DESCRIPTION OF HAKODADI. 437 



presents a pleasing contrast to the bolder and more barren aspect of the higher acclivities and 

 summits of the surrounding hills. The town thus appears to be nestling in repose under the 

 cover of -the shade of the trees in the midst of a scene of rural beauty, while all around in the 

 distance is the wild, bleak massiveness of nature. A low, sandy isthmus^ scantily verdant here 

 and there with a few patches of kitchen gardens, connects the peninsula upon which the houses 

 are built to the main land. Coarse, hard rocks of trachyte, thrown up by volcanic agency, 

 separate the alluvial sand from the mountainous region in the interior, and add to the wildness 

 of the scene. The Japanese have quarried the rocks here and there, and various hewn surfaces, 

 with cut blocks lying about, prove the art and busy industry of the people. These quarries 

 supply them with stone for constructing their sea walls, jetties, dykes, foundations for their 

 houses, and other building purposes. 



The town contains over a thousand houses, which mostly stretch along in one main 

 thoroughfare near the seaside, while the remainder, forming two or three parallel streets, hang 

 upon the ascent of the hill in the rear. Every one on board the ships who had visited 

 Gibraltar was struck with the resemblance of Hakodadi, from its position and general aspect, 

 to that fixmous fortified town. There was the isolated hill, on the base and acclivity of which 

 the houses were built corresponding to the rock of Gibraltar ; there was the low neck of land 

 reaching to the elevated region beyond, like the neutral ground which separates the English 

 fortresr! from the Spanish territory, and a receding country and capacious bay surrounding 

 Hakodadi, as well as Gibraltar, to strengthen the resemblance between the two. Moreover, the 

 position of the Japanese town on the Strait of Sangar, with the high land of Nippon and its 

 towns of Say and Mimaga at the south, like that of Gibraltar, overlooking the narrow channel 

 which connects the Atlantic and Mediterranean and commands the opposite and elevated coast 

 of Africa, with the towns of Tangier and Ceuta clothing its heights, served to confirm the 

 similarity of features with which every one whose travelled experience allowed of comparison 

 was greatly impressed. 



Hakodadi belongs to the imperial fief of Matsmai, and is the largest town on the island of 

 Yesso, with the exception of Matsmai, from which it is distant about thirty miles in an easterly 

 direction. An excellent road not far from the seacoast connects the two places, and a large 

 trade is carried on between them and by both with several small towns on the island of Nijipon, 

 on the southern side of the Strait of Sangar, or, as it should be jjroperly called, Tsugara. 



The town of Hakodadi is regularly built, with streets running at right angles with each 

 other. They are between thirty and forty feet in width, and are carefully macadamized to 

 allow of the proper draining of water. There are open gutters on each side, which receive the 

 drippings of the houses and the washings of the street, and also well constructed sewers through 

 which the surplus water and the refuse are poured into the bay. The side walks, which are 

 frequently paved, are curbed with stone planted on edge as with us, but as no wheeled carriages 

 are found in the town, the middle of the street is used indiscriminately in dry weather by the 

 pedestrian. Hakodadi, like all the Japanese towns, is remarkably clean, the streets being 

 suitably constructed for draining, and kept, by constant sprinkling and sweeping, in a neat 

 and healthful condition. Wooden picket fences with gates cross the streets at short intervals ; 

 these are opened for the passage of the people during the day, but closed at night. The 

 same municipal regulations obtain in Hakodadi as in all the other towns of Japan ; the 

 inhabitants of the several streets form so many separate communities, as it were, responsible 



