PAST AND PRESENT. 215 



gun and began to call. They only came nearer. I 

 took stones and pelted them. We both did, my coolie 

 and myself. It was no use ; the ducks only laughed 

 at us; they would not get up. I got desperate and 

 blazed away my first barrel right into the middle of 

 them, pulling the second trigger as they rose, for now 

 they got up in earnest, thousands of them." 



" Well," I said, " how many did you kill ; a dozen 

 or two ? " 



" Not a single bird ! can you believe it ? " 



We were entertained for four or five days longer in 

 the most thoughtful and charming manner. 



No people could be kinder, or more poUte, amongst 

 themselves than the Japanese. Two coolies — the lowest 

 class of society — on meeting, never fail to go through 

 the usual custom in the country of bowing several 

 times, and asking after each other's health, then that of 

 their families, and so on. Little children act towards 

 each other in just the same way, or if an old gxey- 

 headed man meets a little girl six years old, the same 

 ceremony is gone through. Two musumees coming 

 across each other bow and go through the most engag- 

 ing and pretty way of saying good-morning. The 

 bath system in Japan has often been commented on. 

 When foreign institutions were being introduced faster 



