Deo. 19, 1889.1 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



429 



AS THEY LIVE IN JAPAN. 



TEN THOUSAND YEAR HOUSE, Tokio, Japan, 

 Sept. 12.— One's first impressions of Japan are as if 

 he had been suddenly deposited in an enchanted fairyland. 

 The hurry and bustle of the small people as they clatter 

 on their stilted wooden shoes; the streets crowded by the 

 ubiquitous ginrikisha man, always on a run with his 

 baby-like carriage: the crowded shops where every one 

 sits on the floor with his curious wares around him; the 

 pretty girls in pejamyas; the Kate Greena way -dressed 

 babies carried on their mothers' backs: the ghastly look 

 of the married woman with her shaved eyebrows and 

 blackened teeth; the heavy loads hauled by men; the 

 bullock carts; the carriage of some official preceded by 

 his runners: the grotesque-looking junks and sampans; 

 the naked boatmen and workmen — all form a sight be- 

 wildering to the foreigner. 



The harbor of Yokohama is too shallow to admit vessels 

 landing at the wharf, so when ours anchored it was at 

 once surrounded by boats called sampans, which are in 

 appearance a cross between an Indian canoe and a gon- 

 dola. The sampans are for hire, and some of them have 

 hotel runners, who at once rush on board and "rustle" 

 for customers; the hotel runners are not encumbered 

 with clothes, being usually contented with a small breech 

 cloth: others, more pretentious, wear a shirt, but all are 

 excessively polite, bowing with the grace and freedom 

 acquired from unencumbered limbs. 



I went at once to Tokio, a city of more than a million 

 inhabitants, and with the cleanest and best conditioned 

 streets I have ever seen. 



There is an European hotel here, but wishing to seethe 

 country an. nuturdle, I took up my quarters in a Japanese 

 me, with a mental proviso, to help myself on the outside 

 in the food line, a precaution no one can appreciate who 

 has not dined d la Japanese. Shoes of all description are 

 required to be removed before entering any Japanese 

 ►lotels, temples or houses, a necessity required by the 

 •onstruction of their buildings. The woodwork of the 

 nterior is polished and beautifully finished; the floors 

 i,re of handsome bamboo matting, which shines from 

 •onstant polishing. The closets of the rooms, and they 

 ire many, close with sliding doors, every joint being 

 ■fitted like cabinet work. Each room is furnished with a 

 ■Laliputian tea set; a box containing charcoal fire, over 

 ■vhich constantly simmers a kettle of hot water, with 

 ■which to make tea; a little box with a bronze cup con- 

 taining fire, with which to fight a pipe, a bamboo cane 

 mbout 6in. long, for a spittoon; a toy bureau with a swing- 

 ing looking glass, and a half dozen leather mats to sit on. 

 The walls are sparsely decorated with pictures of impos- 

 sible beiugs. The ends of the rooms are paper screens 

 which are left open in the daytime. Privacy is unknown; 

 every one, from the dish washer to the proprietor, comes 

 in without notice — except to bow the head to the floor- 

 takes a seat on a mat on the floor and proceeds to drink 

 tea with you. The beds are simple comforters, laid on 

 nhe floor with a pillow like an oblong box. made of wood 

 and covered with leather. This pillow is an exquisite 

 implement of torture, which I feel convinced must have 

 been invented by some Japanese sage, as a terror to slug- 

 gards. In the morning, before I am up, the women come 

 and make tea for me, and then,despite my modest protesta- 

 tions, insist on dressing me, and help make my toilet. In 

 Pact the whole Japanese domestic,economy exhibits a total 

 want of what we usually call modesty, although they 

 are extremely moral. I have never yet seen a street 



Buarrel, nor a sign of vice, drunkenness nor beggary, 

 hey are extraordinarily polite, acquaintances when meet- 

 ing or parting, bowing almost to the ground. They are 

 not at all servile, however; and you can distinguish by 

 the proud step and haughty demeanor the disarmed two- 

 3worded man, whose former business in life, like that of 

 jut old knights-errant, was resenting fancied injuries. 

 The foreigner, by his ignorance of the punctillios of 

 Japanese life, often unwittingly gave offense to these 

 high-minded gentry, and I was shown the grave of one 

 unfortunate Englishman, who by crossing the street, be- 

 tween the knight and his prince, was at once killed to 

 3atisfy the offended dignity of the two-sworded. Quixote. 

 The English Government demanded reparation in the 

 shape of a fine and execution of the murderer; the fine 

 was paid, but a meaner victim was executed; and I am 

 told the real offender lives in Tokio to-day. 



The feuds of rival nobles and clans in Japan would 

 Eurnish material for an Iliad, or a chronicle that would 

 rival those of the Scottish Highlands. 



The Japanese vegetables and fruits are all different 

 from ours. Their watermelons are good; bat their peaches 

 ire hard and ill tasting; pears are juicy, but taste more 

 like a raw potato: muskmelons look like our cucumbers. 

 Even the animals have a peculiar look; cats are tailless; 

 eery diminutive bantam chickens are numerous; other 

 roosters have tail feathers from three to four feet long, 

 and there are many small red fish who in tail develop- 

 ment endeavor to rival the roosters. The horses are of a 

 Tartar breed; the cattle are East Indian. 



In the center of the city is the palace of the Mikado, 

 where a large space is surrounded by a wall and moat; 

 bhis is surrounded in a circular manner by other walls 

 i,nd moats. All the Government buildings are in the 

 walled portion ; the moats are crossed at short intervals 

 by bridges, which can be easily defended from an enemy. 

 The troops present a creditable appearance. The streets 

 are sprinkled by large buckets, with a bottom like a sieve, 

 carried on a bamboo pole across the shoulders. Work- 

 men are naked except a breech-cloth, and sit on the floor 

 it their work. Carpenters pull the saw toward them- 

 selves. Almost all work is done by hand power. Rice is 

 ground by being poured into a hole and pounded by a 

 heavy hammer-headed lever, which is worked by a man 

 jumping on one end of it— a most laborious task. The 

 women appear to have an easy time, as their house-keep- 

 ng is very slight. They throng the streets, hair plastered 

 In a peculiar manner, and faces painted so prodigally as 

 if to assure the passer by they could afford the paint." 



Some of their streets present a gay appearance by night, 

 lighted up by lamps and lanterns of every possible pat- 

 tern. Some are for the exclusive sale of flowers and 

 shrubs, which are presented in the most marvelous pro- 

 fusion and beauty— shrubs loaded with fruits and flowers 

 of endless types and colors. Other streets are devoted to 

 jne-cent shows and pei f ormances, pictures of horrible 

 dragons and monstrosities, jugglers, swordmen, fakirs, 

 etc. The weird music, constant drumming and shouts 

 and speeches of the actors, present a wonderfully stirring 

 and grotesque entertainment 



The principal mode of conveyance is by ginrikisha, a 

 ! neat little carriage on two wheels, drawn by a man whose 

 cl oth es consist of a blouse and drawers about Gin. long. He 

 will carry his passenger with tireless speed for seven cents 

 an hour, his bare feet never becoming sore, and his legs 

 showing a model from development. 



In religious matters the educated classes are agnostics 

 or Buddhists, but the belief of the great ma jority is Shinto- 

 ism . Christianity is not noticeable. The Buddhist temples 

 are comparatively bare, but the Shinto temples are rich 

 in grotesque ornamentation. The principal ones are 

 about the size of Solomon's temple, and, like it, the wor- 

 shipers do not enter, but pay their devotions from the 

 outer court. The entrances' to the temple grounds are 

 high gates, guarded on either side by terrific, ogre-like 

 giants, about eighteen feet high and large in proportion. 

 The walls of the inclosure are a mass of ornamented wood- 

 work in bojd relief, lilies, cactus, lotus and other flowers, 

 in inextricable confusion, with peacocks, lions, tigers, 

 dragons and the nightmares of Oriental imagination. 

 Inside the gates, a stone pavement a half mile long leads 

 up to the temple, through an immense avenue of stone 

 lanterns about twelve feet high. Scattered through the 

 grounds are colossal statues of lions with forked tails, 

 dragons, obelisks, saints' tombs and stone statues of saints 

 with halos. The temple stands on an elevation reached 

 by stone steps, sometimes as many ts a hundred. 

 Inside all is gilt and tinsel, with lanterns, some the size 

 of a small balloon, pictures and images; all of which, in 

 their hideous grotesqueness. look like the tortured dream- 

 in gs of insanity. At theprincipal shrine is a large money 

 box, about twenty feet long by ten wide, covered by dia- 

 mond-shaped slats, into which the worshiper throws his 

 coin before praying. Before each shrine is a large gong 

 with a rope hanging in front of it. The devotee grasps 

 the rope and gives it a jerk, which sounds the gong to 

 summon the god. The signal in the East for summoning 

 an attendant is to clap the hands together, and as the 

 Shintoists stand with bowed head or kneels before his 

 shrine, rubbing and counting his beads, he frequently 

 claps his hands to insure the attention of his saint, while 

 he mutters his prayer in a monotone. Nowhere have I 

 seen people so devout. The stone pavements are worn 

 by countless feet; the prayer-log they kneel on is polished 

 like glass by numberless knees; while a shower of com? 

 is constantly poured into the money receptacles. There 

 are shrines for almost everything. Stone saints with 

 halos round their heads have tapers burning before their 

 shrines. Sacred horses, pigeons, roosters and turtles are 

 fed by food, sold in little plates, and purchased by their 

 admirers. Some of the stone images in the shrines 

 are Japanese forms answering to the Madonna and Child, 

 and are usually hung with some offering. Others have 

 fox heads or monkey heads, and one I saw with a pig 

 head. One shrine is a large prayer-wheel, 12ft. in diam- 

 eter, filled with prayers. The worshiper puts his money 

 in the box and turns the wheel. This is religion by 

 wholesale. The most crowded shrine was a wooden 

 image of a woman seated. The worshipers rubbed that 

 part of their own bodies they wished healed, and then 

 rubbed a similar part of the goddess. Cripples wishing 

 their limbs cured, childless women wishing children, 

 ugly girls wishing beauty, struggle with each other to 

 get a chance to put their money in the box and place 

 their hand on the goddess. It speaks strongly for their 

 vanity, that every feature of the face was rubbed off, and 

 its smooth surface glistened with a brilliant polish that 

 only the smoothing of countless hands could give it. 

 The worshiper forgets his former failures. The faith of 

 superstitition is immortal. Every shrine has its money 

 box. Credulity always pays those who administer to it. 



But taking Japan from every point of view, it is a 

 pleasant country to live in. It is beautiful, it is cheap, 

 and its climate is unsurpassed. The people are indus- 

 trious, obliging, orderly, clean, polite, moral and honest. 



cy^^x^X^ 



Henry Macdonald. 



FISHING A LA MODE. 



I SAW in some newspaper recently a description of a 

 dude sportsman, gunner or fisherman, I forget which, 

 and "that reminds me" of a fellow I saw one day last 

 summer, just outside of Paris, fishing in the Seine. 



To prelude, the laws are very strict over there in regard 

 to fishing and shooting. The seasons open and shut like 

 a jack knife with a snap, and woe to the transgressor. 

 Oh. a certain day in July, I think, the season opens, and 

 long before daylight of the day the banks of the river all 

 along the Bois de Boulogne are lined with fishermen sitting 

 side by side and almost elbow to elbow. I strolled down 

 to the river one day and witnessed the sport. Taking out 

 a cigar I paid a woman two sous for a chair, and sat down 

 to get a wrinkle in French fishing. For half an hour all 

 sat in silence, with not a movement. Presently one fellow 

 had a nibble. Immediately every eye was turned on the 

 little red float on his line. The float moved perceptibly. 

 The man, with every nerve strained and eyes riveted on 

 the float, breathless with excitement, watched. The 

 float dipped again. The man pulled, the cork came to 

 the surface, but no fish. All along the line of fishermen 

 there was an ejaculation of Ah! The disappointed fisher- 

 man put on a fresh bait and waited. Presently the fish 

 took hold again; and this time he bad him. Carefully 

 he worked him in to the bank; and an attendant slipped 

 a delicate landing net under the fish and carried him up 

 the bank. There was a cry all along the line of fifty or 

 more fishermen of Bon, bon, tresjoli. Several laid down 

 their rods and gathered around the basket, lined with 

 leaves, in which the fish was carefully placed. He was a 

 monster, nearly six inches long, and must have weighed 

 about four ounces. Then all went at it again with re- 

 newed hope and courage. 



Presently a cab drove up, and there descended from it 

 a dude in an elaborate sporting costume — eye-glasses and 

 a broad-brimmed hat. Walking leisurely to the bank, a 

 man who had evidently been sent ahead to secure a posi- 

 tion, vacated. A servant brought from the cab a folding 

 stool and placed it on the bank; returning to the cab he 

 produced a delicate rod and satchel. The rod was put 

 together; the satchel was opened and a small silver bait 

 box, a toAvel, a piece of soap and a bowl were placed on 

 another stool alongside. 



The servant opened an umbrella and held it over the 

 fisherman's head to screen him fronitheBun,and the fish- 



ing began. It was a long wait for a bite. Finally there 

 was a nibble and a miss; several more nibbles and misses, 

 and presently there was a fish, sure enough. The excite- 

 ment all along the bank was intense. With the aid of 

 the landing net the fish was secured. The servant 

 essayed to take it off the hook; but the fisherman antici- 

 pated him, and held it up in triumph. But this operation 

 wet the dude's gloves, and he took them off and threw 

 them away. Things were getting intei-esting and excit- 

 ing, and blank the expense. Presently another fish, 

 which being secured, the servant dipped up water from 

 the river and handed the dude the soap and towel; and 

 he washed his hands. This was repeated every time he 

 caught a fish. All this time a gen d'arme had been walk- 

 ing up and down; and approaching the lucky fisherman, 

 there followed an animated conversation, with much 

 gesticulating, seemingly a protest against such indis- 

 criminate slaughter. The dude waxed indignant and 

 quit. The servant un jointed the rod, gathered up the 

 stools, umbrella and fish basket, and placed them in the 

 cabs which had been waiting. The dude entered and 

 was driven off with his catch, numbering about six, the 

 aggregate weight of which might have been 21bs.— an 

 immense success. I have no doubt this great catch made 

 an item in next morning's paper, with the usual lie about 

 the weight of the string and the big one that was lost. 



I had learned how the French do it. Evidently a little 

 fishing goes a long way with a Frenchman. No doubt 

 my little man went home, took a rose water bath, and 

 lay down for a rest after such a fatiguing and exciting 

 episode. I thought to myself, how I would like to get 

 that chap out in the Rockies on a thorn brush creek, of a 

 hot day, and make him wade the stream, with an occa- 

 sional stumble over a slippery boulder and a souse under. 

 What a power of good it would do him, and what fun for 

 me! Podgees. 



QUAIL SHOOTING ON THE LOUP. 



AFTER my Thanksgiving dinner last year I sat down 

 and spun a yarn for Forest and Stream, and I am 

 minded to-night to tell of how I procured my dinner. 

 Last year I had a chum and we were joint monarchs of a 

 bachelor's sanctum; but he went back to New York last 

 summer and returned with different game from that 

 which we had been accustomed to pursue. " 'Twas ever 

 thus." Just as soon as I set my affections upon a man 

 he gets married, and for a year quail and chickens have 

 no attractions for him. 



Last Sunday there was a good tracking snow, and early 

 the next morning Ben Mars ton and I were off for the 

 Loup. I was disabled as to one foot, and so was useless 

 except as driver; but I wanted to see the sport. We took 

 Dude, a Llewellin before mentioned in these columns, 

 and about twelve miles north of Kearney picked up an- 

 other sportsman, Grant, who owned a most villainous 

 pointer, that accompanied us during our subsequent 

 rambles. About 2 o'clock we reached Uncle Billy Mc- 

 Cord's, on the Loup, and as it had again commenced 

 snowing, we spent the remainder of the day in telling 

 stories, smoking and discussing dogs. 



An early breakfast put me in first-rate condition for 

 the day's work. Ben and Grant took guns and dogs and 

 I followed with the team. The Loup at this point divides, 

 making a large island, heavily covered with timber and 

 underbrush — just the place for quail, but most vexatious 

 to the hunter. Here my confreres were to do their work, 

 while I watched them from the bluff. The sky was 

 clearing and we had every prospect of a pleasant day. 

 When I reached the bluff a strange scene presented it- 

 self. The river was covered with thin ice near the edge, 

 but was open a few feet from the shore. Here was an 

 immense flock of mallards, while around and close beside 

 them the cattle were taking their morning drink. The 

 hunters had already seen them and were sneaking up 

 among the steers, with the dogs well to heel. Grant was 

 a considerable distance in the lead, and under cover of a 

 great red two-year-old reached the water's edge. Then 

 his impatience got the best of him. and without waiting 

 for Ben he showed himself and blazed away as the flock 

 rose. I could almost hear Ben's pious ejaculations, but 

 he fired at long range with both barrels, and each shot 

 counted. Eleven fat young mallards were the result of 

 the first hour's work, and it was only 8 o'clock. 



I drove down to the river and picked up the game, 

 while Ben and Grant put on their hip boots and waded to 

 the island. In a few moments the music began. It was 

 one crack followed by another, and the work had to be 

 quick, for a quail no sooner showed himself than he was 

 lost to sight. Dude stood Ms birds like a. little man, and 

 it was a pleasure to see him strike a scent, follow it in an 

 instant with wagging tail and then stiffen like marble. 

 He invariably found the dead birds, even in the thickest 

 underbrush, but he has not yet got retrieving down to a 

 science. But Grant's dog ! It riles me to think of it. 

 He ran for every gun crack. When Ben fired he would 

 leave his master, and when Grant fired he would desert 

 Ben. This took so much of his time that he forgot to 

 exercise his nose, and so failed to demonstrate the ability 

 of which his master had been so confident. Finally Ben 

 persuaded his comrade and the "purp" to cross the river, 

 and from that time all went well, as the quail when 

 flushed on one side of the stream flew to the other, and 

 gave each hunter a shot. About 11 o'clock they returned 

 to the wagon with about three dozen bu ds, and we hur- 

 ried back to Uncle Billy's for an early dinner, as we 

 wanted to reach Kearney before dark. 



The afternoon was quite cold and we devoted a portion 

 of it to pot-hunting. It was unsportsmanlike, but it 

 could not well be helped. Whenever we passed a tim- 

 ber claim there were chicken? in the trees, and when we 

 passed haystacks there were chickens on them. Being 

 in Nebraska we could not find stones to throw at them, 

 so we had to take them sitting, but then we limited our- 

 selves to just what could be used at home. 



A day or two since, Dr. Amos, of Kimball, Nek. and 

 P. T. Lambert, of Kearney, went up Wood River, and as 

 a result of an evening and morning shoot bagged 137 

 quail. Indeed, quail shooting this .-reason has more than 

 compensated for tlfe lack of chicke,, - Ducks have been 

 fairly abundant ever since AugiiGt, 60* do they yet 

 show any signs of departing for the south? but geese 

 are much scarcer than they have been for many years. 



Antelope ^^le quite abundant from Lincoln county 

 north and west, and a few small bunches are to be found 

 south of North Platte, between the Union Pacific and 

 Burlington & Missouri railroads, Shoshone, 

 Kearney, Neb., Nov. 38, 



