Wherever The
Banks Admitted Of It, Horses Were Being Washed By Having Water
Poured Over Their Backs With A Dipper,
Naked children were rolling
in the mud, and cackling of poultry, human voices, and sounds of
industry, were ever floating
Towards us from the dense greenery of
the shores, making one feel without seeing that the margin was very
populous. Except the boatmen and myself, no one was awake during
the hot, silent afternoon - it was dreamy and delicious.
Occasionally, as we floated down, vineyards were visible with the
vines trained on horizontal trellises, or bamboo rails, often forty
feet long, nailed horizontally on cryptomeria to a height of twenty
feet, on which small sheaves of barley were placed astride to dry
till the frame was full
More forest, more dreams, then the forest and the abundant
vegetation altogether disappeared, the river opened out among low
lands and banks of shingle and sand, and by three we were on the
outskirts of Niigata, whose low houses, - with rows of stones upon
their roofs, spread over a stretch of sand, beyond which is a sandy
roll with some clumps of firs. Tea-houses with many balconies
studded the river-side, and pleasure-parties were enjoying
themselves with geishas and sake, but, on the whole, the water-side
streets are shabby and tumble down, and the landward side of the
great city of western Japan is certainly disappointing; and it was
difficult to believe it a Treaty Port, for the sea was not in
sight, and there were no consular flags flying.
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