DOGS IN JAPAN.
Dogs or common curs they have, and in superfluous numbers. These dogs are as much the pest of the towns of Japan as they are of Constantinople and the other foul cities and towns of the Ottoman Empire. This vast increase of the canine species, and the encouragement and immunity accorded to it, arose (according to the popular account) out of a curious superstition and an extravagant imperial decree. An Emperor who reigned at the close of the eighteenth century chanced to be born under the Sign of the Dog, the Dog being one of the twelve celestial signs of the Japanese Zodiac. For this reason the Emperor had as great an esteem for dogs as the Roman Emperor Augustus is reported to have entertained for rams. When he ascended the throne, he willed and ordained that dogs should be held as sacred animals; and, from that time, more puppies saw the light, and were permitted to live in Japan than in any other country on the face of the earth, Turkey, perhaps, excepted. These dogs have no masters, but lie and prowl about the streets, to the exceeding great annoyance of passengers, especially if they happen to be foreign travellers, or Christians in Christian dresses. If they come round you in packs, barking, snarling, and showing their teeth; nay, even if they fall upon you and bite you, you must on no account take the law into your own hands, and beat them off or shoot them. To kill one of them is a capital crime, whatever mischief the brute may have done you. In every town there are Guardians of the Dogs, and to these officers notice must be given in case of any canine misdemeanour, these guardians alone being empowered to punish the dogs. Every street must keep a certain number of these animals, or at least provide them with victuals; huts, or dog-hospitals, stand in all parts of the town, and to these the animals, in case of sickness, must be carefully conveyed by the inhabitants. The dogs that die must be brought up to the tops of mountains and hills, the usual burying-places of men and women, and there be very decently interred. Old Kæmpfer says:—"The natives tell a pleasant tale on this head. A Japanese, as he was carrying the carcase of a dead dog to the top of a steep mountain, grew impatient, grumbled, and cursed the Emperor's birthday and whimsical command. His companion bid him hold his tongue and be quiet, and, instead of swearing, return thanks to the gods that the Emperor was not born under the Sign of the Horse, for, in that case, the load would be heavier."
LAGMI, AND THE USE MADE OF IT.
Mohammed, we are told, prohibited the use of wine, owing to a drunken quarrel among the chiefs of his army, which produced great disorder and confusion in his affairs, and almost caused the prophet's death in one of his daring military engagements. He, therefore, addressed his followers in these words: "The devil desires to sow dissensions among you, through wine and games of chance, to divert you from remembering God, and praying to him. Abandon wine and games of chance. Be obedient to God and the prophet, his apostle, and take heed unto yourselves." But the prophet, who could so minutely delineate the furniture of heaven, and the instruments of torture of hell—who could describe the mysterious occurrences before the creation was formed into its present shape, and predict stupendous events to happen in thousands of years to come—could not forsee that man would stupify himself by any other beverages besides "wine." The believers in the Koran at Tozar, a city near the Great Desert, in Africa, certainly abstain from wine, and thus obey the prophet's precept, but then they indulge freely in lagmi, or the juice of the palm-tree, which, when fermented, is as pernicious in its effect, when taken in excess, as the wine possibly can be. This juice is easily obtained, and more easily still prepared. An incision is made in the tree, just beneath the branches, and a jar so fastened that it receives every drop of liquid flowing out. During a night they procure from a tree "in a producing condition" (in which it is not always) from a quart to three pints of lagmi. When drunk immediately it tastes like genuine rich milk, and is perfectly harmless; but when allowed to stand one night, or, at most, twenty-four hours, it partakes (with the exception of the colour, which is whitish,) of the quality and flavour of champagne, and that of a far superior sort than is usually offered in the British markets. This date-tree wine, (for so it may be called,) procured at so little trouble and expense, is to be found in every house, and has its victims reeling through the streets of Tozar, just as the stupifying porter has in the streets of English cities. But the curious part in connexion with this is, that "the faithful" persist in their justification that they do not transgress their prophet's precept! "Lagmi is not wine," they say, "and the prophet's prohibition refers to wine."
ANGLO-SAXON UMBRELLA.
In Anglo-Saxon times the traveller always wore a covering for his head, which, though in various shapes, in no instance resembled our hat, though it was characterised by the general term hæt. He seems to have been further protected against the inclemency of the weather by a cloak or (mentel). One would be led to suppose that this outer garment was more varied in form and material than any other part of the dress from the great number of names which we find applied to it, such as—basing, hæcce, hæcla, or hacela, poell, pylca, scyccels, wæfels, &c. The writings which remain throw no light upon the provisions made by travellers against rain; for the dictionary makers who give scur-scead (shower-shade) as signifying an umbrella are certainly mistaken. Yet that umbrellas were known to the Anglo-Saxons is proved beyond a doubt by a figure in the Harleian MSS. which we have engraved above. A servant or attendant is holding an umbrella over the head of a man who appears to be covered at the same time with the cloak or mantle.
THE HEJIRA.
The Hejira, Hegira, or Hejra. The flight of Mohammed from Mecca to Medina is the epoch of the Mohammedan nations. Omar, the second Caliph, instituted the Hegira in imitation of the Christians, who counted their years from their persecution by Diocletian, (A.D. 284,) and who called it the era of the martyrs. Thus the Mohammedans wished to commence their calculation of time from the period of the most memorable persecution they had suffered. The learned Mohammedan astronomers have been divided in opinion on the exact year of the Christians which corresponds with the Hegira. But the generality of writers place this epoch on Friday, the 16th of July, A.D. 622. The ancient Arabs counted time by solar months; these months always returned in the same season, and their names correspond with the employments which the seasons rendered necessary. Since the epoch of the Hegira was fixed the Mohammedans count time by lunar months, the Arabian year consisting of 354 days, eight hours, and forty-eight minutes. The intercalary days are adjusted by a cycle of thirty lunar years, of which nineteen are of 354 days, and eleven of 355 days. The years of excess are in the following order:—2, 5, 7, 10, 13, 15, 18, 21, 24, 26, 29.