Page:"Round the world." - Letters from Japan, China, India, and Egypt (IA roundworldletter00fogg 0).pdf/78

 attitude easy, with an expression of placid repose. It is Buddha in Nirvana, a state of utter annihilation of external consciousness, attained after ages of purification. The bronze plates of which it is composed were cast in sections of a few feet square, and joined so skilfully that the seams can with difficulty be detected. The features are all in perfect harmony and proportion. The nose is three and a half feet long, the ears six and 9 half, the thumb nailes eight by ten inches. The thumbs are joined in front of the body, and upon them is room for six persons to sit abreast. The statue is hollow, and contains within many small gilt images of the Buddish pantheon. Upon its wails are inscribed the autographs of many visitors in red and black paint, which the old priest in charge offered to us, that we might attain a cheap immortality by leaving our names or initials upon the ceiling. While looking about the room inside for some relic to bring away, our Betto, who seemed to divine my wish, most wickedly and broke off the hand of one of the gilt images. As I noticed that the other hand was gone, and this one could easily be replaced, I quietly slipped the “relic” into my pocket and handed the fellow a Boo as a salve for his conscience.

Returning to the town of Kamakura we took dinner at a native inn, where we were served with the best the place afforded. Hot tea and saki, then little of sweetmeats and confectionary; next came fish and rice, which we ate with chopsticks. After that several courses of native dishes, the material of which were to us unknown, but as they were savory and our ride had given a sharp appetite, we asked no questions. I am sure no “bill of fare” at Delmonico’s, or any other restaurant in Europe or America includes them. We were awaited upon by very pretty attendants, (according to a Japanese style of beauty,) and here we noticed the original “Grecian bend,” the graceful wave called by Hogarth the “line of beauty.” The wide scarfs around their waists were tied in very large knots behind, and represented the fashionable “panniers.” As they stooped very low in handing us the various dishes, we could readily understand how her Parisian sisters copied this posture from the Japanese “Moosmies” who waited on the visitors at the house erected at the “Exposition Universelle” in 1867.