XVII.] 



ON THE EOAD TO ASA]\IAYAMA. 



659 



During tlie second night that we passed at Kusatsu, our night's 

 rest was disturbed by a hjud noise from the next room. It was 

 a visitor who was to leave the place the following morning, and 

 who now celebrated his recovery with sciki (rice-brandy) and 

 string music. 



The environs of Kusatsu are nearly uncultivated, though the 

 vegetation is exceedingly luxuriant. It consists partly of bam- 

 boo thickets, partly of a high rich grass, above which rise solitary 

 pines, mixed with a few oaks or chestnuts. 



On the 3rd October we continued our journey to the foot of 

 Asamayama. The road was very bad, so that even the kago 

 bearers had difficulty in getting along. It first ran across two 



^t^^.^:$:^ 



%^% 







.5% 



BATH AT KUSATSU. 



valleys more than 300 feet deep, occupied with close, luxuriant, 

 bushy thickets. We then came to an elevated plain of great, 

 extent covered with unmown grass, studded with beautiful oaks 

 and chestnuts. The plain was not turned to any account, though 

 thousands of the industrious population could find an abundant, 

 living there by tending cattle. Farther up the oaks and chest- 

 nuts were mixed with a few birches, resembling those at homo, 

 and we came next to complete deserts, where the ground consisted' 

 of lava blocks and lava gravel, scarcely covered by any grass,, 

 and yielding nourishment only to solitary pines. This continued 

 to the place — Roki.riga-hara — where we were to pass the night, 



u u 2 



