This Trip Is Called "Running
The Rapids Of The Tsugawa," Because For About Twelve Miles The
River, Hemmed In By
Lofty cliffs, studded with visible and sunken
rocks, making several abrupt turns and shallowing in many places,
hurries a boat
Swiftly downwards; and it is said that it requires
long practice, skill, and coolness on the part of the boatmen to
prevent grave and frequent accidents. But if they are rapids, they
are on a small scale, and look anything but formidable. With the
river at its present height the boats run down forty-five miles in
eight hours, charging only 30 sen, or 1s. 3d., but it takes from
five to seven days to get up, and much hard work in poling and
towing.
The boat had a thoroughly "native" look, with its bronzed crew,
thatched roof, and the umbrella hats of all its passengers hanging
on the mast. I enjoyed every hour of the day. It was luxury to
drop quietly down the stream, the air was delicious, and, having
heard nothing of it, the beauty of the Tsugawa came upon me as a
pleasant surprise, besides that every mile brought me nearer the
hoped-for home letters. Almost as soon as we left Tsugawa the
downward passage was apparently barred by fantastic mountains,
which just opened their rocky gates wide enough to let us through,
and then closed again. Pinnacles and needles of bare, flushed rock
rose out of luxuriant vegetation - Quiraing without its bareness,
the Rhine without its ruins, and more beautiful than both.
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