even one day's shopping, in the company of experienced people, has
educated our taste and taught us a great deal; though we have still
much to learn. There are very respectable-looking lacquer cabinets
ranging in price from 5_s_. to 20_l_. But they are only made for the
foreign market. No such things exist in a Japanese home. A really good
bit of old lacquer (the best is generally made into the form of a
small box, a portable medicine-chest, or a chow-chow box) is worth
from 20_l_. to 200_l_. We saw one box, about three inches square,
which was valued at 45_l_.; and a collection of really good lacquer
would be costly and difficult to procure even here. The best specimens
I have ever seen are at Lady Alcock's; but they are all either royal
or princely presents, not to be bought with money. The tests of good
lacquer are its exquisite finish, its satiny, oily feel, and the
impossibility of making any impression on it with your thumb-nail. It
is practically indestructible, and will wear for ever. All the poor as
well as the rich people here use it, and have used it for centuries,
instead of china and glass, for cups, saucers, dishes, bowls, which
would need to be often washed in the hottest of water. It is said that
the modern Japanese have lost the art of lacquer making; and as an
illustration I was told that many beautiful articles of lacquer, old
and new, had been sent from this country to the Vienna Exhibition in
1873, but the price put on them was so exorbitant that few were sold,
and nearly all had to be sent back to Japan. Just as the ship with
these things on board reached the Gulf of Yeddo, she struck on a rock
and sank in shallow water. A month or two ago a successful attempt was
made to raise her, and to recover the cargo, when it was found that
the new lacquer had been reduced to a state of pulp, while the old was
not in the least damaged. I tell you the tale as it was told to me.

After a long day's shopping, we went to dine, in real Japanese