_IN THE EAST INDIES. 213 
pinks, lavenders, whites and yellows, all blossoms 
measuring fourteen inches across; I hope they will 
be fine next year. 
From Kyoto we went to Nara and saw a fine old 
Shinto temple and beautiful avenues of huge eryp- 
tomerias and old moss-covered stone lanterns. It was 
a most fascinating place, with herds of deer every- 
where and so tame that they would eat out of your 
hands. The next place was Nagoya, famous for its 
old castle with two gold dragons eight feet high up on 
the roof, worth thirty-eight thousand pounds each. 
Then we went to Gifu, a small town, and put up at a 
Japanese inn, where we were most comfortable, sleep- 
ing on the floor on silk comforters — far more pleas- 
ant, I can assure you, than iron beds with frightful 
springs and mattresses stuffed with old junk, which 
you find in the so-called European hotels here. We 
hired a tent house boat, all lighted up with colored 
lanterns, and about nine o’clock in the evening one 
dark night we paddled up a stream to a place where 
we saw six or seven boats fishing with cormorants. It 
was a very interesting sight and most unusual. A 
large eresset is hung over the bow of the boat and a 
man stands near it with reins leading to his birds (in 
the water) in his hands, which he keeps most skilfully 
untangled as the birds twist and turn and dive about 
chasing the fish. There is a small ring around the 
bird’s neck, thus preventing his swallowing what he 
catches; when his neck is full of fish he is drawn into 
the boat and made to disgorge, and then thrown into 
the water again. Birds and men both equally enjoy 
the sport. It is a weird sight to see them come float- 
ing down the river fishing thus. From Gifu we went 
