New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-01-02
NEW PUBLICATIONS
NEW VIEWS OF JAPAN.
lFIRsT ARTICLE.l

Miss Bird. the author Of "A Lady's Lite in the
Rocky Mountains and of Six Months in the
Sandwich islands, is already well known as q
daring and persevering explorer and sensible and
entertaining story-t4ler. In the present work she
makes good her claim to still! higher distinction.
She is one of the most remarkable travellers OF our
day. Penetrating into regions wholly unknown by
the outside world she has accomplished by the force
of an indomtabe will, aided by great tact and
shrewdness task to which few men would have
been found equal and she has brought away from
the scene OF her researches not only lively tale OF
adventure but great store OF fresh and interesting
information about the character and habits OF a
people undergoing one OF the strangest trans
formations the world has ever seen. Wo doubt
whether the inner life of Japan has ever been better
described than in the pregnant pages of this per-
tinacous Englishwoman. Keenly alive to the
charms OF natural scenery and all the picturesque
aspects of town and country, garden and wilder
ness pagan temple and busting street, she has also
a marked talent for extracting information from
the most unpromisng sources, so that her book is
vast repository of facts, enlvened by graphic de-
scriptiOns. She appears to be mistress Of all the
sciences requisite Cor traveller, from botany to
navigation and she writes in fluent and wholly
unaffected style distinguished by the force which
springs from simplicity and cloarness and at times
by an elOquence inspired by genuine enthusiasm.
Miss Birds tour was Journey of such extreme
hardship that one is surprised to learn that it was
undertaken for the benefit of her health. She
landed at Yokohama in May, 1875 and having
obtained. through tho good offices of the British
Ambassador. passport authorizing her to travel
anywhere north of Toxic she set out for thu in
terror and northern provinces carly in June. and
Journey cd with few and short intervals of rest until
Avoi1uU for "a Ooqgil,1p tho IL, nj
routes of the tourist she passed through country
where no EnglishwOm 1 had ever been seen before,
and where foreigner OF any kind was great
curiosity. Her only companion was q Japanese lad
named Ito, whom she hired in Toxic as servant and
Interpreter. He brought no recommendations, and
she took him with many misgiyings, but the VEN
ture turned ont well for Miss Bird, and Ito yields
a great deal Of entertainment to the reader.
At night he has my watch passport and half my
money, and often worder what would become OF
me If he ahsronded before morning. lie IL not
good boy. He has moral sense. according to our
notions; he diskes Foreigners; his manner - often
very disagreeabe and yet donot whether ; CONC
have obtained more valuable servant anu inter-
prefer When we left Toxic, he spoke fairly good
English. hut by practice and industrious study; he
now speaks better than any official interpreter that
/ have seen, and his vocabulary is daily increas-
ing He never uses word inaccuratrly when TIC
has once got hold of its meaning ana ms memory
never fails. lie keeps diary nrth IN Engllsh ana
Japauese ard It shows much palnNtakIug ohseTVa-
ton He is never late. never daWdlcs, never goes
out in the evening except ON errandS Zoe me, never
touches sake is diSOhedicn. never requires TO
he told the same thing twice. Is always wlthin near
ing has good deal OF tact ~ 10 what he repeats,
and all with an undsgused view TO his own interest.
He sends most OF his wages TO his mother W IL
widow" It's tho custom Of tho country and
seems TO spend the remainder on sweetmeats'
tobacco, and the luxury OF frequent Shanp0olng.
That he would tell lie il it served his purpose.
AMI would squeeze up to the limits of eXtOrtion,
if he could do it unobserved, have not the slightest
10 hotra huf hnar
idea CT any hut vciOuS pleasures He has no re-
igon of any kind; he has been too much with
foreigners tor that. His frankness IS something
startling He has no idea oil ret1cence on any snD-
oct but probably learn more ahout things as
they really are from this very defect In virtue III
man or woman except in that OF his former master
he has little, if any belief.
He is anxious to speak the very best English. and
to say that word Is slangy or common, interdcts
its use. Sometimes, when inc weather ~ nnS ana
things go smoothly. he is in an excellent and COM
municative humOI and talks good deal as VIC
trayel few days ago, remarked " what a
beautiful day this is" and soon alter. notebook in
hand he said, d" You say q beautiful day Ia that
better English than a devilish fine day. which
most foreigners say" replied that 1t was com
mon" and beaui full" has been brought ont fire.
ouently since. Again. When yOu ask question
Won never say, What the d. is as other for
eiGncrs do Is it proper for men TO say it and not
for women
Miss Bird was somewhat tmid Mt tic start and
mauy of the foreign residents at Yokohama and
but she found kindness and ciyilty everywhere;
she was neither molested nor swndled and at the
end of her journey OF 200 miles slo records her
belief /" that there is no country in the world in
which lady can travel with such absolute security
from danger and Iudeness as in Japan" She made
use generally of the facilities offered by public
transport service. or express company which
has stations in most OF tho villages and forwards
at fixed charges, equivalent to or I
cents n mile for pack horse and person to lead
it. Draught or carriage horses are unknown eX-
cept where they have been introduced by foreigners
at the treaty ports. and even there they are not
common. The ordinary conveyance in the great
cities is a kvrumd, or very light han1-carriagc,
drawn by one or two coolies. who run great dis
tances at high speed, ana said to wear out in
four or five years. But the infamous character OF
the roads prevents the OF any sort of whorled
vehicles in tho interior; and few miles ont of
Toxic Miss Bird was obliged to take TO pack
horses animals whose bad qualities she dcscribcs
with an almost pathetic eloqucnce. In the Toxic
district only mares are used, and these though
sorry, weak and il-trained, with distressing gait
are quite gentle; the horses, however. which she
encountered later extremely vicioul None Of
them understand the bit. They are lea n rope
tied around the nose and the mage, or leader is
often woman.
The pack-saddlo is composed of two packs of
straw eight inches thick faced with red. AMI con-
nected before and behind by stong oak arches gayly
painted or lacquered. There is for girth rope
loosely tied under the body and the security OF tho
load depends on n crnpper, usually piece OF BAN
hoo attached to the saddle by ropes strung with
wooden counters, and another rope rOunl the neck,
into which you put your foot as you scramble over
the high front upon tho top of the erection. The
load must DO carefully balanced, OF it comes 10
grief and the mHgO handles it all over first. and II
an accurate division of weight is impossible adds
stone 70 one side or the other Here women who
wear enormous rain hats and grid their kmonos
lead them. / dropped upon my loaded horse from
the top of wall the ridges bars tags and knotted
rigging of the saddle being smooihed over by
folded futon or wadded cotton quilt, and I