OUDAWARA. 345 



and warm saki, — a concoction of rice distilled like the 

 sam-chow of China, completed our meal for which a very 

 small sum was charged. We then started afresh, and 

 at three in the afternoon anived at the pretty village 

 of Oudawara ; here we had to abandon the carriage and 

 continue our route in kaengos. These were procured, 

 two of them, for the munificent hire of three dollars, in- 

 cluding bearers ; in exchange I received a receipt in 

 Japanese, a perfect piece of caligraphy (Plate XXV.) ; 

 also porters were engaged to carry our traps and pro- 

 visions. The narrow proportions of the soi-disant palki 

 did not take my fancy, and with very little interrup- 

 tion I walked the whole way, occupying three hours, 

 and immensely enjoyed the marvellous scenery we 

 passed through. 



On leaving the village the noise of roaring waves in- 

 timated our proximity to the sea, and right in front of 

 us a very broad river barred the way ; this we crossed 

 by a succession of small bridges, five in number, and 

 then followed its bank along a narrow valley bounded 

 by magnificent mountain scenery, wilder and more im- 

 posing than any I can remember, even in Switzerland. 

 After half an hour's trudging, all the while gazing 

 around in sheer amazement, and regretting the want of 

 time to commit my impressions to paper, we branched 

 off to the right into a deep gorge, down which came 



