278 COFFEE. 



It may be summed up that, as an entertainment, it was pleas- 

 mg from its novelty, but the menu would hardly be called satis- 

 factory to a European palate. 



Fish and rice are the staple articles of Japanese diet, and 

 without either of these the nation would find it hard to exist. 

 The soil is fertile, and apparently vegetables grow well here. 

 Sweet potatoes, ordinary potatoes, turnips, carrots, squashes or 

 pumpkins, egg-plants, and pears are grown, but do not enter 

 largely into tlie people's diet. Beans are an important article, 

 and from these is manufactured tofu or tofe, literally beau cheese, 

 an article which is largely used by the poorer classes, and which 

 is peddled from door to door as hemes and vegetables are in 

 America. Kadishes are also grown to some extent, and some 

 varieties of them are very large and not unlike beets. They are 

 rather coarse in grain and texture, but not so much so as their 

 size might indicate. The young bamboo is also eaten to some 

 extent, and a variety of mushrooms are used in making sauces and 

 relishes. A species of maize is raised, but it is very inferior to 

 the American Indian corn, and is not used to any great extent. 

 Tomatoes have been introduced from the United States witliin 

 the last few years, and are received with considerable favor. 

 Cakes and unleavened bread of various kinds are made from rice 

 flour, and at the seaports bread made from flour imported from 

 California is beginning to be used by the naltives. 



Of fruits, oranges, peaches, pears, apricots, plums, persimmons, 

 raspberries, mulberries, and currants are indigenous here, but 

 none of them gi-ow in great perfection, and most of them are 

 quite inferior in quality. Apples and strawberries have been in- 

 troduced to some extent from other countries, but, although they 

 can be grown here, do not seem to take kindly to the soil. The 

 pears are round, mostly of a russet color, coarse in grain, not 

 sweet, and seem to be a sort of cross between the apple and the 

 pear. "Water and musk melons are largely grown, but these are 

 also inferior to the American productions of the same kind. The 

 climate is not unlike that of our middle States, but there is more 

 moisture, which keeps the vegetation constantly green. The 

 pneral impression which one gets on coming here is that Japan 

 is a beautiful country, and that her inhabitants are making 



