ences -with the authorities, the subordinate officers, both American and
Japanese, were seated on sedans or benches covered with a red crape, while
the Commodore and the highest native dignitaries were honored with stools,
which occasionally had the comfortable addition of arms and backs to them.
The national posture of all classes, however, in Japan, when at rest, is
crouching either upon the knees, or on the haunches with their legs crossed.
The latter is common among the lower classes, and is pronounced decidedly
vulgar by the fashionables, who invariably assume the former.
Tables are not generally used, but on the occasion of the public entertainments
given to the American officers, the narrow red crape-covered
benches were appropriated for the spread of the feast, the dishes being raised
to the proper height for the guest by means of the ordinary lacquered stands
of afoot in height and fourteen inches square. The Japanese eat from
these raised trays while squatting upon their mats, and the unsocial practice
thus obtains of each person taking his food by himself.^ Some lacquered
cups, bowls, and porcelain vessels, the invariable chopsticks, and an occasional
earthenware spoon, comprise the ordinary utensils used m eating.
They drink their soups directly out of the bowl, as a hungry child might,
after seizing with their chopsticks the pieces of fish which are generally floating
in the liquid. Their tea-kettles, which are always at hand simmering
over the fire in the kitchen, are made of bronze, silver, or of fire proof earthenware.
In the centre of the common sitting room there is a square hole
built in with tiles and filled with sand, in which a charcoal fire is always
kept burning, and suspended above is the tea-kettle supported by a tripod.
There is thus constantly a supply of hot water for making tea, which is
invariably handed to the visitor on his arrival. The beverage is prepared
as with us, but very weak. The cup is generally of porcelain, with a wooden
lacquered cover. The tea is not ordinarily sweetened, though at Hakodadi
sugar was often used. The better houses are warmed, but very imperfectly,
by metal braziers placed on lacquered stands containing burning charcoal,
which are moved readily from room to room as they may be required. In
the cottages of the poor, there being but little ventilation from their contracted
size, and no places of issue for the smoke, the burning charcoal in the
fixed central fireplaces becomes a great nuisance. In the more pretentious
establishments, where there is plenty of space and holes in the roof or in the
walls for the escape of smoke, while the charcoal is not brought in until perfectly
ignited, this mode of heating the apartments is more endurable. At
Hakodadi the people seemed to sufter a great deal from the wintry weather,
the poorer classes kept much within doors, huddled about their meagre fires
in their hovels, which, without chimneys, and with but a scant light from the
paper windows, were exceedingly cold, gloomy, and comfortless. The richer
people strove to make themselves more comfortable by enveloping their
bodies in a succession of warm robes, but succeeded indifferently, as they
were constantly complaining of the severity of the weather.
I t is by the charcoal fires in the centre of the sitting apartment that
the water for tea is boiled, the saki heated, and sundry small dishes cooked ;
but in the larger establishments there is a kitchen besides, where the family
cooking is got up. This is generally provided with a stove, like an ordinary
French cooking apparatus, in which wood is often burned, but this is
an article they are very economical in using.
I Connected with most of the dwellings in Hakodadi there is a yard, in
which there are out-houses used for kitchens or stables. There is also frequently
a garden where vegetables in small quantities are raised, flowers
cultivated, and shade-trees and ornamental shrubs planted. Some.o¥ the
leading men of the place have handsome residences upon elevated situations,
a little back of the town. Their houses are of the ordinary construction,
but much larger in dimensions. The superior wealth and luxurious tastes
of their proprietors are shown chiefly in the handsome gardens and pleasure
grounds. These are tastefully planted with fruit and shade trees, and
bounded with green hedges, while beds of variegated flowers contrast their
bright hues with the green verdure of the foliage and the lawns of grass.
There seems, in the high fences which guard from the eyes of the passer by
the sight of these luxurious delights, a desire for that privacy which betokens
a love of retirement, and a fastidious appreciation of the reserved comforts of
home.
As in Simoda, there are large fire-proof warehouses, used for the storage
of valuable goods. They are built with a great deal more care than the ordinary
shops and other buildings, and have walls two feet thick, made of
dried mud and cobbles, and faced with stone, while their roofs are securely
constructed of earthen tiles. These warehouses are generally two stories in
height, the upper one having window shutters of wood sheathed with iron.
Their exterior is sometimes covered with a coat of fine plaster, which, with
their substantial struoture, gives them a neatness and solidity of aspect
which contrasts greatly with the flimsy , stained look of the ordinary houses
They are probably depots for the storage of goods which belong to the government,
and are kept with great care and guarded watchfully.
The shops in Hakodadi generally contain such goods as are of a cheap
sort, and adapted to the restricted wants of a poor population. Thei stock
is made up of a miscellaneous assortment of coarse, thick cottons, inferior
silks, common earthen and China ware, lacquered bowls, cups, stands and
chopsticks, cheap cutlery, and ready-made clothing. Furs, leather, felted
cloths, glass-ware, or copper articles, are rarely seen, nor are books and stationery
very common. The provision shops contain rice, wheat, barley,
pulse, dried fish, seaweed, salt, sugar, saki, soy, charcoal, sweet potatoes^
flour, and other less necessary articles, and all apparently in abundant quan