funny little shaky carriage, drawn by four horses. We drove quickly
through the town, past the station, along the Tokaido, or imperial
road, running from one end of the Island of Niphon to the other, and
on which so many foreigners have been murdered even within the last
ten years. Now, however, it is perfectly safe. The houses are one
story high, and their walls are made of the screens I have already
described. These screens were all thrown back, to admit the morning
air, cold as it was. We could consequently see all that was going on
within, in the sitting-room in front, and even in the bedrooms and
kitchen. At the back of the house there was invariably a little garden
to be seen, with a miniature rockery, a tree, and a lake; possibly
also a bridge and a temple. Even in the gardens of the poorest houses
an attempt at something of the sort had been made. The domestic
occupations of the inhabitants being conducted in this public manner,
a very good idea might be obtained, even at the end of a few miles'
drive, of how the lower class of Japanese wash and dress themselves
and their children, how very elaborate the process of hair-dressing
is, to say nothing of a bird's-eye view of the ground-plan of the
houses, the method of cooking food, &c.

As we emerged into the open country the landscape became very pretty,
and the numerous villages, nestling in the valleys at the foot of the
various small hills, had a most picturesque appearance. At a
stone-quarry that we passed, on the side of a mountain, there were
about seventy men at work, without any clothing, though the
thermometer was far below freezing point. The Japanese are a sensitive
nation, and finding that foreigners were astonished and shocked at the
habits of the people, in going about without clothes, and in bathing
in public and at their house doors, they passed a law prohibiting
these customs in towns. In the country, however, the more primitive