If I am at any time in difficulties I apply to them, and,
though they are disposed to be somewhat de haut en bas, they are
sure to help one, except about routes, of which they always profess
ignorance.
On the whole, I like Kubota better than any other Japanese town,
perhaps because it is so completely Japanese and has no air of
having seen better days. I no longer care to meet Europeans -
indeed I should go far out of my way to avoid them. I have become
quite used to Japanese life, and think that I learn more about it
in travelling in this solitary way than I should otherwise. I. L.
B.
LETTER XXIII
"A Plague of Immoderate Rain" - A Confidential Servant - Ito's Diary-
-Ito's Excellences - Ito's Faults - Prophecy of the Future of Japan -
Curious Queries - Superfine English - Economical Travelling - The
Japanese Pack-horse again.
KUBOTA, July 24.
I am here still, not altogether because the town is fascinating,
but because the rain is so ceaseless as to be truly "a plague of
immoderate rain and waters." Travellers keep coming in with
stories of the impassability of the roads and the carrying away of
bridges. Ito amuses me very much by his remarks. He thinks that
my visit to the school and hospital must have raised Japan in my
estimation, and he is talking rather big.
