eloped into quite a friend, almost to
the dethronement of Inchie. He allowed me to sit among the men while
they worked, and, seeing how interested I was, they gave me some clay to
model and paint. I ended by painting a whole dinner-service in blue and
white. It took me a week to do; but it was perhaps one of the most
delightful experiences I have ever had, and I can safely say that I have
never worked in a more congenial atmosphere than when sitting on a mat
in that little porcelain shop surrounded by those twelve little artists.
I shall never forget the anxious moments when my products were being
fired. Sometimes I have gone on for twelve or fourteen hours, eating and
resting with the men, taking my turn at keeping the furnace alight, and
hanging about after the kilns had cooled to see my valuable porcelain
dug out.

[Illustration: A BACK CANAL, OSAKA]

Nothing can be more exciting than the first peep at porcelain after
it has been fired. A mass of dead heavy-looking clay is put into the
furnace and fired; you peep at it after some hours, and find, to your
surprise, a rare paradise of glazed white and blue, so brilliant and
sparkling that it seems almost impossible to have been made by mortal
hands. But then, of course, it is not always so delightful; there are
sometimes vexing surprises awaiting you as you open the oven door.
Occasionally you will peep in and see a group of vases looking like
drunken men lolling against one another in a disreputable manner, and
lurching over at all angles. Surrounded by a series of failures such as
these, the finest work is almost invariably found. Although the vases
have all been painted by the same hand and fired in the same kiln, only
one will be perfect, while the rest are worthless. This is probably
brought about by some subtle influence to be found in the placing of the
vase in the kiln. There is, however, a great deal of uncertainty in such
operations, and it is almost impossible to foretell the fate of any
piece of ware after it has been set in the firing kiln.

Inchie and I spent much of our time with the bronze-workers, and it
amused me to see these artists carrying out designs for the European
market, while to hear their comments upon the crude productions of
Englishmen was sometimes very funny indeed.

The men who were thus engaged were at the same time carrying out
exquisite work for me. They complained that the European market insisted
upon everything being over-elab