n cool ones, and at all times
astonishing,--the "Tengu's Wind Hole." We learned through her about the
snakes to be found in the woods, and of the wonderful tonic virtues of
the _mamushi_ (the one poisonous snake of Japan), if caught and bottled
with a sufficient quantity of _sake_. The _sake_ may be renewed again
and again, and the longer the snake has been bottled the more medicinal
does it become, so that one _mamushi_ may, if used perseveringly,
medicate several casks of _sake_. We had opportunity later to verify her
statements, for we found at a small grocery store, where we stopped to
add a few delicacies to our somewhat scanty bill of fare, two snakes,
neatly coiled in quart bottles and pickled in _sake_, one of which could
be obtained for the sum of seventy-five sen, though the other, who in
his rage at being bottled had buried his fangs in his own body,
commanded a higher price because of his courage. We did not feel in
need of a tonic that day, so left the _mamushi_ on the grocery shelves,
but it is probable that their disintegrating remains are being
industriously quaffed to-day by some elderly Japanese whose failing
strength demands an unfailing remedy.

When our little friend had learned of our interest in snakes, she was on
the lookout for snake stories of all kinds. One day she stopped us as we
came by rather later than usual, hurrying home before a threatening
shower, to tell us that we ought to have come a little sooner, for the
great black snake who was the messenger of the god that lived on the
mountain had just been by, and we might have been interested to see him.
She had seen him before, herself, so he was no novelty to her, but she
was sure that the matter would interest us. Poor little old lady, with
her kindly face and pleasant ways, and her friendly cracked voice. Her
firm belief in all the uncanny and supernatural things that wiser people
have outgrown brought us face to face with the childhood of our race,
and drew us into sympathy with a phase of culture in which all nature is
wrapped in inscrutable mystery.

_Page 264._

Each year that passes sees a few more stores adopting the habit of fixed
prices, not to be altered by haggling.

_Page 282._

On another occasion the good offices of the fortune-teller were sought
concerning a marriage, and the powerful arranger of human destinies
discovered that though everything else was favorable, the bride
contracted for was to come from a quar