The boy travellers in the Far East : adventures of two youths ... - Library

een rebuilt of stone, or largely so ;
and precautions that were hitherto
unknown are now taken for the pre-
vention of fresh disastei's. Some of
the new quarters are quite substan-
tial, but the}'' resemble too strongly
the edifices of a city in Europe to be
characteristic of Japan.
A portion of the way took our
friends through the grounds of some
of the castles, and the boys were rath-
er astonished at the extent of these
residences of princes. Doctor Bron-
son explained that Tokio was former-
ly a city of princes, and that the resi-
dences of the Daimios, as these great
men were called, were of more con-
sequence at one time than all the rest
of the city. The palace of a Daimio
was known as a yashiki, and the
THE JAPANESE LOTOS l'L(^\VEK. 117
FIRE-LOOKOUTS IX TOKIO.
yashikis were capable, in some instances, of lodging five or ten thousand
men. Under the present government the power of the princes has been,
taken away, and their troops of retainers have been disbanded. The gov-
ernment has converted the most of the yashikis into ofiices and barracks
and schools, and one at least has been turned into a manufactory.
The original plan of Tokio was that of a vast camp, and from that the
city grew into its present condition. The best locations were occupied by
the castles and yashikis, and the principal castle in the centre has the best
j)lace of all. Frank observed as they crossed the bridge leading into the
castle-yard that the broad moat was full of lotos fiowers in full bloom,
and he longed to gather some of them so that he might send them home as
a souvenir of the country. He had heard of the lotos as a sort of waterlily,
similar in general appearance to the pond-lily of his native land. He
was surprised to find a flower, eight or ten inches in diameter, growing
on a strong stalk that did not float on the water, but held itself erect and
far above it. The Doctor explained the matter by telling him that the
Japanese lotos is unlike the Egyptian lotos, from which our ideas of that
flower are derived. But the Japanese one is highly prized by the peo-
ple of all ranks and classes, and it grows in abundance in all the castle-
moats, and in marshy ground generally.