Page 196 - AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS
P. 196
Around the World in 80 Days
comfortable smoking-houses, where they were puffing,
not opium, which is almost unknown in Japan, but a very
fine, stringy tobacco. He went on till he found himself in
the fields, in the midst of vast rice plantations. There he
saw dazzling camellias expanding themselves, with flowers
which were giving forth their last colours and perfumes,
not on bushes, but on trees, and within bamboo
enclosures, cherry, plum, and apple trees, which the
Japanese cultivate rather for their blossoms than their fruit,
and which queerly-fashioned, grinning scarecrows
protected from the sparrows, pigeons, ravens, and other
voracious birds. On the branches of the cedars were
perched large eagles; amid the foliage of the weeping
willows were herons, solemnly standing on one leg; and
on every hand were crows, ducks, hawks, wild birds, and a
multitude of cranes, which the Japanese consider sacred,
and which to their minds symbolise long life and
prosperity.
As he was strolling along, Passepartout espied some
violets among the shrubs.
‘Good!’ said he; ‘I’ll have some supper.’
But, on smelling them, he found that they were
odourless.
‘No chance there,’ thought he.
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