The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-05-20

while he refused to let go of us, and the
vessel, being suddenly struck by heavy
pun of wind, careened over SO far that cur
main channels struck his boat, or slmpan,
carrying away his port rail, beside COM
pleting the wreck by turning his boat over,
for which We were, of course, fmmeda ely
''cusscd'' in good, proper Jap swear words.
/ should imagine that boat building would
be a profitable business at Kobe. as We
wrecked three of them before finally an
choring at 10 p. IN. on the night of October
80, thirty-four days from Honolulu, and
our log reading total Of 4201 miles.
Hiogo and Kobe are located similarly to
Brooklyn and Williamsburg and practi-
cally one city, Hiogo being the Japanese
and Kobo the European portion. While
the city proper is situated on level ground.
there is a decided incline TO the street
back of the town, so that one gets fine
view of the place from the harbor. All
vessels lay off shore about one-quarter
OF a mile at anchor and cargo is taken out
to them on large junks or sampans after
the goods have been passed and inspected
at the custom house. The American ha-
toba, at which passengers disembark, is
sea wall or stone dock after the style of
the Battery wall of New York City ana
situated on 4 spur of the Bund, the main
business street, and on which are situated
the steamship offices.
Our compradore, or ship chandler, i'm
med:ately took NE in tow to show nv.
the city. and on leaving the sampan We
were hailed by the native japanese cab
man after the style OF the cab driver at
our ferries and railroad stations. The pay
of a rickshaw man is 81 per day in Jap
anese money, equivalent to about 80 cents
OF our coin, and they think nothing of
taking you around the country at a dos
trot for twenty-five to thirty miles each
day. only 10 repeat the exertion on the
following day. Short rides from say Pros
pect Park to city hall would be 10 or 90
sens or cents.
had gone through the ordeal of a Kan
aka dinner in Honolulu and was. of course.
anXious to try a native meal IA Ia Jap
anese' but found. except in the matter of
drinks, they are similar, in that they both
eat raw fish We sat or Jap straw mas
and imbibed some of their native wine,
called saki, made from rice and tasting
something like Rhine. wine, except it IA
served hot.
The first word in the japanese language
that an American learns is good morn
ing" the word being "ohyo," but made
the mistake to say Columbus" and was
surprised that l was not understood. I
have since learned better.
We passed an evening at Number
Nine" famous tea house, where COUNT
ed seventy "geisha girls ranging
from fourteen to about twenty-three year,
Of age. In the summer season, ! was in
formed. this number was increased to over
one hundred. 1t is Il large frame building.
occupying about aoQuarter of a block, in
the centre of which is Il beautiful garden
of trees and flowers, and patrons go there
to drink tea or saki and listen to the
music. The season of my visit was too
late to hear the orchestra, but pianist
played, and enjoyed teaching him to play
horrible "ragtime,I while my friends es-
sayed to teach few OF the Geisha girls
the intricate steps OF the cake walk, but
both with poor success. l had intended