June 10th, 1872. Light cloud; moderately hot with occasional showers. At twenty-five past nine last night, at the invitation of the United States government and with General Myers as our guide, we set out from the station to the north of the Capitol to visit some famous sights of the northern states. Travelling in a train equipped with two sleeping cars, we were accompanied by the wife and daughter of Senator General Banks, the daughter of General Myers and our minister, Mori Arinori, as well as a number of secretaries. It was already night when the train departed, and there was nothing to see on the way but fireflies in the trees and flitting over the grass. We soon went to sleep.

We arrived at Jersey City Station at a quarter to seven in the morning. Located on the shore of the Hudson River directly opposite New York, this is a flourishing city with a population of more than 80,000. Shops and houses are densely packed together, and the station is particularly noisy and crowded. Here we transferred to horse-drawn carriages and were soon driving upstream beside the Hudson estuary.

Ferries steam back and forth day and night, carrying passengers from the New Jersey shore across the Hudson to New York City. An astonishing number of people and horses are said to cross the river daily.