In Eastern Seas: Or, the Commission of H.M.S. 'Iron Duke,' flag-ship in China, 1878-83Smith, J. J.
History
In Eastern Seas: Or, the Commission of H.M.S. 'Iron Duke,' flag-ship in China, 1878-83
Smith, J. J.
Iron Duke (Ship); Voyages and travels
We leave the temple court by a different outlet to that by which we
entered, and come out on a charmingly laid out garden and fish ponds,
where are seats and tea houses for the accommodation of visitors. Each
tea house has its bevy of dark-eyed houris, who use every wile and charm
known to the sex, to induce you to patronise their several houses. To do
the proper thing, and perhaps influenced by the bright eyes raised so
beseechingly to ours, we adjourn to one of these restaurants. Removing
our shoes--a proceeding you are bound to comply with before entering a
Japanese house--we seat ourselves cross-legged, tailor fashion, on the
straw mattresses I have previously mentioned, whilst an attendant
damsel, with deft fingers, makes the tea in a little terra-cotta
teapot, the contents of which she poured into a number of doll's cups,
without handles, on a lacquered tray. Other girls handed us each a cup,
in which was a liquid not unlike saffron water in colour and in taste.
They use neither milk nor sugar, and the cups are so provokingly small,
that it is only by keeping our attendant syrens under the most active
employment, that we are at last able to say we have tasted it. With our
tea we get some excellent sponge cake called "_casutira_," a corruption
of the Spanish word "castile," said to be, until very recently, the only
word of European etymology in the language. The Jesuits first introduced
the cake from Spain, and taught the people how to make it. Whatever its
origin, it is very good. You get chop-sticks handed you too, which,
after a few ineffectual and laughable attempts to manipulate in the
approved fashion, you throw on one side. After the decks are cleared the
young ladies bring out their _sam-sins_, and whilst we smoke Japanese
pipes, they delight our ears with an overture, which we pronounce
excruciating in English, though with our eyes we say "divine as Patti."
But we must not tarry longer here for the setting sun warns us it is
time to get on board.
Our patient "steeds" are at the foot of the stairs, each ready to claim
his rider. These fellows will stick to you like a leech; follow you
about for hours, never intruding their presence on you, and yet seem to
anticipate all your movements and wants.
CHAPTER X.
"I looked upon those hills and plains,
And seemed as if let loose from chains,
To live at liberty."
THE INLAND SEAS.--KOBE.--FUSI-YAMA.--YOKOHAMA.
VISIT TO TOKIO.
The arrival of the "Vigilant" from Shanghai, with the admiral on board,
brought our stay at charming Nagasaki to a close. During the absence of
our band with the "Vigilant," one of its members, Henry Harper, a feeble
old man, and far advanced in consumption, died at Shanghai.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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