206 
LADIES AT THEIR PRAYERS. Chap. XIII. 
believing, as they do, that they become polluted 
by contact with dead bodies, — a circumstance which 
renders dissection impossible. Could this be got 
over, as it no doubt will be, their progress in the 
knowledge of surgery will be remarkable. 
There are little roadside altars in many of the 
fields near Kanagawa, on which the natives burn 
incense, and offer salt, cash, and other things to a 
little deity rudely carved in stone. On one occa- 
sion I came up with three women, rather respect- 
ably dressed, and looking as if they belonged to 
the higher classes of Japan. They were accompa- 
nied by a man-servant, who carried in his hands a 
bundle of joss-sticks and paper as an offering to 
the god. They looked pleased to see a foreigner, 
were very polite, and asked me where I was going 
to, whence I came, and to what nation I belonged. 
On my returning the compliment by asking them 
the same questions, they informed me they had 
come from Kanagawa, and were about to offer 
incense at a little altar situated in a field some 
hundred yards ahead of us. Being anxious to 
witness the ceremony, I walked with them to the 
altar. When we reached the little stone god, one 
of the ladies, apparently the highest in rank, took 
the incense out of the hand of the servant, lighted 
it, and placed it in a stone basin in front of the 
image. She then bent low before the altar, all the 
time rubbing a string of beads which she held in 
her hands and muttering some prayers. The 
second in rank stood behind her in a devout atti- 
