, connected together by large gardens, formed a line scarcely interrupted by villages and small

towns.

At Omiri we stopped, according to European custom, at the principal tscha-ja of the place. This is a charming tea-house. Nice modest young dainsels, who were well brought up, were in attendance there with refreshments for the travellers; they had seen me in 1860 in company with poor Heusken, who had frequently visited them, and they spoke to me of his death with deep regret.

In the vicinity of Omiri we met the cortege of a daimio or feudal prince. At this appearance our Japanese guards appeared somewhat disconcerted, and would have taken us into a cross road in order to let the cortege pass. But as the road was very wide and we could continue our journey without inconvenience to any one, we refused to comply with this proposal. It is known that Mr. Richardson was massacred on the occasion of meeting a daimio; but it should not be forgotten that this rencontre took place on a narrow confined road, and that Mr. Richardson and his companions, involuntarily no doubt, occasioned some trouble to the order of the cortege.

We saw the imposing escort of the powerful Prince of Fossokowa pass along from the capital of his province. Two men walked first, without covering on the head, notwithstanding the heat of the sun. They called out at short intervals on the road the word stanicco, which announced to any one on the road the approach of one of his masters. To this announcement a respectful silence is paid all round: work is ceased, many houses are shut up, and the owners hasten to retire to them; beasts of burden are ranged along the sides of the road or even on the heights in the fields, the travellers go down on their knees and wait, with the forehead bent to the ground, till the norrimon of the prince has passed. Behind the heralds follow some forty soldiers, some armed with muskets, others with lances, and all with two sabres in their girdle. The iron of the lances and the barrels of the muskets were covered in solid leather cases, on which were painted the arms of the Prince of Fossokowa

It is in virtue of a wise law that the arms are thus covered. The Japanese being of all people the most polished in manners, the custom of using arms is the most refined, for they have been compelled to adopt severe measures for the purpose of preventing as much as possible the ill effects of this dangerous custom. Unless it is in a case of legitimate defence, no one is permitted in the street to draw his sabre without incurring the most serious penalties: any one who does so risks being condemned to death, after having been declared to be deprived of his rank. In Satzouma, a province to the South, in which the people have the character of being fiery and quarrelsome, the law is severer still. Should a man draw his sabre in public, whatever may be the motive, against any one, he is not permitted to