TH^ JAJ?ANESE. 
126 
shews greafe ifntelligence, anti can on) no account he numbered among 
the uncivilized portiion of mankindi. Here there are no appearances 
of that vanity so common a«rong the; Asiatics and Africans,, of adorn- 
ing themselves with shells, glass‘-bea4'S,, metal-plates,, &g. neither are. 
they fond; of the European ornaments of gold and- silver lace,, jewels, 
&c. but provide themselves from the productions of their own country 
with tea clothes, well-tasted food, and; good weapons.. Their curi- 
osity is excessiv.Gi Nothing imported by the Europeans escapes it.. 
They inquiiire concerning every article, and their questions continue 
till they become wearisome. Economy is a virtue practised in the 
emperor’s palace- as well as in the meanest cottage.. Here scarcity 
and famine are unknown, and hardly a person in necessity, or a beg- 
gar, is to be found. 
The principal furniture of the Japanese consists of straw mats,, 
which serves for seats and beds : a small table for eating is the only 
moveable. The Japanese sit always upon their hams. Before dinner 
begins, they make a profound bow, and ' drink to the health of the 
guests. The women eat by themselves. During the courses, they 
drink a glass of sakki, a kind of beer made of rue, kept constantly 
warm, and they drink at each new morsel. Tea and sakki are the 
most favourite drink of this people ; wine and) spirits are never used,, 
nor even accepted when offered by the Dutch. Sakki is as clear as 
wine, and of an agreeable taste ; taken in great quantity, it intoxicates, 
and causes headach. Tobacco is in universal vogue^ and smoked 
continually by both sexes. The gardens about their houses are 
adorned with a variety of flowers, trees, verdure, baths, terraces, and 
other embellishments. 
The furniture and decorations of persons of distinction consist iii? 
japan work of various colours, curious paintings, beds, couches, 
skreens, cabinets, tables, a variety of porcelain jars, vases, tea equi- 
pages, &c. together with swords, guns, scymeters, and other arras. 
Their retinues are more or- less splendid- according to their rank, but 
there are few of the lords who have less than fifty or sixty men richly 
clad and armed, some on foot, but most on horseback. Their petty 
kings and princes are seldom seen without 200 or 300 such attendants, 
when they either wait on the emperor, which they do one half of the 
year, or attend him abroad. 
The garments of the Japanese deserve, more than, that of any other 
people, the name of national, as they not only differ from other men’s, 
but are also of the same form in all ranks, from the monarch to the 
meanest subject, as well as in both sexes ; and what exceeds all 
credibility, they have not been altered for at least 2460 years. They 
universally consist of night-gowns, made long and wide, of which 
several are worn at once by all ranks and ages. The more distin- 
guished, and the rich, have them of the finest silk ; the poorer sort, of 
cotton. Those of the women reach down to the ground, and some- 
times have a train ; in the man, they reach dewm to the heels ; travel- 
lers, soldiers, and- labourers, either tuck them up, or only wear them 
dow n to the knees. The habit of the men in general, is of one colour ; 
the rest is variegated, and frequently interwoven- wdth flowers of gold. 
The men seldom wear st great number, but the women thirty, fifty, or 
