a2 
was always apparent in the consideration 
shown by employees for the comfort of 
passengers. 
There was, however, one disagree- 
able feature encountered in passenger 
coaches: there were no restrictions as to 
smoking, not even in sleepers, probably 
because most of the men of Japan use to- 
bacco, and also a large proportion of the 
fair sex are addicted to the same habit. 
Were a non-smoking compartment pro- 
vided on each train, much annoyance 
might be saved to the considerable num- 
ber of travelers to whom the weed is 
obnoxious. 
No dining cars are attached to these 
trains, but one’s hunger may be very 
satisfactorily appeased at the larger sta- 
tions by patronizing the boys who pass 
up and down the platform crying their 
wares, perhaps not in a language clearly 
understood by all. However, their offer- 
ings, in neat little wooden boxes bound 
together in pairs by a strand of bamboo, 
suggest something palatable to the trav- 
eler, and, be he Japanese or American, 
either taste will be gratified, as some 
of the boxes contain rice, fish, and na- 
tive food, while others include broiled 
chicken, bread, etc., better adapted to 
the Occidental taste. Then, as it is ex- 
tremely unsafe to drink unboiled water 
in Japan and we are considering what 
we can wash our lunch down with, an- 
other boy approaches our car window, 
offering a small earthen teapot containing 
a drawing of tea and a cup, all for two 
cents of our money, and as much hot 
water as is desired from a large supply 
kettle thrown in. After the lunch is 
finished the purchaser is at liberty to 
keep the teapot and cup or toss them out 
of the car window. 
The road from the station at Nikko to 
the Kenaya Hotel is the principal busi- 
ness thoroughfare of what remains of 
this once prosperous city. As our party 
passed along the street we were sub- 
jected to the careful scrutiny of the 
proprietors of the numerous curio and 
wood-carving shops on either side of the 
road. who were all standing in their 
THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 
doorways sizing up the new arrivals with 
an eye to future business. 
If Japanese art has surpassed all 
former achievements in elaborate and 
beautiful mausoleum buildings in Nikko, 
nature here has succeeded in her efforts 
to furnish a setting which can hardly be 
equalled the world over. 
The old native proverb, “Do not use 
the word magnificent until you have seen 
Nikko,” is none too strong. This moun- 
tainous region, said to have originally 
been a cryptomeria forest, many years 
ago was the abode of a public-spirited 
ruler, whose love for these trees led him 
to devote considerable of his large for- 
tune to extending the bounds of the 
forest by planting and caring for large 
numbers of trees. Many miles of the 
highway leading from Nikko, as a result 
of his forethought, are bordered by twin 
rows of these great towering monarchs, 
reaching a height of from 150 to 180 
feet and with trunks 30 feet in diameter. 
These trees, with few exceptions, are 
still in a vigorous condition, a fitting and 
beautiful monument to his love of nature. 
A very narrow-gauge railroad enters 
Nikko near the hotel, and, although the 
street crossings are at grade and no whis- 
tle or bell gives warning of the approach 
of a train, no lives have ever been sacri- 
ficed or serious accident occurred. ‘The 
line is 18 miles in length and the motive 
power is a frisky bullock, which flies 
over the track at an estimated speed of 
two miles an hour. The little car, when 
entering Nikko, is loaded with bars of 
copper brought from the smelter at 
Ashio, where the ore is mined, and, on 
returning to the mines, carries coke and 
provisions. 
A stroll about a mile up the valley 
overlooking the clear, rushing waters of 
the Daiyagawa River brought us to a 
crude foot-bridge. Here, on the far side 
of the river from the thoroughfare, in 
the solitude of the forest, mantled in 
green moss, was a row of stone idols 
(see page 966). Our guide informed us 
that no one had succeeded in counting 
these images correctly; so our ladies, 
