We landed, a party of six, and proceeded to Gower’s house, where he and his friends, the Japanese officers, had provided ponies. Another party had gone to haul the seine off the mouth of a river two miles to the eastward, up which we had heard of trout and salmon. Our ride, although hot, was an agreeable one, enlivened by the addition to our party of Mitford. On arrival we found the Japanese Governor, a man of no great rank, had kindly provided a feast at his residence. The Japanese are proverbial for their cleanliness, and floors covered with mats. We found this second to none in that respect, and we voluntarily, before entering, kicked off our dirty boots. With the exception of sweetmeats and cakes, a Japanese feast is a nauseous thing: sea-slugs, stale fish, uncooked ditto, and scuttle-fish do not suit the English palate. We walked afterwards to that part of the village where the Jonos dwell. They are an extraordinary-looking race; short and square built, but the great peculiarity is their shock head of hair, which extends to their face and body. Their houses were cleaner than other savages, but that is probably owing to the force of example set them by the Japanese. They live chiefly by hunting the bear, which they are allowed to do under certain restrictions. One is that the skins are sold to the Government. Each village has a pet bear which is made much of, but off which they eventually have a grand feast and consume much saki. The only curio obtained was one presented to me by the chief--a slip of wood, the size of a large paper-cutter, but carved on it were the figures of a Jono and a bear, while between them was a plate of fish and a bowl of saki. The use of this instrument was to lift the hair of the upper lip so as to clear the way for the bowl of saki, which it was essential should be drank at the feast of the bear. During the operation of the cutting up and cooking of the pet for the feast, the old women are allowed to howl and cry. [Sidenote: Friday, Aug. 1.] I joined the party to see the coal-mine. Suttie and the Commodore preferred trying their hand at the salmon, which were just arriving on the coast. An agreeable and pretty ride of two miles along a valley down which a small rivulet runs, and up which the tram or railway is being constructed, brought us to the coal-mine, into which--more to please Mr. Gower than myself, as nothing can be more uninteresting--I crept, half-doubled, through mud and water. After expressing my satisfaction, and taking a long and patient look at the adjacent hills covered with timber and brushwood, and rendered still more interesting to Mr. Gower by the vast seams of coal underneath, the line of which he seemed to know as exactly as if the mountain was of crystal, we wended our way back on foot, collecting several specimens of the land helix.