Shirasawa, July 29

Early this morning the rain-clouds rolled themselves up and disappeared, and the bright blue sky looked as if it had been well washed. I had to wait till noon before the rivers became fordable, and my day's journey is only seven miles, as it is not possible to go farther till more of the water runs off. We had very limp, melancholy horses, and my mago was half-tipsy, and sang, talked, and jumped the whole way. Saké is frequently taken warm, and in that state produces a very noisy but good-tempered intoxication. I have seen a good many intoxicated persons, but never one in the least degree quarrelsome, and the effect very soon passes off, leaving, however, an unpleasant nausea for two or three days, as a warning against excess. The abominable concoctions known under the names of beer, wine, and brandy, produce a badtempered and prolonged intoxication, and delirium tremens, rarely known as a result of saké drinking, is being introduced under their baleful influence.

The sun shone gloriously and brightened the hillgirdled valley in which Odaté stands into positive beauty, with the narrow river flinging its bright waters over green and red shingle, lighting it up in glints among the conical hills, some richly wooded with coniferœ, and others merely covered with scrub, which were tumbled about in picturesque confusion. When Japan gets the sunshine, its forestcovered hills and garden-like valleys are turned into paradise. In a journey of 600 miles there has hardly been a patch of country which would not have been beautiful in sunlight.