d fall back some yards, in order to run and acquire the
needful impetus. Suddenly one of them reappears, takes a flying leap
from the rock, executes a somersault in mid-air, and feet foremost
plunges into the pool beneath, to rise again almost immediately, and
climb the steep river-bank with an air of serene indifference. His
companion having performed the same exploit, the two clambered up to the
projection of which we have spoken, and again dropped into the river
waters; a less wonderful feat than their former, but still one requiring
both pluck and skill.

Among the games mentioned by Lady Brassey are spear-throwing,
transfixing an object with a dart, _kona_, an elaborate kind of
draughts, and _talu_, which consists in hiding a small stone under one
of five pieces of cloth placed in front of the players. One hides the
stone, and his companions have to guess where it is hidden; and it
generally happens that, however skilfully the hider may glide his arm
under the cloth and shift from one piece to another, a clever player
detects where he lets go the stone by the movement of the muscles of the
upper part of his arm. Another game, _tarua_, resembles the Canadian
sport of "tobogonning," only it is carried on upon the grass instead of
upon the frozen surface of the snow. The performers stand erect on a
narrow plank, turned up in front, which they guide with a kind of
paddle. Starting from the summit of a hill or a mountain, they sweep
down the grassy slopes at a furious pace, preserving their balance with
admirable dexterity. For the game of _pahe_, which is also very popular,
a specially prepared smooth floor is necessary, and along this the
javelins of the players glide like snakes. On the same kind of floor
they play _maita_, or _uru maita_. Two sticks are fixed in the ground,
only a few inches apart, and from a distance of thirty or forty yards
the player seeks to throw a stone--the _uru_--between them; the _uru_
being circular in shape, three or four inches in diameter, and an inch
in thickness, except at the middle, where it is thicker.[34]

We pass on to Japan, and accompany Lady Brassey to a Japanese dinner in
a Japanese tea-house. The dinner took place in an apartment which, as an
exact type of a room in any Japanese house, may fitly be described. The
roof and the screens, which form the sides, are all made of a handsome
dark-polished wood resembling walnut. The exterior walls under the
verandah, as well as the