EiSsuMi. 379 



of China at last glutted the Japanese market, and the 

 price, which had been forced up to the highest pitch, 

 fell so low as to be quite unremunerative to the sender. 

 The natives on the out-of-the-way parts of the coast 

 took to deer flesh, a queer substitute, but not a bad 

 one ; and I was told by these poorer people that this 

 was invariably the case when the rice crop fell short. 

 I mention this to show that the want of rice, their 

 mainstay, was, if not often, still frequently felt; and, 

 therefore, although in some seasons it is quite possible 

 to export rice, there is no certainty about it. 



To my taste, there is no rice like the Japanese ; 

 it is large, full, and dry in grain, and very white. 

 The Japanese young ladies who cross the water to 

 China to act as housekeepers — a situation they fill most 

 admirably — always make it a stipulation that they 

 are to be supplied with rice from their own country. 

 In 1878, twenty-eight million pounds of tea were 

 exported, nearly all of which went to the American 

 market.^ 



An attempt was made for two years to manufacture 



black tea for the English trade, but the result was only 



1 In the United States Japanese " oolong " is preferred to all 

 other tea. At an hotel, if you want black tea, you must ask for 

 " English breakfast tea." The Japanese "oolong" is much more 

 stimulating. 



