KANAGAWA. 
Chap. III. 
Kanagawa is a long narrow town stretching for 
several miles along the shore of the bay, and 
having one principal street, and that the Tokaido 
or great highway of Japan. The place is men- 
tioned in the books of the old Dutch travellers, 
and is said by them to contain about six hundred 
houses, and to be twenty-four miles from the 
capital. It is probably about this distance from 
the Nipon Bas , or bridge in Yedo, from which 
distances are measured to all parts of the empire ; 
but it is not more than sixteen or eighteen miles 
from the western end of the city of Yedo. It con- 
tains a great number of inns and tea-houses ; 
and here the Dutch generally slept on the last 
night of their journey overland from Nagasaki to 
Yedo. On the following day they entered the 
capital. The shops are generally poor and mean, 
and contain few articles except the mere neces- 
saries of life. A little way back from the main 
street, at intervals all the way along the town, are 
Buddhist temples and cemeteries. These temples 
are often found in the most charming situations, 
and they are the finest and most substantial build- 
ings in Kanagawa. In some instances they are sur- 
rounded with pretty gardens, containing specimens 
of the favourite flowers of the country. It is in 
soihe of these temples that the consuls of the 
Treaty powers have been located. The good priests 
do not object to find quartern of an inferior kind 
both for themselves and for their gods, providing 
they are well paid for their trouble in turning out. 
