234 VISIT TO TEMPLES. Chap. XIV. 
prayer, either to him or for him, as she had done 
to the horses in the morning. The most amusing 
part of the performance was to see our friend 
lying perfectly unconscious of the honours that 
were being paid to him. The poor woman had 
also brought up four cups of tea and a handful 
of dry rice, which she laid upon the ground as 
an offering to our party. As soon as she saw us 
awake and noticing her movements, she rose 
quietly and walked out of the room without paying 
the slightest attention to any of us. 
When the day had become a little cooler we left 
the shelter of our inn and went to pay a visit to 
the temples for which Kamakura is celebrated all 
over the empire of Japan. They are placed at the 
head of the valley before-mentioned, and are ap- 
proached by an avenue terminating in a broad 
flight of stone steps' in front of the temples. They 
are eight in number, and are only opened, we were 
told, once or twice a year. We did not observe 
any priests about them, nor any signs of Buddhist 
worship ; and therefore they probably belonged to 
the Sintoo sect, the ancient religion of Japan. 
Their roofs are remarkable in form, and one of 
them has a tower somewhat like an Indian minaret. 
Although we could not enter these temples, we 
could look through the bars of their doors and see 
their contents. Many of them contained wooden 
images of different kinds, some of which were sup- 
posed to cure certain diseases, and were worshipped 
and prayed to by the afflicted. One in particular 
