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

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THE BOY TRAVELLKRS.
A I'AIR or 1VEESTLERS AND THEIR MANAGER.
the comer of the public square in our town, but fat all over. I felt
the back and arms of one of them, and his mnscles were as hard as iron.
The flesh on his breast was soft, and seemed like a thick cushion of fat.
I tliink you might have hit liiin there with a mallet without hurting him
much.
" Some of them could hardly see out of their eyes on account of the
fat around them ;
and when their arms were doubled up, they looked like
the hams of a hog. I was told tliat the Japanese idea of a wrestler is to
have a man as fat as possible, which is jnst the reverse of what we think
is right. They train their men all their lives to have them get up all the
fat they can; and if a man doesn't get it fast enough, tliey put him to
work, and tell him he can never be a wrestler. It is odd that a people so
thin as the Japanese should think so much about having men fat ; but I
suppose it is because we all like the things that are our opposites. But
this isn't telling about the wrestling match.
" After the herald had given the names of the wrestlers who were to
make the first round, the fellows came in. They were dressed without
any clotlies to speak of, or rather they were quite undressed, with the
exception of a cloth around their loins. They came in on opposite sides
of the ring, and stood there about five feet apart, each man resting his
hands on his knees, and glaring at the other like a wild beast. They