"Ten Thousand Stars Were In The Sky, Ten Thousand In The Sea, And Every Wave With Dimpled Face, That Leapt Upon The Air, Had Caught A Star In Its Embrace, And Held It Trembling There."

The loneliness of Usu Bay is something wonderful - a house full of empty rooms falling to decay, with only two men in it - one Japanese house among 500 savages, yet it was the only one in which I have slept in which they bolted neither the amado nor the gate.

During the night the amado fell out of the worn-out grooves with a crash, knocking down the shoji, which fell on me, and rousing Ito, who rushed into my room half-asleep, with a vague vision of blood- thirsty Ainos in his mind. I then learned what I have been very stupid not to have learned before, that in these sliding wooden shutters there is a small door through which one person can creep at a time called the jishindo, or "earthquake door," because it provides an exit during the alarm of an earthquake, in case of the amado sticking in their grooves, or their bolts going wrong. I believe that such a door exists in all Japanese houses.

The next morning was as beautiful as the previous evening, rose and gold instead of gold and pink. Before the sun was well up I visited a number of the Aino lodges, saw the bear, and the chief, who, like all the rest, is a monogamist, and, after breakfast, at my request, some of the old men came to give me such information as they had.

Enter page number Go  Previous Next
Page 384 of 417
Words from 105639 to 105909 of 115002