to the vigorous truss of pine constantly renewed. It is curious
that this should formerly have been the sign of the sale of wine in
England.

The wind and rain were something fearful all that afternoon. I
could not ride, so I tramped on foot for some miles under an avenue
of pines, through water a foot deep, and, with my paper waterproof
soaked through, reached Toyoka half drowned and very cold, to
shiver over a hibachi in a clean loft, hung with my dripping
clothes, which had to be put on wet the next day. By 5 a.m. all
Toyoka assembled, and while I took my breakfast I was not only the
"cynosure" of the eyes of all the people outside, but of those of
about forty more who were standing in the doma, looking up the
ladder. When asked to depart by the house-master, they said, "It's
neither fair nor neighbourly in you to keep this great sight to
yourself, seeing that our lives may pass without again looking on a
foreign woman;" so they were allowed to remain! I. L. B.



LETTER XXVI



The Fatigues of Travelling--Torrents and Mud--Ito's Surliness--The
Blind Shampooers--A Supposed Monkey Theatre--A Suspended Ferry--A
Difficult Transit--Perils on the Yonetsurugawa--A Boatman Drowned--
Nocturnal Disturbances--A Noisy Yadoya--Storm-bound Travellers--
Hai! Hai!--More Nocturnal Disturbances