A JAPANESE CLOCK.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 8, Issue 26, 29 March 1907, Page 2

A JAPANESE CLOCK.

It is a long stretch from the ancient and primitive sundial to the present perfected watch and clock. The difference between the simplicity of the former, and the elaborate and complicated inventions of the modern clockmatker are brought forcibly to mind in reading the description of a Japanese clock. A traveller saw a wonderful timepiece. He described it as being in a frame throe feet wide and five foot long representing a noonday landscape of great loveliness.

In the foreground wore plum and cherries trees and rich plants in full bloom ; in the rear a hill, gradual in ascent, from which flowed, or seemed to flow, a cascade, admirably imitated in crystal. From this point a threadlike stream glided along, encircling rocks and islands in its windings, finally losing itself in a far-off stretch of woodland. In a miniature sky above, a golden sun turned on a silver wire, striking the hours on silver gongs as it passed.

Every hour was marked on the frame, and indicated 'by a slowly creeping tortoise which served in the place of a hand or pointer. A bird of exquisite plumage sang at the close of each hour, and as the sound ceased a mouse sprang from a grotto near by, and scampering over the hill in the garden was soon lost to view.