and empty his purse. There he may sit down in a perfect 'embarras de richesses,' consisting of cabinets of ivory, delicately carved and overlaid with gold lacquer; card-trays, card-boxes, glove-boxes, carefully lacquered in black, and wrought with graceful and life-like representations of birds, flowers, and insects; little figures, carved in ivory, inimitable in their grotesqueness of expression, called by the natives nitskis,' and used as buttons to prevent their tobacco-pouches from slipping out of their girdles; ivory fans, bronze ornaments of all kinds; other rare wares, such as the cloisonée;' cups and saucers, vases and dishes, in china, of all colours and qualities; besides a host of other articles which it would. be both difficult and tedious to enumerate.

But let none venture in among this seductive array without having both a long credit and some skill in discriminating between the different qualities of the articles; for, on the one hand, contrary to ideas prevalent in England, good lacquer or ivory-work is not to be bought for a mere trifle in the land of its production, the native gentry having as high an appreciation, and being ready to pay almost as long prices for it, as ourselves; and, on the other hand, since the demand for these articles has increased so much by the irruption of foreigners into the market, articles of a much inferior workmanship are manufactured, and palmed off on the unwary or ignorant as equal to the oldest and best.

With the aid of a fine climate and sociable fellowcountrymen, a European in Yokohama will probably be able to lead as happy a life as he could in any Oriental settlement. He will, moreover, find his expenses rather less than in the neighbouring ports of Hongkong and Shanghae; and will be surrounded by a native race, with whom he will find it more pleasant to deal than with the

more stolid and less genial Chinese. His native servants will require constant looking after, no doubt, and not unfrequent reprimands; but, as a rule, they will prove themselves quick and ready to learn, steady, and fairly honest. In one point at least he will find himself much more fortunate than the rest of his countrymen in the East, if we except those few at Kobé and Nagasaki; and that is in the many beautiful and interesting excursions which he can make from his post of residence, whenever he has a few days, or even a few hours, to spare.

One of the most interesting of these excursions is that to Kana-sawa, Kama-kura, and Fuji-sawa-a distance in all of about forty miles, and which can therefore be accomplished with ease in two days' riding. Not many days after reaching Yokohama, we start out one afternoon on this route, each on a Japanese pony, with a 'betto,' or horseboy, running in front or close behind. These Japanese ponies are many of them shapely and well bred, hardy also, and with good speed; they have, however, the character of being vicious, and certainly this we feel bound to corroborate as far as regards more than one of the ponies which we ride in the neighbourhood of Yokohama.

The bettos' seem to partake of the character which clings to the majority of the various races of horse-boys throughout the world, and are many of them lazy and knavish; but of course there are 'bettos and bettos,' and we find more than one of the few with whom we have to deal honest and active. These men seem to be a very distinct class among their own countrymen, and one feature which serves to distinguish them very strongly is their practice of tattooing themselves. The art of tattooing is evidently well understood in Japan; and we may often see there a 'betto' running before his master's horse, so covered from head to foot with figures of dragons, women's faces, and

floral devices, in red, blue, and black, that, though he has nothing on but a waistcloth, he looks in the distance like a harlequin in tights. In such a cool, yet effective costume, he is able to keep up with his master for long distances. But in this running power, again, there are 'bettos and bettos;' and, while wonderful tales are told of the number of miles they will run with a horse, we do not meet with more than two whose running powers seem at all extraordinary.

But while we have been discussing ponies and bettos,' both have been getting on at a good pace, and we have passed through the native quarter of Yokohama, and come out on a flat and winding valley, planted out here and there with rice, and bordered by hills thickly covered with foliage. At intervals of a mile or thereabouts we pass tea-houses, where, if we show the slightest signs of stopping, out trips a 'moosmé,' with her tasteful dress, bare feet, and elaborately arranged hair, carrying in her hands a tray of the universal 'tcha,' or tea.

Six miles from Yokohama Yokohama we leave the valley, and wind up on to some wooded ridges, from which we have exquisite views over what the Japanese call by a name meaning the Plains of Heaven,' or the 'Elysian Fields.' These are a succession of the undulating ridges, beautifully clothed with foliage of every hue, of which the ridge on which we stand forms one; between the ridges are winding hollows, of no great depth, divided, like the valley up which we passed, into bright green rice-fields. These Plains of Heaven' fill up nearly all the landscape to the west, ending in a distant and more level plain, which again is bounded by the mountains lying in front of Fusi-yama. Fusi-yama itself is visible— a cloudy-looking pyramid, with a cap of snow. To the east the view extends over a winding sea-coast, with

wooded headlands and green islands for the prominent points, the sea spreading around and among them, and with its fine blue colour bringing them out into greater prominence.

sea.

Another six miles brings us down to Kana-sawa, a little village on the sea-coast, where there is a neat tea-house close to the edge of the lagoon which spreads in from the Near the tea-house is a small temple, commanding a beautiful view, known among the natives as one of the Seven Views of Japan.' In the temple has been kept, for many years, a book in which visitors are requested to write their names.

A night in a Japanese tea-house is sure not to be prolonged far into the ensuing morning; for the Japanese are early risers, and the traveller can hardly escape being awakened, soon after daybreak, by the noise of the attendants moving about, and sliding into their receptacles the wooden shutters which run round all the house.

So we are up early at Kana-sawa, and, after a short breakfast, ride on through some pretty scenery to Kamakura, some five miles further westwards. Kama-kura was at one time the seat of the Court of the Shoguns; and though it is now a mere village, it is said to be the scene of numerous historical traditions, and it still contains several handsome temples. The principal of these is that of Hatchiman, one of the deified heroes, or kamis, of Japan. The temple is approached by a broad avenue leading under one of the stone 'tori-i,' or archways, which we have mentioned as always marking the entrance to a Sinto temple, then over a solid stone bridge, and then, between a pagoda and a minor shrine, to the foot of a lofty and solid flight of stone steps. The temple is entered by a porch, on either side of which stand two large wooden figures of martial

deities, not unlike those which guard the entrance to many temples in China.

In one of the minor shrines are said to be trophies taken severally from the Mongols on their attempted invasion in the thirteenth century, from the Portuguese on their expulsion from Japan in the sixteenth, and from the native Christians, who were persecuted to the death in the seventeenth century. But as no European seems ever to have seen these relics, their existence may be considered somewhat doubtful.

The Kama-kura temples are not kept in good repair, nor do they seem to retain their original importance only a few years ago two of their objects of interest, a handsome bronze bell and a pair of sacred white ponies, were still in existence; but we look in vain for them, and one of the priests at last informs us that they have been sold! There still remain, in a grove close to the temple of Hatchiman, two curious-looking black boulders, railed in, to which parents who wish to be blessed with children are said to repair to worship. Priesteraft and superstition are strong powers among the poorer classes of Japan.

If Kama-kura contains what was once one of the most celebrated Sinto temples, there is not far from it one of the most famous and sacred resorts of the followers of the rival religion in Japan. Three miles from Kamakura, in a sequestered little spot, standing at the end of a short avenue of camellias, azaleas, and other larger trees, is the statue of Dai-butz,' or the Great Buddh.

This statue represents the god in the usual position, seated, or rather squatted, on a pedestal, his arms bent across his knees, his thumbs meeting at the points. It has earned its celebrity chiefly from its great size; for it measures forty-five feet, from the top of the stone base