Daily Yellowstone journal., 1888-02-25
IN A JAPANESE HOTEL.
sRahamah" Tells Of the Trials OF q
Trayeler-Sleeping Rooms.

1~fuhamah" Telis OF the Trials OF q
Traveler-Sieeping Rooms.
At midnight we came up the long
street that constitutes the village OF
Eikko, and sever ~jinrickishas rafting
into the hotel court and fourteen coolies
shonting to one another and altogether,
reused the house and the whole neigh
borhood. Peaceful sleepers upstairs were
reused, looked out at us, and banged the
screens shut angrily. The japanese bed
h the floor, with a wooden box under
Ne neck for a pillow and a cotton
wadded comforter for a covering. Tho
mats are an inch or two thick, made OF
soft straw, with a finely woven top sur
face, and it is to preserve these soft floor
mats that shoes are not worn in the
house. For the foreigner the japanese
landlord allows five or six futons or
wadded comforters, and they make a
tolerable mattress, although not springy,
and rather apt to feel damp and smell
musty. The Traveller carries his own
sheets, wooden blankets and feather pill
lows, and, above all, flea powder, which
rs the most necessary part of the bed, l.
II is designed for rest at all.
The straw mats and the futons are tha
special haunts and homes Of the fleas,
md without a liberal busting of every
part of the coverings, and all about the
edges, it is impossible to sleep. II tho
powder is fresh and stronf thyIe IS a
grim satisfaction in the morning in look
ing over the edges Of the futons, and
watching the dead and dying feas,
whose death agonies are as great as
those of leviathans. This sleeping on the
floor on a pile of cottCn conforters Is
not really comfortable, and, coupled
with the fatieues of walking and noun
tain climbing, stiifens ones joints sadly
over night, and would soon bring on
rheumatism. By day the futons are
piled IN closets out If sight or hung
over the balconies to Gir, and if the ser.
wants forget { bring them in before
sunset the airing makes them damper
fhan ever.
The only walls Of the rooms are the
paper screens that slide in grooves, and
If ones next neighbor is curious he slips
Che screen a little or pokes a hole through
the paper. A whisper or a pin drop can
be heard from room 10 room, and a good
Anglo-Saxon snorer would be heard all
sver a Japanese hotel, and probably rock
the whole structure with his solo. APP
parentiy the japanese never snore, or
else the snorers are killeC. in their youth,
as one never hears any stock anecdotes
Of their Disturbances al inns. The outer
gallery or balcony on which all the rooms
open as the common hall by day. is cloed
10 solidly at night with wooden shutters,
that make thunderous rumbling at dusl
when they are put up, and another and
worse one at dawn when they are showed
aside. Baths at a Japanese inn are al
ways made ready at night, and the tub
are large and hot water plentiful. Th'
morning bath is not q ceremOniOUs attain
at all. the guests being expected TO DIP
their faces and hands into shallow copper
basins that with n bucket Of water &c.
oupy a shelf fastened outside the balcony
rail. One gets a good view Of the land
scape. or the town, or the hotel court
yard, according as the balcony fronts,
ard the pleasure is also enjoyed in the
reverse way.-"Ruhamah' in Globe
Democrat.