312 MODIQRN JAl'AN. 



Miaco, or Kioto, its native naiue, situated in the 



centre of Nipon, which he never left, liis person heirii^ 



supposed too saci'ed to l)e exposed to the })u})]ic ^aze 



beyond the precmcts of liis palace walls. The true 



sovereign was the Tyc^x'"? invested by the Mikado 



as his generalissimo or alter eyo. He and tlie Daniios, 



the independent princes, had their residence at 



Yeddo. All these di militaries have, within the last 



twenty years, been swept away by revolution, and now 



the Mikado reigns supreme at the castle of Yeddo, 



frequently making long journeys into the interior, to 



learn with his own eyes and ears the wants of his 



subjects, and is suppoi'ted by I'esponsible ministers 



carrying out the enlightened views of their Royal 



master. The change within a comparatively short 



time has thus been tremendous, not only politically, 



but also socially. Who would have been so bold as to 



predict a dozen years ago, that the Mikado would 



actually attend a banquet, given in the autumn of 



1879 l)y three Japanese scientific societies, to the 



Swedish explorer of the North-east Passage, nay, 



that he would personally toast Professor Nordensk- 



jold, complimenting him Tipon his success ? The 



entire country has, in fact, become Europeanized in 



every way ; and, I am sorry to say, the people in 



the principal ports have even abandoned their pic- 



