276 COFFEE. 



upon tlie river. We were asked if we would take a bath, whicli 

 we declined, and our friend then explained to us that the Japa- 

 nese, in hot weather, usually take a bath before dining, and after- 

 ward don a loose robe of thin, gauzy material, which is furnished 

 by the proprietor of the hotel, and which they wear dui-ing the 

 meal. We seated ourselves cross-legged upon the floor, which was 

 covered with matting, the only furniture in the room. WhUe 

 waiting for the meal to be prepared, a small bronze brazier, or 

 vessel, containing burning charcoal, was brought in, together with 

 tiny Japanese pipes and mild Japanese tobacco, with which we 

 were expected to amuse ourselves until the arrival of the first 

 course, which consisted of sweetmeats called quashi, and was 

 served upon small lacquered plates, placed upon trays, or tables, 

 about three inches high, composed of the same material. It is 

 hard to describe the character of these sweetmeats, but one of 

 them was a small square or brick of a kind of jelly, of a golden 

 color ; another was a small scarlet ball, of a substance that tasted 

 not unlike our marsh-mallow confections, and the third was of 

 greenish color, and somewhat similar in taste. We understood 

 that the ingredients of which these were composed were princi- 

 pally rice-flour and sugar. With this course tea was served in 

 delicate porcelain cups, upon each of which was a fragment of a 

 Japanese poem, or legend, of which the following is a specimen : 



" How many times, my host, do you laugh in the month ? 



" Whenever we meet, we ought to have a pleasant time. 



"You see that the beauties of spring vanish as running 

 water ; 



" And the flower that scatters to the wind to-day opened but 

 yesterday." 



The second course was " chawan-mori," a sort of soup with 

 eggs, somewhat similar to soup " a la Colbert." It was served in 

 a bowl, but no spoons were provided, it being expected that the 

 guests would use chop-sticks for the eggs and drink from the bowl 

 the liquid portion. This soup was by no means unpalatable, and 

 with a spoon would have been considered quite tolerable anywhere. 



The third course was composed of a variety of fish with the 

 collective name of "kuchi-tori sakana;" the first was a kind of 

 shell-fish (awabi) ; the second the meat of the lobster (ebi) ; and 



