To-day we made an excursion to a lake among the mountains, five thousand feet high. I was furnished with a mountain horse which proved an ugly brute; kicked and stumbled, and put the bit between his teeth, so that I could not control him, and he nearly trotted the life out of me. We went up and along the winding paths, passing numerous water-falls, one of which was 750 feet high, and at last reached the lake, which is of great beauty. The mountains rise directly from the water's edge. They are covered to their very tops with green trees, the leaves of which have a singular feathery appearance.
The tea-houses where we stopped for lunch were models of cleanliness and comfort. We brought our own provisions as usual, but had in addition a boiled fish just taken from the lake.
We stopped in and around the tea-houses for some hours; and then I mounted my ugly brute of a horse and rode back to the hotel, a much used-up man. I was glad to get a bath and to retire early.
We returned to the railway station by the road we came, and again made the distance in four hours, with only one stop of fifteen minutes.
[CHAPTER V.]
MIYNOSKITA.
Miynoskita, Japan, Oct. 24, 1889.
