438 EXPEDITION TO JAPAN. 



for the conduct of each other, each governed by an official called " ottona," who is also 

 held responsible for the good order of the people under his especial charge, and these ottonas 

 are also made responsible for the conduct of each other. The gates and picket fences would 

 seem to mark out the separate fields of duty of these officials. At one side of the street, 

 among the houses, there is ordinarily a sentry-box for a watchman, whose duty it is to 

 guard the town against disturbance, and give early notice of the occurrence of fire. A general 

 quiet pervades the streets, without those ordinary signs of busy activity which belong to a 

 trading city. No carriages or laden wagons rumble along the road, no clamorous dealers claim 

 the preference of the purchase of their wares, no busy pedlars or itinerant hucksters cry their 

 articles for sale, and no turbulent mob disturbs the general peace and tranquillity. An almost 

 universal quiet prevails in the streets, broken only at times by a stout horse-boy yelling to his 

 obstinate beast of burden, either an unruly nag or lumbering ox, and an officious attendant of 

 some great man shouting out to the people to prostrate themselves before his coming master, or 

 perhaps the clanging of the hammer of a workman busy in some neighboring forge. Still the 

 stranger is impressed with the idea that Hakodadi is a thriving town when he beholds the 

 occasional droves of laden pack-horses slowly pacing through the streets, the hundreds of junks 

 at anchor in the harbor, the numerous boats rapidly gliding across the bay, and the many 

 richly dressed two-sworded Japanese gentlemen and officials pompously stalking about or riding 

 richly caparisoned horses. 



The buildings in Hakodadi ai'e mostly of one story, with attics of varying heights. The 

 upper part occasionally forms a commodious apartment, but is ordinarily merely a dark cock- 

 loft for the storage of goods and lumber, or the lodging of servants. The height of the roofs 

 is seldom more than twenty-five feet from the ground. They slope down from the top, project- 

 ing with their eaves beyond the wall, are supported by joints and tie-beams, and are mostly 

 covered with small wooden shingles of about the size of the hand. These shingles are fastened 

 by means of pegs made of bamboo, or kept in their places by long slips of board, which have 

 large rows of cobble stones put upon them to prevent their removal. The stones are, however, 

 said to have the additional advantage of hastening the melting of the snow, which during the 

 winter season is quite abundant at Hakodadi. The gable ends, as in Dutch houses, face towards 

 the street, and the roofs projecting to some distance, serve as a cover and a shade to the doors. 

 All the roofs of the houses in front are topped with what at first was supposed to be a curious 

 chimney wrapped in straw, but which upon examination turned out to be a tub, protected by its 

 straw envelope from the effects of the weather, and kept constantly filled with water, to be 

 sprinkled upon the shingled roofs, in case of fire, by means of a broom which is always deposited 

 at hand to be ready in an emergency. The people would seem to be very anxious on the score 

 of fires, from the precautions taken against them. In addition to the tubs on the tops of the 

 houses, there are wooden cisterns arranged along the streets, and engines kept in constant 

 readiness. 



These latter have very much the general construction of our own, but are deficient in that 

 important part of the apparatus , an air chamber, and consequently they throw the water, 

 not with a continuous stream, but in short, quick jets. Fire alarms, made of a thick piece 

 of plank, hung on posts at the corners of the streets, and protected by a small roofing, 

 which are struck by the watchman, in case of a fire breaking out, showed the anxious fears of 



