It
would seem natural to allow a foreigner to send his personal
luggage from one Treaty Port to another without going through a
number of formalities which render it nearly impossible, but it was
only managed by Ito sending mine in his own name to a Japanese at
Hakodate with whom he is slightly acquainted.
{14} This hospital is large and well ventilated, but has not as
yet succeeded in attracting many in-patients; out-patients,
specially sufferers from ophthalmia, are very numerous. The
Japanese chief physician regards the great prevalence of the malady
in this neighbourhood as the result of damp, the reflection of the
sun's rays from sand and snow, inadequate ventilation and charcoal
fumes.
{15} Kak'ke, by William Anderson, F.R.C.S. Transactions of
English Asiatic Society of Japan, January 1878.
{16} I failed to learn what the liquor was which was drunk so
freely, but as no unseemly effects followed its use, I think it
must either have been light wine, or light sake.
{17} I venture to present this journal letter, with a few
omissions, just as it was written, trusting that the interest which
attaches to aboriginal races and little-visited regions will carry
my readers through the minuteness and multiplicity of its details.
