of small cups. It is not unpleasant in this state,
but when cold few European palates can relish it.

The Japanese cookery was very good, though some of the dishes were
compounded of ingredients not generally mixed together by the cooks of
the West. Here is the bill of fare:--

Soup.
Shrimps and Seaweeds.
Prawns, Egg Omelette, and Preserved Grapes.
Fried Fish, Spinach, Young Rushes, and Young Ginger.
Raw Fish, Mustard and Cress, Horseradish, and Soy.
Thick Soup--of Eggs, Fish, Mushrooms, and Spinach; Grilled
Fish.
Fried Chicken and Bamboo Shoots.
Turnip Tops and Root Pickled.
Rice _ad libitum_ in a large bowl.
Hot Saki, Pipes, and Tea.

The last dish presented was an enormous lacquer box of rice, from which
all the bowls were filled--the rice being thence carried to the mouth of
each guest by means of chopsticks, in the use of which it is only
practice that makes perfect.

Between each course a long interval occurred, which was filled up with
songs, music, and dancing, performed by professional singing and dancing
girls. The music was somewhat harsh and monotonous; but a word of praise
may be given to the songs and to the dancing, or rather posturing, for
there was little of that agility of foot practised by European dancers.
"The girls, who were pretty, wore peculiar dresses to indicate their
calling, and seemed of an entirely different stamp from the quiet,
simply-dressed waitresses whom we found so attentive to our wants; still
they all looked cheery, light-hearted, simple creatures, and appeared to
enjoy immensely the little childish games they played amongst
themselves between whiles."[35]

This "Voyage Round the World," from which we must now turn aside, does
not sum up Lady Brassey's achievements as a traveller. She accompanied
her husband, in 1874, on a cruise to the Arctic Circle, but has
published no record of this enterprise. On their return, the
indefatigable couple started on a voyage to the East, visiting
Constantinople, the city of gilded palaces and mosques, of harems and
romance; and skimming the sunny waters of the Bosphorus and the Golden
Horn. In 1878 they made a second excursion to the Mediterranean,
revisiting Constantinople, and seeing it in storm and shadow as they had
previously seen it in sunshine; and exploring Cyprus, which then had
been but recently brought under British dominion. Lady Brassey's
narrative of her Mediterranean cruises and