arest man, whatever be his
dignity, must do their work for them. These posts are never horsed; but
each pair, at the conclusion of a stage, finds the next couple waiting
to catch the important bundle thrown to them, and set off instantly,
before the spent runners have reached the spot where they may halt and
get their wind again. Goods are conveyed on packhorses or oxen over
land, but water transit by lakes, rivers, or canals, is much more
common. The roads are well swept, for the farmers on each side
diligently scrape up all manure; and as men with brooms clear all away
before a traveller of rank, the highway is kept in a very neat
condition. Men selling straw clouts for travellers, and straw shoes for
the horses, which require, of course, frequent renewal, pick up a living
by the roadside, and we pass them frequently. Observe that mighty
camphor-tree, which every traveller has mentioned. To Kaempfer it was
venerable for its age in the year 1691; still it is healthy, and so
large that fifteen men can stand within its hollow. Hot-springs, of
course, we pass in a volcanic country. There is a coal-mine also here,
though charcoal is the fuel usually burned.

We have now crossed Kiusiu, and reached the seaport of Kokura, where we
find our Phantom Ship in readiness to take us through a sea covered with
islets, to the large island of Nippon. We shall disembark, and travel
very rapidly through Ohosaka to Miyako, where the divine Mikado holds
his court. We pass some strange-looking men covered with matting, each
of whom has in his hand a long wooden spoon. The spoon is their
cockle-shell, for they are pilgrims travelling in the most pious form,
as beggars, to the shrine of their own goddess. This pilgrimage is made
by all good Japanese--the oftener the better, especially as they grow
old, because they get each time full absolution from the priests for
their past sins.

The sun goddess and the Mikado are allied together; and as we now are
journeying towards a seat of government, we can do nothing better than
discuss the Japanese religion. It begins with an Oriental "once upon a
time," of gods who reigned for a few millions of years apiece, above
whom there was, and is, and ever will be, one supreme God, free from
care. The last of seven royal gods said to his wife one day, "There's
earth somewhere, I'm sure!" and so he poked about with his spear in the
water, feeling for it. Drops falling from his spear-point made the
islands