420 JAPAN. 



from one another, was such as I have never seen approached 

 elsewhere in any form of agriculture. 



Amongst these crops were the rice-fields, usually small areas 

 surrounded by low narrow banks of mud, made by the laborious 

 process of placing lumps of mud side by side with the hands. 

 These enclosures are turned into shallow ponds by letting 

 water in, if the level suit, or by pumping it in by means of a 

 small portable treadmill or an undershot wheel worked by the 

 stream of the river, if the level is above that of the river. 

 The field surface is worked up by means of a buffalo and 

 plough into a pond of mud, and on this the rice is transplanted. 

 The seed is previously sown broadcast in a small special plot, 

 from which the birds are kept off by a scarecrow, as in England, 

 but here the rice-straw rain coat and large mushroom-shaped 

 hat of the Japanese peasant are represented. 



The distance to Kioto from Osaka, 32 miles, is run by the 

 jinriksha coolies in from five to six hours. In the hotel at 

 Kioto I had my first experience of a Japanese house. They 

 are all alike in being entirely built of wood and paper. The 

 partition walls are all of light lath lattices, fitted as sliding 

 panels and covered with a tough tissue paper. Even these 

 walls, such as they are, often do not reach up as high as the 

 ceiling, so that eveiything that goes on or is said is plainly 

 heard over the whole range of rooms upon each floor. 



If care is not used, one is apt in stretching oneself at night 

 to push a hand or finger through the wall into the next room. 

 A square of paper and some rice starch put matters all right 

 again, however. One must always take off one's boots in going 

 into a Japanese house, and at theatres and restaurants they 

 are ticketed, and a check is given for them as for umbrellas 

 and coats with us. 



The hotel was on the side of a range of hills overlooking 

 the capital. Kioto, the Holy City of Japan, is by far the most 

 beautiful city I have ever seen when thus viewed from the 

 overhanging hills. Everywhere are groves of Cryptomerias 

 surrounding the holy places and monasteries, and above the 

 groves in all directions rise the high temple-roofs and porches. 



A great exhibition was going on at the time of our visit. It 

 was amusing in going round this to see the tables completely 

 turned upon the English. One of the exhibits consisted of a 

 couple of rooms with one side removed to show the interior. 

 One of the rooms was fitted up as an English bed-room, and 

 the other as a drawing-room, both completely furnished. 

 These were very popular sights. The Japanese are intensely 

 fond of strange sights, and when the English first settled at 

 Yokohama long journeys were made to look at them and their 



