officers, and soldiers--the Mikado's guard, in
silken doublets and coats of mail, as well as other soldiers of all
descriptions; for in Japan the army is as much regarded as it is
despised in China. There were friars, pilgrims with long robes, and
civilians with long black hair, large heads, long waists, thin legs,
and short of stature; with complexions, some copper-colour, some pale,
but never yellow like the Chinese, from whom the Japanese differ
essentially. Amongst the carriages, the palanquins, the barrows with
sails, bamboo litters, he noticed many very pretty women moving about
with tiny steps, on tiny feet, and shod with canvas shoes, with straw
sandals and wooden clogs. They appeared to have small eyes, fiat
chests, black teeth, according to fashion; but wearing gracefully the
national robe called "kirimon," a sort of dressing-gown, crossed with
a silk scarf and tied behind in a large knot, a mode which Parisian
ladies have borrowed from the Japanese.

Passe-partout wandered about in the crowd for some hours, looking at
the shops, at the glittering jewellers' establishments; the
restaurants, which he could not enter; the tea-houses, where they
drank "saki," a liquor made from the fermentation of rice; and
comfortable-looking tobacco-shops, where they smoked, not opium, which
is almost unknown in Japan, but a fine tobacco. Thence he went on into
the fields amongst the rice-plantations; there were flowers of all
sorts, giving forth their last perfumes--beautiful camellias, not on
bushes, but on trees; and bamboo enclosures, with cherry, plum, and
apple trees, Which the natives cultivate rather for their blossom than
their fruit. On almost every cedar-tree an eagle was perched, and on
the willows were melancholy herons, standing on one leg; and crows,
ducks, hawks, wild geese, and a quantity of cranes, which are looked
upon as sacred by the Japanese, as conferring upon them long life and
happiness.

As he wandered on, Passe-partout noted some violets amid the grass.
"Good," he said, "here is my supper;" but he found they were
scentless.

"No chance there," he thought.

Certainly, as a precaution, he had taken care to have a good meal
before he left the _Carnatic_, but after walking a whole day, he felt
somewhat hungry. He had already remarked that the butchers' shops
displayed neither mutton, pork, nor kids; and as he knew that it was
forbidden to kill oxen, which are reserved for farming, he concluded
that