Japan and the Japanese

402 JAPAN. A. D. 1775 17?C.
ton, is spread out on the mats. The Japanese have no pillows
instead of which they use oblong lackered pieces of wood. With
the above apparatus for sleeping, the Japanese bed-chamber is put
in order, and he himself up and dressed, in the twinkling of an eye ;
as, in fact, scarcely a longer time is requisite
for him to throw the
gown over him, which serves for dress by day and bed-clothes at
night, and to it
gird round his waist.
"Though mirrors do not decorate the walls, they are in general
use at the toilet, made not of glass, but of a composition of copper
and zinc highly polished, and fixed in
obliquely
a stand of wood
made for that purpose. Cleanliness is a constant object with these
people, and not a day passes in which they do not wash themselves
whether they are at home or on a journey. In all towns and vil
lages, inns and private houses, (here are baths." He adds, how-
ever, what goes rather against this alleged cleanliness, that as the
poor, to save expense, are accustomed to use water in which others
have repeatedly bathed, they are apt in that way to take infectious
disorders. Neither do their open manure vaults, placed by the road-
hides and in the very fronts of their houses, agree so well with this
eulogv. Cv
At Kokura the Dutch bespoke, against their return, rice and
charcoal for the factory at Desima. Having crossed to Simonoseki,
they embarked, on the 12th of March, in a large Japanese junk, for
Osaka ; but, having made less than half the voyage, they encoun-
tered contrary winds, which drove them a long distance back, and
detained them for near three weeks. The weather was so cold as
to make fires comfortable, and colds and catarrhs, endemical to
Japan from the changeability of it? climate, were very prevalent.
All this time they slept on board, but had several times an oppor-
tunity to go on shore to amuse themselves at the inns and temples,
the Japanese sailors being always anxious to land in order to
bathe.
The country all along this coast was mountainous, which was the
reason of going by sea instead of by land, the land road being very
difficult. This coast seemed, nevertheless, to be highly cultivated,
the mountains in many places resembling beautiful gardens.
At the places where they landed, the children were very numer-
ous. "I observed," says Thunberg, "that the chastisement of chil-