212 3 ALL ABOARD FOR SUNRISE LANDS.

kind of cat, with a human face. Over his head is an arch of
drums, out of which the thunder-cat. gets all the music that people
wish for.

“The old Japanese idea is that it is the thunder-cat that springs
on a person when the lightning strikes.

“Then there is the wind-imp, that is half cat. He has an ugly
human face. Sometimes he will have a place near the temples,
and the thunder-cat will be there also. The wind-imp carries on
his shoulders an immense sack of confined air. He grasps the sack
by the ends, and if he should relax his grip, the air will rush out
and you will have wind. When he still holds on to an end, but
with a relaxed grip, you may expect a vigorous blow; but if he
should entirely take his hand off, then look out! Hold on to your
hat, make secure all house blinds, and don’t walk too near a tall,
slim chimney! A violent storm will now rage and tear over the
ground.

“This spirit has a bad reputation for flying into travellers’ faces
and scratching them with his cats’ claws. Here is another animal
that plays an important part in the grotesque fancies of the
Japanese |” 3

Here the doctor, taking lead-pencil and paper, sketched a fox
stealing along — dark as a shadow in the moonlight.

“Foxes are continually supposed to be playing their tricks on
people; and one trick is said to be this: To induce people to
fancy that a buckwheat-field in flowering time is a river, and that
they will have to strip and wade through it. There is a Japanese
god, Kitsune, a prankish sort of a creature, that takes the form of
a fox. He deilghts in cutting up all kinds of capers; leading
travellers astray and carrying off young girls.

“Tt is Kitsune that often brings sickness upon the children, and