The
"Shoe Strings" Are Always Coming Untied, And The Shoes Only Wear
About Two Ri On Soft Ground, And Less Than One On Hard.
They keep
the feet so soft and spongy that the horses can't walk without them
at all, and as
Soon as they get thin your horse begins to stumble,
the mago gets uneasy, and presently you stop; four shoes, which are
hanging from the saddle, are soaked in water and are tied on with
much coaxing, raising the animal fully an inch above the ground.
Anything more temporary and clumsy could not be devised. The
bridle paths are strewn with them, and the children collect them in
heaps to decay for manure. They cost 3 or 4 sen the set, and in
every village men spend their leisure time in making them.
At the next stage, called Takahara, we got one horse for the
baggage, crossed the river and the ravine, and by a steep climb
reached a solitary yadoya with the usual open front and irori,
round which a number of people, old and young, were sitting. When
I arrived a whole bevy of nice-looking girls took to flight, but
were soon recalled by a word from Ito to their elders. Lady
Parkes, on a side-saddle and in a riding-habit, has been taken for
a man till the people saw her hair, and a young friend of mine, who
is very pretty and has a beautiful complexion, when travelling
lately with her husband, was supposed to be a man who had shaven
off his beard.
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