280 
CRUISE OF H.M'.S. CHALLENGER. 
in any quantity; then basket and lacquer work, 
earthenware, toys, and glass ornaments. However, 
passing on so rapidly, it was not more than a cursory 
glance that could be obtained of the novelties dis- 
played. Hundreds of similar vehicles to the one I 
was in were passing in all directions ; while the 
number of foot-passengers, all apparently happy and 
contented, gave the scene an air of life and animation. 
Leaving the streets for the suburbs, showy little 
cottages, each surrounded by gardens laid out with 
tasteful neatness and artistic skill, are passed ; and 
so through shady lanes, bordered by hedges with 
rich and waving foliage, until reaching the inclosure 
where my vehicle stops. “ Ikura ka,” I was taught to 
say, and I found I had been riding all this distance 
for an ichi-bu. My friend was in waiting to receive 
me, and we entered the building he occupies, which 
had at one time been attached to a large temple near 
at hand, and for which this part of Yedo is famous. 
The house appears to have been built in the position 
it occupies with a view to the charming prospect it 
commands. It has broad verandahs running round 
it, every door and partition sliding backwards and 
forwards in grooves, instead of opening and shutting 
in our ordinary way. 
Entering by the doorway, and passing through a 
spacious hall, matted according to the government 
regulation, which prescribes that every mat manu- 
factured throughout the empire shall be of one size, 
