200 JAPANESE CUSTOMS AND HABITS. 



large towns, where it is exposed for sale, and looks as 

 tempting as whale's ilesh ! Bonito are caught in great 

 numbers, and eaten in many ways. The favourite 

 method is by splitting the fish, and then cutting the 

 back portions into two long slices, which are dried until 

 they become as hard as mahogany, and of the same colour. 

 In this state it is scraped and used as a flavouring, or 

 addition to other dishes. Salmon, however, is the most 

 universally used fish in the country. 



The Japanese are fond of sport. One of their modes 

 of catching wild duck — now almost obsolete — was 

 rather amusing, and certainly novel to our ideas. In 

 former days most of the Princes' and Daimios' castles 

 were' surrounded by splendidly laid out parks : the 

 wild and the cultivated were both represented, and 

 many a good day's shooting have I enjoyed amongst 

 these forsaken and beautiful grounds. But about the 

 ducks. Some portion of these park-like enclosures was 

 often devoted; to the sport of catching them. Narrow 

 canals' were cut in different directions ; they turn and 

 twist so that only short pieces of the water can be seen 

 from any one. part. Banks about six feet high were 

 raised on each side of these little water-courses, covered 

 with grass. The inside of these banks was arranged in 

 steps, so that you could quickly mount to the top. 



