C62 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [riiAr. xvn. 



into the bottomless deeps, we commenced our return journey. 

 At first we took the same way as during the ascent, but after- 

 wards held off to the right, down a much steeper and more 

 difficult path than we had traversed before. The mountain side 

 had here a slope of nearly forty-five degrees, and consisted of a 

 quite loose volcanic sand, not bound together by any vegetable 

 carjGfet. It would therefore have been scarcely possible to ascend 

 to the summit of the mountain this way, but we went rapidly 

 downwards, often at a dizzy speed, but without other incon- 

 venience than that one now and then fell flat and rolled head- 

 foremost down the steep slopes, and that our shoes were completely 

 torn to tatters by the angular lava gravel. Above the mountain- 

 top the sky was clear of clouds, but between it and the surface 

 of the earth there spread out a thick layer of cloud which seen 

 from above resembled a boundless storm-tossed sea, full of 

 foaming breakers. The extensive view we would otherwise have 

 had of the neighbouring mountain ridges from the top of Asa- 

 mayama was thus concealed. Only here and there an opening 

 was foi-med in the cloud, resembling a sun-spot, through which 

 we got a glimpse of the underlying landscape. When we came 

 to the foot of the mountain we long followed a ridge, covered 

 with greenery, formed of an immense stream of lava, which had 

 issued from an opening in the mountain side now refilled. This 

 had probably taken place during the tremendous eruption of 

 1783, when not only enormous lava-streams destroyed forests and 

 villages at the foot of the mountain, but the whole of the neigh- 

 bouring region between Oiwake and Usui-toge, previously fertile^ 

 was changed by an ash-rain into an extensive waste. Across 

 this large plain, infertile and little cultivated, situated at a 

 height of 980 metres above the sea, we went without a guide 

 to the village Oiwake, where we lodged for the night at an inn 

 by the side of the road Nakasendo, one of the cleanest and best 

 kept of the many well-kept inns I saw during our journey in 

 the interior of the country. 



Hence I sent a messenger on foot to Takasaki to order a 

 carriage to Tokio, A former samurai undertook for a payment 

 of three yen (about 12s.) to carry the message. Oiwake is indeed 

 situated on the great road Nakasendo, but it can here only with 

 difficulty be traversed by carriages, because between this village 

 and Takasaki it is necessary to go over the pass Usui-toge, where 

 the road, though lowered considerably of late, rises to a height 

 of 1200 metres. We therefore here used jinrikishas, a mode of 

 conveyance very agreeable to tourists, which, though introduced 

 only recently, has already spread to all parts of the country. 



Every one with an open eye for the beauties of nature and 

 interest in the life and manners of a foreign people, must find a 

 journey in a, jinrildsha over Usui-toge pleasant in a high degree. 



