Manners^ Arts^ Customs ^ etc. 
12S 
hair, that it is possible to tell a man from a woman, when 
dressed in the Japanese national style. We are told by- 
visitors, that the women are gentle, modest, and womanly, 
while the men are courteous, quiet, and obliging, and that 
the national manners are far in advance of those of some 
nations possessing greater advantages. Their hands and 
feet are very small, and they themselves very diminutive. 
The usual height of women is stated as being from four feet 
eight inches, to five feet one inch ; while that of men is from 
five feet, to five feet five inches. Thin and small, they are 
characterized as the most ugly, and most pleasing little 
people ; the neatest, and the most ingenious.'' 
Japanese houses, furnished in the native style, are very 
picturesque and neat, but wanting in comfort, according to 
European notions. The floors of the apartments are covered 
with matting, as fine and soft as English carpets. These 
housemats are all made of one size — five feet nine inches 
long, three feet broad, and two-and-a-half inches thick. The 
frame is of strong coarse straw, and this is covered with 
very fine woven matting. Each mat is bound with blue. 
Houses and rooms are designed to accommodate so many 
of these mats, as they are never cut. They are expensive 
and highly valued ; no native would venture to step upon 
a mat, without first changing his dirty clogs for indoor 
slippers. This fine soft matting looks inviting and warm, 
but the partitions of the rooms are made of framework 
filled up with paper ; and the couches are simply stretchers, 
with a raised wooden block or pillow at one end, into the 
hollow of which, a Japanese fits his head, with a bit of cloth 
or paper underneath, and prepares to sleep. They know 
nothing of beds^ in the English sense of the word. All 
visitors are expected to partake of tea ; and no matter how 
many cups have already been swallowed at other houses 
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