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270
HONDA THE SAMUEAI.
ous and hotels more luxurious. In the highlands of
Echizen and Omi, Mr. Rai drew from his own tea-
caddy, and had Uh^i prepare
certain of his favorite
dishes ; but on the Tokaido the bill-of-fare was suf-
ficiently varied and the cooking done with skill. All
around the rooms, or hung in the hall-ways, and even
on the outdoor passages, were wooden tablets, dec-
orated in gold or cinnabar or black lacquer, of famous
guests, noblemen and others, who had stopped
in the favored inn, or left verses of poetry. Pine-
tree mounds marking the distances, shrines, temples,
and turfy " head-piles " of old battle-fields, long sea-
walls or embankments built to keep out the waves,
aisle-like stretches of glorious pine-trees, were passed,
and then they came to Owari, the city of the splendid
castle, renowned for the golden grampus whose
scales the famous robber Ishikawa tried to steal by
the aid of a kite.
At Shirasha they crossed the longest bridge in
Japan, but on many of the rivers saw the mile-long
lines and piles of " snake-baskets," or net-work of
bamboo, loaded with large pebble-stones to protect
the river-banks against the encroachments of the
floods and currents. Most rrVers in Japan are al-
ternately full to overflowing or dried up, excepting
a thin stream, leaving a large space of sand and
shingle. At Araii they dined on the famous clams,
and crossed the bay in a boat. They met men
naked, except a belt, and running with live fish
just out of the sea and laid in a straw bag on their
shoulders. The fresh fish were warranted by the