The boy travellers in the Far East : adventures of two youths ... - Library

THE ])ANGEROUS CLASS. 217
itary rights, and the feudal princes were compelled to turn their posses-
sions into the hands of the general government. The change was very
great for all, bnt for none more so than the Samnrai.
"These fellows had been for centuries a class with extraordinary priv-
ileges. Their ideas in regard to work of any kind were like those of their
kindred in Europe and some other parts of the world ; it would degrade
tliem to do anything, and consequently they were generally addicted to a
life of idleness. There were studious and enterprising men among them,
but they were the exceptions ratlier than tlie rule. Tlie ordinary Samurai
was, more or less, and usually more, a worthless fellow, whose sole idea of
occupation was to follow the lord of his province and be present at cere-
monials, and, for the rest, to spend his time in drinkiiig-shops and other
improper places, and indulge in occasional fights with the men of other
clans. They were the only persons allowed to wear two swords ; and it
was the constant wearing of these swords, coupled with the drinking of
sa-kee, that brought on most of the difficulties between the natives and the
foreigners. A group of these men would be drinking in a tavern, and,
while they were all heated with the spirits they had swallowed, one of
them would propose to kill a foreigner. They would make a vow to go
out and kill the first one they met, and in this mood they would leave the
tavern and walk along the principal street. They would fall upon the
first foreigner they met, and, as they were three or four to one, and
were all well armed, the foreigner was generally slaughtered. Mr.
Heu.sken, the interpreter of the American Legation, was thus murdered
at Yeddo in 1861, and the German consul at Hakodadi met his death in
the same way. The Samurai were the class most opposed to the en-
trance of foreigners into Japan, and, so long as they were allowed to
wear swords and inflame themselves with sa-kee, the life of a stranger was
never safe."
"If they did no work," said Frank, "how did they manage to live?"
" They were supported by the government," the Doctor answered, " in
accordance with the ancient custom. Every Samurai received an allow-
ance, which was paid to him in rice, the staple article of food, and what he
did not eat he could convert into money. His pay was in proportion to
his rank, and the great number of Samurai made their support a heavy
burden upon the laboring class. It is said that nine tenths of the product
of the soil went, in one way and another, for taxes ; that is, for every
Imndred bushels of rice that a farnier raised, ninety bushels went to the
local and general governments, and only ten bushels remained to the
farmer. It was by being tlius saddled on the country' that the Samurai