ch other upon the
streets, the trading bazaars, and the queer toy-like articles which fill
them; children flying kites in the shape of hideous yellow monsters.
Each subject becomes a fresh study. Men drawing vehicles, like horses
between the shafts, and trotting off at a six-mile pony-gait while
drawing after them one or two persons, is a singular sight to a
stranger. So are the naked natives, by fours, bearing heavy loads swung
from their shoulders upon stout bamboo poles, while they shout a
measured chant by means of which to keep step. No beggars are seen upon
the streets; the people without exception are all neat and cleanly. The
houses are special examples of neatness, and very small, being seldom
more than twenty feet square, and one story in height. All persons,
foreigners or natives, take off their shoes before entering upon the
polished floors, not only out of respect to the customs of the country,
but because one does not feel like treading upon their floors with
nailed heels or soiled soles. The conviction forces itself upon us that
such universal neatness and cleanliness must extend even to the moral
character of the people. A spirit of gentleness, industry, and thrift
are observable everywhere, imparting an Arcadian atmosphere to these
surroundings. In the houses which we enter there are found neither
chairs, tables, nor bedsteads; the people sit, eat, and sleep upon the
floors, which are as clean as a newly laid tablecloth.

Here and there upon the roadsides moss-grown shrines bearing sacred
emblems are observed, before which women, but rarely men, are seen
bending. The principal religions of Japan are Shinto and Buddhism,
subdivided into many sects. The Shinto is mainly a form of hero worship,
successful warriors being canonized as martyrs are in the Roman Catholic
Church. Buddhism is another form of idolatry, borrowed originally from
the Chinese. The language of the country is composed of the Chinese and
Japanese combined. As we travel inland, places are pointed out to us
where populous cities once stood, but where no ruins mark the spot. A
dead and buried city in Europe or in Asia leaves rude but almost
indestructible remains to mark where great communities once built
temples and monuments, and lived and thrived, like those historic
examples of mutability, Memphis, Paestum, Cumae, or Delhi; but not so in
Japan. It seems strange indeed that a locality where half a million of
people have made their homes