Kurumatoge 3 9
Hozawa 20 1 14
Torige 21 1
Sakaiyama 28 24
Tsugawa 615 2 18
Niigata 50,000 souls 18
Ri. 101 6
About 247 miles.



LETTER XVI



Abominable Weather--Insect Pests--Absence of Foreign Trade--A
Refractory River--Progress--The Japanese City--Water Highways--
Niigata Gardens--Ruth Fyson--The Winter Climate--A Population in
Wadding.

NIIGATA, July 9.

I have spent over a week in Niigata, and leave it regretfully to-
morrow, rather for the sake of the friends I have made than for its
own interests. I never experienced a week of more abominable
weather. The sun has been seen just once, the mountains, which are
thirty miles off, not at all. The clouds are a brownish grey, the
air moist and motionless, and the mercury has varied from 82
degrees in the day to 80 degrees at night. The household is
afflicted with lassitude and loss of appetite. Evening does not