To-day all was _en fete_, in preparation
for the illuminations to-night.
Kobe, the foreign settlement, is, on the contrary, bran-new, spick and
span, with a handsome parade, and grass and trees, planted boulevard
fashion, along the edge of the sea. It is all remarkably clean, but
quite uninteresting. To-night, however, it looked very well,
illuminated by thousands and thousands of coloured paper lanterns,
arranged in all sorts of fanciful devices. It was dark and clear, and
there was no wind, so that everything went off well.
[Illustration: a family group]
_Tuesday, February 6th_.--My cold being still bad, Mabelle by no means
well yet, and Tom very busy, we at first thought of keeping quiet
to-day. But our time is so short, that we could not afford to waste
it; so half our party started early for Kioto, it being arranged that
Tom and Mabelle should follow us by an early train to-morrow. It was a
wet cheerless day, and the country did not look its best. Still, the
novelty of the scenes around could not fail to make them interesting.
The Japanese have an intense horror of rain, and it was ludicrous to
see the peasants walking along with scarcely any clothes on except a
pair of high clogs, a large hat, and a paper umbrella. We crossed
several large bridges, stopped at a great many stations, where heaps
of native travellers got in and out, and finally reached Kioto at
half-past two o'clock.
Pages:
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447