moment to see those poor
creatures either plunge into the water themselves or be crushed by
the weight of the heavy timbers; and while I watched for about two
hours they must have taken out about twenty or thirty logs, twenty
or twenty-five feet long and two feet through. I often watched the
coolies unloading ships. Two of them would take six or eight trunks,
bind them together, run a heavy bamboo pole through the knotted ends
and away they would go. I never saw a single person carding what we,
in America, pride ourselves so much on, "a full dinner pail." They
did not even seem to have the pail.

There are horses in Japan and they are poor specimens compared with
the fine animals that we know. They are chiefly pack-horses, used in
climbing over the mountains, consequently they go with their noses
almost on the ground. Instead of iron shoes they have huge ones made
of plaited straw. They are literally skin and bones, these poor beasts
of burden.

Horses may be judged, in part, by the mouth; but the Japs may be wholly
judged by the leg. It did distress me to ride after a pair of legs
whose calves were abnormally large, whose varicose veins were swollen
almost to bursting. As a rule, the men trot along with very little
effort and, seemingly, have a very good time. They cheerfully play
the part of both horseman and horse, of conductor, motineer and power.

I never could get used to the number of Jinrickshas drawn up in front
of the railroad station, and as it is the only way to get about the
country, I accepted it with as good a grace as I could. At a large
station there may be hundreds of rickshaws and double hundreds of
drivers, all clamoring as wildly as our most aggressive cabmen. They
wave their hands frantically, crying, "Me speak English! Me speak
English! Me speak English!"

They knew originally, or have learned of foreigners, how to cheat in
Japan as elsewhere. One often needs to ask, "Is this real tortoise
shell?" The answer, even if imitation, is "Now, this is good; this
is without flaw." I found it of great advantage, as far as possible,
to keep the same men, and they became interested, not only in taking
me to better places, but in assisting me in procuring articles, not
only of the best value, but at Japanese prices. It is never best to
purchase the first time you see anything, even if you want it very
badly. I secured one Satsuma cup that has a thousand faces on it. It
is very old, very wonderfully exact