188 



Bat little time remained to say anything of the fauna, although this 

 had been found of the greatest interest. As was to be expected, very 

 few mammals were seen in their native haunts, the exceptions bemg a 

 large black squirrel and weasels. In the northern portion of the coun- 

 try, however, especially in Yezo, there are many deer, bears, etc., and at 

 Nikko the fur shops exhibited great quantities of pelts, largely martens, 

 with otter, badger, fox, monkey, etc. The monkey, Saru {Tmiiis speci- 

 osHs), is one of the most interesting species, inhabiting a large portion 

 of the country even well northward, and is said in some places to be 

 rather a serious pest ot the farmers, It was f'equently observed in 

 captivity at the temples, theatres, eic. In the beautiful parks su-round- 

 ing the temp'es at Nara are numbers of tame deer which feed out of 

 the visitor's hand, and assemble at the call o( a trumpet. The stags sre 

 handsome animals of brownish colour, the fawns and does lighter and 

 spotted. Great numbers of hairpins, chopsticks and other trifles are 

 manufactured from the horns. This town was also a great producer of 

 ink, enormous numbers of tablets having been seen. 



Next to agriculture, the fisheries of the kingdom are of the greatest 

 importance, and the immense fleets of boats engaged in this industry 

 afford beautiful pictures all along the coasts; many hundreds of them 

 may at all times (except in heavy gales) be seen reaping their harvest 

 from the capacious waters of Tokio Bay. Fish and vegetables form 

 almost the entire food of the inhabitants, and of the former a great 

 variety is fortunately found, it being stated by some authorities that 

 about 700 species frequent the Japanese waters. Many of these are 

 very valuable for food, including some forty species of the mackerel 

 group, of varying size and quality, some of them very good. 



A favourite fish is the Tai, a beautiful deep red gold-bream 

 {Chrysopiis cardinalis), the delicate flesh of which is most delicious. It 

 is frequently served up raw in delicate flakes, and is very palatable in 

 this fashion. The Japanese are, however, very skillful in cooking fish, 

 and the traveller enjoys this part of his diet, 



Herrings occur abundantly, and some species are much used in 

 the manufacture of fertilizers for the rice fields, for in Japan the art of 

 manuring is well understood, and every available material is made use 

 of and nothing allowed to be wasted. The odour arising from this 



