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388 conclusion to a noble and manly game. Should neither side score its banded ball within a given time (half-an-hour usually) from the commencement of play, the game is drawn.

The following minor points deserve notice:—

The importance of the banded ball is always denoted by a change in the whole character of the game. "Goal keepers are stationed near the goal to defend it. Players are told off to endeavour to obtain and keep possession of the opponents banded ball. Dodging, slinging from a distance, passing, dribbling, and empounding all add an animation and excitement to the last stage of the game which are somewhat wanting in the first.

Picking up the ball is an art easily acquired; not so the wrist motion necessary to retain the ball in the racket net. This must be the result either of practice or of natural sleight of hand.

The game is sometimes played with three balls instead of seven, either in order to shorten it, or when there is not the full complement of players.

Other games played on horseback are the Samurai Odori, or Warriors' Dance, which may perhaps be best described as a giant quadrille in armour, and the Inu Ou Mono, or Dog Chase, a cruel though not exactly bloody sport, the gist of which is shooting at doers with blunt arrows. Both are now extremely rare.

 Population. The latest census gives the population of Japan proper, exclusive of Formosa, at 45,426,651, of whom 22,928,043 men, and 22,498,649 women. These figures refer to the 31st December, 1901. A comparison with those for each year from 1892 onwards, when the total was only 41,089,940 shows an average annual increase of 1.09 per cent. The great cities also show a constant growth. Tōkyō, which in 1894 had 1,368,000 inhabitants, numbered 1,440,000 at the last census; the corresponding figures for Ōsaka, the second largest and commercially the most important city in the empire, are respectively 506,000 and 821,000; those for Kyōto 343,000 and 353,000. The next