Japan and the Japanese

INCIDENTS OF THE JOURNEY. 329
honor and respect are shown us in our journey over the great island
Nipon.
" As to what concerns our accommodation on the road, the same
is with regard to the carriage of us and of our baggage, ma
number of horses and men provided for that purpose, the inns, lodgings,
eating, and attendance as good for our money as we could
possibly desire. But, on the other hand, if we consider the narrow
for we
compass allowed us, we have too much reason to complain ;
are treated in a manner like prisoners, deprived of all liberty, ex-
cepting that of looking about the country from our horses, or out
of our kangos, which, indeed, it is impossible for them to deny us.
As soon as a Dutchman alights from his horse (which is taken very
ill, unless urgent necessity obliges him), he that rides before oiir
train, and the whole train after him, must stop suddenly, and the
Dosiu and two other attendants must come down from their horses
to take immediate care of him. Nay, they watch us to that degree
that they will not leave us alone, not even for the most necessary
occasions. The Bugio, or commander-in-chief of our train, studies
day and night, not only the contents of his instructions, but the
journals of two or three preceding journeys, in order exactly, and
step by step, to follow the actions and behavior of his predecessors.
'T is looked upon as the most convincing proof of his faithfulness
and good conduct still to exceed them. Nay,
some of these block-
heads are so capricious that no accident whatever can oblige them
to go to any other inns but those we had been at the year before,
even though we should, upon this account, be forced in the worst
weather, with the greatest inconveniency, and at the very peril of
our lives, to travel till late at night.
"We go to the same inns which the princes .and lords of the
country resort to, that is, to the very best of every place. The
apartments are at that time hung with the colors and arms of the
Dutch East India Company, and this in order to notify to the
neighborhood who they be that lodge there, as is customary in the
country. We always go to the same inns, with this difference only
that, upon our return from Jedo, we lie at the place we dined at in
going up, by this means equally to divide the trouble, which is
much greater at night than at dinner. We always take up our
lodging in the back apartment of the house, which is by much the
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