intelligent and strong appearance, and an open countenance. Who could
have foreseen that a few days later this very djin.--But no, I will
not anticipate, and run the risk of throwing beforehand any discredit
on Chrysanthème.

We had therefore reached our destination, and found ourselves at the
foot of a tall overhanging mountain; probably beyond the limits of the
town, in some suburban district. It apparently became necessary to
continue our journey on foot, and climb up an almost perpendicular
narrow path. Around us, a number of small country houses, garden
walls, and high bamboo palisades closed in the view. The green hill
crushed us with its towering height; the heavy, dark clouds lowering
over our heads seemed like a leaden canopy confining us in this
unknown spot; it really seemed as though the complete absence of
perspective inclined one all the better to notice the details of this
tiny corner, muddy and wet, of homely Japan, now lying before our
eyes. The earth was very red. The grasses and wild flowers bordering
the pathway were strange to me;--nevertheless, the palings were
covered with convolvuli like our own, and I recognized in the gardens,
china asters, zinnias, and other familiar flowers. The atmosphere
seemed laden with a curiously complicated odor, something besides the
perfume of the plants and soil, arising no doubt from the human
dwelling-places,--a mingled smell, I fancied, of dried fish and
incense. Not a creature was to be seen; of the inhabitants, of their
homes and life, there was not a vestige, and I might have imagined
myself anywhere in the world.

My djin had fastened up his little cart under a tree, and together we
clambered the steep path on the slippery red soil.