on. The arrangement of these is very simple. Rice-straw
fig. 4
is plaited into close ropes or bands, which are interwoven to form a thick circular pad, intended to cover the whole of the sole. Around the border of this cushion are loops of the same material; and at the front part a stronger loop, the main fastening, and through which run two narrow bands from the heels, the corrigiæ, made to secure the whole apparatus firmly to the pastern.
Kæmpfer, the veracious historian of this curious empire, notices these contrivances. ‘Shoes for the servants and for the horses. Those of the latter are made of straw, and are fastened with ropes of the same to the feet of the horses, instead of iron shoes, such as ours in Europe, which are not used in this country. As the roads are slippery and full of stones, these shoes are soon worn out, so that it is often necessary to change them. For this purpose, those who have the care of the horses always carry with them a sufficient quantity, which they affix to the portmanteaus. They may, however, be found in all the villages, and poor children who beg on the road even offer them for sale, so that it may be said that there are
