p.

I must confess that I am
grievously tormented by the accumulation
of new material which I don't
know how to use, and which I
can at best hope to work up into
future stories and sketches. Nothing
in this country is what it seems at
first sight to be, and the most
trifling image by a roadside,
or object in a shop window,
demands not only much explana-
tion but a long familiarity
after the explanation has been
given, - so that one can
understand
I hope also to be
able to illustrate the book. I
have numbers of little rough
woodcuts made every month,
as illustrations of unknown things.
The photographs recently sent
were taken by my order.
Vague as it all looks now,
I think my book on Japanese
things will be something alto-
gether different from anything
yet written and will show
quite another side of Japan.
This letter is very hasty -
please excuse it: I take the
steamer in another hour.
Please tell me if I can be
of any service to you, or to H & M
in Japan.