124 
Japan and the Japanese, 
follow runners." These runners are in some provinces 
men ; in others, women. Occasionally, cows are used, as in 
Africa, for purposes of locomotion. Upon level roads, small 
hand-carriages with two wheels, called jinrishkas^^ borne 
by two men, are used. The " jinrishka" men will frequently 
travel thirty or forty miles a day ; but although they obtain 
better pay at this employment than at agricultural work, 
they shorten their lives considerably. Miss Bird was in- 
formed that the average duration of a man's life, after taking 
to this mode of labour, was only about five or six years. 
The Japanese have a wonderful eye for colour, and the 
artistic arrangement of the goods in their shops, as weU as 
their personal clothing, attests this fact. Nevertheless, the 
style of the national dress seems open to improvement. 
The kimono^ or general outside garment, is something like 
a scanty dressing-gown, with long, loose, baggy sleeves, 
sewn up to the wrist, so as to make convenient bags or 
pockets for the reception of all sorts of things. Idols, and 
the paper squares used for handkerchiefs, are carried in 
these sleeves, the said handkerchiefs being thrown away 
when done with. This kimono is fastened over the chest in 
different ways, according to the sex of the wearer, being 
folded from left to right by the man, and from right to left 
by the woman; in both cases being confined round the 
waist by a girdle. This girdle has enormous bows behind, 
according to the respectability and pride of the wearer. 
Mittens or socks of white cloth are worn, and outdoors are 
supplemented by wooden clogs. These clogs induce a 
shufiling, scufiling method of walking, as their feet cannot 
be raised much for fear of the clogs falling off. Hats and 
bonnets are discarded by both sexes, as the bows and 
plaits of hair are made to do duty in place of these articles. 
It is only by the obi^ or girdle, and the arrangement of the 
