vated Japanese. From their ranks are supplied the poets of the
land, who sing the beauties of the rapid Oyewaga, or legends of the
snow-capped Foesi.

Miyako is the classic ground, the Athens of Japan. But we must go on to
the Japanese London, Jeddo, the real capital, a grand metropolis, with
about one million, six hundred thousand inhabitants. Of course there is
a wilderness of suburb; there are endless streets; there is a river
through the town which flows into the bay, from which this capital is
not far distant. There are bridges; there is a vast multitude of people
thronging to and fro; there are shops, signs, inscriptions. We will walk
into a theatre; for here, as in the days of AEschylus, performances take
place by day. There is a pit, and there are tiers of elegant seats,
which answer to our boxes; the scenery and dresses are handsome, only in
scene painting there is no perspective. As in the early European drama,
the subjects illustrated are the deeds of gods and heroes; not more than
two speakers occupy the scene at once; boys act the female characters.
Several pieces are performed, each piece divided into acts, and the plan
is to give after Act I. of the first play, Act I. of the second, and
then to begin the third, before taking the series of second acts. As
each actor in each piece plays also several parts, one might consider
this arrangement to be rather puzzling. Gentlemen go out after the act
of any piece they wish to hear, and attend to other matters till the
next act of the same piece shall come on; but ladies sit with pleasure
through the whole. Dear souls! they steal a march upon our feminine box
ornaments; for they bring with them a collection of dresses to the play,
slip out during each pause to change their clothes, and reappear, to
catch the admiration of beholders, every time in a new costume.

The palace of the Ziogoon covers much ground, being in fact a rural
scene--a palace and a park, locked up within the town. As for the
Ziogoon, he also is locked up within his trenches. To understand how he
is fettered, and, at the same time, how all the people of Japan have
come to be locked up, we must pursue our little thread of history.
Yoritomo established, as we said, the power of the Ziogoons, which
flourished for a long time. Kublah Khan endeavored to make Nippon
subject to him; but without success, winds and waves fighting with the
Japanese. Mongolians were forbidden then to touch Japanese ground,