x,/ 



CHAPTER X. 



JAPANESE CUSTOMS AND HABITS. 



The Japanese are less given to romance than any 

 people I have ever seen. The rather worn-out story of 

 the forty Eonins approaches, if true, to the romantic. 

 But the nearest thing to a little bit of true romance 

 that ever came under my own observation was the 

 following : — A Japanese girl of good family and posi- 

 tion fell in love with a common coolie, and throwing 

 aside all parental authority ran away with him. They 

 crossed a good stretch of sea, and, reaching an island, 

 set up their wigwam in ^this out-of-the-way place. 

 The husband took to fishing for a livelihood, and for a 

 time life was very pleasant to these two young things. 

 But, alas ! their blissful retreat was soon visited by 

 the common enemy of mankind, and the young wife 



