VOL. LXX.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 637 



grooves made for that purpose in the floor and ceiHng. The windows are also 

 frames of wood, divided into squares, filled up with very thin white paper, trans- 

 parent enough to answer tolerably well the purpose of glass. They have no fur- 

 niture in their rooms ; neither tables, chairs, stools, benches, cupboards, nor 

 even beds. Their custom is to sit down on their heels on the mats, which are 

 always soft and clean. Their victuals are served up to them on a low board, 

 but a few inches from the floor, and one dish only at a time. They have 

 mirrors, but never fix them up in their houses as ornamental furniture; they are 

 made of a compound metal, and used only at their toilets. 



Notwithstanding the severity of their winters, which oblige them to warm 

 their houses from November to March, they have neither fire-places nor stoves: 

 instead of these, they use large copper pots standing on legs; these are lined on 

 the inside with loam, on which ashes are laid to some depth, and charcoal lighted 

 on them, which seems to be prepared in some manner which renders its fumes 

 not at all dangerous. 



The Portuguese, in all probability, first introduced the use of tobacco into 

 Japan: however be that as it may, they use it now with great frugality, though 

 both sexes, old and young, continually smoke it, blowing out the smoke through 

 their nostrils. The first compliment offered to a stranger in their houses, is a 

 dish of tea and a pipe of tobacco. Their pipes have mouth-pieces and bowls of 

 brass or white copper. The hollow of the bowl is so small as hardly to contain 

 an ordinary pea. The tobacco is cut as fine as a hair about a finger's length, 

 and is rolled up in small balls like pills, to fit the small hollow in the bowl of the 

 pipe; which pills, as they can last but for a few whiffs, must be very frequently 

 renewed. 



Fans are used by both sexes equally, and are, within or without doors, their 

 inseparable companions. The whole nation are naturally cleanly; every house, 

 whether public or private, has a bath, of which constant and daily use is made 

 by the whole family. You seldom meet a man who has not his mark imprinted 

 on the sleeves and back of his clothes, in the same colour in which the pattern 

 is printed: white spots are left in manufacturing them, for the purpose of insert- 

 mg these marks. 



Obedience to parents and respect to superiors is the characteristic of this na- 

 tion. It is pleasing to see the respect with which inferiors treat those of high 

 rank : if they meet them abroad, they stop till they have passed by ; if in a house, 

 they keep at a distance, bowing their heads to the ground. Their salutations 

 and conversations between equals abound also with civility and politeness; to this 

 children are early accustomed by the example of their parents. Their penal laws 

 are very severe; but punishments are seldom inflicted. Perhaps there is no 

 country where fewer crimes against society are committed. 



