224 PAST AND PRESENT. 



I have already noticed the weights that the young giiis 

 and little children carry home from the woods. At 

 low tide women and girls collect small fish, crabs, and 

 certain kinds of sea- weed, which get left, as the tide 

 recedes, in holes and pools amongst the rocks. A piece 

 of cloth of thin cotton material is all they have on, and 

 I have seen them at work in this way for hours, their 

 half-bare backs exposed to the direct rays of a sun 

 sufficiently fierce to knock over any stranger. They 

 begin this sort of life so early it becomes half nature. 

 The very small girls take care of the house and babies 

 whilst the mother is working in the field. In fact, 

 before tlie parents leave, the baby or babies (there are 

 always several in a Japanese house) are strapped on the 

 backs of their younger sisters, who go about their 

 duties of house-caring and nursing in the most metho- 

 <lical and attentive way. 



Although the Japanese are affectionate, and parti- 

 cularly so regarding their children, they never kiss. 

 Tliere is no such word in the Japanese language. 

 Infanticide, nevertheless, is not uncommon. When 

 shooting along the shores of the Inland Sea, I have 

 frequently, come across small infants tied up in straw 

 bags or matting, washed up on the sand. I believe 

 this crime, however, is seldom, if ever, committed by 



