The Harrison times., 1911-05-06
Amongst the Moratsins and Lakes OF
japan
Continued from last week

united 10 publish the lOlloNlilS eA-
tracts from an interesting personal
letter from his daughterin-l"w, the
wife of Lieut.. Fred Holt, OF the [. ).
Nav!:
A hot climb over the lake and
down into the valley to the second
lake, BiSinonni. 1t and kawag udu
seemed to be twin lakes, both being
about the same size and surrounded
bv high mountains. To cross this
second lake we did not have a
launcr, but a saucepan, sNulled by
an old man and a woman scantiiy
clad. After this came a walk OF
three miles before we would reach
the third lake, Shop
Believing this TO be a very short
walk, we started out briskly and
climbed the FIRST mountain. but no
lake was in sight Nothing but
range after range of peaks lay
ahead. Down into the valley we
went across hot, desolate, weird
looking wastes of black lava, in
which vegetation could not find soil
for its roots and only grey hchen
thrives soon we entered forest
where the lava flow having been
very slight, trees and plants of every
variety had found rich soil. The
foliage was so thick as to allow the
sunshine to filter through only in
spots here and there The ground
was damp and the ferns luxurious.
Lizards darted across the path and
hid under the masses of black lava
and decayed trunks of fallen trees.
The finishing touch was given by
the grey-bearded moss which hung
from every tree and boulder
The path led through this scenery
for what seemed like several miles,
theu merged into more fields of lava
and led over more mountains and
into more valleys until the three
miles seemed Il fable, and the true
number more like thirteen At last,
in gaining the summit of noun
tain we saw below us Lake Shop
The 81 ight renewed our strength so
that ina short time we had descend
ed the mountain, crossed a rough
lava bed, and had reached the shore
of the lake. Although not SO large
as the other laSes we have crossed,
Sholl is even more picturesque. The
lofty mountains on three sides of the
lake rose abruptly from its edge,
throwing their reflections in the
deep green waters. One OF these
mountains forms a peninsula on the
edge of which, a hundred or more
feet above the lake, is our present
abode-Shoji Hotel, needless to say.
The view on all sides is wonderful,
but especially SO is the sight of the
Sacred Mountain its base sloping
ever SO gradually from the shores of
the lake, and ending in the symetri-
cal cone whose Jagged peak is hid
den by the white clouds, and the
huge mountains that were packed so
close together that there emed to
be hardly room enough III the val
levs for more than a single little
farm or small cluster of huts. Our
descent from this point into the
narrow valley below was SO steep
and dangerous that we did not dare
to trust to hors- or coolie, but pre-
ierrcd to walk, which we did with
no little difficulty. 1t seemed as if
we would never strike a piece OF
level ground again, nor did we for
an hour, during which time we
dropped two thousand feet,
Reaching the valley, a short walk
brought us TO Furuseki, a village
which is half way between Lake
Shoji and the Fujikawa River, We
had covered the distance in three
and half hours. Being tired and
very thirsty, we stopped for a few
minutes at a tea house, we pur-
chased several bottles of sweet, luke
warm water, the only thing avail
able, as a traveller in Japan takes
his life in his hands when he drinks
the plain water, unless, OF course, it
has been boiled.
After settling our bill, we started
ON our journey again, and had gone
little distance when a dried-up old
woman, with hideous blackened
teeth, came running after us, crying
for more money knowing that we
had paid the full amount OF our pur-
chase, the sum named by the man at
the tea house, we ignored her and
ordered the coolies, who had stop
ped in the meantime, to move on,
but all of them sullenly refused to