_Thursday, February 1st_.--Careful arrangements have been made for our
excursion to the Island of Inoshima, to see the great figure of
Daibutz. By eight o'clock we had landed, and packed ourselves into a
funny little shaky carriage, drawn by four horses. We drove quickly
through the town, past the station, along the Tokaido, or imperial
road, running from one end of the Island of Niphon to the other, and
on which so many foreigners have been murdered even within the last
ten years. Now, however, it is perfectly safe. The houses are one
story high, and their walls are made of the screens I have already
described. These screens were all thrown back, to admit the morning
air, cold as it was. We could consequently see all that was going on
within, in the sitting-room in front, and even in the bedrooms and
kitchen. At the back of the house there was invariably a little garden
to be seen, with a miniature rockery, a tree, and a lake; possibly
also a bridge and a temple. Even in the gardens of the poorest houses
an attempt at something of the sort had been made. The domestic
occupations of the inhabitants being conducted in this public manner,
a very good idea might be obtained, even at the end of a few miles'
drive, of how the lower class of Japanese wash and dress themselves
and their children, how very elaborate the process of hair-dressing
is, to say nothing of a bird's-eye view of the ground-plan of the
houses, the method of cooking food, &c.
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