eir hind-legs. The opportunity was
always taken advantage of by the girls of the house to come out and
offer the travellers a small cup of Japanese tea, an act of courtesy
that was repaid with some friendly words and a copper coin.

When we visited any of the peasants' gardens by the wayside we were
always received with extreme friendliness, either on a special dais
in the common room looking to the road, or in an inner room whose
floor was covered with a mat of dazzling whiteness, and on whose
walls hung pictures, with songs and mottoes. The brazier was brought
forward, tea and sweetmeats were handed round, all with lively
conversation and frequent bows. The difference between the palace of
the rich (if we may distinguish with the name any building in Japan)
and the dwelling of the less well-to-do is much smaller here than in
Europe. We did not see any beggars in our journey into the interior
of the country.[379] Nor did the distraction of class appear to be
so sharp as might be expected in a land where the evils of rank had
been so great as in Old Japan. We several times saw in the inns by
the roadside, people of condition who were travelling in
_jinrikishas_ eat their rice and drink their _saki_ together with
the coolies who were drawing their vehicles.

To judge by the crowds of children who swarmed everywhere along the
roads the people must be very prolific. A girl of eight or ten years
of age was seldom to be seen without another young one bound on her
back. This burden did not appear to trouble the sister or attendant
very much. Without giving herself any concern about the child or
thinking of its existence, she took part actively in games, ran
errands, &c.

Even in the interior of the country foreigners are received with
great friendliness. The lower classes in Japan have also reason for
this, for whatever influence the latest political changes may have
had on the old _kuge_, _daimio_, and _samurai_ families of Japan, the
position of the cultivator of the soil is now much more secure than
before, when he was harmed by hundreds of small tyrants. His dress
is the same as before, with the exception, however, that a great
proportion of the male population, even far into the interior, have
laid aside the old troublesome way of collecting the hair in a knot
over a close shaven spot on the crown of the head. Instead, they
wear their thick raven-black hair cut short in the European style.
How distinctive of the new