Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 1.djvu/142

 tain, for not only did the method of assessment vary in different provinces, but also the legal limits were seldom the real limits. In the period now under consideration, the records show that, for purposes of local administration, a tax in kind, representing five per cent of the gross produce of the land, was levied, and that the expenses of the central government were defrayed by means of miscellaneous imposts on all the principal staples of production, as silk, fish, cloth, etc., and by a corvée of thirty days' work annually from every male between the ages of twenty-one and sixty-six years, and fifteen days from every minor. An adult's labour might be commuted by paying three pieces of hempen cloth. These labourers were not hardly treated in the comparatively rare cases where they chose to work rather than to commute. During the dog days, they were entitled to rest from noon to four, and night work was not required. Rations were provided, and in wet weather they were not expected to work out of doors. If a man fell ill while on corvée, due provision was made for his maintenance, and in case of death he was coffined at official expense, and the body was either given up to any relative or friend on application, or cremated and the ashes buried by the wayside. There were, of course, various exemptions from forced labour. Females or persons suffering from illness or deformity were invariably excused, and holders of official rank