New Britain herald., 1921-06-24

useless as they roll up in a ball under the hollow of ones foot or they slip off at the heel and become a real menace to ones life. The result is that after one or two pairs of them are tried and found useless the balance of the stock is given to the coolie who is the richer by a dozen pairs of good Japanese shoes. The trails up Fuji, by the way. are lined on each side by hundreds of thous- ands of these straw sandals.
 The automobile road from Gotemba to Subashiri is a rough road over vol canic ashes and cinders. There are many valleys through which run country around is covered with pine trees.
 Obtains Horses.
 At Supbashiri we obtained three horses to take us up to the eighth station. which is the highest point at which a horse can go. As they are saddle horses. only mares are used as no one can ride the usual Japanese horses. which are a lot of ugly, biting, kicking. squealing. and fighting stall lions. As it is, the mares. which are more docile than the stallions. have to have a groom or coolie to lead and keep them on their good behavior. My groom. by the way. was a lady. otherwise known as a coolie woman. We also hired 'goriki," or noun atin guide. but really a coolie, to carry our baggage. as it is necessary to carry ones food supplies along as it is next to impossible to eat Japan est food: though there are some kinds a foreigner can eat with a fair degree of relish-if one happens to be good and plenty hungry. and is fortunate enough to get the right kind. Thus for our little party of three we had three horses. three grooms, and one guide.
 Description of Mountain.
 In about one hour we were mounted and on our way to the top of Mount Fuji. For long time the trail was through a forest of pines interspersed with -ome hardwood trees. the bark of which 'resembled our beechwood trees. At first the ascent was quite gradual, but soon it began to be quite steep in places. which made it hard scramble for the horses to negotiate, as the trail was merely very crooked and narrow rocky gully. Arrived at the first station. or ichi-ban. we had our staffs branded. and. after a short rest, we proceeded on our way.
 As soon as we were above the tall timber line we were above the clouds. ro when we turned in the saddle in get a view of the country below us, we looked down upon a billowy mass of snow-white clouds. and not a vestige of the country below us could we see.
 My lady-groom soon became aware of the fact that I knew a little some thing about riding a horse. so she merely trudged along behind and left the management of the horse and the finding of the trail to me. The trail. however, was quite easy to follow. Tn fact. it is about thirty inches wide. and in some places it is formed by a lava-stone retaining wall on the own-the mountain side. but it has no parapet to prevent man or beast from going over the edge. In many places there is a low retaining | wall built on tho up-the- mountain | side. and in some places there is a | low retaining wall on each side of the | trail. which is particularly true be- tween the eighth station and the top. These low walls are about twenty-four or thirty inches high. The train Is about ankle deep in soft. ashes. and it zig-zags up the
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