Japan and the Japanese

540 JAPAX. A. L>. 18171854.
ciues, some of which are described as brought from Europe. The
partition which separates the shops from the is dwelling sometimes
closed, but more usually open and a customer ;
has, generally speak-
ing,
as much to do with the mistress as the master of the establishment.
Wh6n he enters, his straw sandals are always left on the
ground as he steps on the mats and goods,
squats down to look at the
which are then spread out on the floor. A foreigner has
need of some thoughtfulness
in this
particular, as it is an annoyance
to a Japanese to have his mats soiled by dirty feet, or broken
through by coarse shoes.
" The rear of the building is appropriated to the family. Here
the domestic operations are all carried on ; here the family take
their meals in the day ; here, on the same mats, do they sleep at,
night ; receiving visitors and dressing the children are also done here,
and sometimes the cooking too. Usually this latter household task
is performed in the porch in the rear, or in an out-house, so that the
inmates are not so much annoyed with smoke as they are in Hako-
dade. No arrangements for warming the dwelling are to be found
except that of hand-braziers placed in the middle of the room with
lighted charcoal, around which the family gather. In most of the
houses there is a
garret, reached by a ladder,- a dark arid email
apartment, where some goods can be stored, or servants can be
lodged. There is not a house in the town whose occupants have
arranged this attic with windows and stairways
to make it a
pleasant room ; a few such were, however, seen near the capital, at
Kanagawa, and in its vicinity.
" The roofs of all the best buildings are hipped, and covered with
bluish tiling, each tile being about eight inches square, shaped
somewhat like a wedge ; the thick side is so made that, when laid
on the rafters, it laps sideways over the thin edge of the adjoining
tile in the next row, and thus forms gutters somewhat like the
Chinese roofs. They are washed in alternate rows of white and
blue, which, with the checkered walls, imparts a lively aspect, and
contrasts pleasantly with the more numerous dingy thatched roofs.
The thatched roofs are made of a species of Arundo, grown and
prepared for this purpose, and answering admirably as a cheap and
light covering to the wooden tenements occupied by most of the
people.
It is matted into a compact mass f ;
ghteen inches thick, as