The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1897-09-17
Invalids at the Mountain
Resorts.
Narrow Foot-Paths Cross in Every
Direction - Flora of the
Region.
Especial Correspondence
Karuizawa, August 81,

Karuizawa, August 27, 1897.
EDITOR P. C. A.:-Our experience OF
Japanese climate thus far has not been
very satisfactory. The Japanese ocean
current brings a great amount of mois-
ture Here on the mountain tops we
have had four clear days out of seven !;
| the other three have been sowery,
misty or rainy. But there is no other
| place in Japan so cool with less mois-
ture, except it be Sapporo, hundreds of
| miles to the north. We hear much
about ''the Japan head" and find many
invalids among the 800 people gathered
here. There is a large representation
from the Southern Presbyterian Mis-
sion in China, who find this the best
and nearest health resort. Dysentery
| is common, owing partly, L should say,
to the sudden changes from warmth to
chilliness. A physician from Tokyo
has been here three days in attendance
on one of the professors of the I'm
perial University, and has now gone to
Nikko to care for some one there, who
has had an attack of dysentery. We
have to be very careful about the wa
ter given us to drink, or even what
one would use in brushing his teeth.
The only diversion one has here is
in tramping over the narrow paths that
criss cross in all directions. l have
not attempted any feats of pedestrian
ship, though some of the visitors tell
of walking Is or 25 miles in day. We
have taken shorter walks to some OF
the sights in the neighborhood. There
is a dairy establishment here with 20
or 80 COWS. 1t is near spring of clear,
cold water that gusheS out from the
side of hollow some 20 feet below the
general level. In fact, the whole plain
is traversed by these little streamlets
from to 20 feet below the surface.
These are utilized for mills as well as
for irrigation. One flour mill that l
visited was an exceedingly rude affair.
A long wooden shaft was revolved by
an equally rude breast wheel. The cogs
were of wood and the clatter was only
a monotonous, constant, dull thud. The
old woman that tended it was also
drying the wheat on mats spread on
the ground in the sun.
Many of the little patches under cul-
tivation were utilized for the mulberry
plants. from which the leaves are gath
cred to feed the silk worms. Only Jap
anese plodding industry could produce
10000, 900 pounds of silk annually. To
feed leaves wet would kill the silk
worms, which must be as carefully
tended as peevish child. The trays,
or mats, on which the leaves are placed
are of the coarsest material and rudest
construction, and the white crawling
maggots are disgusting objects to look
at.
There is an old Buddhist temple,
Just off the main street, now
used as a Government school. 1t has
a thatched roof, seemingly three feet
thick, and its general appearance re-
minded me of the old Kaumakapili
Church. The plot of ground on which
it stood was trodden level and swept
clean and bare. A few stone images of
the three Kwannons, the Buddhist trim
ity, the past, present and future Budd-
ha. were grouped in one corner. The
middle one in the sitting posture, and
with the look of self-complacency, ia
miIiar to us in pictures we have often
seen. had in the front of the hewn
stone a basin followed out for holy wa
ter In another corner was a group of
the stone lanterns. as they are called
a square or round column supporting
a sphere with four holes through it
transversely, and this capped by a
saucer-shaped stone.
There was to have been a Bon Mat
surf last night, or Festival of Lanterns,
on the last night of the seventh lunar
month, when the spirits of the depart
ed are supposed to revisit their former
abOdes. The street was gay with Ian
terms The alleyway leading to one of
the shrines was lined with lanterns.