Chap. I. 
EPUNGA. 
duced me to a number of native gentlemen whose 
gardens were rich in the botanical productions of 
Japan ; and I am glad to take this opportunity 
of stating, that to him and to Mr. Mackenzie I 
am indebted for many important additions to my 
collections. Everywhere we were received with 
the most marked politeness by the Japanese — a 
politeness which I am vain enough to think we 
did not abuse in the slightest degree. 
I have already stated that according to treaty 
foreigners are now allowed to visit the country 
in the vicinity of the ports that have been opened 
to trade. The distance allowed is ten n, or from 
twenty-five to thirty miles. I was not slow to 
avail myself of this liberty in order to examine 
the natural products and agriculture of the country. 
Day by day excursions were made, either on foot 
or on horseback. One of these was to a place 
called Epunga, a kind of picnic station amongst 
the hills, about four or five miles from the town. 
The summer agricultural productions of the country 
through which I passed were much like those in 
the province of Chekiang in China — that is, rice 
and Arum esculentum on the low lands, and sweet 
potatoes, buckwheat (. Polygonum tataricum ), maize, 
&c., on the dry hilly soil. In winter, wheat, 
barley, and rape are produced on the dry lands, 
and the rice-lands are generally allowed to lie 
fallow. 
On the hill-sides I observed the Japan wax- 
tree (Rhus succedaneum) cultivated extensively. 
C 2 
