Extracts from Diary in Japan. 7S 



of Melbourne. The Kobe district, 300 miles southward 

 from Yokohama, is granitic, and there the soil is poor, com- 

 posed of coarse grit sand. 



Kobe is one of the chief open ports, and communicates 

 by railway with Osaka, distant twenty miles, and Osaka 

 with Kioto, distant another twenty miles, or forty miles of 

 railway from Kobe. 



Kioto is the ancient city of the Mikado, and the people of 

 Kioto wish to regain the seat of Government from Yedo, 

 where it now is. 



It was intended to extend the railway from Kioto to Yedo 

 — i.e., connect the two, viz., the railway between Yokohama 

 and Yedo, eighteen and a quarter miles, with the Kobe line 

 — which would require three hundred miles additional line ; 

 but for the present this is abandoned. 



Again referring to the nature of the country, there is 

 a total absence of chalk, limestone only of various kinds 

 having been found. 



The minerals generally are copper (widely distributed), 

 iron, lead, silver, zinc, and gold ; gold deposits do not 

 appear to be rich. Coal is also widely distributed, of 

 excellent quality, and varying from very bituminous to 

 hard, approaching the character of Welsh or anthracite. 

 The price delivered in Yedo or Yokohama is 8 dols. (32s.) 

 per ton. It is not more than 10s. per ton at the mines in 

 the Southern Island. 



The mining is controlled by a department with a large 

 European staff; but it does not appear to pay, and the 

 Japanese prefer mining in the old manner. 



There are several colleges in Yedo ; the principal one — 

 the Imperial College — is a most splendid institution, with a 

 number of excellent English professors. It is established as 

 an engineering college, and has extensive engineering work- 

 shops, capable of manufacturing the largest marine engines, 

 being equipped with the finest machinery. There are pro- 

 fessors of engineering, natural philosophy, geology, chem- 

 istry, electricity, English, mathematics, surveying, and all 

 branches of education. Attached is an extensive museum 

 of models, &c. 



Yedo is the principal city of Japan, and the seat of govern- 

 ment, and where the Emperor resides. There are two parks 

 — Uyeno and the Castle — and several lovely palace gardens, 

 the resort occasionally of the Emperor. Uyeno Park pro- 



