The National tribune., 1888-10-11

crossing the ocean, and going to bed on Thurs
day wake up to find the proper day to be Satur-
day, with date two days later. The tempera-
ture here is lower than that Of Washington,
but there is drop Of moisture to each square
foot Of air, and the$Varm winds wrap themselves
around you like a sweat robe The stiffness
goes out of your cuffs and collars and the kid
gloves left in your trunk become mildewed
within few days. Just now Japan is as green
as Ireland in Springtime, and it will vie with
any country of the earth in the luxuriance of
its verdure. Made up as it is of $500 islands,
the air is ever moist the Summers ever mild,
and the whole land to-day looks like garden.
For ii days upon the Pacific we did not see a
sail. and the green grass and the gorgeous flow
ers were like vision of Heaven when they
first struck our tired eyes.
So much for nature Our contact with man
brought us down TO earth again. We awoke in
the harbor Of Yokohama. Five hundred half
naked, brown skinned japanese jabbered and
yelled as they swarmed about the boat in SAM
pans. The sampan is long fat, canoe-like
boat, which is propelled by the pushing of
long paddle this way and that, like the Vene-
tian gond0la This paddle is fastened into the
end of the boat and the propeller stands as he
works at it. These japanese gondoliers wear.
as rule, nothing but breechclout. and it
WAS rare study in anatomy to watch the play
of their muscles as they showed their boats this
way and that, wheeling all the time like
country horse with the heaves. They were
anything but angels In appearance, and when
so of them began to load the boat with coal
their black. sweaty skins made them look more
like the Inhabitants of the under world. This
loading of the coal our frst taste of the diff
ference between anatiOn which does its work by
machinery aud one whose chief motive-power
is made Of human bone and sinew. In America
steamboats are c0aled by steam. Here the coal
was rowed TO the boat in a great scow. This was
fastened close 10 the ship, and the coal was
passed up in baskets, each of which was about
a foot deep, and would hold about a bushel.
understand that all the coal in the western
part Of Japan is handled by women Here
/ however, it was raised by naked men, aud
among the sanpan rowers there were none of
! the other sex. We saw more nazedness as we
! landed, aud i noted several full-grown men
| whose only dress was a coat of tattooing and
| a cloth about the loins. Bare-legged men car
1 ried our baggage TO the custom house. The
| japanese are very lenient as to their customs
examination. They have tariff list nearly as
/ large as ours, and they have an export as we'll
as an import tariff. They do not, however,
trouble travellers as our country does, and
among their free goods are grain, SALT coal,
all animals used for food or draft. and travel
| ing-baggage. Opium is absolutely prohibited
/ The Japanese see how this curse has fastened
| itself upon their MOngolian brothers in China.
| They make it a penalty to bring it into the
country, and the result is you will find no
opium smokers here. China, on the other hand,
| is rotten with opium, and hundreds of thou
sands of dollars worth of it are smuggled into
the United States. We have duty, / think, of
| SO pound upon it, and pound of opium is
a very small amount | visited some of the
opium dens in San Francisco and we had an
opium den on shipboard. The Chinese Stew
I ard told me that the taking away the opium
from the passengers would set them crazy. and
of the $50 Chinese steerage passengers one h alf
| at least were inveterate opium smokers This
| opium den was open 10 the view of the cabin
| passengers, but it was at the rear Of the ship.
so that no smell came TO u.s. ] visited il sew
eral times during the voyage, and / always
| found horde of smokers lounging and smok-
| ing within it. They had curious-shaped little
lamps, over which they melted the opium on q
stick, twisting it around until it became as plia.
BILE as WAX, and rolled itself up into little ball
After they had cooked it to the proper softness
they lit the ball. and, dropping it into their
pipes, sucked away at il. blowing the smoke
in great volumes out Of their noses One oi
the Cinnamon, remember, was lean, haggard
old man, who smoked nearly the whole voyage
aud went about the ship about hal If drunk. He
lay usually close to the back of the canvas cove,
which separated the narrow compartment in
which the opium was smoked from the rest o.
the ship and shut out the draft.