The Abominable Concoctions Known Under The
Names Of Beer, Wine, And Brandy, Produce A Bad-Tempered And
Prolonged Intoxication, And Delirium Tremens, Rarely Known As A
Result Of Sake Drinking, Is Being Introduced Under Their Baleful
Influence.
The sun shone gloriously and brightened the hill-girdled valley in
which Odate stands into positive beauty, with the
Narrow river
flinging its bright waters over green and red shingle, lighting it
up in glints among the conical hills, some richly wooded with
coniferae, and others merely covered with scrub, which were tumbled
about in picturesque confusion. When Japan gets the sunshine, its
forest-covered hills and garden-like valleys are turned into
paradise. In a journey of 600 miles there has hardly been a patch
of country which would not have been beautiful in sunlight.
We crossed five severe fords with the water half-way up the horses'
bodies, in one of which the strong current carried my mago off his
feet, and the horse towed him ashore, singing and capering, his
drunken glee nothing abated by his cold bath. Everything is in a
state of wreck. Several river channels have been formed in places
where there was only one; there is not a trace of the road for a
considerable distance, not a bridge exists for ten miles, and a
great tract of country is covered with boulders, uprooted trees,
and logs floated from the mountain sides. Already, however, these
industrious peasants are driving piles, carrying soil for
embankments in creels on horses' backs, and making ropes of stones
to prevent a recurrence of the calamity.
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