re will be communication
between these two places by a railway constructed exclusively by
native workmen and native engineers. It will be, and is intended to
be, an actual Japanese railway. For a considerable distance it
passes through a tunnel, which, however, as some of the Europeans at
Kobe stated, might easily have been avoided "if the Japanese had not
considered it desirable that Japan, too, should have a railway
tunnel to show, as such are found both in Europe and America." It is
probable, in any case, that the bends which would have been required
if the tunnel was to be avoided, would have cost more by the
additional length than the tunnel, and that therefore the procedure
of the Japanese was better considered than their envious European
neighbours would allow. There appears to prevail among the European
residents in Japan a certain jealousy of the facility with which
this country, till recently so far behind in an industrial respect,
assimilates the skill in art and industry of the Europeans, and of
the rapidity with which the people thereby make themselves
independent of the wares of the foreign merchants.

When we reached Lake Biwa we were conducted by Mr. Koba-Yaschi to an
inn close by the shore, with a splendid view of the southern part of
the lake. We were shown into beautiful Japanese rooms, which had
evidently been arranged for the reception of Europeans, and in which
accordingly some tables and chairs had been placed. On the tables we
found, on our arrival, bowls, with fruit and confections, Japanese
tea, and braziers. The walls were formed partly of tastefully gilt
paper panels ornamented with mottoes, reminding visitors of the
splendid view.

A whole day of the short time which was allowed me to study the
remarkable things of Kioto I devoted to Lake Biwa, because lakes are
exceedingly uncommon in the south, for they occur only in the
countries which have either been covered with glaciers in the most
recent geological periods, or, in consequence of the action of
volcanic forces, have been the scene of violent disturbances of the
surface of the earth. I believed that Lake Biwa would form an
exception to this, but I was probably mistaken, for tradition
relates that this lake was formed in a single night at the same time
that the high volcanic cone of Fusiyama was elevated. This
tradition, in its general outline, corresponds so closely with the
teaching of geology, that scarcely any geologist will doubt