316 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. xvt. 
of the temple was fenced by heavy doors provided with secure 
locks and bolts, within which “ the divine spirit dwelt,” or 
within which there was nothing else,” as the priest phrased it 
on another occasion. 
Enoshima is a little rocky peninsula, which is connected with 
the mainland by a low, sandy neck of land. Occasionally this 
neck of land has been broken through or overflowed, and the 
peninsula has then been converted into an island. It is con¬ 
sidered sacred, and is studded with Shinto temples. On the side 
of the peninsula next the mainland there is a little village, 
consisting of inns, tea-houses, and shops for pilgrims’ and 
tourists’ articles, among which are beautiful shells,- and the 
fine siliceous skeleton of a sponge, Hyalonema mirahilis, Gray. 
Here I lived for the first time in a Japanese inn of the sort 
to which Europeans in ordinary circumstances are not admitted. 
I was accompanied by two officials from the governor’s court at 
Yokohama, and it was on their assurance that I did not belong 
to the common sort of uncultivated and arroo^ant foreigners that 
the host made no difficulty in receiving us. 
After we had at our entrance saluted the people of the inn 
and passed some time in the exchange of civilities, there came a 
girl, and, in a kneeling posture, offered the foreigners Japanese 
tea, which is always handed round in very small cups only half 
full. Then we took off our shoes and went into the guest- 
chamber. Such chambers in the Japanese inns are commonly 
large and dazzlingly clean. Furniture is completely wanting, 
but the floor is covered with mats of plaited straw. The walls 
are ornamented with songs suitable for the place, or mottoes, and 
with Japanese paintings. The rooms are separated from each 
other by thin movable panels, v/hich slide in grooves, which can 
be removed or replaced at will. One may, therefore, as once 
happened to me, lay himself down to sleep in a very large room, 
and, if he sleeps sound, awake in the morning in a very small one. 
The room generally looks out on a Japanese garden-inclosure, or 
