100 BOARD OF AGRICULTUEE. [Jan. 



the interpreter had departed post-haste. The officials im- 

 mediately telegraphed his concise instructions to the mine. 

 The woi kmen forthwith stopped the mouth of the tunnel 

 leading into the coal-veins, and a mountain stream close at 

 hand was turned into the shaft above. The mine was flooded, 

 the fire extinguished, leaving the officials more exasperated 

 than ever, that with neither their blandishments nor their 

 gold could they prevail upon so capable a man to overlook 

 their caprice and continue in their service. 



Not only geographically are the Japanese our antipodes, 

 but philosophically they may be looked upon as our oppo- 

 sites. In the making of books, newspapers and manuscripts, 

 the title is placed upon what we would call the back cover, 

 and reads, like the text within, from top to bottom, instead 

 of across the page, the lines running vertically, instead of 

 horizontally. The matter ])egins on the right hand side, and 

 reads towards the left. They call our penmanship crab 

 writing, because it goes backward like a crawfish 



In their old system of school-teaching the children studied 

 and were taught at school, but recited at home, whereby the 

 parents might know 4f the master did his duty. The pupils 

 also studied aloud, each one shouting the names of the 

 Chinese characters or Japanese hana in stentorian tones, 

 whereby the teacher knew which ones were attending to 

 business. 



Japanese carpenters draw the plane, and pull the saw on 

 the cutting stroke. The floor or ground is their work-bench, 

 and their toes serve for prehensile purposes. 



Hewers of wood stand upon the side of the timber opposite 

 that to be hewn. 



The blacksmith puts his forge and anvil on the ground, 

 and to deliver heavy blows stands in a hole so as to bring his 

 work at proper height. At light work he sits on the floor. 



The Japanese farmer beats a rack with a bundle of grain, 

 instead of beating the grain with a flail. A flail is used for 

 threshing the broken heads of grain, however, but it is 

 swung outside instead of inside the handle. In their hay- 

 cutters the hay is pressed against the knife, instead of the 

 knife against the hay. 



In rolling up paper, wall-hangings, etc., they invariably 



