Japan and the Japanese

DESCRIPTION OF MIAKO. 349
presents in his own name, consisting of some European glasses,
and, in the mean time, to beg a favor for his deputy interpreter's
son. Having taken our leave, we returned to our kangos, and
were carried home to our inn, where we arrived at one in the
afternoon.
" Kio, or MIAKO, signifies in Japanese, a city. [Klaproth says,
great temple or palace.]
It lies in the province JAMATTO, in a large
plain, and is, from north to south, three English miles long, and two
broad from east to west, surrounded with pleasant green hills and
mountains, from which arise numbers of small rivers and agreeable
springs. The city comes nearest the mountains on the east side,
where there are numerous temples, monasteries, chapels, and other
religious buildings, standing
in the ascent. Three shallow rivers
enter, or run by, it on that side. The chief and largest conies out
of the Lake Oitz ; the other two from the neighboring moun-
tains. They come together about the middle of the city, where the
united stream is crossed by a large bridge, two hundred paces long.
The Dairi, with his family and court, resides on the north side of
the city,
in a particular part or ward, consisting of twelve or thir
teen streets, separated from the rest by walls and ditches. In the
western part of the town is a strong castle of free-stone, built by
one of the hereditary emperors, for the security of his person
during the civil wars. At present it serves to lodge the Kubo, or
actual monarch, when he comes to visit the Dairi. It is upwards
of a thousand feet long where longest; a deep ditch, filled with
water, and walled in, surrounds it, and is enclosed itself by a broad
empty space, or dry ditch. In the middle of this castle there is,
as usual, a square tower, several stories high. In the ditch are
kept a particular sort of delicious carps, some of which were presented
this evening to our interpreter. A small garrison guards
the castle, under the command of a captain.
" The streets of Miako are narrow, but all regular, running some
south, some east. Being at one end of a great street, it is impos
Bible to reach the other with the eye, because of their extraordinary
length, the dust, and the multitude of people. The houses aiu,
generally speaking, narrow, only two stories high, built of wood,
lime, and clay, according to the country fashion.
'' Miako is the great magazine of all Japanese manufactures and