Japanese Memories | Page 7

my arrival, but I asked myself silently was there no one who could speak and understand English?
A sudden and overwhelming home-sickness seized me, but it was impossible to yield to it, and I hurried down to tiffin, determined to make the best of everything.
We had to pass through two sitting-rooms in order to reach the dining-room. All the floors were polished parquet. The rooms seemed half furnished, with only a sofa, armchair and six small chairs in each of them, and there were no curtains, pictures or ornaments of any kind. The dining-room was equally bare and had a long, narrow table down the middle.
The Prince and his four brothers sat one side of the table, and on the other side were the Princes' uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Whitehead, Mr. Nagasaki and myself. Each person had a printed menu with the Prince's crest on it, and several men-servants were in waiting. The luncheon was a long affair of endless courses, which the four little boys sat through, occasionally bursting out into laughter, and sometimes amusing themselves by pouring water from one glass into another. Apparently, no servant dared stop them from doing anything, nor venture to correct them. I felt quite anxious over them as they partook of every dish, even sipping wine (a thing they had never done before), and I was not surprised at their unceasing laughter, though they tried to suppress it. The Prince stood up and kindly drank to my health. After luncheon we went through into the first room for coffee, and discussed the work a little. We touched on the legal paper which I had brought unsigned, and it was decided that I should remain on trial for a month to see what the work was like, an arrangement which greatly comforted me, as I felt I could return home as long as the paper was left unsigned.
Soon after the guests left I went to my room to unpack, but on the way up I was taken to see the bath-room which had been built especially for me. How I rued this kind attention later on! I had to go downstairs and to pass through the large play-room, also the billiard-room, and a number of passages, which were very cold. It was a wooden room, containing an ordinary English bath, with two taps, one for cold water, and the other, intended to be for hot water, which merely served for ornament. Besides, there was no outlet for the water to escape!
Never shall I forget my first bath. It was a cause of great excitement to my amah. Having told her to prepare it, I went down and found a round-faced coolie, who instantly prostrated himself on the floor, as was customary on the part of all servants and inferiors of this oldfashioned conservative family. He had a pail, such as we use for cleaning carriages, and was endeavouring to clean the bath, but to all appearances had only succeeded in making it dirty. After this preliminary, with one door open all the time and a bitter wind coming in, he brought two wooden pails full of boiling water. The steam and heat were intense, but the Japanese, I found, like to take their baths almost at boiling point. A doctor told me that by having it so hot the bath acts as a tonic to the skin, and that the use of cooler water in a hot climate is very relaxing. The Japanese, after having boiled themselves, sit in the bathroom without clothes for a short time and fan themselves. On this occasion I dispensed with one pail and had the contents of the other poured into the bath, gradually turning on the cold water, much to their wonder and delight. There was no dish for the soap or sponge, nor any mat to stand on. I afterwards informed Koma, my amah, that I would like these articles, the result being that there arrived a leather case, with gentlemen's hair brushes, powder and hair-pin boxes with metal tops, endless sponges to choose from, and a travelling soap-case. From this first experience of the bath to the end of my stay, if ever I expressed a wish for anything, supreme efforts were made to procure it, my only difficulty at first being to make people understand what I really wanted.
After my bath I had to go down to a five o'clock dinner with the Prince, his brothers, Mr. Nagasaki and Baron Takaki, the Prince's consulting physician, whom I had not met before. He was very kind and genial, and spoke English perfectly, having studied at St. Thomas' Hospital. In his own land he is a great philanthropist, and has founded a hospital, in which he and his eldest son are constantly working for the sick