AN INSANE WOMAN. 
Chap. XIV. 
Salisburia adiantifolia , are the trees generally used 
for these avenues. 
As we entered the village a most extraordinary 
circumstance occurred, which took us entirely hy 
surprise, until we remembered that we were in 
Japan. A woman rushed out of a shop and placed 
herself in the middle of the road, holding a tobacco- 
pipe in one hand, and a box containing some 
tobacco and sundry other articles in the other. 
When I first saw her my impression was, that she 
either meant to welcome us by the offer of her pipe, 
or that she wished to dispose of the wares in her 
box. But such was not her intention. To our 
alarm and surprise, she threw off the only garment 
she wore and assumed the attitude of a naked statue, 
at the same time putting her pipe into her mouth 
and puffing out clouds of tobacco-smoke. The 
people came running towards us from every part of 
the village, and were evidently accustomed to such 
exhibitions on the part of the individual before us. 
When we recovered from our surprise we came 
to the conclusion that the poor creature was insane, 
which we afterwards found to be the case. 
As the day was cloudless, with the thermo- 
meter standing somewhere about 100° in the 
shade, we were glad to take up our quarters in 
a tea-house. We were welcomed by mine host 
and some pretty maidens, and conducted up stairs 
to a suite of rooms with open windows looking 
out upon the village. While we were sitting 
fanning ourselves and enjoying the shade, after 
