.

After a bountiful supper of several fishy preparations and rice, the
landlord bobs his head to the floor, sucks his breath through the teeth
after the peculiar manner of the Japs when desirous of being excessively
polite, and extends his hands for my passport. This the yadoya proprietor
is required to take and have examined at the police station, provided no
policeman calls for it at the house.

The Japanese Government, in its efforts to improve the institutions of
the country, has introduced systems of reform from various countries.
Commissions were sent to the different Western countries to examine and
report upon the methods of education, police, army, navy, postal matters,
judiciary, etc. What was believed to be the best of the various systems
was then selected as the model of Japan's new departure and adoption of
Western civilization. Thus the police service is modelled from the
French, the judiciary from the English, the schools after the American
methods, etc. Having inaugurated these improvements, the Japs seem
determined to follow their models with the same minute scrupulosity they
exhibit in copying material things. There is probably as little use for
elaborate police regulations in Japan as in any country under the sun;
but having chosen the splendid police service of France to pattern by,
they can now boast of having a service that lacks nothing in
effectiveness.

A very good road, with an avenue of fine spreading conifers of some kind,
leads out of Omura. To the left is the bay of Omura, closely skirted at
times by the road. At one place is observed an inland temple, connected
with the mainland by a causeway of rough rock. The little island is
covered with dark pines and jagged rocks, amid which the Japs have
perched their shrine and erected a temple. Both the Chinese and Japs seem
fond of selecting the most romantic spots for their worship and the
erection of religious edifices.

The day is warm, and a heavy shower during the night has made the road
heavy in places, although much of it is clean gravel that is not injured
by the rain. Over hill and down dale the ku-ruma road leads to Ureshino,
a place celebrated for its mineral springs and bath. On the way one
passes through charming little ravines, where tiny cataracts come
tumbling down the sides of moss-grown precipices, a country of pretty
thatched cottages, temples, groves, and purling rivulets.

On the streams are numerous rice-hulling machine