former days, when a Daimyō died away from home, he was considered a deserter, and his estates were forfeited to the Crown. So, in the event of his being assassinated out-of-doors, the fact was hushed up; he was put into his palanquin, carried home, and proclaimed to have died a natural death there, thus preserving the estate to his heirs. At the present day, higher official rank brings with it a larger pension to the family. It is, therefore, a gracious act on the part of Government to permit the postponement of the date of death till after certain honours shall have been conferred.
Cormorant-fishing. This strange method of fishing is mentioned in a poem found in the Kojiki, a work compiled in A.D. 712, while the poem itself probably dates from a far earlier age. The custom is kept up at the present day in various districts of Japan, notably on the River Nagara, near Gifu, in the province of Owari.
First catch your cormorant. "This," we are told by Mr. G. E. Gregory, in Vol. X. Part I. of the "Asiatic Transactions,"—"this the people do by placing wooden images of the birds in spots frequented by them, and covering the surrounding branches and twigs with bird-lime, on settling upon which they stick fast. After having in this manner caught one cormorant, they place it among the bushes, instead of the image, and thus catch more." Mr. Gregory further says that the fishermen take such care of the birds that they provide them with mosquito-nets during the summer, in order to minister to their comfort! We cannot personally vouch for such an extreme of solicitude, having seen (and alas! smelt) the birds only during the cool off-season, which they idle away in baskets in the fishermen's houses. Cormorant-fishing always takes place at night and by torch-light. The method pursued is thus described by the late Major-General Palmer, R. E., in a letter to the Times, dated 17th July, 1889: "There are, to begin with, four men in each of the seven boats, one of whom, at the stern, has no duty but that of managing his craft. In
