42 THE SEA. 



if you want to look out, and a bigger bit if you want to step out. The floor was covered with 

 several thicknesses of very fine mats, each about six feet long by three broad, deliciously soft to 

 walk upon. All mats in Japan are of the same size, and everything connected with house- 

 building is measured by this standard. Once you have prepared your foundations and wood- 

 work of the dimensions of so many mats, it is the easiest thing in the world to go to a shop 

 and buy a house ready-made, which you can then set up and furnish in the scanty Japanese 

 fashion in a couple of days. 



" On one side of the room was a slightly raised dais, about four inches from the floor. 

 This was the seat of honour. On it had been placed a stool, a little bronze ornament, and a 

 china vase, with a branch of cherry-blossom and a few flag-leaves gracefully arranged. On 

 the wall behind hung pictures, which are changed every month, according to the season of the 

 year. There was no other furniture of any sort in the room. Four nice-looking Japanese girls 

 brought us thick cotton quilts to sit upon, and braziers full of burning charcoal to warm our- 

 selves by. In the centre of the group another brazier was placed, protected by a square wooden 

 grating, and over the whole they laid a large silk eider-down quilt, to retain the heat : this is 

 the way in which all the rooms, even bed-rooms, are warmed in Japan, and the result is that 

 fires are of very frequent occurrence. The brazier is kicked over by some restless or careless 

 person, and in a moment the whole place is in a blaze." 



The following gives a description of a Japanese meal : " Presently the eider-down and 

 brazier were removed, and our dinner was brought in. A little lacquer table, about six inches 

 high, on which were arrayed a pair of chop-sticks, a basin of soup, a bowl for rice, a saki cup, 

 and a basin of hot water, was placed before each person, whilst the four Japanese maidens sat- 

 in our midst, with fires to keep the said hot and to light the tiny pipes with which they were 

 provided, and from which they wished us to take a whiff after each dish. Saki is a sort of 

 spirit distilled from rice, always drunk hot out of small cups. In this state it is not disagree- 

 able, but we found it exceedingly nasty when cold. 



" Everything was well cooked and served, though the ingredients of some of the dishes, 

 as will be seen from the following bill of fare, were rather strange to our ideas. Still, they 

 were all eatable, and most of them really palatable. 



Soup. 



Shrimps and Seaweeds. 



Prawns, Egg Omelette, and Preserved Grapes. 

 Fried Fish, Spinach, Young Rushes, and Young Ginger. 



Raw Fish, Mustard and Cress, Horseradish, and Soy. 



Thick Soup of Egg, Fish, Mushrooms, and Spinach ; Grilled Fish. 



Fried Chicken and Bamboo Shoots. 



Turnip-Tops and Root, Pickled. 



Rice ad libitum in a large howl. 



Hot Saki, Pipes, and Tea. 



"The meal concluded with an enormous lacquer box of rice, from which all our bowls were 

 filled ; the rice being thence conveyed to our mouths by means of chop-sticks. We managed 

 very well with these substitutes for spoons and forks, the knack of using which, to a certain 

 extent, is soon acquired. The long intervals between the dishes were beguiled with songs, 



