Just before they gave themselves up finally, they were fed at the house of my friend's ancestor, and in return for his hospitality he was presented with this sword. It should be added, in respect to the samurai, that they were given positions in the public service wherever possible, many of them becoming policemen. Well, these relics of castles and baronial villas were either bought up by the government for national and city museums or by rich men for their own collections, or found their way into the hands of merchants, who bought them for speculation. Large shipments were sent to Europe, and in museums and private houses there many of these rare souvenirs may be seen. The time for such bargains is past, and curio dealers now have to sell contemporary products. But no people are more clever than the Japanese in making the new look old I have seen them take a piece of new porcelain, rub down the bottom and all the edges to make it look smooth, as if from the fric tion of long usage, boil it in tea for a day, so as to give it a dark color and crack the glazing, wrap it in silk, put it in an old lacquer-box bearing the crest of some noble family and sell it to a tourist for more perhaps than the contents of the whole shop were worth. Even sharp-eyed connoisseurs are fooled in this way. As to valuable swords, you can tell those that are genuine. Certain signs or designs on the clay-tempered blade, as well as the maker's name on the end to which the handle is attached, give the clue to its merits. Many tourists, thinking they have bought a really fine old piece of faïence or carved ivory, would be sadly surprised to know that it is not hundreds of years old, but perhaps only a few weeks or days. As Mr. Osman Edwards says, in truthful rhyme, "There's silk-cut velvet, old brocade 'First-class. One stands a much better chance of getting something good in the country shops than in those of the large cities. Our cut shows the interior of a lacquer and bamboo store. On the walls and floor are displayed various articles, but one must not think that these are all the store contains for the best pieces are packed away in boxes made for them and are not shown until you have examined the poorer goods. The clerks will not rush forward to wait on you. They speak civilly, and expect you to indicate what you want. Uusually they will offer you a cup of tea. tomers to the Japanese merchant, get from ten to twenty per cent on his sales, and he feels obliged to put up his price so much the more. Thus, even at this late day, it is sometimes possible to find good things in country stores, because the guide does not deem it worth his while to show tourists into small curio shops, but conducts them to the big stores, in Kyoto, for instance. The old man on the left, in the accompanying picture, is reading off a list of figures, and a small boy next to him is adding them up on a soroban, or calculating machine. The Japanese will add, subtract, multiply, and When you go into a shop and say good- divide almost as fast as you can give them day in English, or mispronounce the Japa- the figures on this ingenious little connese equivalent, the price of everything in trivance. The other boy is sitting before a the place jumps up twenty per cent, because writing-box. These boys are under sixteen, it is inferred at once that you know little of as may be seen by the pleat over the shoulvalues. The Japanese shopkeeper has ders in their kimonos. Entering business sliding scale of prices, for, in a way, he as apprentices, they are often adopted by merchants whose names they assume and to whose property they become legitimate heirs. THE COURIER OR POST-RUNNER. a understands human nature. He knows that if he charges one hundred dollars for a thing and allows the tourist to beat him down to fifty dollars, the tourist goes away with a better opinion of his own business ability than if the shopkeeper had made the price fifty dollars in the first place and adhered to it. The professional guides, who bring cus THE POST-RUNNER. It should not be inferred that at the present time Japan depends upon such primitive methods of carrying her mails as the accompanying picture shows. In the mountainous regions and in some of the northern islands these runners are still to be seen. But in other places, along the beaten tracks of travel, the railroad has superseded them, and the Japanese postal system is like our own; in fact, is modeled upon ours. The courier presented in the cut is of the old type, as may be determined by the dressing of his hair. Thirty years ago, between the capital and all the large cities in the empire relays of couriers were stationed every twelve miles. At dawn the courier, stripped and ready for his long run, stood, we will say, at the gate of a castle. A message enclosed in a lacquer-box about the size of a glove-box and bearing the crest of the sender, was brought to him. He stamped a numbered receipt for it and gave it to the servant, then wrapped the package in oil paper, to protect it from the dust or rain, tied it to one end of a pole, placing his folded kimono at the other end to balance it on his shoulder - and was off on his twelvemile run. If the roads were good he would make the journey in perhaps an hour and a half. As he neared the village where he was to be relieved, another runner stood waiting. The latter gave his receipt to the station-master for the package, and jogged off toward his destination. In this way the package, on an average, would travel about one hundred miles a day. If it contained something important or valuable, it was locked up in a post-station and guarded during the night. Most of these men were elaborately tattooed, as are the jinrikisha men and wrestlers of today. CLAM-DIGGING IN YOKOHAMA. Raw, cooked, and smoked fish, served in scores of ways, forms one of the chief articles of Japanese food. The seas that surround Japan and its many rivers and lakes all abound in fish. The photograph given here was taken from the so-called Bund (the street fronting on the picturesque harbor) in Yokohama and shows the lower classes taking advantage of an exceptionally low tide to dig clams, which the tide constantly brings inshore. Some of the diggers are climbing the sea-wall, with their baskets full of clams, either to be peddled about the streets or taken to their own homes. All the land on which the foreign concession and a large part of the native town is built is made land - that is, it was once marsh and bog. In this connection, a very sad story, said to be true, is told of a useless human sacrifice offered up to the Shinto gods of the sea and land. Many persons tried to convert the marsh into cultivable land - rice fields - but all failed, till there appeared on the scene a man named Yoshida Kambei, a dealer in lumber. He planned a strong dyke, 21,300 feet in circumference, to enclose this noisome swamp, which he meant to fill with earth brought from the neighboring hills. Seven different times he failed, but he was not discouraged. Before making his eighth and last attempt, he called together his friends and employees and held a long consultation on the matter. Actuated in everything by superstition, they finally decided that the haughty spirits of the land and sea were wroth at the bold experiments of Kambei, and that, to appease them, it would be necessary to lay a hitobashira or human foundation - that is, a human being placed alive in an air-tight box or caisson to be sunk deep in the marsh, with a post erected over it. Kambei avowed that he would be willing to offer himself for this purpose, if he were sure that some one competent to carry on the work after he was gone could be found. That, of course, was pretence on his part. At last a servant of his, who was present at the consultation, came forward and offered herself as a willing sacrifice. She was eighteen years old and had been in his family all her life. He had taken her when she was a baby from the arms of her dying mother, to be brought up as his servant. Her name was O San. She said that as he had saved her life it was his to use. How could she better dedicate it than to this great enterprise of her master's? Kambei himself reflected that if this last attempt failed he would be ruined, and he was desperate. So O San gave up her life - the human foundation was laid - and from that time, says a Japanese chronicler, "the sea was gentle and the earth obedient." The work of filling in this swampy area was completed in 1657. A shrine was erected in honor of O San by Kambei, that her memory might be perpetuated in the minds of future generations; and festivals are still given every year, in the month of September, to commemorate her tragic death. The original port was called Kanagawa - Yokohama being founded many years later. By the way, last Fourth of July the Japanese unveiled a fine monument - devised and sculptured by native artists - to Commodore Perry, in recognition of his notable services in securing a treaty between them and the United States in 1854- which threw open their ports to foreign trade and was the first stepping-stone to their present civilization. RICE-POUNDING. There are now many steam rice mills throughout Japan, and some of the milling is done on boats in the rivers. But there is hardly a street that does not have a little rice store, in the rear of which one or more men are pounding rice from morning till night. Instead of seeing in the moon what we liken to a man, the Japanese think they descry in that fickle luminary two rabbits pounding rice. The old mill, which is still used in many parts of the country, has a long beam working on a pivot in the center, a heavy stone fastened on the top at one end and just beneath it a round block which fits snugly in the mortar. On the other end the operator places his foot, and by throwing the entire weight of his body on it, the stone is raised several feet and when it falls the block crushes and grinds the rice in the stone or wood mortar. In summer, and even during the cold season, the coolies who work this crude device wear little or nothing - usually only a loin cloth of white cotton. Three of the men in the illustration have on short workingmen's kimonos - always blue with the name of the rice store's owner stamped on the lapels in white. They get from ten to twenty cents a day. Like our own millers, they are covered with white powder when at work. THE BASKET-SELLER. Japan is a great country for all kinds of peddlers. Almost everything, from live goldfish and cut flowers to modern American lamps and cheap watches from Connecticut, is hawked through the streets and country lanes. The basket-sellers are seen every |