196 JAPANESE CUSTOMS AND HABITS. 



last to become so simply clad. When all are in puris 

 ncduralihus they get up, run away, dress, and return, 

 and then go through different kinds of acting, comic 

 and otherwise, some of which, introduced simply to 

 please the vulgar taste of the foreigner, cannot be 

 described. 



Archery, amongst the men, used to be constantly 

 practised. The target was eight or ten inches in dia- 

 meter, with a two-inch bull's eye, and at thirty yards 

 they made wonderful shooting. The arrow was pulled 

 straight from the eye. 



Their conjuring tricks have been too often shown 

 in England, likewise their mode of performing on a 

 slack-rope, to notice either here. In the woods I have 

 come across youngsters practising away on the slack- 

 rope between two trees. Both sexes, and at all ages, 

 smoke. The fragrant plant grows all over Japan ; the 

 best, however, is in Kiusiu. It must have been intro- 

 duced, as it is called " tobacco." Bread, for the same 

 reason, is known by the natives as du pain. 



There is nothing more refreshing when walking, and 

 feeling tired and hot, than to come suddenly and un- 

 expectedly on a habitation, far away, it may be, up the 

 mountains ; probably a poor charcoal-burner's wigwam. 

 Wherever it may be, you are always welcome, and a 



