On the left, as we approach the city of Yokohama, is a range of low hills called the "Bluff.” Here the foreign merchants have built their homes and surrounded them with beautiful gardens. The business quarter of the city, along the water front, is called the "Bund," as it is in so many Oriental cities. Here are hotels (American and European), the customhouse, and the post office. Many of these buildings stand in large gardens, and are surrounded by beautiful shrubbery.

As would be expected, there is here a large foreign settlement, and we shall not find it a good place to see real Japanese life. The Japanese town stretches for a long distance back from the "Bluff."

Among the curious sights in this new land, almost the first to greet us is the jinrikisha, the small twowheeled carriage drawn by men. It is an interesting fact to recall that this vehicle, now so common in all parts of Japan, was invented by an American.

The Japanese, with characteristic energy, soon made jinrikishas for themselves, and they were soon in general use in all the large cities. A jinrikisha usually seats but one person, and is drawn by one, two, or three men. It is a curious sight to see these enlarged baby carriages dashing through the streets or along the roads leading into the country. The men are trained to endure long journeys and to travel at a rapid gait. Since the invention of the jinrikisha, many strong young men have left their country homes to become beasts of burden in the cities.

A jinrikisha ride by night through the streets of

Yokohama presents many pictures of native life. We see hundreds of paper lanterns hanging before the stores and theaters, and we hear the confused cries of the men in the bazaars or shops calling attention to their wares.

Not many miles from Yokohama is the now small village of Kamakura, and it is an interesting place to visit.

In the middle ages this small village was a great city. Kamakura was the ancient capital of Japan and the home of the shoguns. In the time of its greatest glory it is said to have had a population of more than one million, and it must have been a busy, prosperous city. Several hundred years ago a tidal wave swept over the great plain on which Kamakura was built, and the city was completely destroyed. Looking at this plain to-day one can hardly believe it was ever the site of so great a city. All that is now to be seen as a proof of the existence of this once proud capital is a huge bronze figure of Buddha, called Dai Butsu. The figure is fifty feet in height, and is a most impressive witness to the skill of the Japanese artisans of the ancient times.

As visitors to England rarely spend much time in Liverpool, so is it with Yokohama in Japan. It is the gateway to the beautiful country which lies before us, and as soon as possible we leave the seaport town for Tokio, the great capital.

CHAPTER XVII.

FROM YOKOHAMA TO TOKIO.

AMONG the presents which Commodore Perry carried from the President of the United States to the mikado was a model of a locomotive and a miniature telegraph line. The telegraph was set to work and the little steam engine puffed to and fro over its mile of track. These new toys were regarded with much interest, and the people came from far and near to see them.

To-day railroads and telegraph lines connect the most important cities of Japan, and are being rapidly extended throughout the empire.

The first railroad built in Japan was the one we shall pass over on our journey from Yokohama to Tokio, a distance of eighteen miles. When this railroad was opened, it was managed by foreigners; but the Japanese soon bought it, took it into their own charge, and proved at once their ability to manage such an enterprise.

The road from Yokohama to Tokio passes through many small villages of thatched cottages. All the low land is carefully cultivated and planted with rice, the great food crop of Japan.

The young rice plants must be set out in the wet season. At this time we may see both men and women standing in mud and water, busy at their work in the rice fields. They wear large hats, which look like inverted bowls, and rain coats made of straw or oiled paper.

On the hillsides are groves of the beautiful bamboo. We soon discover that in Japan the bamboo is used in an endless variety of ways, and as a feature of Japanese life is quite as important as it is in India and China.

Here and there we catch glimpses of shrines and temples, always situated in the most picturesque places.

The cars in use on the Japanese railroads are made after the English pattern, having first-class, secondclass, and third-class compartments. The third-class compartments are the most popular and are always crowded with the happy and polite natives of the Sunrise Land. Many of these people come from the country districts, where modern ideas and inventions are not yet known.

Strange as it may seem, window glass is a luxury about which the country people of Japan know little. For this reason it has been found necessary to paint white lines upon the glass in the car windows, as certain natives have been known to put their heads through the glass, supposing there was nothing in the

way.

Quick to learn all about improved ways of living, it will not be a long time before all the Japanese are acquainted not only with window glass but with many more modern inventions.

The picturesque native costumes of the Japanese are gradually being discarded. We see some of the natives, especially in the cities, dressed in the European fashion, appearing and doubtless feeling very awkward.

In many other ways we realize that a change is taking