ran a canal, navigable for small unmasted vessels, which conveyed all kinds of merchandise to the doors of the merchants; while upwards of a hundred bridges, many of which were extremely beautiful, spanned these canals, and communicated a picturesque and lively air to the whole city. The sides of the river were lined with freestone, which descended in steps from the streets to the water, and enabled persons to land or embark wherever they pleased. The bridges thrown over the main stream were constructed with cedar, elegantly railed on both sides, and ornamented from space to space with little globes of brass. The population of the city was immense; and, like those of most seaport towns, remarkably addicted to luxury and voluptuousness.
From Osaki they proceeded through a plain country, planted with rice, and adorned with plantations of Tsadanil trees, to Miako, the ancient capital of Japan. It being the first day of the month, which the Japanese keep as a holyday, they met great multitudes of people walking out of the city, as the Londoners do on Sunday, to enjoy the sweets of cessation from labour,
With pleasaunce of the breathing fields yfed,
to visit the temples, and give themselves up to all kinds of rural diversions. Nothing could be more grotesque than the appearance of these crowds. The women were richly dressed in various-coloured robes, with a purple-coloured silk about their foreheads, and wearing large straw hats, to defend their beauty from the sun. Here and there among the multitude were small groups of beggars, some dressed in fantastic garbs, with strange masks upon their faces, others walking upon high iron stilts, while a third party walked along bearing large pots with green trees upon their heads. The more merry among them sung, whistled, played upon the
