Page:"Round the world." - Letters from Japan, China, India, and Egypt (IA roundworldletter00fogg 0).pdf/72

NUMBER EIGHT.

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An Excursion to Daibutz—Japanese Horses—County Roads and Shady Lanes—Hedges Unrivalled in the World—Everybody in Japan Knows Ohaio—Large Crops With Rude Implements—Two Triologies, One Poetical and One True—Kamakura and Its Temples—Collossal Statue of Buddha—A Wonderful Work of Art—A Sacrilegious Betto—A Japanese Dinner—The Original Grecian Bend—The Ride Back—A Funeral Procession—A Pleasant Experience Leaves a Painful Impression.

Yokohama, Japan,

December 12, 1870.

Taking this place aa the base of operations, I have made two excursions into the interior—one to the great city of Yeddo, eighteen miles distant to the west; the other to Kamakura, the site of the ancient capital of the Empire, about the same distance in the opposite direction. Near the latter place is the famous bronze statue of Buddha, called “Daibutz,” to see which, was the special object of the excursion. I started before the sun was up, the sky clear and bright, and the sharp morning air exhilarating for active exercise. A white frost covered the ground, which disappeared as the sun came up, and for the first mile or two we gave our ponies loose rein to try their quality. My companion was a young Englishman, and we were accompanied by a “Betto,” who professed to know the way, and who kept alongside the horses, with less appearance of fatigue than the horses showed, for the whole distance out and back. After my forty miles’ experience of the tender mercies of a Japanese horse—or pony, rather, for the breed is quite small—untrained, hard-bitted, rough in gait and vicious in disposition, I would recommend the traveler to go on foot. It would, however, be unjust to the Japanese pony not to give him credit for being remarkably tough and sure-footed. Our route for a short dis-