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

2SG
THE BOY TRAVELLERS.
Nara is aboiit thirty wiles from Osaka, and is famous for some ancient
temples and fine groves of trees. The park containing the latter is quite
extensive, and supports a considerable number of deer, so tame that they
will feed from the hand of a stranger. As they are the stock sights of
the place, there are plenty of opportunities to spend a few pennies for
cakes to be given to the deer. The cakes are sold by some old women, who
call the pets from the shelter of the trees, and bring them bounding to
your side. The trees in the park are very old, and among the finest in
Japan. There are few lovelier sjjots in the country than this; and as our
friends reclined on the veranda of the little hotel to which John had led
the waj', and looked upon the smiling valley that spread before them, they
pronounced the pictui-e one of the prettiest they had ever seen.
A JAPANESE LANDSCAPE.
The following morning they devoted to the sights of Nara, and were
surprised at the number and extent of the temples and tombs. During
the eighth century Nara was the capital of Japan, and it had the honor of
being the residence of seven different sovereigns. Tlie most famous of its
m(.inuments is the statue of Buddha, which was originally cast at the time
Nara was the capital, and was afterwards destroyed during an insurrection.
It was recast about seven hundred years ago, and has since remained unin-