Moreover, if we could follow them to their homes, we should discover that each race and country has more or less civilization, and that in some respects many are quite as advanced as ourselves. They have mighty cities containing hundreds of thousands engaged in all sorts of trade. Some nations have millions of farms as well kept as we keep our gardens, and also stores and factories and temples and schools without number.
In many places the people can show us ancient structures which are still among the world's wonders. Of these are the walled cities of China, the feudal castles of Japan, the Golden Pagoda in Burma, and the beautiful Taj Mahal at Agra, North India: We shall also find many modern buildings in course of construction, and shall learn that these eastern countries are changing and their people are adopting many of the inventions and ways which, until within a few years, were common only to us and to the others of our race in the lands of the west, But we shall see all this much better as we proceed with our travels.
2. FROM AMERICA TO JAPAN ON A BIG OCEAN STEAMER
OUR first trip is to be across the Pacific, and we shall sail from America for the land of Japan. The Pacific is the largest of the oceans. From north to south it is more than three times as long as the distance from New York to San Francisco; and between the Western Continent and Asia, as it goes toward the south, it spreads out in the shape of a gigantic fan, forming, as it were, a great liquid wedge between our world and that on the other side of the globe. The edge of the wedge is driven in between
