saw
gourds cut into long lengths narrower than apple rings and put out to
dry. I also noticed orange trees a century old which were still
producing fruit. Boys were driving iron hoops--the native hoop was of
bamboo--and one of the hoop drivers wore a piece of red cloth stitched
on his shoulder, which indicated that he was head of his class. One
missed a dog bounding and barking after the hoop drivers. Sometimes at
the doors of houses I noticed dogs of the lap-dog type which one sees
in paintings or of the wolf type to which the native outdoor dog
belongs. The cats were as ugly as the dogs and no plumper or happier
looking. When I patted a dog or stroked a cat the act attracted
attention.

We saw a good deal of _hinoki_ (ground cypress), the wood of which is
still used at Shinto festivals for making fire by friction.

We were able to visit an Eta village or rather _oaza_. Whether the Eta
are largely the descendants of captives of an early era or of a low
class of people who on the introduction of Buddhism in the seventh or
eighth century were ostracised because of their association with
animal eating, animal slaughter, working in leather and grave digging
is in dispute. No doubt they have absorbed a certain number of
fugitives from higher grades of the population, broken samurai,
ne'er-do-weels and criminals. The situation as the foreigner discovers
it is that all over Japan there are hamlets of what are called
"special tribes." In 1876, when distinctions between them and Japanese
generally were officially abolished, the total number was given as
about a million. Most of these peculiar people, perhaps three-quarters
of them, are known as Eta. But whether they are known as Eta or Shuku,
or by some other name, ordinary Japanese do not care to eat with them,
marry with them or even talk with them. In the past Eta have often
been prosperous, and many are prosperous to-day, but a large number
are still restricted to earning a living as butchers and skin and
leather workers, and grave diggers. The members of these "special
tribes," believing themselves to be despised without cause, usually
make some effort to hide the fact that they are Eta.

Shuku seem to be living principally in hamlets of a score or so of
houses in the vicinity of Osaka, Kyoto and Nara, and are often
travelling players, or, like some Eta, skilled in making tools and
musical instruments. There seems to be a half Shuku or intermarried
class. Many prostit