Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1877-10-27
Travelling In Japan

The pedestrian power of the Japanese
people is something astoni hing. Toe IN
rikisha coolies will draw you twenty miles
miles on a run with only three or four st Fps
of five minutes each: and not only men Dat
women aud children Seem 10 think nothing
of tramping twenty or thirty miles n day
over the toughest kind OF mountain roads
with their little baggage tied up In A cloth,
which pass over the shoulder and across the
breast, where they are tied. If you dOl [
want TO walk you may possibly be able TO
get pack-hOIse, on which you ride, percled
on top of your baggage, at an immen,e dis
lance, as IL seems, from the ground, with
your feet either curled up under you or hang
ing down and resting IN two loops of rope, In
lieu OF sttrTups, on either sides of the ami
mails neck in front of his fore legs, while
native probably naked, leads him. But next
TO walking, the most popular method OF
travelling is cow back. The japanese cows
are not used for milking, but, Ike the bulls,
solely for beasts of burden In The mountains
hearly all merchandise is packed on cows.
can confidently affirm from a sad experience
that 1t l. the most detestabie method of trav-
cling that ever heard of, except, perhaps,
riding on a rail. Not only is the COW not
famed for rapidity OF gait, but she has pc
culiar jerk and sideways swing that inspires
you with q constant fear that you will
either incOntinently tumble off or else be re-
duced TO condition of jelly. Then the sad
dies that they use on the beas have peaks SO
high and sharp and so close together that it
is quite impossible for foreigner of aver
age size to squeeze himself between them
SO that he is not in momentary danger of
being thrown upon one OF them. III, how
ever, you are blOated aristOcrat, you will
go by kagO. A kagO literally "basket" or
"cage'o rs a round fiat basket of split BAN
boo, about two feet in diameter and as many
inches in depth. II is slung by bamboo sup
ports under q stout pole, perhaps ten feet
long, and provided Ov erhead with q little fat
roof Of bamboo, to keep Off the sun. In case
of rain an Oil paper covering is drawn over
the whole concern. Two men, one in front
and one behind, carry the machine on their
shoulders. In the other hand they carry a
bamnOO cane, aud every or rods they stop,
put the cane under the pole and shift &c
the other shoulder Three men go with each
kagO, who relieve each other at short inter
walls. so that one is alwa7s restiIg. Taey
travel, including stops, about one ri (twO and
a hall miles an hour, and the charge for
three men is usually eighteen and Three
quarter cents per ri. In the bottom of the
basket and up the back you put a futon,
which l. a thick quilt or thin IN At ress mad
of blue calico ana stuffed with cotton; and
then in you get and try 10 curl your self up a
Dc zen different positions in a kagO, and each
of them, while yOu are in 1t, seems worse
Than the others. or course, lying down or
sitting within the circu ference of the bis-
ket IL quite impossible. You must either
kIeel, as the japanese do, or sit Turk fash
ion, or curl your legs uader you ia some un-
comfOrta BILE fashion. Then, too, the hight of
the kago is calculated for the japanese, VINO
are very short race SO that Ii you are OF the
,,verage h ght OF foreigners you Will prUUd
bly, lie continually knocking your mead
against tie pole.-[ Correspondence argJyCt
n