for a second, and 50 cents for a third, with 5 yen for the license
to sell sake.

These "godowns" (from the Malay word gadong), or fire-proof store-
houses, are one of the most marked features of Japanese towns, both
because they are white where all else is grey, and because they are
solid where all else is perishable.

I am lodged in the lower part, but the iron doors are open, and in
their place at night is a paper screen. A few things are kept in
my room. Two handsome shrines from which the unemotional faces of
two Buddhas looked out all night, a fine figure of the goddess
Kwan-non, and a venerable one of the god of longevity, suggested
curious dreams.

I. L. B.



LETTER XIX



Prosperity--Convict Labour--A New Bridge--Yamagata--Intoxicating
Forgeries--The Government Buildings--Bad Manners--Snow Mountains--A
Wretched Town.

KANAYAMA, July 16.

Three days of travelling on the same excellent road have brought me