Indeed It Is To Their Labours, And To Those Of A Few
Other Englishmen And Germans, That The Japanese Of The Rising
Generation Will Be Indebted For Keeping Alive Not Only The
Knowledge Of Their Archaic Literature, But Even Of The Manners And
Customs Of The First Half Of This Century.
I. L. B.
LETTER IV
"John Chinaman" - Engaging a Servant - First Impressions of Ito - A
Solemn Contract - The Food Question.
H.B.M.'s LEGATION, YEDO,
June 7.
I went to Yokohama for a week to visit Dr. and Mrs. Hepburn on the
Bluff. Bishop and Mrs. Burdon of Hong Kong were also guests, and
it was very pleasant.
One cannot be a day in Yokohama without seeing quite a different
class of orientals from the small, thinly-dressed, and usually
poor-looking Japanese. Of the 2500 Chinamen who reside in Japan,
over 1100 are in Yokohama, and if they were suddenly removed,
business would come to an abrupt halt. Here, as everywhere, the
Chinese immigrant is making himself indispensable. He walks
through the streets with his swinging gait and air of complete
self-complacency, as though he belonged to the ruling race. He is
tall and big, and his many garments, with a handsome brocaded robe
over all, his satin pantaloons, of which not much is seen, tight at
the ankles, and his high shoes, whose black satin tops are slightly
turned up at the toes, make him look even taller and bigger than he
is. His head is mostly shaven, but the hair at the back is plaited
with a quantity of black purse twist into a queue which reaches to
his knees, above which, set well back, he wears a stiff, black
satin skull-cap, without which he is never seen.
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