476 GLOBE-TROTTING 



liability, nor general roue of his disagreeable cousin in 

 China. This seems to be the universal testimony. 



I much fear that the foregoing pages would have be- 

 trayed tlie globe-trotter, had I not, in my Preface, already 

 confessed to being one. Unlike the Frenchman, who as- 

 serted that he had lived in each of the capitals of the 

 world all his life, I have not spent my days studying 

 au fond every country I have been fortunate enough to 

 get a glimpse of. After all, globe-trotting is no more 

 than the reading of many books instead of the study of 

 one science. And is not to be full of many books or 

 countries an enviable satiety — if, indeed, one ever becomes 

 satiated ? Globe-trotting is not only an interesting occu- 

 pation per se, but if your powers of observation and as- 

 similation are good, your mental book -shelves become 

 gradually filled with 



" A twenty bokes cloathe in blake or rede " 



which never cease to give you pleasure so long as heart 

 (or head) failure can be staved off. 



As I am supposed to be w^'iting on the horse and horse- 

 manship of Japan, I will say, in conclusion, that the gaits 

 of the Japanese horse — i.e., the only one you ever see 

 much of, the army horse — have of lal^ been reduced down 

 to the severity of the British trot. Left to himself, he 

 will naturally amble or rack. The soldiers ride much of 

 the time with two hands, in the ranks and out. One sees 

 a squadron of lancers passing by, and half the men will be 

 using both their hands to guide their horses. How shall 

 they manage sword and lance? Is not this two-handed 

 military riding a contradiction in terms? And yet the 

 habit seems to be growing. Why it is that the nation 

 \vith the least military experience of any of the Great 

 Powers should be able to force her habits on all the others, 



