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now see many
FROM KAMAKUBA TO TEDO. 205
curious eastern customs and hear
Did you know that peo-
many eastern expressions.
'
ple here call the American foreigners eastern
men,' or ' Chinese ' ? It is curious, since the Americans
come from the far west; but I suppose that
to the common folks all foreigners look alike, just
because they are not Japanese."
" I shall be a Yedo man to-day," said Honda.
" This is my
first visit, and I shall feel like a boor
from the rice-fields in the great city. I have heard
there are sharpers who take in the green fellows
from the provinces. I wonder if I shall find it true,
as the proverb says, ' There are boors even in the
"
capital.'
" "
Capital
! roared Ban, glaring at the speaker.
"Don't call Yedo the capital, even in jest. Yes;
you must look sharp for gamblers and thieves
especially."
The great To-kai-do, or Eastern Sea Road, was
gay with ten thousand travelers. They met two
long trains of daimios coming from Yedo, and had
to wait each time until the tedious procession passed
;
for to hurry past one made one liable to insult or
even arrest, while for a common person to cross the
line was sure death. The led-horses, palanquins,
umbrellas, baggage-boxes, gentlemen on horse and
foot, and long lines of retainers and porters made
waiting tedious. Contrasting frightfully with all this
glitter and shine were the foul and leprous beggars
at the place called " Rows of Trees." These filthy
creatures lived in abject misery in straw huts in the