, 1890-05-14

an hour when the eoDfagration rolls nea
and the sparks begin to lodge and cracklr
all over their roofs and doors. The hremen
naturally want to pull the place down to
the ground, and the tenants as naturally
wish to wait, hoping that % gust of wind
lrom ii different quarter, OF q heavy fall OF
rain may spare their abode. Then ensues
IA very animated discussion i'll the midst Of
the wild scene, which generally ends by
fremen, tenants, and all around %chOpping
and tearing at the little domiclle, until it
IN topping to the earth i'll IA dusty ruin
of beams, tiles, pianks, aud framing.
When this devastation has continued for
about an hour, The sides of the neighbour
ing streets will be lined thick and deep
with the humble properties salvaged from
the flames. They are all Of the came order,
aud of utmost pathetic simplicity. Tho
garments of the household are the
chief objects Of anxiety. These-particular.
ly the kimOnOs, obs, and sri- marks of the
women and childreu-are a ways kept very
carefully in the %taaslS, or chests of drawers.
which the ia panPSe so highly prize. They
are an exit emely tidy people, and fold.
brush, and put away their cherished
dresses with anpatneSS which would charm
and teach even al English country lady.
At the first real alarm the tGnSas are lock.
ed and carried outside, either to the house
of the nearest friend who is i'll a safer pO-
sition, or to the side Of the road, where the
mother or grandmother is placed i'll charge
and, with the babies of the establishment
around her-alSo very promptly and ten
derby salvaged-calmly smokes her pipe,
lighted from some convenient burning
fragment of a neighbours abode. Next to
their ward robes, the desire is to save the
mats (tdtdm0, which are easily taken up
and removed, and after this the sliding shut.
terS Of frame and paper, the htb0tOhis and
the Buddha pictures, and the dressing and
sewing boxes wi be hurrledly caught up
and added to the familyIruins stacked beside
the cutter. In the middle Otthe confagratiOn,
or of the oharred ruins it has caused, stand
up the few stone or brick built ''gO-dOwnS"
of the locality, like islands in a fiery sea.
A good number OF small valuables will
have been deposited in these by neighbours,
and there is in many houses a little recep-
tacle, either underground or made of ma
sOnry where anything particularly precious
can be stored. But really nobody in the
quarter seemed to own anything that could
be called precious, and | doubt II a
London marine Storekeeper would have
given half a sovereign for any single pile
of household goods which we saw. The
scene at such Il fire is indeScribable, unless
you know the population and the pictur.
esq lie byewayS of a Japanese city. The
buStling little frpmen in their quilted coats,
the waving flags, the little noisy but inef-
fective engines whisking about on hand.
carts or the shoulders OF coolies, the stream
of people carrying out boxes and mats, and
the counter stream jostling along to see or
to assist, thu ~SeIf-important police and
soldiers, the placid amusement Of the citi'
zens till their oN turn com es the odd
things that turn up from the hOuS~J, the
air thick with a black snow of paper sh0is
burning, the chatter, the c%latter, the uni
versal goodwill, but equally universal in
discipline and ldissez fare, make u Tokyo
fire something to see and remember. Hap
PLY, not many lives are ever lost. Upper
stories are rare, and there are few places
in a japanese dwelling where you might
not make an extemporary door with u
strong push Of the shoulder or a pocket.
knife.
The second of the two large confagra-
tions took place at DobochO Mia, in the
Shiba district, near our hill, and destroy
ed before it burnt itself out, nearly 1000
dwellings,. It was curious in going after
D wards over the space thus cleared to note
how completely a whole Japanese street
will dis appear, The houses containing no
brick or metal work burn completely away,
except the charged debris which the tiles
e~xtinguish and partly save when they
Gonna down with a ora Sh at last. Amid khA