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

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THE BOY TRAVELLERS.
simple, and it is rather surprising tlian otlierwise that tliey can accoinpih'sh
so m\ieh with so little machinery. Then we have walked about the streets,
and several times we ]ia\'e liad close escapes from being rnn over by some
of the carts that were carrying heavy loads. With two njen to push them,
and two pulling at the same time, tliey will move loads that would be no
small matter for a pair of horses. They keep up a great shouting, and at
first it puzzles you to know why they do it until you remember that it is
desirable they should all pull together. You can hoar them a long way
off, and if you get in their way it is your own fault, as it was ours.
HANDCAET FOK A QUAKTETTE.
""Well, if we kept on telling you all we have seen in Kioto we should
be a long time at it, and so we may as well stop short. Besides, we are
going to Lake Biwa, and it is time to be off. If you enjoy this letter half
as much as we have enjoj-ed the material for making it you will have a
very pleasant time over it."
The party went to Lake Biwa as they had proposed, and certainly no
one should omit it from his excursions in the vicinity of Kioto. The
distance is only seven miles, and an excellent road leads thei'e from the
city. Along the route they met a dense crowd of people coming and
going, for there is a vast amount of business between the city and the
lake. There were men on foot and in jin-riki-shas, there were porters
with loads and porters without loads, thei'e were packdiorses in gi-eat
number, and there were wagons with merchandise bound for the interior
or for the sealtoard. Some of the pack-horses had burdens the reverse of
savory, and the boys learned on incpiiry that they were transporting liquid
manure to the farms near the borders of the lake. Aloni>- the roadside