116 BOARD OF AGRICULTUEE. [Jan. 



For a glimpse of Japanese scenery fresh from nature's 

 hand, nothing can surpass a journey through the Island of 

 Yezo. There we spent weeks and months among her grand 

 volcanic mountains, her luxuriant vine-draped forests, in her 

 fertile valleys, and along her rugged, precipitous coasts, — 

 traversing the best highways the empire could boast, and the 

 most devious and nearly impassable trails and bridle-paths 

 the mind can conceive. Not the least of the fascinations 

 which draw me back to those familiar scenes comes from the 

 zest which a strong flavor of adventure and danger inspired ; 

 while the wonders of nature's laboratory there displayed are 

 perhaps unequalled in few places outside our own Yellow- 

 stone Park. 



But not alone in Tokio, the treasuried capital, which 

 natives love and travellers delight in, nor in its suburban 

 scenes enriched by the landscape gardener's art, nor yet in 

 the primeval grandeur of the unfrequented north, does the 

 memory most revel in. The interior of old Japan presents 

 a type of domestic scenery surrounding the humble peasantry, 

 of quaint and simple beauty. Cosily and most comfortably 

 seated in that dainty two- wheeled vehicle, the jinrikisha, 

 or " man-power carriage," a sprite of human form and pro- 

 portions whisks you along over narrow and devious paths, 

 through a strange medley of man's and nature's patchwork, 

 — of pines and palms, of rice fields and fragrant buckwheat, 

 of elm and bamboo groves, of tea and cotton fields. 



Through azalea thickets and camellia groves, across to- 

 bacco fields, and past rocks coA^ered with ferns of a hundred 

 kinds and crowned with grotesque remains, through forests 

 of green and scarlet maple, and over mountains clad in rich 

 verdure, you may journey in perfect peace, safe from rob- 

 bers, safe from violence, safe even from beggars. 



The maidens sweetly say Ohano, " good-morning," as you 

 pass, where a few years since you might have been sliced up 

 by the sharp swords of the Samurai. Ohayo, too, call the 

 laborers in the fields, and the pilgrims by the way-side, 

 while a general komhamva, " good evening," in musical 

 voices and with eager courtesy, greets your arrival at even- 

 tide at an hospitable inn. 



Bidding farewell to this island empire of the rising sun, 



