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formerly made, I have not succeeded in forming a very valuable contribution to the proceedings of the Society the difficulties surrounding the subject which I have alluded to above are my only excuse.
In the minds of the modern Japanese there seems to be the same desire for the adoption of a dwelling constructed after a European mode, as for the adoption of European clothes. They argue, with a shew of reason, that the one is necessary to the other. Thus when sandals or clogs gave way to boots, and the loose flowing robes to the tightly-fitting European dress, it became necessary to discard the old system of squatting on mats and to adopt wooden floors with carpets, and to sit on chairs and at tables. Europeanized dwellings are therefore now common. The style of building most generally adopted throughout the country in these new houses is a bad copy of the houses to be found in the European settlements. It is almost unnecessary to describe these. They, however, display novel points in the practise of house building which are worth mentioning on that account only. The foundations consist of a stone wall generally about 8 inches thick and 2 feet high. On this wall is laid a wooden sole plate which is about 6 inches square, and into which the wooden uprights forming the walls of the house are morticed. The uprights are also about 6 inches square are placed from 2 to 3 feet apart so that when they are still uncovered they appear like a forest of posts. There are very thin laths placed longitudinally along the uprights at distances of 6 feet or so apart, which are secured to them by wooden pins. Diagonal struts or tics are very seldom used and the stability of the building is therefore dependent on the stiffness of the different joints in the framework, assisted by the walls used in the different parts of the erection. The roof is formed of timbers very much larger than is required for strength, and is laid with mud and tiles much in the same way as I have described in my former paper as is adopted in Japanese temples. Inside, the houses are generally lined with planks about 38 in. thick on which wall paper is placed, the ceilings of the rooms being executed in the
