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INTEMPERANCE OF THE PEOPLE. CHAP. VII.

of the vices of the Japanese. In this respect, if we can trust Thunberg, the Swedish physician, they must have degenerated sadly during the last hundred years. Amongst a long catalogue of their virtues, Thunberg says, they have "no play or coffee-houses, no taverns nor alehouses, and consequently no consumption of coffee, chocolate, brandy, wine, or punch; no privileged soil, no waste lands, and not a single meadow; no national debt, no paper currency, no course of exchange, and no bankers (!)." It may have been so in Thunberg's time, although I confess to some doubts upon the subject; but it will be seen, from what came under my own observation, that things are very different now.

In these days it is a common saying that "all Yedo gets drunk after sunset!" This is, of course, an exaggeration; but, no doubt, drunkenness prevails to a degree happily unknown in other countries at the present day. Even before the evening closes in, the faces of those one meets in the streets are suspiciously red, showing plainly enough that saki has been imbibed pretty freely. Nor is it in the capital city only that such a state of things exists. We learn from Dr. Pompe, the Dutch physician at Nagasaki, that one-half of the whole adult population are more or less inebriated with saki by nine o'clock every evening! When I state that a great proportion of these drunken people in the capital are armed with two rather sharp swords, and that in this condition they

are often ill-natured and quarrelsome, it will be readily seen that the city of Yedo is not a very safe place for foreigners to be about in after nightfall.

The remainder of our ride home from Ogee was without any incident worth relating, and I arrived at the house of the English Minister, well pleased with the successful issue of the day's excursion. On various occasions during my stay in Yedo I repeated my visits to Dang-o-zaka, Su-mae-yah, and Ogee, and was thus enabled to add to my collections a very large number of the ornamental trees and shrubs of Japan.

Japanese Heads, showing the mode of dressing the hair.

1. Back of head before the hair is tied up. 2. Second process. 3. Full dress.

of Yedo-Shops - Paper, and the uses to which it is applied Articles of food-Monkeys eaten - Fire-proof buildings - Nipon Bas — Ah-sax-saw-Its bazaars, temples, and tea-gardens Fine chrysanthemums - Tea-plant - The Yedo river - The city opposite Yedo-Temple of Eco-ying-Its origin-Crowds of peopleCurious scene in the temple-Earthquakes - Their frequency How they are dreaded by the natives - Straw shoes of men and horses.

ON the 23rd of November I had an appointment with the Abbé Girard, who was formerly a missionary in Loochoo, and was now interpreter to M. de Bellecourt, the French Consul-General, or Chargé d'Affaires, in Japan. The Abbé, who was well acquainted with Yedo, was good enough to offer to take me to some places of interest which I had not yet seen. I found him residing in a little temple near the French Legation, and well guarded with yakoneens. He had in his house some rare specimens of Japanese singing-birds, particularly one known to foreigners as the Japanese nightingale. This is a curious bird, if the stories which are told about its habits are true. It is said to inhabit the recesses of dark woods, and to shun the light of day. Hence in a domestic state it is usually kept in comparative darkness, a

wooden box being dropped over its cage. This box has a small paper window, in order to admit a little subdued light. In this condition it sings charmingly, and has a full, clear, ringing note, wonderfully loud for so small a bird. The Japanese name of this little songster is Ogo-yezu.

After breakfast the Abbé and I mounted our horses, and, accompanied by our two sets of yakoneens, set out to visit the temple of Ah-sax-saw, which lies on the eastern or south-eastern side of Yedo. Our route led us, not only through a portion of the "official quarter," which I had frequently visited, but also through the main streets of the trading part of the city. I confess I was rather disappointed. The streets were much wider and cleaner than those of the Chinese towns; but the contents of the shops appeared to be of little value. One must, however, bear in mind that Yedo is not a manufacturing or trading town in the usual sense in which the term is used. Hence, perhaps, I ought to have expected to see only the necessaries, or perhaps a few of the luxuries of life, exhibited in the shops here. Silk and cotton shops were numerous, and, if they did not obtain custom, it was not for want of the use of means. Men and boys were stationed in front of the doors trying all their arts to induce the passersby to go in and spend their money. Lacquer-ware, bronzes, and porcelain were exhibited in abundance, as were also umbrellas, pipes, toys, and paper made into every conceivable article.

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122

PAPER, ITS USES.

CHAP. VIII.

The

I may here mention in passing that Japanese paper is made chiefly out of the bark of the paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera). It is particularly well suited for decorative purposes, such as the papering of rooms. It has a glossy, silky, and comfortable appearance, and many of the patterns are extremely chaste and pretty. fan pattern, which looked as if fans had been thrown all over the surface, used to be much admired by the foreign residents. For some reason it is made in very small sheets, which would render it rather inconvenient to our paper-hangers. This, however, is no detriment in Japan, where labour is cheap. Japanese oil-paper is of a very superior quality, and is used for a variety of purposes. For a very small sum one can be clothed in a "Mackintosh" coat and trowsers capable of keeping out any amount of rain. As a wrapper to protect silk goods and other valuable fabrics from wet and damp it is invaluable, and owing to its great strength it is often used instead of a tin or lead casing. Despatch-boxes, looking like leather, and very hard and durable, are also made of paper, and so are letter-bags, purses, cigar-cases, umbrellas, and many other articles in daily use. In addition to those purposes to which paper is applied in western countries, in Japan it is used for windows instead of glass, for the partitions of rooms instead of lath and plaster, for fans and fan-cases, for twine, and in a variety of other ways.