to face. If he has a guide, he will be told by him what to pay in this way; in which case the guide, who handles the money, will probably keep most of it for himself. If he has no guide, he does not know what to give, and offers a modest gratuity, as he would elsewhere, taking as his stand-point that if the bill is low the tip should be proportionately small. This is merely following out in a logical manner our system at home of giving a smaller gratuity in a second-class hotel than we should in a first-class

one.

I have heard the chadai described as an extortion, and to the newly arrived foreigner it has every appearance of being such.

It was, however, the most just of all systems for a country conducted on the lines of the Japan of the past, though it will hardly adapt itself to the Japan of the future. In these transition days, when European theories, if not methods, are partially understood by the business classes even in the interior, its effect is especially peculiar.

In days gone by the Japanese innkeeper made a small charge for the food he supplied, which charge was presumably assumed to be the cost price, or thereabouts, of the articles supplied. He made no charge for his rooms or for anything else. The guest, on arriving, made a present of money to the house and another to the servants, and the value of these presents was determined by the social rank of the giver and the class of accommodation he looked. for. If the sum were large, he was given good

rooms and was well looked after, and if it were small his quarters and his attendance were in proportion.

Among Japanese in Japan the system worked well, for the social rank of a guest was at once patent to the host. Now, however, the foreigner comes to these places, and the host knows nothing of his rank, except that he has a notion that all foreigners should be very wealthy. If, therefore, after spending a day and a night in his house, and receiving a bill amounting to say two shillings, the foreigner should offer a gratuity of a shilling, the host, whose profit in the ordinary course would be made out of the chadai, may be excused if he feels disappointed and does not wish to see his guest again.

It is now understood by some innkeepers that foreigners look to pay more for their accommodation and less as a gratuity, and they are sometimes charged accordingly. In these transition days, however, the unfortunate foreigner does not know whether he is to be treated as such in his bill, or whether he is expected to make a handsome present on arriving and be presented with a nominal bill for his food when he leaves.

The first time I came face to face with a difficulty of this sort was when, a few months after my arrival, I was spending some days up-country. The bill presented to me on leaving was a ridiculously small one, and, as my knowledge of Japanese was of the crudest, I was glad to apply to a Japanese university student, who spoke a little English, for