148 
FROM HONG-KONG TO YOKOHAMA. 
temper and careful training of the rising generation. As is the case, however, in most 
Eastern countries, the boys receive greater attention and a larger share of education than 
the girls. On the occasion of a second visit to Kamakura, I happened to see the children 
returning from school. They were walking two and two, with no adult to preserve order, 
and, on arriving at the crossing near the tea-house, they separated into two parties, which, 
standing face to face, gravely bowed to each other and then marched off in opposite 
directions. Subsequently, when on shore at Matsu-hama in the Inland Sea, we entered 
a village school. The boys were sitting at their desks reading and writing under the eyes 
of the schoolmaster. Perfect order and decorum prevailed, and on our leaving, the youngsters 
were drawn up in a line in the courtyard, and gave us a polite parting bow. At another 
time I strayed into the play-ground of a school at Yokohama, and was soon surrounded 
by a crowd of pupils. When, at parting, I saluted them in their own tongue with 
“ Sayonara! ” I was answered with a correct “ Good-bye ! ” As English is now taught in 
several schools in Japan, it is probable that their English vocabulary would have compared 
favourably with our little stock of Japanese. The birth of a boy seems to be the cause of 
much rejoicing, and the event is made known to the public by the hoisting on a flagstaff of 
the huge inflated image of a fish, sometimes ten or fifteen feet long. These flying fishes 
are a very conspicuous feature in the aspect of a Japanese town or village ; to judge from 
their number, there appears to be little danger of a decrease in the population. 
H.M.S. “Challenger,” having completed her repairs, left the pretty harbour of Yokoska 
on the 3rd May, and returned to her former anchorage at Yokohama. Our stay at the latter 
port being limited to 
a few days, as we had 
projected a dredging 
cruise in the Seto Uchi, 
or Japanese Inland 
Sea, we took advantage 
VILLA OF H.I.M. THE MIKADO AT YOKOSKA. Of* ti"lC UltCrV^l tO VlSlt 
Yeddo. There are several stations on the railway between Yokohama and the capital, and, as 
the trains travel slowly, it takes more than an hour to cover the distance of fifteen miles 
which separates the two towns. But the line seemed to us to be admirably managed, and, 
judging from the well-filled carriages, the Japanese liked this mode of conveyance vastly. 
When a train arrived at a station, great was the clatter of clog-shod feet hurrying to 
and lio on the platform. Yeddo is situated in a richly-cultivated plain at the mouth of the 
liver Todagawa,, the branches of which intersect the town in different directions. The 
densely-populated suburbs cluster round what may be called the citadel of Yeddo, formerly 
the residence of the Emperor and of the nobility. This forms a large town itself, and is 
strongly fortified, being surrounded by a deep and wide moat, and ramparts about seventy 
feet high, overshadowed by majestic old cedars. 
i 
There is so much uniformity in the domestic architecture of the Japanese, that—to a 
