book. The streets are full of queer, small people who run about
smiling, and bowing and saying pretty things to each other. It is a
land where everybody seems to be happy, and where politeness is the
first commandment.

Yesterday we came up the mountains in jinrikishas. The road was
narrow, but smooth, and for over three hours the men trotted along,
never halting or changing their gait until we stopped for lunch.

There is not much to a Japanese house but a roof and a lot of bamboo
poles, but everything is beautifully clean. Before we had gotten down,
several men and women came running out and bowing and calling "Ohayo,
Ohayo" which means "good-morning." They ran for cushions and we were
glad enough to sit on the low benches and stretch ourselves. Then they
brought us delicious tea, and gathered around to see us drink it. It
seems that light hair is a great curiosity over here, and mine proved
so interesting that they motioned for me to take off my hat, and then
they stood around chattering and laughing at a great rate. Miss
Lessing said they wanted me to take my hair down, but would not ask it
because of the beautiful arrangement. Shades of Blondes! I wish you
could have seen it! But you _have_ seen it after a hard set of
tennis.

When we had rested an hour, and drunk tea, and bowed and smiled, we
started out again, this time in a kind of Sedan chair, made of bamboo
and carried on a long pole on the shoulders of two men. Now I have
been up steep places but that trip beat anything I ever saw! I felt
like a fly on a bald man's head! We climbed up, up, up, sometimes
through woods that were so dense you could scarcely know it was
day-time, and again through stretches of dazzling sunshine.