XXXVII 



THE DUCK DECOY AT TOKYO 

 1902 



IT was a long and slow drive through the streets of the huge 

 city of Tokyo streets which in the older parts are extremely 

 narrow and without side-walks, and therefore crowded with 

 people, who even when constantly shouted at are slow to 

 make room, which indeed is not easy for them to do. Where 

 former fires have swept away large areas the new streets are 

 wider, built under Government supervision with houses often 

 constructed of brick, instead of the almost universal and most 

 inflammable wood. These rows of wooden "shanties" all 

 shops are quaint and picturesque ; open entirely to the front, 

 the interior shaded by hanging strips of coloured cotton, and 

 embellished with grotesque advertisements, often with bright 

 paper lanterns or banners. Sometimes the owners have tried 

 their hands at English, with results often very comical. Thus 

 one often reads: " Peintar," " Tairor," "Bread and Cake 

 maker," "Here curios are soled," and " Soapsell and Glog- 

 shop," &c., &c. 



The decoy pond is situated in the centre of an extensive park, 

 and is further guarded from every disturbing influence by a 

 dense thicket of bamboos some 50 feet or more in depth. 

 Through this protecting ring of jungle are cut about a dozen 

 narrow but deep "pipes," leading, not straight but with a twist, 

 from the pond to a wooden screen outside the bamboo fence. 

 In the screen are two tiny peepholes through which the ducks 

 can be watched coming up the pipe ; it is further pierced by a 

 large hollow bamboo, the lower end of which almost touches the 



surface of the water in the pipe. Through this grass seed and 



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