ffice, the
other as the Foreign Office.

There is always a festival going on in some part of Tokio. To-day
there had been a great wrestling-match, and we met all the people
coming away. Such crowds of _jinrikiskas_, full of gaily dressed and
painted women and children, with their hair plastered into all sorts
of inconceivable shapes, and decorated with artificial flowers and
glittering pins! We met six of the wrestlers themselves, riding in
_jinrikishas_--big men, prodigiously fat, and not at all, according to
our ideas, in fighting or wrestling condition. One of their
_jinrikisha_ men stumbled and fell, just as they passed us, and the
wrestler shot out, head over heels, and lay, a helpless ball of fat,
in the middle of the road, till somebody came and picked him up. He
was not in the least hurt, and, as soon as he was set on his feet
again, began to belabour the poor _jinrikisha_ man most unmercifully.
After a long and delightful drive we arrived at the station just in
time to catch the train.

The return journey to Yokohama, in the omnibus-like railway carriages,
was very cold, and the _jinrikisha_ drive to the Grand Hotel colder
still; but a roaring fire and a capital dinner soon warmed and
comforted us.

After dinner we looked over a fine collection of photographs of
Japanese scenery and costumes, and then returned to the yacht in the
house-boat belonging to the hotel, which was prettily decorated with
bright-coloured lanterns, and which afforded welcome shelter from the
biting wind.

_Thursday, February 1st_.--Careful arrangements have been made for our
excursion to the Island of Inoshima, to see the great figure of
Daibutz. By eight o'clock we had landed, and packed ourselves into a
funny little shaky carriage, drawn by four horses. We drove quickly
through the town, past the station, along the Tokaido, or imperial
road, running from one end of the Island of Niphon to the other, and
on which so many foreigners have been murdered even within the last
ten years. Now, however, it is perfectly safe. The houses are one
story high, and their walls are made of the screens I have already
described. These screens were all thrown back, to admit the morning
air, cold as it was. We could consequently see all that was going on
within, in the sitting-room in front, and even in the bedrooms and
kitchen. At the back of the house there was invariably a little garden
to be seen, with a miniature rockery, a tree, and a lake; p