No Offers, However Liberal, Can Tempt Them To
Sell Any Of These Antique Possessions.
"They were presents," they
say in their low, musical voices; "they were presents from those
who were kind to
Our fathers; no, we cannot sell them; they were
presents." And so gold lacquer, and pearl inlaying, and gold
niello-work, and daimiyo's crests in gold, continue to gleam in the
smoky darkness of their huts. Some of these things were doubtless
gifts to their fathers when they went to pay tribute to the
representative of the Shogun and the Prince of Matsumae, soon after
the conquest of Yezo. Others were probably gifts from samurai, who
took refuge here during the rebellion, and some must have been
obtained by barter. They are the one possession which they will
not barter for sake, and are only parted with in payment of fines
at the command of a chief, or as the dower of a girl.
Except in the poorest houses, where the people can only afford to
lay down a mat for a guest, they cover the coarse mat with fine
ones on each side of the fire. These mats and the bark-cloth are
really their only manufactures. They are made of fine reeds, with
a pattern in dull reds or browns, and are 14 feet long by 3 feet 6
inches wide. It takes a woman eight days to make one of them. In
every house there are one or two movable platforms 6 feet by 4 and
14 inches high, which are placed at the head of the fireplace, and
on which guests sit and sleep on a bearskin or a fine mat.
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