hull it; and some were putting it up in the coarse sacks of matting used for that purpose.

Twelve miles soon passed away amid these new scenes, and we found ourselves whirling through the old capital. Emerging again into the country, we stopped, and entered the precincts of an old temple, or what seemed to have been several temples. It lay in a cove in the low mountains, in a setting of natural scenery that was very picturesque. There are a good many buildings which I cannot describe, many of them falling into decay. Some, however, are kept in repair by a few Buddhist priests that seem to haunt the grounds like ghosts. Indeed I have been half tempted since to believe they must be ghosts; for they were the only priests we saw who did not have some contrivance for collecting fees.

cove.

But there was

a deserted air about the whole place. The objects of greatest interest were some caves and niches, cut into the solid rock in the side of the mountain, in which there were some images; and a monster bell. This bell is upon the summit of the loftiest hill around the You ascend to it by a long flight of stone steps, laid upon the steep ascent, and when you reach the top you overlook the entire cove and all the buildings below. The bell is suspended under a mere shed, upon a very massive frame. It is of a peculiar shape—that is, peculiar to the eye of a foreigner— though all the large bells I have seen here are of the same pattern. The peculiarity is, they are unusually deep from top to bottom, as they hang. This one is fourteen feet in girth and seven feet high, and being oval at the top, it soon reaches its full size, and has very much the shape of an inverted goblet. It is cov

ered over with inscriptions from sacred books, in the Chinese character. The metal is five inches thick. It has no clapper, but is rung on this wise: A log of wood, six or eight inches in diameter and about eight feet long, is suspended in a horizontal position, by two chains one near each end-one end being, as it hangs in rest, about eighteen inches from the side of the bell, and opposite to a round section of the surface, raised a little to receive the blow. The bell is rung by raising this battering-ram, or rather drawing it back from the bell as far as the chains will allow, and suddenly letting it go. The impulse brings the end against the bell, and the stroke wakes the echoes. It was rung for us several times, and I thought the tone very impressive.

As we descended from the bell, returning to the place where we had left our jinrikishas, we passed by an old temple, now used as a school-house, in which there is a public school taught—one of the many supported by the government all over the empire. We turned aside to see how a Japanese school is managed. An usher met us at the door, and soon the master, a very young man, appeared. He was delighted with our visit. Nothing would do but we must come in. Two of the larger children were sent off for chairs for us to sit on. Dr. Maclay explained to us that the text-books, which he examined, were all recent translations of American books. The teacher must needs have us to witness some of the exercises of his pupils, and so he rubbed out the Chinese characters that covered the blackboard, and set down some examples in arithmetic, all in Arabic numerals, with the minus, plus, and other signs, taken

from the American books so lately introduced. These public schools are one of the many signs of the times in this singular nation. I shall have more to say of them hereafter.

From this point we went on about a mile to another and more magnificent temple, to which we ascended by a flight of fifty stone steps, at the end of a beautiful paved avenue. The matters of principal interest here are relics of the old Shoguns, who were the actual emperors, although they did everything in the name of the Mikado. There are massive helmets and coats of mail, worn by those military chieftains over five hundred years ago. There are also the most elegant swords and other implements of warfare, as well as the writing apparatus of one of the most distinguished of the old heroes. All this was shown for a small fee, by the Buddhist priest in attendance.

We soon saw all of this display that we cared to see, and took to our man-carriages again, to be trotted off two miles to see the celebrated Dai Butsupronounced here Di Bootz. Butsu is the Japanese name of Buddha, and Dai means great. Dai Butsu -the great Buddha. It is a colossal image, fortyfour feet high, and at the largest part twenty feet in diameter from front to rear, and twenty-five feet from side to side. It is of fine bronze, cast in sections, the metal not being more than two or three inches thick, so that the image is perfectly hollow. It rests on a foundation of stone about five feet high, a door opening through the foundation to the interior. Half way up the back, or a little more, are two small windows, and just below the windows there is a rude platform, reached by a ladder. Mounting this we

were fairly in the bosom of Buddha-which is Nirvana, the Buddhist heaven. So you see in what celestial regions we have been!

Returning to the outside, we got a ladder, ascended to the hands, found the thumbs to be three feet in circumference, and the nails of the thumbs four inches by six. The image is seated, with the feet under the body, and, like most of the images of Buddha, rests in a lotus flower, there being a popular tradition that he came across the ocean from India to Japan on a lotus-blossom. Massive as this figure is, the proportions are well preserved, every part being in keeping with the rest, and it is certainly a marvel. of art. The pose of the body, the set of the head, and, above all, the expression of the face, combine to realize the ideal of perfect repose. I never saw any ideal more palpably or fully realized. Perfect tranquillity of spirit is in every feature of the face and in the posture of the body. In nearly all of the images here there is something grotesque, something unnatural, but not so with Dai Butsu. Every thing is natural and comely, the proportions and attitude being exactly in keeping with the ideal.

We extended our trip from Dai Butsu along the shore of the Bay, to visit the island of Enoshema, which is accessible on foot when the tide is low. But the tide was up now, and we were not disposed to wade. Three Japs, with powerful frames, offered us their shoulders for a ride. But it was getting late, and we determined to retrace our steps. Soon striking the Tokaido, we had an excellent road back to Yokohama, seventeen miles. We started at eight o'clock in the morning, got back at seven in the even

ing, took full four hours for sight-seeing, and traveled thirty-seven or eight miles. How will that do for a man-team?

The Tokaido is the great National road.

I

CHAPTER III.

A SUNDAY IN DAI NIPPON.

T SO happened that the Sunday after our arrival at Yokohama was the time of the quarterly-meeting of the Methodist Mission at that place.

On Saturday the Quarterly Conference met at Dr. Maclay's residence. The members present were Mr. Hattori, Mr. Makino, Mr. Kosugi, Mr. Kudo, and Mr. Kurimura-five in all. There was one absent, having been called away to Tokio to look after some relatives who had been burnt out in the recent great fire in that place. Conference was opened with prayer in Japanese, by Dr. Maclay. Brother Hattori was elected Secretary. The routine of Quarterly Conference business laid down in the Discipline was not followed, for the reason that the organization of the Church is not yet so complete as to require it.