Two resting-places had been made ready to break this five-mile ride, and another at the end! There was not much to be seen when we reached our destination—a sandy beach and open sea, with a tiny stream running into it. It was not easy to guess why our kind hosts had been so keen to show it to us. We got home again before dark. In the evening two of the Prince’s gentlemen came in for an after-dinner chat. They talked again about the possibility of opening Nanao to foreign trade, saying very sensibly that it would not be well to do anything which might have the appearance of smuggling, and that it would be best to tell the Bakufu (Government of the Tycoon) that if foreign vessels were admitted there would surely be a certain amount of goods exchanged. We urged them to write in that sense to Yedo. We then started upon general politics. Their view as to the state of parties at that moment was that the Bakufu ought to be supported on general principles, but that its power should be kept within bounds. We talked on till late into the night, my conviction still being that Kaga had not at that time any determined policy. It was obvious that there was no leading influential man such as those whom we knew in other clans. I handed them a letter of thanks for all the kindness which we had received, which Satow translated into Japanese; and they took their leave with great courtesy. The following morning (August 14) we started off again after a most friendly leave-taking, everybody begging us to come again. Our host begs us to stop at a medicine shop kept by his father-in-law to buy a wonderful drug called _shisetsu_, made of nitre and musk, a panacea for all the ills to which flesh is heir. The crowds were as thick as ever, with many very attractive young ladies. From our first resting-place we looked back upon the great city where we had been so kindly received, and saw the castle, typical of a feudalism that was so near its end, standing with its high white towers on rising ground, lording it over the burghers’ houses below, among the pine trees with which the whole town is planted. A striking and picturesque view, and a happy memory, the value of which is enhanced by that patina in which time enwraps all beautiful things. The rest of our journey through the province of Kaga was not very eventful. Wherever we went we were met with the same gracious and unexpected kindness that had made our stay at Kanazawa so pleasant. We could not help being struck by the great prosperity of the country. We passed through such towns as Mattō, with two thousand houses, Komatsu, with two thousand five hundred, all under the mild rule of the Prince of Kaga, and a happier people it would be difficult to find.