system of "accommodements avec le ciel" is further illustrated by the substitution of the still more inexpensive hemp leaves for the original hempen fibre or fabric. If, it is argued, the God does not really eat the food or wear the clothing placed on his altar, a few grains of rice or a few leaves of hemp will answer the purpose of expressing the sentiments of the worshipper just as well as more costly gifts. [Illustration] There were sometimes sets of coloured _gohei_--blue, yellow, red, white, and black. The _awo-nigi-te_ (blue-soft-articles) and _shira-nigi-te_ (white-soft-articles) consisted of hemp and bark fibre respectively. _Tama-gushi_ are often mentioned. I take it that in this combination _tama_ means gift or offering, not spirit or jewel, as is taught by some modern Japanese authorities. _Kushi_ means skewer. The _tama-gushi_ are twigs of the sacred evergreen tree (_sakaki_) or of bamboo, with tufts of _yufu_ attached. They are, in short, a simple form of _nusa_ or _gohei_. They have a striking resemblance to the ἰκτηρἰοις κλάδοισιν (suppliant branches) mentioned in the opening lines of 'Œdipus Tyrannus' and explained by Jebb as "olive branches wreathed with fillets of wool." In one _Nihongi_ myth, Susa no wo is said to have planted _kushi_ in the rice-fields of his sister, the Sun-Goddess, "by way of claiming ownership," says a commentator. Compare with this the following quotation from Hakluyt's 'Historie of the West Indies': "Every one [of the Caribs] encloseth his portion [of ground] onely with a little cotton line, and they account it a matter of sacriledge if any pass over the cord and treade on the possession of his neighbour, and hold it for certayne that whoso violateth this sacred thing shall shortly perish." Along with the alteration in the form of the _nusa_ to the present _gohei_ there came a change in the mental attitude of the worshipper. Originally mere offerings, they were at length, by virtue of long association, looked upon as representatives of the deity. Scholars like Motoöri and Hirata denounce this view as a corruption of later times, but it is no doubt at present the prevailing conception. Hepburn's Japanese dictionary knows no other. It is illustrated by the fact that instead of the worshipper bringing _gohei_ to the shrine, these objects are now given out by the priest to the worshipper, who takes them home and sets them up in his private _Kami-dana_ (God-shelf) or domestic altar.