CANDLESTICK AND CENSERS. (From Sir Hope Grant’s Collection.)

The reader cannot fail to perceive the consummate knowledge of the bird which is displayed in these figures, while the perfection of the work and the delicate finish of the detail are almost beyond praise. Nothing can be more true to nature than the three attitudes there shown. In one case, the bird stands upright and contemplative on one leg, after the manner of its kind. In the second instance, the bird is standing on a tortoise, and, as the neck is thrown into action, both legs are used for support. Then, in the flying bird, whose body serves as a censer, the attitude of the outspread wings and outstretched legs is just as true to nature as the others, all the attitudes having been undoubtedly taken from nature.

The porcelain of the Japanese is singularly beautiful, and sometimes is adorned with ornaments which may be reckoned under the head of “conceits.” For instance, a cup will be adorned with a representation of pleasure boats on the river. With a needle the tiny windows of the boats can be raised, when a party of ladies and gentlemen drinking tea are discovered inside the boat. Sometimes a little tortoise may be seen reposing quietly at the bottom of the cup, until the hot tea is poured into it, when the creature rises to the surface, shaking its head and kicking with its legs as if in pain from the hot liquid.

In Japanese pictures certain curious figures may be seen, looking as if human beings had been wrapped in a bundle of rushes. This strange costume is the snow-cloak of the ordinary Japanese. For mere rain the Japanese generally wear a sort of overcoat made of oiled paper, very thin, nearly transparent, and very efficient, though it is easily torn. But when a snow-storm comes on, the Japanese endues another garment, which is made in a way equally simple and effective.

A sort of skeleton is made of network, the meshes being about two inches in diameter. Upon each point of the mesh is tied a bunch of vegetable fibre, like very fine grass, the bundles being about as thick as an ordinary pencil where they are tied, and spreading toward the ends. The garment thus made is exceedingly light, and answers its purpose in the most admirable manner. The bunches of fibres overlapping each other like the tiles of a house, keep the snow far from the body, while any snow that may melt simply runs along the fibres and drops to the ground. To wet this snow cloak through is almost impossible, even the jet of a garden engine having little effect upon it except when quite close, while no amount of snow would be able to force a drop of water through the loose texture of the material.

The Japanese silks have long been celebrated, but there is one kind of which scarcely anything is known in England. During Lord Elgin’s mission to Japan, a number of rolls of silk were presented to the members of the embassy. They were all in strips about three yards long and one wide, so that they seemed to be useless. They happened, however, to be exceedingly valuable; in fact, absolutely priceless, as no money could buy them. They were made by exiled nobles, who were punished by being sent to the island of Fatsizio, where they spend their time in making these peculiar silks. No one below a certain rank is allowed to wear the silk which has been woven by noble fingers, or even to have the fabric in the house, and in consequence not a piece ever even found its way to the shops.

The subject of Japanese art is most interesting, but we must now close our notice, and proceed to the next people on our list.

CHAPTER CLVIII.
SIAM.
GOVERNMENT—DRESS—RELIGION.

DUPLEX GOVERNMENT — PERSONAL CHARACTER OF THE KING — THE LATE FIRST KING AND HIS ACCOMPLISHMENTS — APPEARANCE OF THE SIAMESE — THE MODE OF ARRANGING THE HAIR — DRESS OF BOTH SEXES — CEREMONIES IN SIAM — AUDIENCE OF A NOBLE — ACTORS AND THEIR COSTUMES — AN ACTRESS IN ROYAL ROBES — THE ARISTOCRATIC ELBOW — PRECAUTIONS AGAINST CRIME — SYSTEM OF PUNISHMENT — RELIGION OF SIAM — THE WHITE ELEPHANT, AND REASON OF THE HONORS THAT ARE PAID TO IT — HAIRS OF THE TAIL — ARCHITECTURE OF SIAM — THE FUNERAL PILE.