III. 
Manners, Arts, Customs, Manufactures, and 
Household Traditions. 
Japanese houses are built of wood, and the partitions have 
very often sliding doors of paper. The floors are matted, 
. but the rooms rarely contain furniture. In the kitchen, in 
place of a stove may be seen a large stone or bronze box, 
with burning coals in it, and over this trough is cooked the 
rice for the family. The kitchen being destitute of a 
chimney, the smoke has to make its exit through an opening 
in the roof, or through the doorways. At meal times, the 
rice is put into a little wooden tub, which is placed upon 
a little table, about two feet square and one foot high, 
around which the family all sit in order to partake of 
the food. Each one dips out a bowlful of rice from the 
tub on the table, and eats it with chop-sticks. They also 
eat fish and sweet potatoes, and sometimes pour tea over 
the rice. In some rooms in the house may be found a 
shelf, or closet, in which are kept all the household idols. 
These houses are not always clean, for travellers tell us that 
fleas abound in the thick mats which are placed on the floors ; 
while. So ignorant are the greater part of the people as to the 
necessity for pure water, that on some occasions people have 
died through drinking the impure water provided for them. 
Horses are used for travelHng in that country, but 
the animals are ill-trained, and without bridles, so that 
instead of being guided by the riders, as in England, they 
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