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As a retaining wall or one which has to sustain a thrust of earth from behind such a system of building is in utter defiance of all the principles of mechanics, because the stones are like wedges placed the wrong way, they have absolutely nothing to keep them in their places, and any thrust from behind must inevitably dislodge them. As a sea wall it may have this advantage that a wave striking the stones from without acts like driving a wedge home, but it possess this great defect that it does not afford solidity or strength which is the great disederatum in any construction exposed to the force of waves. As a mere veneer on the banks of a canal or river to protect them from the action of the water, it may be efficient enough, but, if no more than this is required, an equally effectual and much cheaper method would be to line them with thin flags or wooden boarding. The Hatobas in Yokohama which have been broken up since they were erected by each heavy gale of wind that has occurred were built in this way. The retaining walls of the creek in Yokohama which were only built a year or two ago and parts of which come down with every heavy rain, were also built in the same way and it is so common and the native quarrymen are so accustomed to cut out those peculiar pyramidal stones that one of them can be bought at nearly one half the price of a square stone of the same cubical contents. The intention or the advantages of this shape of stone I have never been able to discover, and although I have made enquiries of officials acquainted with the processess of Japanese building in all parts of Japan I have never succeeded in getting a satisfactory reply.
This paper would not be complete unless I made some mention of the bronze images to be seen in various parts of Japan, principally because they are, without doubt, the most meritorious of all the attempts at construction which the Japanese have made. These stand out by themselves as evidences of a skill which it would be difficult to improve upon.
The mixing of the metals which compose bronze was
