Twelve Months in Rosuto-Shima; or Notes for the Traveller and the Andersen Shipping Company

by Constance and Archibald Fortune

Introduction
Rosuto-Shima. Just the name conjures images of blossoming peach trees, silk-clad dancers, and dashing warriors with the hearts of poets. Until a short time ago, the land of Rosuto-Shima was unknown to the Civilised Nations of the world, kept in the darkness of superstition and savagery by a coral reef that makes the waters surrounding it dangerous for even the bravest souls to traverse. But in the last several years, charts have been drawn, making it possible for the enlightened traveller to contribute to the continual civilising influences now bringing Rosuto-Shima into the Modern Age.

An uneducated traveller would be hard pressed to believe that in the recent past, the steam engine was viewed as a strange supernatural occurrence by the people of this island! In our current day, the steam engine permeates every aspect of Rosuto-Shiman society, and its largest cities are lit night and day by gas lanterns on every street corner. Yet behind this garb of civilisation, the land of Rosuto-Shima retains some of it savage elegance. The savvy traveller can easily find native entertainment to delight and bewilder, from the grace of dance and theatre performed in the hearts of the cities to the bewildering enormity of the mountains that rise above the countryside. To eat the native delicacies is to learn something of the culture itself: like much of the seafood served in restaurants, the land of Rosuto-Shima is raw, but despite its coarse texture, delicious.