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not belong to all Europeans. From all these points of view the country situated between Nikko, Aidzu and Niigata deserves special mention.
The river becomes navigable at Tsagawa, which, in virtue of this position, has become the important centre of a commerce and carrying trade. From this point Niigata can be reached by water in a day when the stream is strong. The distance by land between the two places being from 18 to 20 ri, an estimate may be formed of the rapidity of the stream, here called the Tsagawa. When the water is slack, a halt must be made for the night and Niigata reached the next day, the native boatmen being justly unwilling to descend the river during the dark hours. The rapidity of this form of locomotion is not without some disagreeables. For 4 or 5 ri after leaving Tsagawa a number of rapids must be passed, and the river, being hemmed in by steep rocks, is much of torrent, studded with rocks, and all the skill, coolness and constant practice of the boatmen are required to avoid grave and frequent accidents. The boats are long and narrow (7 ken by 3 to 4 shaku broad,) a kind of canoe in which it is well not to indulge in any unnecessary movements, and two men, standing, one in the stem the other in the stern, direct a course in which the smallest error may cause the wreck of the whole freight upon a rock. After three or four hours of this exercise, the mouth of the defile is reached, the river becoming broader and more calm as its mouth is reached; but the sand-banks and eddies render the navigation dangerous at night.
The overland route from Tsugawa to Niigata at first follows the left bank, crossing the very difficult pass of Iwaya. It crosses the river afterwards at a ford, and winds about in a bend on the right bank. This road is only taken in going from Niigata to Tsugawa; the ascent of the river by water occupies from five to seven days, and it is impossible to pass its rapids without great trouble. This part of the basin of the Niigata river is contiguous to coal and copper mines, rich enough, it is but not productive on account of the want of good said, roads.
