1 76 Among Men and Horses. 



vin rouge, I may mention, should be accomplished, not with 

 water, but with St Galmier, the slight alkalinity of which 

 corrects any acidity there may be in the wine. 



The short run to Kobe, and through the beautiful Inland 

 Sea, was far too brief. We had not been half an hour in 

 Yokohama before I recognised the fact that it would be use- 

 less to try to do anything in the horsebreaking line in Japan ; 

 for the ponies were too miserable a lot to experiment upon. 

 They are flat-sided, weedy, spiritless brutes, although hardy 

 and good workers at a very slow pace. So we gave up the 

 idea of paying our expenses, and devoted ourselves to sight- 

 seeing. 



The Yokohama racecourse, which is a mile and twenty yards 

 in length, is about three miles from the city on the Negishi 

 Hill, from which a charming view of hill and valley, field and 

 forest, land and water can be seen. The course is undulating, 

 well kept, and is on excellent turf. The racing which is con- 

 fined to ponies of China and Japan, is very poor ; for the 

 estimable little Japs have far too much of the monkey strain 

 in them to be sportsmen, and the white inhabitants are poor 

 and lacking in enterprise. Grass sandals, which last one day 

 and are then replaced by new ones, are frequently used in 

 place of shoes with ponies in Japan. Whether the men are 

 so fast, or the ponies are so slow, I cannot say ; but a bettoe 

 (native groom) starting fair on foot with his master on horse- 

 back, will always be the first to arrive at their destination. 



I utilised my short stay in Japan to the best advantage, 

 in the study of wood and ivory carvings, satsuma, cloisonne 

 work, kakimonas, and other branches of Japanese art, which 

 is too vast and profound a subject for me to touch with the 

 insolence of ignorance. I shall say something about eating, 

 with which I am well acquainted, as I have been practising 

 it regularly two or three times a day for half a century. The 

 climate of Japan is too moist for sheep, though excellent for 

 horned cattle. Prawns, mackerel, and the true black sole are 

 to be had in abundance. The American chad is to be found 



