are carried. The bearers have each a pole, on which they can rest the
norimon.

The ladies, I should say, are great smokers, though their pipes are
small and their tobacco of a delicate description.

I need not describe the entertainment our friends gave their guests, as
it was similar in many respects to that of the Japanese, though with
certain English dishes. Each of their attendants, when they set out on
their return, lighted a paper lantern, which is universally carried
after dusk in all the towns of Japan.

The Japanese appear to be very fond of their children, and very
indulgent. In our excursions we often stopped and looked into the
cottages, which were invariably neat and clean in the extreme. I
remember one day hearing youthful voices, and looking in, we saw a
couple of children seated by the side of their father on a cushion on
the floor. One of them apparently was ill, and the other was pouring
out some physic from a bottle into a bowl to give to it. The expression
on their countenances amused us. The little invalid was turning away
his head, unwilling to take the potion; while the other seemed to be
entreating that he might not have too much of it. It was a family
picture, however, which gave us a very fair idea of the terms on which
parents and their children exist.

Generally speaking, the women of Japan are as fair as many Europeans,
and were it not for their peculiar sandals, which give them an awkward
manner in walking, they would be graceful. Their hair is bound up into
thick masses at the back of the head, through which a number of gold and
silver or ivory arrows are placed, much in the manner of the peasant
girls in some parts of Germany. The unmarried women have good eyebrows
and beautiful teeth; but when they marry they blacken their teeth and
shave off their eyebrows, to show their affection for their husbands,
and that they no longer wish to win the admiration of others. The men
have a curious way of saluting each other, passing their hands down the
knee and leg, when they give a strong inhalation indicative of pleasure;
and it is curious to hear these whistling sounds going on while people
are paying each other compliments. When women of the same rank meet,
they bend nearly double, and remain in the same position some time in
conversation, occasionally giving a bob for every compliment that is
paid. When they get up to go away, the same bobbing and bowing goes on
for some time