in European
and American writings.

From Yokohama the course was shaped for Kobe, one of the more
considerable Japanese ports which have been opened to Europeans.
Kobe is specially remarkable on account of its having railway
communication with Osaka, the most important manufacturing town of
Japan, and with Kioto, the ancient capital and seat of the Mikado's
court for centuries.

I had already begun at Yokohama to buy Japanese books, particularly
such as were printed before the opening of the ports to Europeans.
In order to carry on this traffic with greater success, I had
procured the assistance of a young Japanese very familiar with
French, Mr. OKUSCHI, assistant in Dr. Geertz' chemico-technical
laboratory at Yokohama. But because the supply of old books in this
town, which a few years ago had been of little importance, was very
limited, I had at first, in order to make purchases on a large
scale, repeatedly sent Mr. Okuschi to Tokio, the seat of the former
Shogun dynasty, and from that town, before the departure of the
_Vega_ from Yokohama, to Kioto, the former seat of learning in
Japan. The object of the _Vega's_ call at the port of Kobe was to
fetch the considerable purchases made there by Mr. Okuschi[383]

Kobe, or Hiogo, as the old Japanese part of the town is called, is a
city of about 40,000 inhabitants, beautifully situated at the
entrance to the Inland Sea of Japan, _i.e._, the sound which
separates the main island from the south islands, Shikoku and
Kiushiu. Mountain ridges of considerable height here run along the
sea-shore. Some of the houses of the European merchants are built on
the lower slopes of these hills, with high, beautiful, forest-clad
heights as a background, and a splendid view of the harbour in
front. The Japanese part of the town consists, as usual, of small
houses which, on the side next the street, are occupied mainly with
sale or work-shops where the whole family lives all day. The streets
have thus a very lively appearance, and offer the foreigner an
endless variety of remarkable and instructive pictures from the
life of the people. The European part of the town, on the other
hand, is built with stately houses, some of which are situated on
the street that runs along the shore. Here, among others, are to be
found splendid European hotels, European clubs, counting-houses,
shops, &c.

Not far from Kobe, and having railway communication with it, is
Osaka, the largest manufacturing to