Hiaku nin Kumi no kashira.--These are guards. They were originally Yamabooshi priests, called Negoro and Nengoro, or, as the translator of the letters writes it, Negroes, in the large monastery of Kumano, in the province of Kii; and after their buildings were burned down by Taikosama, and their lands confiscated, they joined the army in a body, and Iyeyas attached them to himself as guards. There are departments for superintending the manufacture of bows and arrows, and muskets, rifles and cannon. Another office has the charge of balls, shells, powder, etc.; and another has the charge of the armory, containing bows and arrows, rifles and coats of mail. Hon maro russui ban.--The Hon maro is the name of that part of the castle or shiro of Yedo occupied by the Shiogoon. Six officers keep it when he leaves it temporarily. Ni no maro russui ban.--Keepers of the part assigned to the son or concubines of the Shiogoon. Hikeshi.--These are fire brigades in the service of the Shiogoon in Yedo, of which there are twelve, one to a district; each under the charge of a Daimio. These guard against fires in the castle, the government godowns in the town, and the large temples where the tombs of the Shiogoons are. Each brigade has a leader, who holds on the end of a long pole a mattoyay, or white solid device, easily seen at night. The duty of this leader seems to be to stand as near the fire, and as long as he possibly can; and in fulfilling this duty they appear to rival the fabulous salamander. Each brigade has overcoats with distinguishing marks, and masks the better to stand the heat. However, in wooden buildings their organization seems of little use. The fires generally wear out of themselves, the inhabitants carrying off their money, clothes, mats and windows to places of safety. There are other fire-engines and fire brigades in Yedo under the Matchi boonio. The town is divided into forty-eight districts, corresponding to the letters of the alphabet I, Ro, Ha, and to each district there is a brigade. If a fire breaks out in the Ro district, all the men of the Ro brigade go to it. The rest of the town unburned pays each man of the brigade employed four tempos, or about 6d., after the fire. Daimios keep men of their own as firemen, generally men in some small disgrace, whose names have been erased from the town books or dismissed from employment. At one time fires occurred so frequently in Yedo that a notification was issued that the proprietor of the first house in which a fire should thereafter originate should be transported to the islands. The first offender was Mito. It would not do to transport him, so he fell upon the plan of borrowing, through the priesthood, on payment of a large sum, 30,000 days from eternity, beyond which time he had little prospect of living. This has frequently since been found to be an ingenious plan for men of wealth escaping punishments.