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

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THE BOY TRAVELLERS.
ratlier of a portion of it. During the sixteenth century Osaka was the capi-
tal of the empire, and remained so for many years ; while it was the capi-
tal the emperor commanded the tributary princes to assist in building the
walls of the imperial residence, and each was to send a stone for that pur-
pose. The stones are there, and it would be no small matter to remove
them. Our friends had no means of measurement at hand, but they esti-
mated that some of the stones were twenty feet long by half that widtli,
and six feet in depth. They were as large as an ordinary street-car, and
some of them were larger; and Jiow they could have been transported over
the roads of Japan and hoisted into tlieir places was a mystery no one
could explain.
The view from the top of the castle walls is magnificent, and well re-
pays the trouble of making the ascent. In front is the city like a broad
map, and there is no difficulty in tracing tlie lines of tlie streets and the
sinuosities of the rivers and canals. Beyond the city, on the right, is the
water of the bay, which opens into the Pacific, while on the left is the
plain that stretches away to Kobe and Iliogo. Beyond tlie plain is the
range of sharp hills and mountains ; and as one turns slowly to the west
a
nd north he can sweep the landscape almost to the gates of Kioto and
the shores of Lake Biwa. To the east, again, there are mountains rising
sharply from the fertile plain, so that one seems to be standing in a basin
of low land with a curving rim of mountains. The sun was about setting
as our party reached the top of the high wall, and they remained there in
full enjoyment of the scene until the shadows began to fall and the light
to fade out from the sky. It was the most delightful landscape view that
had fallen to the lot of the youths since their ascent of Fusiyanu\.
They regretted the necessity of departing from the castle, l)ut regrets
were of no use, and they descended to the streets just as the lamps were
getting into full blaze.