108 
ANOTHER EXCURSION. 
Chap. VII. 
have brought me home by a different road from 
that by which I went. At first I gave them credit 
for a desire to show me as much of the city as 
possible, but I am now inclined to believe that 
they had orders of this kind from their superiors ; 
and that the object was to prevent the chance of 
an attack from any one who had seen us going out, 
and who might lie in wait for us on our return. 
Be that as it may, the fact is as I have stated. 
On the following morning .the whole of the 
nurserymen from whom I had purchased plants 
presented themselves at the British Legation, to 
deliver the plants and to receive their money — 
and possibly to pay a small tax to the officials. 
But if the latter transaction took place, it was done 
quietly and without a murmur. 
A day or two after this, with a flask of wine 
slung over my shoulder, and a small loaf and jar 
of potted meat in my pocket, I started early in the 
morning in order to explore the country and 
gardens about Su-mae-yah and Ogee. The same 
guard of yakoneens accompanied me, and our road, 
for a good part of the way, was the same as that 
by which I went to Dang-o-zaka. The places we 
now proposed to visit, although in the same direc- 
tion, are considerably farther off. Passing, there- 
fore, the scene of my former visit, I rode onwards 
farther out into the suburbs. The houses gradu- 
ally began to get more scattered, sometimes fields 
and trees lined one side of the road, and every- 
thing showed me that I had fairly left the great 
