658 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [ciia;-. 



finding it impossible to walk. It is also cured completely in 

 very severe cases, by baths, ammonia applied inwardly, castor-oil, 

 Peruvian bark, &c, A third type of this ailment is the bone- 

 disease, kaklce , which is exceedingly common in Japan, and is 

 believed to be caused by unvarying food and want of exercise. 

 It is very obstinate, but is often cured in two or three years 

 with chloride of iron, albumen, change of diet from the common 

 Japanese to the European, with red wine, milk, bread, vegetables, 

 &c. This disease begins with a swelling in the legs, then the 

 skin becomes insensible, first on the legs, next on the stomach, 

 the face, and the wrists. Then the swelling falls, fever comes on, 

 and death takes place. There are besides, certain wells for 

 curing rheumatism, for which from two to three years are 

 required ; for eye-diseases and for headache, the latter playing an 

 important part among the illnesses that are cured at Kusatsu. 

 It principally attacks women between twenty and thirty years 

 of age. One of the Kusatsu wells acts very beneficially in 

 this case. Its water is conducted to a special bathing- shed 

 open to the street, intended exclusively for the men and 

 women who suffer from this disease. 



Many of the baths at Kusatsu are taken so hot that special 

 precautions must be adopted before one steps down into the 

 water. These consist in winding cotton cloths round those parts 

 of the body which are most sensitive, and in causing the body to 

 perspire strongly before the bath is taken, which is done by the 

 bathers with cries and shouts and with certain movements 

 stirring the water in the basin with large heavy boards. They 

 then all step down into the bath and up again simultaneously at 

 a sign given by the physician sitting at the back of the bathing- 

 shed. Without this arrangement it would perhaps be difficult 

 to get the patients to go into the bath, for agreeable it could not 

 be, to judge from the grave faces of the bathers and the fire-red 

 colour of their bodies when they come out. 



The baths are under open sheds. Men and women all bathe 

 in common, and in presence of both male and female spectators. 

 They make their remarks without reserve on the diseases of the 

 patients, even if they are of that sort about which one would 

 not speak willingly even to his physician. Often tiie bath-basin 

 is not fenced off in any way, except that it is protected from 

 rain and sunshine by a roof resting on four posts. In such cases 

 the bathers dress and undress in the street. 



In consequence of the situation of Kusatsu at a height of 

 1050 metres above the sea, the winter there is very cold and 

 windy. The town is then abandoned not only by the visitors to 

 the baths, but also by most of the other inhabitants. Already, 

 at the time of our visit, the number of bathers remaining was 

 only inconsiderable. Even these were prejaaring to depart. 



