ed to their knees. It
was not a pleasant spectacle, but it excited no comment in this country,
where women labor in the rice fields by the side of men.

A short ride from Kyoto brings the visitor to Nara, the seat of the
oldest temples in Japan, and famous for the tame deer in the park. A
long avenue of stone lanterns leads to the principal temples, in an
ancient cedar grove. The main temple gives an impression of great age by
its heavy thatched roof.

Next looms up the gigantic wooden structure, which houses Daibutsa, the
great bronze image of Buddha. This statue, which dates back to the
eighth century, is fifty-three and one-quarter feet high; the face is
sixteen feet long and nine and one-quarter feet wide. The god is in a
sitting position, with the legs crossed. The head, which is darker than
the remainder of the image, replaced in the sixteenth century the
original head destroyed by fire. The expression of this Buddha is not
benignant, and the image is impressive only because of its size. It has
two images eighteen feet in height on either hand, but these seemed
dwarfed by the huge central figure.

The park at Nara is very interesting, because of the tame deer which
have no fear of the stranger in European dress, but will eat cakes from
his hand. One of the sources of revenue is to sell these cakes to the
tourist.

A visit was paid to an old temple at Horyuji, about eight miles from
Nara, which is famous as the oldest Buddhist temple in Japan. It
contains a valuable collection of ancient Japanese works of art. The
rickshaw ride to this place is of great interest, as the road passes
through a rich farming country and two small towns which seem to have
been little affected by European influence. In the fertile valley below
Nara rice is grown on an extensive scale, these paddy fields being
veritable swamps which can be crossed only by high paths running through
them, at distances of thirty or forty feet. Here also may be seen the
curious method of trellising orchards of pear trees with bamboo poles.
The trellis supports the upper branches and this prevents them from
breaking down under the weight of fruit, while it also makes easy the
picking of fruit. Agriculture at its best is seen in this fertile
Japanese valley. One peculiarity of this country, as of other parts of
rural Japan, is that one sees none of the scattered farmhouses which dot
every American farming section. Instead of building on his own land the
f