orifices, and in this way had compelled the volcano to furnish them
with sulphur free from dirt. The production of sulphur in Japan is
valued at close on three million yen.

As we went on our journey we spoke of the sturdiness and cheeriness of
our chief carrier, who had told us that he was seventy. I asked him if
he thought it fair that he should have to walk so far on a hot day
with so much to carry while we were empty-handed. He replied that it
might appear to be unjust, but that he was happy enough. He said that
he had lived long and seen many things, and he knew that to be rich
was not always to be happy. He quoted the proverb, "Sunshine and rice
may be found everywhere," and the poem which may be rendered, "If you
look at a water-fowl thoughtlessly you may imagine that she has
nothing to do but float quietly on the water, yet she is moving her
feet ceaselessly beneath the surface."

At the little hot spring inn where we next stayed, insect powder was
on sale, not without reasonable hope of patronage by the guests. The
_Asahi_ once facetiously reported that I had taken on a journey three
_to_ (six pecks) of insect powder. The chief protector of the prudent
traveller in remote Japan is a giant pillowslip of cotton. He gets
into it and ties the strings together under his chin. The mats and
futon of old-fashioned hotels are full of fleas. The hard cylindrical
Japanese pillow has no doubt its tenants also, but I never got
accustomed to using it, and laid my head on a doubled-up kneeling
cushion.

A foot-high partition separated the men's hot bath from the women's.
My cold bath in the morning I found I had to take unselfconsciously at
a water-gush in front of the house. As the food was poor here, we