XVII.
RETURN TO JAPAN.
We had returned to Japan in the midst of the first rainy
season, and all the day through, June 25th, and two
nights, a gentle rain fell at Nagasaki, almost without
interruption. Across the narrow street from Hotel Japan
were two of its guest houses, standing near the front of
a wall-faced terrace rising twenty-eight feet above the
street and facing the beautiful harbor. They were accessible
only by winding stone steps shifting on paved landings
to continue the ascent between retaining walls overhung
with a wealth of shrubbery clothed in the densest
foliage, so green and liquid in the drip of the rain, that
one almost felt like walking edgewise amid stairs lest the
drip should leave a stain. Over such another series of
steps, but longer and more winding, we found our way to
the American Consulate where in the beautifully secluded
quarters Consul-General Scidmore escaped many annoyances
of settling the imagined petty grievances arising
between American tourists and the ricksha boys.
Through the kind offices of the Imperial University of Sapporo and of the National Department of Agriculture and Commerce, Professor Tokito met us at Nagasaki, to act as escort through most of the journey in Japan. Our first visit was to the prefectural Agricultural Experiment Station at Nagasaki. There are forty others in the four main islands, one to an average area of 4280 square miles, and to each 1,200,000 people.
