tern civilisation is not yet equal. Opposite
them men were fishing by casting in draw nets from the shore just as
in biblical pictures the apostles are represented as doing.

The company has a rice market where farmers were putting their
business in the dealers' hands. Each dealer has to deposit 5,000 yen
with the State. The dealer who buys rice from a farmer has better
polishing machinery than the farmer possesses. Therefore he can give
the rice a more uniform appearance. By decreasing the weight of the
rice during the polishing he gives it he is also able to lessen the
sum payable for carriage and he has the value of the offal.

In order to visit farmers I rode some distance into the country.[159]
The village, which was of the Zen sect, was at work cleaning out and
straightening the stream which, as is usual in many villages, ran
through the middle of it. I was impressed during my visit not only by
the readiness and intelligence with which my questions were answered
but by the good humour with which a stranger's inquiries concerning
personal matters was received. I had another thought, that I might not
have found a group of Western farmers so well informed about their
financial position as these simple, primitively clad men.

Our _kuruma_ route to and from the village had been through one great
tract of well-adjusted rice fields. Adjustment was not difficult in
this region because half the land belongs to the Homma family, which
has given much study to the art of land-holding. For two centuries the
clan by charging moderate rents and studying the interests of its
tenants has maintained happy relations with them.

For many years a plan has been in operation by which 200 one-_tan_
paddy-fields are cultivated by the agents or managers of the estate,
by tenants selected by their fellow tenants for merit, by tenants
chosen by the landlord for diligence and by others picked out because
of their interest in agriculture. In order to increase the zest of
competition the cultivators are divided into a black and a white
company. The names of those who raise the most and best rice are
published in the order of their success, farm implements are
distributed as prizes, the clever cultivators are invited to the
landlord's New Year entertainment to the agents and managers, and at
that feast "places of distinction are given."

There is also a system of rewarding the best five-years averages. A
competition takes place between what