100 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



houses, in sweet imconsciousness. The hours of actual labor 

 vary from eight to nine, beginning usually very early in the 

 morning. The wages for capable workmen on the farm vary 

 from twelve to twenty cents per day without board, and 

 women usually receive one-half as much as men. 



The agricultural population of Dai Nippon wear very little 

 clothing, and that of the cheapest sort. For a dress-suit, the 

 farmer has a short, loose blouse and tight pants of blue cot- 

 ton ornamented with certain marks or figures in white. For 

 a stylish head-dress, he wears a blue cotton handkerchief or 

 towel, tied on variously according to the weather. He pre- 

 fers, however, to appear without any covering to his shining 

 pate and comicyil top-knot, which, in absurdity, eclipses the 

 Chinaman's pig-tail. The old-style Japanese shaves the hair 

 from his temples and from the top of his head, and then 

 binds the long hair tightly into a cue behind. This is 

 heavily waxed, and tied into a roll, without braiding, and 

 then brought up over the crown of the head, and laid care- 

 fully on tlie bald place in front, the end being cut square. 

 This unique style is said to have been originally a military 

 device to keep the hair out of the eyes, as it certainly does. 

 When at work in the fields, both sexes prefer to reduce their 

 clothing to its lowest terms, and are evidently not afraid of 

 getting sun-burnt ; but in very hot weather they often wear 

 a flat straw hat two or three feet in diameter, which is some- 

 times attached to the head by a frame-work and strings, so 

 as to allow of the freest ventilation. In rainy weather they 

 wear a thick garment of woven grass, which sheds water 

 precisely like a thatched roof. They wear also waterproof 

 hats and coats of heavy oiled paper, from which material 

 their umbrellas both for sun and rain are also manufac- 

 tured. In the warm, wet rice-fields, laborers naturally go 

 barefoot ; but on the roads and mountains, especially in win- 

 ter, they require some protection for the feet. As leather is 

 a rare article in a country where animals are not slain for 

 food, the Japanese have ingeniously woven and braided san- 

 dals, shoes, boots, and leggings, out of rice-straw and the 

 leaves of the cat-tail flag. They also wear moccasons of 

 deer-skin with the hair on, and in wet weather they use 

 clogs of wood. Even their horses and cattle, when em- 

 ployed on hard roads, are shod with shoes which answer an 



