On the second day we had a tramp through to Osaka, twenty miles, of which we rode four or five on a ballast engine. We crossed two considerable rivers by the railway bridges, already completed and wanting only the rails; and a third river we passed by boat, the bridge being yet unfinished. What with calling in upon three several engineers on the way, as in duty bound, and discussing with each of them the future possibilities of railway work, we found it falling dark as we arrived at the wilderness that was all yet achieved of Osaka station; but one of our party who had left England a few weeks earlier than ourselves, and had already paid a flying visit to. Osaka, piloted us down to the foreign settlement at Kawaguchi (the word signifies river-mouth, but does not suggest the fact that the river Yodo has two mouths, neither of which are near the settlement), and then we fetched the French hotel. The landlord of this establishment did not show, except by his substitute, a Chinese steward, who gave us some dinner, as to which I only remember that it was very bad, or there would not have been enough of it.

Then we started in search of the Osaka club, traversing the settlement two or three times (which did not involve any great amount of pedestrianism) before we hit upon the right place. So far as we could judge by the uncertain light of the oil lamps, Kawaguchi appeared to consist chiefly of new roads and vacant lots, the houses that were then in existence having all their back premises in front, and no fronts anywhere. However, we made ourselves free of the club, by the simple process of putting our cards in the rack, and fell to

billiards. One member of the club looked in at the door, in the course of the evening, but he didn't stop; and we soon tired of our game, and returned to the hotel, to find sound sleep in our barely furnished chambers.

After a hasty breakfast (for there was no temptation to linger over it), and payment of an enormous bill, we returned to Kobe in two steamers, dividing our party of four impartially between the rival boats. I had selected the larger one, which had a deck-cabin and was not crowded, and we were the first to stir up the mud of the dirty river and scoop our way down to Temposan, the western mouth; but here the other steamer, a cranky little screw, whose skipper had craftily followed us down the groove we had excavated, gave us the go-by and disappeared in a cloud of smoke, making a noise that surely advertised to the whole of Osaka, Kobe, and the surrounding country, when she was underway, and that by its cessation made the hills aware when she stopped. Our comfortable paddle-boat had economical engines and a cynical owner-captain who positively snorted at us when we asked him if he could not hurry up a little. He said he only took passengers who weren't in a hurry, because he didn't care to burn coal; and further gave us to understand that he lived on board his boat, and his dinner would be ready quite irrespective of the time of arrival at Kobe. This worthy is, I believe, still living in his floating home, which he removed to China when the Kobe-Osaka Railway was opened. He informed us that on one occasion he had carried the Director, the Engineer

in-chief, and the Chief Commissioner; and had covered them with confusion by asking firstly, what a railway was wanted for, and secondly, what they would take to delay the opening for another year-but could get no satisfactory answer from any of them. I was afterwards told by one of the above dignitaries, that the skipper was asked how much he was prepared to put down, and that the unsatisfactory issue of the negociation was thereupon inevitable.

We did arrive at Kobe in time for tiffin, much to the disappointment of the skipper, who had hoped that we should lunch with him, and had, I believe, shut. off steam with this hospitable intention; but the wind followed fair abaft and was too strong for him.

We found the Chief Assistant-Engineer, who was charged to facilitate our exit from the settlements, always ready to make an appointment for the transaction of business, but always unable to keep it. He was acting agent, acting store-keeper, acting locomotive superintendent, and a few other things; and was further engaged during great part of his day in mollifying the wrath of every individual member of the staff under him. If any man, from an engine-driver to a resident engineer, had a spare half hour, he always looked up the Chief Assistant-Engineer and complained of something. If eligible, he was thereupon taken round to the club; if not, he was promised special mention when the next general rise of wages was setting in. As, about the time we were in Kobe, two engineers were engaged in setting out the line from Osaka to Kiyōto, and they of course had their share of complaints to

make, the Chief Assistant-Engineer used to meet them at Osaka (where, as above mentioned, there was a club), and this made it additionally difficult for us to get at him.

At last, however, after about ten days in Kobe, we succeeded in getting to business; and, with his assistance, drew up a list of such articles as we required, and the department was prepared to furnish. As for our living and feeding, he gave us to understand that all we had to do was to make ourselves comfortable, and the native officials would get us anything in reason that we wanted; and referred us to the regulations, which set forth that, while we were living in the settlements, unprovided with quarters, we were entitled to so much a day as allowances to cover all our expenses; but when in the interior of the country, we were to receive half allowance, to pay for whatever we were obliged to have from the settlements, and that furnished quarters and such food as was obtainable in the district would be supplied to us. In former times, he said, some foreigners in Japanese service had insisted upon being supplied with champagne and other luxuries at departmental cost; so that it had been thought better to give the half allowance, and let us buy for ourselves such exotic comforts as we required; the propriety of which course was obvious.

So we made out our requisitions in accordance with the official scale; but as some few days-or weeks, or more-might be required in order to execute the requisitions properly (for which our Kobe experience had prepared us), we did not propose to wait, but resolved

to go on and make a start, hoping to make ourselves comfortable afterwards; and accordingly set to work to concentrate our personal belongings, get instruments and tools packed, and prepare to rough it generally.

The absolute folly of leaving Christmas behind us was eloquently set forth by our Kobe friends, who predicted all manner of ill-luck for us if we started before the New Year; but we had lost quite time enough already, and set off by steamer for Osaka, on the 23rd December, to be lost, as we were assured, in the wilds, for the people who went away from the settlements might of course (though they never did) come out at the other side, but returned never! As, however, the farthest point to which we were bound was distant only a hundred and thirty miles, or thereabouts, from the Kobe club, and it was stated on good authority that people lived more or less all along the way—on both sides of the road, so to speak—we were ready to back our luck with that hardened effrontery, born of experience, which is cultivated by the race of engineers.

We did not, however, leave Kobe in quite the same frame of mind as we started in from Yokohama. I have never been quite able to account for the different impressions the two places produce upon a large number of people. Except that Yokohama is about five times the size of Kobe, there appears to be no great contrast between them in essentials. Each has its business quarter, its villas on the hill, its native town and harbour. Yokohama, though it has not within a half-hour's walk the mountains that have such a charm for pedestrians or lovers of scenery at Kobe, is within easy travel