BEAUTIFUL SCENES. 
275 
perfect effect, clothing all the mountain sides with 
purple and russet hues, giving a mantle of rich and 
ever changing colour to all the headlands and dis- 
tant ranges. Junks and boats, with their picturesque 
sails, and war- vessels of different nationalities, are 
never wanting to give life and movement to the 
whole. 
There must be something essentially pleasant in 
new sensations and novelties in almost every form, 
since not only do we give ourselves much trouble to 
acquire them, but generally find gratification when 
they are secured. No travelling in Europe can rob 
Japan of its peculiar claims to admiration under this 
head, for nothing in the W est resembles a thousand 
things that meet the eye. It must ofte have been 
remarked how books or photographs fail to enable 
any one completely to realise a new country and 
people. Once amongst them, it is discovered imme- 
diately that the ideal is something very different 
from the actual embodiment. This is essentially true 
of people, towns, and streets, and the effect of cos- 
tumes, differing widely from those to which the eye 
has been accustomed. Certainly, as regards the first 
view of Japan, there are special items, in the figure, 
physiognomy, costume, and customs of the people, for 
which even I was not prepared, although I had so 
recently seen much of the Chinese. 
