The fields were kept so free of weeds as to afford, much to Thunberg’s disappointment, very little chance to botanize. Animals were little used in agriculture. Only such of the rice-fields as lay low, and quite under water, were ploughed by oxen,—cows being kept for draft and breeding only, and never milked. The only wheel carriages seen were a few carts, and these only in and about Miyako, some with three wheels,[50] one before the other two, and some two-wheeled. These carts were long and narrow, the wheels, some with spokes and fellies, but without any tire, except a rope tied about them, and others of a solid piece, sawed from a log. They were drawn by an ox, by cows, or a buffalo. Horses were chiefly for the use of their princes, though occasionally employed by others for travelling and carrying burdens. They were not numerous, but Thunberg seems to make rather a close estimate in saying that all Japan has scarcely as many horses as a single province of Sweden. There was no occasion for meadows or pastures, the cattle and horses being fed at home all the year, so that all the land, not too steep or rocky for cultivation, was devoted to the raising of crops; nor did the fields require fences. All the manure of the animals kept was carefully preserved, old men and children following the horses of travellers, with a shell fastened to the end of a stick, and a basket in which to put what they collected. Of course the small number of domestic animals made it the more necessary to resort to the other means of providing manure already noticed. A few swine were to be seen, but only in the neighborhood of Nagasaki. There were no sheep nor goats. A supply of these animals, and also of cattle and hogs, for the Dutch at Deshima, was brought annually from Batavia. Dogs, “the only idlers in the country,” were kept from superstitious motives, and cats were the general favorites of the women. Hens and ducks were kept about the houses, chiefly for their eggs, of which the Japanese make great use, boiled hard and chopped into small pieces. CHAPTER XL _Japanese Merchants—Journey from Miyako to Yedo—Botany of the Mountains—Rainy Weather—Coverings for the Head and Feet—Yedo—Astronomers and Physicians—Acupuncture—Moxa [Mogusa]—Other Japanese Remedies—Method of wearing the Hair—Visits to the Emperor and his Chief Officers—Japanese Dress—Books and Maps—Succession of Emperors—Departure from Yedo—Gnats—Fire-flies—Threshing—Vegetables and Fruits—Condition of the Japanese Farmer—Casting Copper—Actors and Dancers—Thunberg’s Opinion of the Japanese—A. D. 1775-1776._