The Days of a Ma?i 1900 



for themselves and thus die of drink and general 



problem 



ficult misery --not an easy question to answer. Having 



tried both methods- -public support and persistent 

 neglect - - on our own aborigines through "a century 

 of dishonor," we Americans can hardly say which of 

 the two is the more disastrous! 



Edomo was my "farthest north," and I turned 

 back to Mororan with the feeling that "'summer is 

 over and the wild goose flies south." Meanwhile 

 Otaki, never idle, had found a boy with a rude 

 dredge which could be used to scrape the bottom; 

 as a forlorn hope we went out with him. The result 

 Crowded was most surprising. The sea-wrack was crowded 



sea-wrack w i tn lif^ an( J we soon g Qt a bucketful of little 



blennies, four of them new to science. 



The next day, in Hakodate, I met the only incivility 

 I ever encountered in Japan. Presuming on the 

 unfailing good nature of the market people (as I had 

 often done before), I took up an empty tray from a 

 pile near by, to carry some specimens to the stall 

 where I had left those previously selected. But be- 

 fore I had gone far a young fellow came along, 

 savagely yanked the tray out of my hands while I 

 tried to explain, and threw the fishes into the air in 

 furious rage. This outburst plainly shocked the 

 other folk, who deferentially picked up everything, 

 without a word, and put them on a fresh tray. 



From Hakodate we once more crossed the pic- 

 turesque Straits of Tsugaru, stopping at Aomori only 

 long enough to visit - - under Miss Babcock's guid- 

 ance - - the home of a deceased daimyo, some of 



I 60 3 



