numerable footpaths wind up the hill-sides, so that almost every where in a few hours one can pass from the region of cotton to that of pines. The soil on the hills consists of a fine clay, that of the valleys is a deep, loose, black mould. The hill-sides abound in springs, fed by the copious rain-falls, of which the thrifty Japanese take the utmost advantage. The wheat crop is ready for harvest just before the rainy season begins. To-day you will see a field yellow with ripened grain. In a by a famine such as those which periodically week this will have been harvested, and the desolate India and China. Give him a supply whole aspect of the plot is changed. Half of of manure, and he will produce a constant sucthe field is dug down a foot, the soil being cession of crops. If his supply of this is scanty thrown up on the other half. Water is skillful- he lets part of his field lie fallow or grow up ly let into this lower half, converting it into a with brushwood. The cardinal principle of his swamp; and here the farmer and his family, up husbandry is never to put a crop into the ground to their knees in the soft ooze, are setting out unless he has manure enough to supply the elerice plants. The seed soaked in liquid manure, ments needed for that crop, without impairing sown only a week before, has germinated, and the future capacities of the field. This explains the plants are now ready for setting out. The a fact frequently noticed by Alcock, that every rains, which would have been fatal to the wheat, where, except in the immediate vicinity of Yedbarley, and rape, give life and vigor to the rice do, untilled fields and patches of brush were to and sweet potatoes. The tea-plant also, which be seen. He could not reconcile this with the has just had its first picking, revives in the moist density of the population and the apparent plenty air, and is enabled to furnish a second supply in which they lived. But Maron, better versed of leaves. When the excessive moisture is no in the laws of husbandry, shows that herein lies longer needed the rains cease, the hot summer the secret by which that dense population has sun hastens forward the process of ripening, been maintained from century to century, while and the clear warm autumn enables the farmer in a hundred years a large part of Virginia, the to gather the abundant harvest. The Japanese Carolinas, and Georgia, producing almost the farmer takes such wise advantage of the genial same crops, has been reduced to the condition climate and fertile soil, that we have no record of a worn-out country. that the country has for centuries been visited JAPANESE TRAVELERS. A considerable portion of the details here given is drawn from Sir Rutherford Alcock's account of his trip to Fusiyama, which lasted a month. Such a journey in Japan is no slight undertaking. The mountain can only be ascended in July and August, and during these months it is a great resort for pilgrims of the common classes. The officials endeavored to dissuade the Minister from the expedition. It would be dangerous, they said; a great celebration was to come off, and there would be many drunken Lonins about; then whom must have his norimon, with bearers and attendants; then the foreigners, eight in number, must have their own attendants. All told, the party numbered over a hundred, requiring a large train of baggage horses. These, as they at last filed away, commenced a regular stampede, which boded no good to any thing breakable which was comprised in their burdens. the mountain sometimes burst out into eruption, | is, a nominal assistant, but real spy, each of destroying every thing; and, moreover, it was quite inconsistent with the dignity of the Embassador to mingle, as he would be obliged to do, with the masses; and so on through a series of ingenious though contradictory objections. But Sir Rutherford was firm, and the authorities yielded. Then they almost overwhelmed him with the escort, which they declared to be absolutely necessary. There was a vice-governor, with umbrella carrier and spear-bearers; four two-sworded officials, each with an ometsky-that For the first fifty miles their route was by the tocado, or great high-road, which skirts the coast, crossing here and there a peninsula. By once. "During the two days," says Sir Rutherford, "which brought us to the foot of the Hakoni range of mountains, rising some 6000 feet above the level of the sea, nothing could exceed the beauty of the road. Generally a fine avenue of smooth gravel led through a succession of fertile plains and valleys, where the buckwheat, millet, and rice were all giving promise of a rich harvest. A fruitful soil, a fine climate, and an industrious people make a list which seems to contain nearly all that can be desired for any country, in the way of material prosperity, unless it be a good Government." The experiences of foreigners with the Japanese Government has been any thing but favorable; but if the general condition of the people is fairly represented by that portion which has come under the observation of travelers, we must admit that the Government, bad as it may be in theory, works well in practice. The road for seven leagues runs through the mountain passes of Hakoni, and a rough road it is. The scenery is beautiful, though hardly grand-high wooded hills covered with pines, fresh green valleys, with a brawling stream winding through cultivated fields. Then it descends to the plain, passing through a fertile country with populous towns at a league apart. As the cavalcade approached the dominion of each seigneur it was met at the distance of a mile or two by an escort to conduct the travelers to their quarters. The real design of this apparent guard of honor was, however, to prevent the foreigners from leaving the Imperial high-road. The route to Fusiyama at last turns off from the tocado, and in due time brings the pilgrim to Mouriyama, the last inhabited place, where great preparations had been made to receive the strangers. They were lodged in a temple, the inner shrine of which had been screened off into two parts, so as to give the minister a separate room, and the chief priest was so profoundly impressed with the dignity of his guests that they began to doubt whether he would ever rise from his prostrations. Extra bath accommodations had been provided. A Japanese bathing-tub presents many economical advantages over our own. It is oval in shape, about four feet deep, and just long enough to this road all the great Daimios from the south make their yearly approach to the capital, often with thousands of attendants. Their daily journey is about fifteen miles, and at each stoppingplace are a number of hongens or caravansaries reserved for their especial use. These are kept by some retainer of the lord of the district. They are spacious and clean, but wholly devoid of furniture. The host makes his appearance in full dress, and, prostrating himself on the ground, felicitates himself on the arrival of his distinguished guests, begging them to accept a little fruit, a few grapes, or a parcel of eggs, and to favor him with their orders. A plenty of bathing conveniences, a pleasant little garden, and cleanly-matted floors are common to all of these establishments. The road passes through the mountain pass of Hakoni, which is strictly guarded to prevent any fire-arms from being carried to the capital, or the wife or children of any Daimio from escaping with him when he returns to his dominions after his six months' compulsory residence. The entrance of such a party of foreigners was a great event in all the towns through which they passed. Every living thing seemed to turn out to gaze upon them. The streets were blocked up by such a waving sea of heads that a passage through seemed to be out of the question. But no sooner had the Yaconin reached within a few steps of the foremost rank than he waved his fan and uttered the single word Shitaniro, "Down!" when, as if by magic, every person in the crowd seemed to collapse into half his former bulk; heads dropping, and bodies somehow vanishing behind the legs of the owners, and a wide path was opened at JAPANESE LOVERS. allow a man to sit down with his knees close to his chest. The body of the bather fills nearly the whole space, so that little water is required. In some there is a copper tube fixed at one end, with a grating at the bottom, forming a sort of miniature furnace. Into this a little charcoal is placed, and in an hour a hot bath is ready at no trouble or expense beyond the mere cost of the handful of charcoal. Such a bathing apparatus would be of inestimable use in the sick room of many a country household, where to provide a hot bath is no small labor. The ascent of Fusiyama, although it is twice the height of any peak in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains, involves no very serious difficulty or danger-none at least which an Alpine tourist would consider worth mentioning. The ascent and descent occupy two days. At first the traveler passes through waving fields of corn; then comes a belt of rank grass; then a girdle of forest-first oaks and pines, large at | first, but gradually diminishing in size; then beeches and birches; then mosses; and at last only bald naked rocks. At intervals of a couple of miles are little huts, partly dug out of the rocks and roofed over, for the accommodation of pilgrims. Within two hundred feet of the summit yawns a huge crater some 1100 yards long, 600 broad, and 350 deep. The volcano has long been extinct, the latest eruption having occurred in 1707. The Japanese say that Fusiyama was thrown up to its full height, of 14,177 feet, in a single night, and that a lake as large and deep was at the same time formed at Miaco, nearly 200 miles distant. The ascent of the mountain occupied eight hours; and after spending two nights on the summit the travelers returned. They were fortunate in the time, the two days thus spent being the only fine ones of the season. Snow was found only in patches here and there; but on their return to Yeddo, three weeks later, the whole summit had put on |