654 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



classes, who, though not poverty-stricken, are yet poor in every sense 

 of the word, occupy dwellings of the simplest character. Many of the 

 dwellings are often diminutive in size ; and, as one looks in at a tiny 

 cottage containing two or three rooms at the most, the entire house 

 hardly bigger than a good-sized room at home, and observes a family 

 of three or four persons living quietly and in a cleanly manner in this 

 limited space, he learns that in Japan, at least, poverty and constricted 

 quarters are not always correlated with coarse manners, filth, and crime. 

 The accompanying sketch (Fig. 9) represents a group of houses 

 bordering a street in Kanda Ku, Tokio. The windows are in some 

 cases projecting or hanging bays, and are barred with bamboo or 

 square bars of wood. A sliding-screen, covered with stout white 

 paper, takes the place of our glass-windows. Through these gratings 

 the inmates of the house do their bargaining with the street venders. 

 The entrance to these houses is usually by means of a gate common to 

 a number. This entrance consists of a large gate used for vehicles 

 and heavy loads, and by the side of this is a smaller gate used by the 

 people. Sometimes the big gate has a large square opening in it, closed 

 by a sliding-door or grating — and through this the inmates have in- 

 gress and egress. 



Fig. n.— View of Dwelxing trom Garden, in Tokio. 



The houses, if of wood, are painted black ; or else, as is more usu- 

 ally the case, the wood is left in its natural state, and this gradually 

 turns to a darker shade by exposure. When painted, a dead black is 

 used ; and this color is certainly agreeable to the eyes, though the 

 heat-rays caused by this black surface become almost unendurable on 

 hot days, and must add greatly to the heat and discomfort within the 



