ON THE JAPANESE. 227 



tion of the latter was suddenly riveted upon a 

 body of monstrous fellows, who paced down the 

 beach like so many huge elephants. They were 

 professional wrestlers, and formed part of the 

 retinue of the native princes of Japan, who kept 

 them for their private amusement and for public 

 entertainments. They were about twenty-five 

 in number, and were men enormously tall in 

 stature, and immense in weight of flesh. They 

 merely wore a coloured cloth about the loins, 

 adorned with fringes and emblazoned with the 

 armorial bearings of the prince to whom each 

 belonged, so that their gigantic proportions were 

 seen in all the bloated fulness of fat and breadth 

 of muscle. Their proprietors, the princes, seemed 

 proud of them, and were careful to show their 

 points to the greatest advantage before the 

 strangers. Two or three of these huge monsters 

 were the most famous wrestlers in Japan, and 

 ranked as the champions, Tom Crib or Heenan, 

 of the land. Koyanagi, the reputed bully of 

 the land, was one of them, and walked about 

 with the conscious pride of superior immensity 

 and strength. The natives were desirous that 

 he should be minutely inspected, in order that 

 the hardness of his muscles should be felt, and 



