52 
TOMl’S GUIDANCE. 
Chap. III. 
person likely to suit my purpose. Tomi had been 
a kind of pedler, and had wandered up and down 
the country for many years. Everybody knew 
Tomi, and Tomi knew everybody. Latterly he 
had been in the service of some foreigners at 
Kanagawa, who gave him a high character for 
intelligence and activity. But it was rumoured 
that Tomi had, in common, 1 am sorry to say, 
with many of his countrymen, one serious fault, 
and that was, he was particularly fond of saki — the 
wine, or rather whisky, of Japan. It was added, 
however, that he rarely indulged until the evening, 
and that he was generally to be depended upon 
during the day. As his knowledge of the country 
was of great importance in my investigations, I 
thought he would perhaps suit me better than any 
one else, and so I engaged him. 
Tomi was now my daily guide all over the 
country, and I must do him the justice to say he 
performed his work to my entire satisfaction. In 
the mornings he looked rather red about the eyes, 
as if he had been indulging freely during the 
preceding night ; but he kept sober, for the most 
part, during the day. 
The weather was delightful ; day after day the 
sun was shining in a clear sky, the air was cool, 
and I could walk alh day long with the greatest 
comfort. The seeds of the different trees and 
shrubs of the country were now ripening ; and my 
great object was to secure a supply of all the 
ornamental kinds for exportation to Europe. 
