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180 HONDA THE SAMURAI.
American soldiers should land and set fire to the
houses.
"
They 're a rough lot, I tell you," said an old
sailor who had been on many, many voyages to the
north seas, around Yezo, and even the Aleutian
Islands.
"
They are many feet high, wear hair all over their
face, like the Aino savages, drink liquor out of big
glasses, eat piles of meat, and are very ugly when
they are angry. When in good humor, however,
they are very kind. I have been on board their
whale-ships, and one of them gave me this knife with
four blades that work on hinges, as you see. But
perhaps if these Americans are well treated, they will
not harm our people."
Mr. Rai passed on beyond the city limits and up
the hill into Atago Yama. Here, on the top of a hill
that overlooked the city and valley, was the ceme-
tery of the lords of the house of Echizen, where lay
buried the dead rulers of the province. Among
these tombs also a grander name than even that of
local ruler was that of Mikado, for here, centuries
ago, had been buried one of the emperors
of Ever-
lasting Great Japan.
What led Mr. Rai to this lonely, ghostly spot at
this time, so near midnight?
For centuries the Japanese, living in unbroken
quiet and shut off from all the world, imagined
that Japan was not only the land of Great Peace
but also the Holy Country, the land of the gods,
the favorite dwelling-place of holy spirits. They