34
able, though the various kinds of trees do not attain any great size. Tall thin pines, similar to those of central Europe, are to be met with and the birch begins to appear. Ferns are abundant. Considerable spaces may be seen covered with a tall thick grass which has given its name to the district (kusa grass, tsu place). Another etymology is kusa, a root signifying ‘stinking,’ and tsu a river bank where people collect to wash clothes, &c.
Resources.
The village of Kusatsu was formerly large and numbered, it is said, 1000 houses. A fire almost entirely destroyed it in 1872 and it is now rising with difficulty from these ruins. The crowd of Japanese who assemble here to gain relief from their frighful maladies is very large and it is difficult to find lodging room. It is also to be remarked that you only see at Kusatsu Japanese of the lowest class, the victims for the greater part of horrible diseases. The tea-house which combines the greatest conveniences is one named Nakagawa, in the centre of the village. There is in this house a warm spring of the lowest known local temperature and therefore best suited to Europeans, who are not accustomed to being boiled alive. But this house, which is the rendezvous of the Japanese of the lowest class, has the great inconvenience of being very noisy. Few nights can be passed without the accompaniment of samisen, geishas and the cries of drunken men. The complaints of Europeans on this head are unheeded, and the proprietor prefers to his European customers his ordinary Japanese visitors who cross him in nothing. The tendency to raise prices upon foreigners is soon seen in little details after a few days, and this will increase from year to year.
Lodging may be also had among the bonzes who are pleased to gain a little money. But the temple is on a hill remote from the springs and is not therefore convenient for those who visit the place for the sake of the waters. There are also two or three small tea-houses where accommodation may be had near the stream known as the Kompirano yu on the NW of the village. As re-
