, 1856-06-20
The CITY Of Iedn. Iannn.

The most recent accounts which we hay,
received of Jedo, from persons who actu
ally saw it, are those given by HendricI
Doef, who resided in Japan from 1871 t
1915, during which he twice or three time,
visited Jedo, and that of ]. F. Van Over
meer Fischer who went to Japan soon af
ter Doef left it ; and that of DR.. Philip
Frans Won Siebold, who was at Jedo -four
years after Fischer. In his " Recollections
of Japan" Deoff describes a terrible fire
which occurred in JedO in 1906, while he
was in that city. 1t began at distance
from the inn where the Dutch lodged at
about 10 in the morning. At one the
Dutch took the alarm and began TO pack ;
at three they fed "On running into the
street" says Doef, 1--WE saw everything in
flames. There was great danger in at
tempting to escape by running before the
FIRE we therefore took. a slanting direc-
tion through street already burning and
thus succeeded in reaching an open field.
1t was studded with the standards Of
princes whose dwellings had been destroyed,
and whose wives and children had fed
thither for refuge. We followed their ex-
ample and marked ont a spot with our
Dutch flags. We had now q full view Of
the FIRE, and never did l see anything so
terrific. The terrors of this ocean Of fame
were enhanced by the heart-rending cries
Of the fugitive women and children" This
fire ragged till noon the next day, when it
was extinguished by fall of rain. The
hotel Of the Dutch was on FIRE within five
minutes after they had left it. The palaces
Of thirty-seven princes were dstroyed. The
weight Of fugitives broke down the famous
Npon-bas, or Bridge Of Japan, (across a
river which runs through the city and from
which all distances throughout the Empire
are reckoned); so that beside those burned
to death, many were drowned, including a
daughter Of the Prince Of Arva. Twelve
hundred lives were said to have been lost
On this occasion the Dutch visitors were
greatly aided by wealty Japanese mer-
chant, who sent forty men to assist him in
removing. He lost his store and a ware
house containing O hundred thousand
pounds Of spun silk. Yet the day after
the fire, with a spirit not to be outdone
even in New York, he was engaged in re-
building bis premises.
Fischer visited Jedo in 1922. The en-
trance into it, notwithstanding the absence
of carriages, reminded him, from the noise
and the throng Of people, Of the commercial
port of London. The shops had signs, as
in London, and the goods were exhibited
from the doors aud windows under the
charge Of boys, who rivalled each other in
calling by loud cries the attention of pur-
chasers. Long before entering the sub
urb Sinegawir, the Dutch visitors found
themselves in the midst Of vast crowd,
moving along broad streets, paved at the
sides, and lined with houses regularly built,
and many Of great size. From the suburb
to their hotel, which was in the immediate
vicinity of the Imperial Palace, it was two
hours walk; and as the Palace was said TO
occupy space Of half mile diameter in
tho middle of the city, Fischer estimated
the distance across the whole city at FIVE
or six hours walk at an ordinary step,
which at the most moderate calculation
would be from twelve to fifteen miles,
1t is evident from these accounts, which
20 to confirm the other and more particu-
lar ones of Thunberg and Krompfer-of
whom the first visited Jedo in l778 and the
lattes in 1890, and who both, especially the
latter, have furnished many highly curious
details of their visits--that Jedo is very
populous city, and that such catastrophe
as violent earthquake would be likely to
be attended with great destruction Of
property and of life. Indeed, if we sup
pose the seato have rushed up the bay Of
Jedo, as it did into the harbor Of Simoda
during the previous earthquake, SO as to
have partially overHowed the city, the dcs-
truction Of even thirty thousand lives would
not be improbable.-M Y Tribune.
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