private
family performed the ceremony of the adoration of heaven and of the
north star, and lighted the lamps of the sky and of that star, they
were guilty of profanation, and liable to be punished with eighty
blows. When a dead body was laid in the coffin, the mouth of the
deceased was filled with corn, rice, silver, and gold; and scissors,
tied up in purses, were put into the coffin, that the departed person
might cut his nails as often as he pleased.

There was a sect in Japan called Jammabugi, who studied magic chiefly
among the rocks and mountains. They procured a subsistence by
pretending to tell fortunes. They possessed an almost incredible
number of idols, one of which was Abbuto, noted for curing inveterate
diseases, and for procuring a favourable wind at sea. To secure a
quick passage, sailors and passengers were wont to throw money into
the ocean as an offering to this idol.

The Japanese had gods for almost everything. A most ridiculous account
is given of their goddess of riches. When a mortal, she had no
children by her husband, which caused her to supplicate the gods to
give her offspring. Her prayers were heard, and she produced five
hundred eggs. Being afraid that if the eggs were hatched they would
bring forth monsters, she packed them up in a box bearing a particular
mark, and threw them into a river. An old fisherman found the box,
and, seeing it full of eggs, carried it home to his wife. Not having a
sufficient number of hens to hatch so many eggs, she put them into an
oven, and, to the surprise of the aged couple, every egg produced a
child. The two old people succeeded in bringing up the strange progeny
to manhood, for they were all sons. They became robbers and beggars by
turn; and it happened, one day during their rambles, that they came to
their mother's house. From inquiries she made, it became clear that
the young ruffians were her own children. She kept them, and reared
them up to be virtuous and useful. She was afterwards taken up from
the earth to be among the gods, where she remains, attended by her
five hundred sons.

Apes and monkeys, as well as other creatures, were worshipped in
Japan. So great faith did the people of that country put in the
transmigration of souls, that they had hospitals for the reception of
animals in whose bodies souls were supposed to reside. In a wood near
Jeddo there were many sacred animals, daily fed by priests. These
animals, the priests said, were anima