644 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chav. 



the country, both on Yezo and on the more southerly islands. 

 Implements from this period are now collected assiduously both 

 by natives and Europeans, and have been described by H. von 

 Siebold in a work accompanied by photographic illustrations. 

 In general the implements of the Japanese stone folk have a 

 resemblance to the stone tools still in use among the Eskimo, 

 and even in this fruitful land the primitive race, as the bone 

 remains in the kitchen-middens show, lived at first mainly by 

 huntins and fishino'. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



Excursion to Asamay;una — The Nakasendo road — Takasaki — Difficulty of 

 obtaining quarters for the night — The Baths at Ikaho — Massage in 

 Japan — ^Swedish matches — Travelling in Karjo — Savavatari — Criminals 

 — Kusatsu — The Hot Springs and their healing power — Rest at Roku- 

 riga-hara — The summit of Asamayaiua — The descent — Journey over 

 TJsui-toge — Japanese actors — Pictures of Japanese folk-life— Return 

 to Yokohama. 



On the 2Sth September, early in the morning, accompanied 

 by Lieut. Hovgaard, Herr Bavier, an interpreter, and a Japanese 

 cook skilled in European cookery, I started on a journey to 

 Asamayama. At first we travelled in two very rattling and 

 inconvenient carriages, drawn each by a pair of horses, to the 

 town Takasaki, situated on the great road " Nakasendo," which 

 passes through the interior of the country and connects Tokio 

 and Kioto, Tliis road is considered something grand by the 

 Japanese. In Sweden it would be called an indifferently kept 

 district road. On this road jinrikishas are met in thousands, 

 and a great many horees, oxen, and men, hearing heavy burdens, 

 but with the exception of the posting carriages, by which, for 

 some years back, a regular communication between Tokio and 

 Takasaki has been kept up, not a single wheeled vehicle drawn 

 by horses or oxen ; and though the road passes through an 

 unbroken series of populous villages, surrounded by well culti- 

 vated rice fields and small gardens, there is not a single work- 

 horse or work-ox to be seen. For all the ground in Japan is 

 cultivated by the hand, and there are few cattle. 



Most of the roads in the country consist of foot-paths, so 

 narrow that two laden horses can pass each other only with 

 difficulty. Goods are therefore carried; where there is no canal 

 or river, for the most part by men. The plains are extraordin- 

 arily well cultivated, and we must specially admire the industry 

 with which water-courses have been cut and the uneven slopes 

 changed into level terraces. 



