Morning journal and courier., 1883-12-15

superseded by educated natives, and though the transfer of authority may blockade the work temporarily, it represents real progress in the end.
 Many travellers leave Japan after only sec ing the port cities, and they go away with glowing accounts of the country. Many pen citrate into the interior, and are utterly dis gusted. To pursue the forIt-er course is to talk of Japan without having seen 1t. Those who pursue the other course have an idea of
 the country, but fail, as I believe to interpret what they see in the light of the country's past. Undoubtedly the great mass of the Japanese people are still plunged ill igno- rance,-the devotees of superstition. But
 the waves of reform which have been started along the coast line will slowly recede, and spread over the whole island. The darkness of the picture which the interior presents only heightens the contrast afforded by the study of the Europeanized treaty limits. There is another reason why full authority is not delegated to foreigners to 0verrun the island. Many who have penetrated into the interior by means of passports have abused this privilege sadly. This is the more to he lamented when it is remembered that the Japanese are inclined to err on the side of excessive hospitality. Naturally a govern ment which dreads foreign domination Will be chary of granting unlimited liberties to Europeans. 'sRemoVe consular jurisdiction at the ports and we will open up our empire" is the best promise which the Mikado will make. We cannot deny the wisdom of such defensive policy, but are unwilling to sub- scribe to the Code Napoleon, which Is now the law of the land.
 At three o'clock in the morning during my stay at Utsonomis (Otsonomia, etc.,) was aroused from sleeping misery by the ratting of gongs and the hurry of feet along the street without. Drawing my nicely adjusted screens aside peered outside, and discovered the sky af1ame with the terrible splendor of Japanese conhagration. fire in Japan means more than at fire in America, and that for two reasons. First, the facilities for extinguishing it are very meagre end prlnl- tive and second th5 proximity of the houses and the infsmmable nature of the thatch of which they are composed aids in spreading ! the flames My curiosity WAS ungoVernable, and despits the seeming risk attending an experimental trip through the narrow streets ! of the city when the whole population is afoot, started of in the direction of the l AEs.
 l It was rousing confagration, and ! for a time threatened the obliteration 1 of the whole city. Natives were
 hurrying hither and thither, each armed
 with Japanese paper lantern. After dark | any Japanese city looks as if there was eel
 ebration in progress on its streets by reason
 } of these lanterns, which are carried by every
 body on foot and by the moving CT station
 ! ary vehicles as well.
 Now everything was excitement, and the
 iabbering of the natives was bewllderlng.
 ] There were comical policemen, some of ther1
 l carrying swords at their sides. There were
 1 fremen with rude wooden buckets, bikes,
 ! and cloth hoods over their heads. There
 l were a couple of almost useless hand engines
 with short tubes for throwing puny stream
 ! of water AS I neared the scene of the
 1 disaster, the natives were all busy removing l their household goods, even for squares ! around. The equipage of Japanese family
 | is very limited, and l judged from the celeri- \ ty with which the packing was done, that
 each household was provided with large ! boxes for use in the oft-oceurripg emergen- ! cies that are the result of fires. The differ l ent companies planted their respective ban 1 nerS upon the various roofs in the vicinity, so that they might not work at cross pur- l poses. The principal efforts were to pull l down the burning walls with long bamboo | poles, and by the liberal use of water to rem der the adjoining tenements uncomfortable. l There is seldom any space between ! houses in Japanese city, so that the work was conducted with difficulty. At | length the flames were under control and only l block or so had been burned, thanks to the ] prompt treatment of the evil. As stood oR ] the hotel balcony (if that is not too digniied | word to apply to Japanese architecure) watching the dying down of the flames and listening to the wailing incantation of the panic stricken people without, a voice re- marked at my side, IA very big fire" The words, in reasonably pure English, warmed | me through and through. ! had not supposed that there another English speaking l person within fifty miles, and l l told the speaker as I hung upon his 1 bosom. q am quite sure am Inc only one " | was the reply, and he conversed with me for some time, not simply well, but fiuently. ! He was native civil engineer in the employ ment of the government
 l Early in the morning I resumed the stage l business and arrived here at Nikko about one 1 o'clock this afternoon The roads were hor- l rible and we simply houndered in the mud l most of the way. All this annoyance was l compensated, however by the magnificent l and now famous avenue of cryptomeries, ex- 1 tending for fifty miles. These giant trees 1 were planted, according to Japanese mytholo- ! gical lore, nearly three hundred years ago ] by some ancient worthy who did the work as 1 a religious exercise in lieu of making costly temple offerings. He ought to be alive to- l day to witness the grand outcome of his pious deed and enjoy the blessings which | posterity would lavish upon him. I under stand there is nothing that approaches it 1 elsewhere in the world. Nothing could sur pass it. Imagine an almost continuous -dou- l ble TOW of these beautiful trees planted three l or four feet apart fifty miles in length and I 1 should judge 300 feet in height! Surely | there was something sensible in this heathen' s l heathenism. EMILE.