NIKKO.
NIKKO, JAPAN, Oct. 20, 1889.
We left Tokio on the 17th, at 6.46 A.M., for a station called
Utsumorama, ninety-three miles. Arrived at noon, and, after an excellent
lunch, started in _jinrickishas_ for this place, and a most
extraordinary and unique trip it proved to be.
The road was built hundreds of years ago by a Shinto king, and is an
admirable example of engineering; well drained, and with an excellent
foundation of small stones, which needed only a top-dressing and a steam
roller to make it as good as any in Europe. It is lined on both sides
with immense pine and cedar trees. Many of these trees are twelve feet
in diameter; and often the roots are grown together, so that four or
five trees look like one. They are sixty to eighty feet high, and afford
an excellent shade.
The distance from the railway station to this place is twenty-five
miles, and we made it in four hours with two men harnessed to the
_jinrickishas_ tandem. We made only one stop of half an hour for lunch,
which we brought with us, and ate at one of the numerous tea-houses.
We arrived at 4 P.M., delighted at the wonderful sights, but much
fatigued and very cold. Rooms had been engaged for us in an excellent
hotel, excellent in all respects except that there was no way of
heating, unless with pans of charcoal. I suffered greatly from the cold,
though I had warm clothing, including a heavy overcoat which had done me
good service the previous winter at Montreal when the thermometer stood
at thirty degrees below zero.
Near the hotel are a dozen, or more, costly and grotesque edifices, much
adorned with carved wood statues of horrible-looking beasts and devils,
covered with bronze and gold. There are temples of Buddha, and gorgeous
mausoleums of kings who died five hundred years ago, situated in a park
of big trees; but looking at them, though interesting, was not
agreeable, and I was quite satisfied with one visit.
To-day we made an excursion to a lake among the mountains, five thousand
feet high. I was furnished with a mountain horse which proved an ugly
brute; kicked and stumbled, and put the bit between his teeth, so that I
could not control him, and he nearly trotted the life out of me. We went
up and along the winding paths, passing numerous water-falls, one of
which was 750 feet high, and at last reached the lake, which is of great
beauty. The mountains rise directly from the water's edge. They are
covered to their very tops with green trees, the leaves of which have a
singular feathery appearance.
The tea-houses where we stopped for lunch were models of cleanliness and
comfort. We brought our own provisions as usual, but had in addition a
boiled fish just taken from the lake.
We stopped in and around the tea-houses for some hours; and then I
mounted my ugly brute of a horse and rode back to the hotel, a much
used-up man. I was glad to get a bath and to retire early.
We returned to the railway station by the road we came, and again made
the distance in four hours, with only one stop of fifteen minutes.