remaining hair, which is permitted to grow
long, is gathered and combed upwards, where the ends are tied, marled
down, and served over (as we should say in nautical phraseology) and
brought forward over the shaven gangway.

One other custom I must mention, the strangest one of all: they have a
legalized form of that vice which, in other countries, by tacit consent,
is banned, but which even the most refined people must tolerate. But
what makes it more strange still is, that no inconsiderable portion of
the public revenue is derived from this source. The government sets
aside a certain quarter in every city and town for its accommodation,
gives it a distinct and characteristic name, and appoints officers over
it for the collection of the revenues. I thought it not a little
significant on landing for the first time in Japan to find myself and
"rick-sha" wheeled, by the accommodating coolie, right into the heart of
this quarter. The advances of the fair sex are likely to prove
embarrassing to the stranger, for, before they are married, they are at
liberty to do as they please, and do not, by such acts, lose caste or
forfeit the respect of their friends and neighbours.

Here, as in the Indian Seas, our _laundresses_ are men, the cleanest and
quickest washers we have encountered in the voyage. As an instance of
their despatch, they will take your bedding ashore in the morning, and
by tea-time you will receive it ready for turning in, the blanket washed
and dried, the hair teazed and made so soft that you would scarcely
fancy it was the same old "doss" again.

Though the women do not wash our clothes, they do what is far harder
work, _i.e._ coal our ship. We were surprised, beyond measure, to see
women toiling away at this dirty, laborious calling. And the Japanese
women are such little creatures, too! There was, however, one exception,
a woman of herculean strength and limb, looking like a giantess amongst
her puny sisters, and fully conscious of her superior muscular power.
This lady, stripped to the waist as she was, would, I am sure,
intimidate the boldest mariner from a too close acquaintance with her
embrace. They belong to the coolie class, a distinct caste in Japan,
wear a distinguishing badge on their clothing, form a community amongst
themselves, and rarely marry out of their own calling.

At noon these grimy Hebes, Hercules as well, all tripped on board to
dine, the upper battery offering them all the accommodat