High
Forks Planted Securely In The Bank On Either Side Sustained A Rope
Formed Of Several Strands Of The Wistaria Knotted Together.
One
man hauled on this hand over hand, another poled at the stern, and
the rapid current did the rest.
In this fashion we have crossed
many rivers subsequently. Tariffs of charges are posted at all
ferries, as well as at all bridges where charges are made, and a
man sits in an office to receive the money.
The country was really very beautiful. The views were wider and
finer than on the previous days, taking in great sweeps of peaked
mountains, wooded to their summits, and from the top of the Pass of
Sanno the clustered peaks were glorified into unearthly beauty in a
golden mist of evening sunshine. I slept at a house combining silk
farm, post office, express office, and daimiyo's rooms, at the
hamlet of Ouchi, prettily situated in a valley with mountainous
surroundings, and, leaving early on the following morning, had a
very grand ride, passing in a crateriform cavity the pretty little
lake of Oyake, and then ascending the magnificent pass of Ichikawa.
We turned off what, by ironical courtesy, is called the main road,
upon a villainous track, consisting of a series of lateral
corrugations, about a foot broad, with depressions between them
more than a foot deep, formed by the invariable treading of the
pack-horses in each other's footsteps. Each hole was a quagmire of
tenacious mud, the ascent of 2400 feet was very steep, and the mago
adjured the animals the whole time with Hai!
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