Spots suitable to their growth have been peopled by him with trees.

Sometimes they stand in groups like star-clusters, as in Oji, crowning a hill; sometimes, as at Mukojima, they line an avenue for miles, dividing the blue river on the one hand from the blue-green rice-fields on the other,--a floral milky way of light.

But wherever the trees may be, there at their flowering season are to be found throngs of admirers.

For in crowds people go out to see the sight, multitudes streaming incessantly to and fro beneath their blossoms as the time of day determines the turn of the human tide.

To the Occidental stranger such a gathering suggests some social loadstone; but none exists.