They pursued us wherever we went, and when we entered a
tea-house or shop the whole crowd immediately stopped, and if we
retired to the back they surged all over the front premises, and
penetrated into the interior as far as they could. A most amusing
scene took place at one of the tea-houses, where we went to order some
provisions for the yacht. It was rather a tedious process, and when we
came out of the back room we found the whole of the front of the place
filled by a gaping, curious crowd. The proprietor suggested that they
should retire at once, and an abrupt retreat immediately took place,
the difficulties of which were greatly augmented by the fact that
every one had left his high wooden shoes outside, along the front of
the house. The street was ankle deep in mud and half-melted snow, into
which they did not like to venture in their stockings; but how the
owners of two or three hundred pairs of clogs, almost exactly alike,
ever found their own property again I do not understand, though they
managed to clear out very quickly. I believe Muriel and I were the
chief objects of attraction. They told us that no European lady or
child had ever been at Simono-seki before. It is not a treaty port, so
no one is allowed to land, except from a man-of-war, without special
permission, which is not often given; it is, besides, the key to the
Inland Sea, and the authorities are very jealous about any one seeing
the forts.
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