412 



EXPEDITION rO JAPAN. 



culture of the fields that surround the busy hamlets at the bottom. Where the beholder standa 

 on the summit of the hill there is a small wooden shrine, almost hidden in a grove of pines. 

 The numerous pictures, flowers, rags, copper cash, and decapitated queues found within, attest 

 the popularity of the Zhi-zo-bozats, the deity of the place. 



"^^ 



'^'^ dk.'i^-^^SS 



Valley above Himoda. 



Descending the hill by its northwestern slope, the largest valley of the country round is 

 entered. The river Inodzu-gama, which flows into the harbor of Simoda, passes through this, 

 irrigating the cultivated banks and sustaining the commerce of the various villages and towns 

 in the interior. The hamlet of Hongo, containing about one hundred and fifty houses, is 

 situated on the river, which has been dammed at that spot, and turns five undershot mills for 

 cleaning rice. This operation is performed by a very simple machine, which consists of a 

 projecting piece of wood or stone attached at right angles to the end of a long lever, which 

 plays upon a horizontal axis, and is moved up and down, like a pestle working in a mortar. 



This rude machinery is occasionally worked by water, as at Hongo, but more frequently by a 

 man, who steps alternately off and on, the long cud of the beam. Tlio river at Hongo is 

 navigable for flat bottomed boats, Avhich frequent the place for charcoal, grain, stone, and other 

 products. The country about is beautifully diversified, and the culture of the land is carried on 

 to an extent that Avould liardly be believed by one who was not familiar with the populous 

 countries of the east. Every hill is but a succession of terraces, rising one above the other, from 

 tho 1)aso to the sununit, and green with the growth of rice, barley, wheat, and other grain. 



