246 
WE VISIT A BATHING-HOUSE. 
While this* conversation was going on, I searched in 
vain for any silicious or other matter which the water 
uiiglit precipitate when coming in contact with the air, 
and was thence forced to the conclusion that the smell of 
sulphur spoken of by the Japanese was owing to the 
escape of some noxious gas, which, finding a vent through 
the fissure with the water, thus produced, at times, the 
soda-fountain-llke action before spoken of. 
This was the only hot spring near Si-mo-da that we 
hoard of; but the interpreters spoke of them as being 
very common in other sections of the country. 
Surf-bathing seems to be peculiar to the lower classes 
that reside near the sea; and it is probably the attendant 
exposure which bronzes the skins of those who indulge 
in it, until the stranger wonders why the natives along 
the coast are so much darker than those of the interior. 
I have seen as many as several hundred men, women, 
and (Jiildrcn, — the entire population of villages, appa- 
rently, — rolling about in the surf in one promiscuous 
heap, and all the while yelling and screaming like so 
man}’ savages. 
The inhabitants of the cities of the interior, on the 
contrary, scarcely ever approach the beach, but patronize 
the bathing-houses twice, sometimes three times, a day, 
Several of us once visited one of the most respectable of 
those latter, to examine its arrangements, &c. ; and, having 
been told that they were sehlom frequented during 
the heat of the day, we chose that hour for our visit. 
Upon arriving at the establishment, wc found it just 
being vacated by a most dilapidated and hideous-lookiiig 
old woman, while another, who did not seem much better 
