Ê¢ÊÀ²ÊƱÍøÖ·¶àÉÙ:Ïà¹ØÈí¼þ Ä£ÄâÈËÉú3dÆƽâ°æ£¬Óëpcͬ²½Èí¼þÏÂÔØ£¬Á÷ÐÇÍøÂçµçÊÓÃâ·Ñ°æ£¬smash hit ½Ðʲô£¬»ðÓ°ÊÖÓÎÔõôios¸Ä£¬ Ë¢ÆÀÂÛÈí¼þ£¬Ê²Ã´Ä£ÄâÆ÷¿ÉÒÔÏÂÔØtap

�ʺ¥©Þ¤³"Oh, I--I wish he wouldn't play cards. Smith, I've seen him play cards with the shells bursting over us!"¬¥×¤¥¤¥¥¥´"We have seen many temples—so many, in fact, that it is difficult to remember all of them. One of the most impressive is the Temple of Heaven, which has three circular roofs, one above another, and is said to be ninety-nine feet high. The tiles on the top are of porcelain of the color of a clear sky, and the intention of the builder was to imitate the vault of heaven. On the inside there are altars where sacrifices are offered to the memory of former emperors of China, and on certain occasions the emperor comes here to take part in the ceremonies.Ö¥Ð×ã¥Î

From the river they proceeded to Odiwara, where they had a rest of several hours, as the town contained certain things that they wished to see. They found that foreigners were not very numerous at Odiwara, and there was considerable curiosity to see them. Whenever they halted in front of a shop, or to look at anything, of interest, a crowd was speedily collected; and the longer they stood, the greater it became. But there was no impertinence, and not the least insult was offered to them; there was a manifestation of good-natured curiosity, and nothing more. Men, women, and children were equally respectful; and whenever they pressed too closely it was only necessary for the guide to say that the strangers were being inconvenienced, when the crowd immediately fell back. Every day and hour of their stay in Japan confirmed our friends more and more in the belief that there are no more polite people in the world than the Japanese.¤¥õ¤¥¤¥¤¶¥¤�¤¤Ú¤¢¤¤¤ñ§í¦¤"Please tell us about that," said Fred. Frank echoed the request, and their informer nodded his consent.䥥ʤ

From Nara the party continued to Kioto, halting for dinner at Uji, which is the centre of an important tea district. Men and women were at work in the fields gathering the leaves from the plants, and other men and women were attending to the drying process which the gathered leaves were undergoing. They were spread out on matting, on paper, or on cloth, where they had the full force of the rays of the sun, and were frequently turned and stirred so as to have every part equally exposed to the solar heat. While the party was at Uji a shower came on, and then there was some very lively hurrying to and fro to save the tea from a wetting. During the afternoon the rain continued, and the rest of the ride to Kioto was not especially cheerful. Part of the route led along the banks of the river, which forms a navigable way for small boats between[Pg 288] the tea district and Osaka; and at one place, where the bank was broken, Frank had a narrow escape from an overturn into the water. The wheel of his little carriage sank into the soft earth and spilled him out, but, luckily, a friendly tree was in his grasp and saved him from falling down the steep slope of twenty feet or so. "A miss is as good as a mile," he remarked, as he brushed the mud from his clothes, and took his seat again in his vehicle.¥¤¤ï¥¥�»Õ§±¤¤¤Since the party made their excursion to Fusiyama a bridge has been built over the river, and the occupation of the porters is gone. Some of them cling to the hope that the river will one day rise in its might, and protest against this invasion of its rights by sweeping away the[Pg 193] structure that spans it, thus compelling travellers to return to the methods of the olden time.d©¥¤¥Å«¥Óº¤

�¤¤¥¤Í�¤Ì³ëð¦"A gentleman who has given much attention to this subject says that of the one hundred and twenty rulers of Japan, nine have been women; and that the chief divinity in their mythology is a woman—the goddess Kuanon. A large part of the literature of Japan is devoted to the praise of woman; her fidelity, love, piety, and devotion form the groundwork of many a romance which has become famous throughout the country, and popular with all classes of readers. The history of Japan abounds in stories of the heroism of women in the various characters of patriot, rebel, and martyr; and I am told that a comparison of the standing of women in all the countries of the East, both in the past and in the present, would unquestionably place Japan at the head.¥¤À

"But, for all that," Fred responded, "the others may be worse than this."¤Ñ¥¥Ý¥¤»åCHAPTER XXXI.¥±¥¥¤¥´¥ôÆäÏ�¥Ò¤¥¥¥Ô³À¤¥Ñ

�¥¸ÌÔ¥½¤¤¤�³¥«¥Ç¤¤The day was perfectly clear, but suddenly a cloud appeared to be forming like a thick mist. As they came nearer to it they discovered what it was, and made the discovery through their sense of feeling. It[Pg 345] was a cloud of locusts moving from the southern to the northern bank of the river; they had devastated a large area, and were now hastening to fresh woods and pastures new. They filled the air so densely as to obscure the sun, and for more than an hour the steamer was enveloped in them. These locusts are the scourge of China, as they are of other countries. They are worse in some years than in others, and in several instances they have been the cause of local famines, or of great scarcity.ۥ㸤°¯á°¤Þî

�¤¤¥Ç¤ã¤Ð¥·On their return to Shanghai, the Doctor informed his young companions that they would take the first steamer up the coast in the direction of Pekin.㼧¥¤¸áò¤FLYING KITES. FLYING KITES.ïÉ¥¤

�о¢¤¥¥�²¤¤¥¤¤Ç¥"If you have any desire to study the subject fully, I advise you to get 'Piddington's Law of Storms;' you will find it treated very fully and intelligently, both from the scientific and the popular point of view.¤ÌäÌÔ

Remember! I had yet to make their discovery. But I was on the eve of making it.¾¥¤¥"While we were looking at the audience there came half a dozen raps behind the curtain, as if two pieces of wood had been knocked together; and a moment after the rapping had stopped, the curtain was drawn aside. It was a common sort of curtain, and did not open in the middle like some of ours, or roll up like others; it was pulled aside as if it ran on a wire, and when it was out of sight we saw the stage set to represent a garden with lots of flower-pots and bushes. The stage was very small compared with an American one, and not more than ten or twelve feet deep; but it was set quite well, though not so elaborately as we would arrange it. The orchestra was in a couple of little boxes over the stage, one on each side, and each box contained six persons, three singers and three guitar-players. This is the regulation orchestra and chorus, so they say, in all the Japanese theatres, but it is sometimes differently made up. If a theatre is small and poor, it may have only two performers in each box, and sometimes one box may be empty, but this is not often.±¥¤¤Á¥¥ªð¤¤Ü¤�¤¥¹¥¥ö®¥¥¥¤¢

�¤¤¡¤Ò¤¤áÉΤCHAPTER XX.¥Ë¥¸¤±�ö¤ê